Juan Fernandez Movies

The emotional wreckage left by one lonely man and his endless wandering is chronicled in this low-key drama from Argentinean filmmaker Lisandro Alonso. Farrel (Juan Fernandez) is a merchant sailor who has spent nearly all his adult life drifting from one job in one port to another. Farrel has never stayed in one place long enough to make many friends, and for all his freedom he's found little joy or contentment in his rootless existence. Farrel arrives in Ushuaia, a seaside city that's the closest thing he has to a home, and pays an unannounced visit to Trujillo (Nieves Cabrera), a longtime friend of his family. When Farrel went off to sea, Trujillo ended up looking after his daughter, Analia (Giselle Irrazabal), after the girl's mother passed on. Trujillo feels a deep contempt for Farrel because of his failure to care for his own child, and while teenage Analia harbors her own resentments, a childhood without parental love or support has turned her into a young woman who has turned all her emotions in on herself. Liverpool was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Carmen Elias and Susi Sanchez star in director Juan Carlos Claver's drama exploring Spain's "social danger" laws through the story of two lesbian lovers whose relationship is marred by tragedy. As the film opens, middle-aged Elvira is saved from a suicide attempt and charged with the murder of her longtime lover Pilar. As Elvira's memories come flooding back, the viewer is transported the early 1970s, when young teachers Elvira and Pilar first fell in love. When Pilar's mother discovers that her daughter is involved in a lesbian relationship, she sends the frightened girl to an asylum where electroshock therapy is employed to "cure" her perversion. Though forced to endure year after tormenting year of psychological reconditioning, Pilar clings to her love of Elvira as her only true happiness. Years later, Pilar and Elvira are reunited. But Pilar is different now, and after years of abusive treatment by misguided doctors, her relationship with Elvira seems destined to end in tragedy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When the only hope for a six stranded scuba divers suddenly threatens certain death, the group must come together and elude their pursuers to survive a harrowing night of terror in director Pau Freixas' waterlogged action-horror hybrid. A group of scuba divers float helplessly in the cast ocean, but when a large merchant vessel comes into vision on the distant horizon they assume that they have finally found salvation. The already precarious situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, however, when the six desperate divers bear witness to a brutal execution aboard the mysterious vessel. Now, with the malevolent crew determined to silence the scared stowaways forever, the stage is set for a bloody battle of wills on the open water. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A cop teams up with the former head of a drug cartel to avenge the death of the woman he loved in this action-drama. Sean Vetter (Vin Diesel) and Demetrius Hicks (Larenz Tate) are a pair of DEA agents who think they've made the bust of a lifetime when they capture 'Memo' Lucero (Geno Silva), a multi-millionaire drug lord who controlled most of the narcotics traffic along the border of Mexico and the United States. However, with Lucero behind bars, a new and decidedly more dangerous underworld kingpin rises to take his place, and Diablo (Timothy Olyphant), also known as Hollywood Jack Slayton, soon proves to be even more dangerous than Lucero when he orders his gunmen to assassinate Vetter. While Vetter escapes unharmed, his wife is killed, and Vetter is thrown deep into despair. Now Vetter is obsessed with bringing Diablo to justice, and he's willing to do anything to bring him down -- even if it means teaming up with Lucero. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