Elizabeth Avellan Movies

A retired spy-turned-full-time homemaker attempts to stop a power-mad supervillain from taking over the planet, and gets some unexpected help from her disagreeable twin step-children in this fourth entry of writer/director Robert Rodriguez's family-friendly adventure series. It's been a long time since former OSS agent Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba) went chasing bad guys. These days it's hard enough just to get her precocious stepkids, Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook), to clean their rooms, and make sure her baby daughter has a full sippy cup. And despite the fact that Marissa's husband, Wilbur (Joel McHale), earns his income chasing spies on TV, he hasn't a clue that his mild-mannered wife was once a cloak-and-dagger woman. Now the nefarious Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) has hatched a plot for world domination, prompting the OSS to summon Marissa back to active duty. When Rebecca and Cecil discover their stepmother's tightly guarded secret, they realize they might be the only hope for getting her out of a tight jam and foiling the Timekeeper's evil plan. Fortunately Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) are more than willing to teach Rebecca and Cecil the tricks of the trade, and in no time the two bickering ten-year-olds are wielding hi-tech gadgets and heading out on their first assignment. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Robert Rodriguez brings a new breed of antihero to the big screen in this hyper-violent adaptation of the "fake" trailer originally featured in the 2007 double-feature exploitation throwback Grindhouse. Machete (Danny Trejo) is a former Mexican Federale who plays by his own rules, and doesn't answer to anybody. In the wake of a harrowing encounter with feared drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal), Machete finds himself in Texas, where the shadowy Booth (Jeff Fahey) offers him the opportunity to make some quick cash by assassinating the unscrupulous Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro). When the job goes awry and Machete realizes he's been set up, he turns to fierce taco queen Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), heavily armed holy man Padre (Cheech Marin), and trigger-happy socialite April (Lindsay Lohan) to show Booth that he just messed with the wrong Mexican. But before they can get to Booth, Machete's gang will have to contend with blade-wielding ICE agent Sartana (Jessica Alba), who never met an adversary she couldn't flay. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Michael Allred's quirky superhero Madman finally is being brought to the screen by producer Robert Rodriguez and his Troublemaker Studios shingle. The modern tale is an eye-popping riff on the Frankenstein myth, wherein a dead car-crash victim is reincarnated by mad scientists and stitched back together in the form of a scarred super-being with clairvoyant senses who wears a costume to hide his hideous visage. Swimming With Sharks helmer George Huang directs and is co-writing the script with Allred, whose participation will reflect the hands-on approach that Frank Miller indulged in with Sin City. Rodriguez was long attached to the project, but handed it over to Huang after the two bonded over their first features back in their Columbia Studios days and eventual working relationship on Spy Kids 3. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the planet and the remaining survivors who refuse to go down without a fight. A dangerous government experiment has unleashed an abominable contamination that turns normal people into murderous mutants. Now, as an infinitely multiplying horde of frenzied psychotics flood the Texas plains, a dangerous outlaw named Wray (Freddy Rodriguez), a sexy stripper named Cherry (Rose McGowan), an unscrupulous smuggler named Abby (Naveen Andrews), and the curiously incapacitated Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton) must try and make their way to the helicopter that could provide their only means of escaping to a place untouched by this nightmarish scourge that threatens to wipe out all of humankind. This nonstop action-horror hybrid originally was released as part of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's ambitious Grindhouse double bill. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Photographer Herman Leonard has enjoyed a distinguished career by any standards -- getting his start as an apprentice with the great Yousuf Karsh, Leonard became a top fashion and travel photographer, worked for Life and Time magazines, and spent years as the European photo editor for Playboy. But Leonard's greatest passion outside of photography has always been jazz, and he created memorable portraits and performance shots of many of the most legendary names in American music. Leonard also became close friends with many of his subjects, and in the documentary The Truth In Terms Of Beauty, filmmaker Vince DiPersio allows Leonard to share the remarkable story of his life and career, sharing stories about Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and other iconic figures of jazz and blues as he recounts both the good and bad sides of his own history. Leonard's close friends Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett also share their memories, and dozens of the photographer's classic images are on display. The Truth In Terms Of Beauty received its world premiere at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Kill Bill director Quentin Tarantino and Sin City director Robert Rodriguez join forces to offer a cinematic tribute to the blood-soaked exploitation epics of yesteryear with this hyper-violent coupling of two full-length features punctuated by a collection of outrageous trailers. The first segment, directed by Rodriguez and entitled Planet Terror, details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the planet and the remaining survivors who refuse to go down without a fight. Freddy Rodriguez, Naveen Andrews, and Rose McGowan headline a cast that also includes Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, and Tom Savini. In Death Proof -- director Tarantino's take on such peddle-to-the-metal shockers as White Line Fever -- Kurt Russell stars as an engine-revving psychopath who prefers to take out his beautiful victims at 200 mph. With a list of potential roadkill candidates that includes Rose McGowan, Jordan Ladd, Rosario Dawson, and Vanessa Ferlito, Death Proof takes viewers on an adrenaline-infused drive that's as sexy as it is shocking. Its tantalizing title borrowed from the term frequently used to describe the seedy, 1970s-era inner-city movie theaters that screened excessive, low-budget independent films containing copious amounts of violence and nudity as a means of offering counter-programming to the decidedly more restrained big-budget studio films, Grindhouse takes its love for these unabashedly sleazy efforts one step further by offering a jaw-dropping collection of fake exploitation trailers from such directors as Rob Zombie, Eli Roth, and Edgar Wright. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Eisner Award-winning comic series Sin City comes to life in this live-action feature adaptation from director Robert Rodriguez and creator Frank Miller. Interweaving multiple storylines from the series' history, this violent crime noir paints the picture of the ultimate town without pity through the eyes of its roughest characters. There's the street thug Marv (Mickey Rourke), whose desperate quest to find the killer of a prostitute named Goldie (Jaime King) will lead him to the foulest edges of town. Inhabiting many of those areas is Dwight (Clive Owen), a photographer in league with the sordid ladies of Sin City, headed by Gail (Rosario Dawson), who opens up a mess of trouble after tangling with a corrupt cop by the name of Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). Finally, there's Hartigan (Bruce Willis), an ex-cop with a heart problem who's hell-bent on protecting a stripper named Nancy (Jessica Alba). Featuring a who's who supporting cast that includes Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Devon Aoki, and Nick Stahl, Sin City promises to be one of the most direct translations from page to screen of a comic series, with shots and dialogue adapted straight from the original comic's panels. Rodriguez quit the Director's Guild when they refused to let Frank Miller co-direct the film, a deal hashed out after the two collaborators developed and shot the opening scene utilizing a green-screen process to harness the stark, black-and-white look of the books as a litmus test for the rest of the production. Quentin Tarantino was brought in and reportedly paid one dollar to direct an extended scene between Del Toro and Owen that amounts to one issue of The Big Fat Kill miniseries. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

The current wave of kidnappings in Latin America inspired this tense suspense drama. Martin (Jean Paul Leroux) and Carla (Mía Maestro) are a wealthy young couple who, after a night of club hopping, head back to their car to go home. However, three kidnappers -- Bubu (Pedro Perez), Niga (Carlos Madera), and Trece (Carlos Julio Molina) -- are waiting for them; seeing how free they are with their money, the men figure that Martin and Carla should fetch a decent ransom for their release. The kidnappers demand 20,000 dollars to set Martin and Carla free, and Carla's father (Rubén Blades) struggles to raise the cash, with the criminals insisting upon payment in a mere two hours. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Robert Rodriguez returns to the characters of his breakthrough hits El Mariachi and Desperado in this grand scale south-of-the-border action-adventure saga. Sands (Johnny Depp) is a rogue CIA agent who is working in cahoots with Mexican officials who've caught wind of a plan by corrupt military leader General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) and ruthless drug kingpin Barillo (Willem Dafoe) to assassinate Mexico's president (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.). Sands needs to recruit a gunman to take out Barillo's assassins before they can complete their mission, and through barman Belini (Cheech Marin), Sands learns of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), a fabled musician turned vigilante with a remarkable talent for violence, and a score to settle with Marquez. El Mariachi is living quietly in hiding after the death of the woman he loved, Carolina (Salma Hayek), but Sands lures him back into action through the promise of a final showdown with his nemesis Marquez, forcing El Mariachi to retrieve his guitar case (containing a mighty arsenal) and once again do battle against the lawless. Robert Rodriguez not only directed Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but he wrote the screenplay, handled the camera work, edited the film, and composed the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this reteaming of actor Antonio Banderas and director Robert Rodriguez -- their first film together since the 1995 feature Desperado -- Banderas plays Gregorio; he and devoted partner Ingrid (Carla Gugino), comprise the greatest pair of secret agents working. Both are masters of disguise and have the ability to prevent wars, but eventually they want to settle down and begin raising a family. Nine years later, after retiring and giving up the lives of super-spies, Gregorio and Ingrid find themselves at the call of duty again when techno-genius Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming) and his insidious, ruthless sidekick Minion (Tony Shalhoub) have plans for world destruction. The only hope for Gregorio and Ingrid are their children, Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara), who are called upon to save their missing parents, eventually learning their former identities. The film also features Cheech Marin, Robert Patrick, and Danny Trejo. In the summer of 2001, five months after Spy Kids had become a major box office success, an expanded edition was released, featuring several minutes of footage not used in the film's original cuts (including special effects sequences that couldn't be completed within the film's original budget). ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

This sequel attempts to ape the inventive blend of horror, comedy, and crime melodrama of its predecessor, with some creative direction by actor Sam Spiegel, a protégé of Sam Raimi. Buck (Robert Patrick) is a former bank robber who's being watched closely by Sheriff Lawson (Bo Hopkins). Lawson's suspicions are well-founded, because Buck is indeed planning a multimillion-dollar bank heist in Mexico, to be aided by prison escapee Luther (Duane Whitaker), rodeo star C.W. (Muse Watson), dog trainer Jesus (Raymond Cruz) and security guard Ray Bob (Brett Harrelson). While on his way to meet up with the gang, Luther encounters bat-related car trouble near the Titty Twister, a dive bar featured in the first film. Offered a lift by Razor Eddie (Danny Trejo), Luther ends up with a pair of fangs in his neck. When he finally meets up with his cronies, Luther turns Jesus into a fellow vampire, unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, who proceed with their caper plans accompanied by two cohorts now more interested in blood than cash. The film was followed by a prequel, From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (2000). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

A spoof of the verite television series Cops, this low-budget, independent comedy from writer and director Beeaje Quick was an award winner for "Best of Fest" at the Long Island Film Festival. After being hassled and beat up by some LAPD officers, filmmaker Juan Pelotes (Randy Gatica) decides to get revenge by creating a mockumentary that satirizes L.A.'s boys in blue. Enlisting the aid of two Latinos just released from police custody (played by Quick and Jose Ignacio Alvarez), Pelotes costumes his stars in police uniforms and follows them around the city with a camera, recording their staged antics of bullying citizens and propositioning beautiful women. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi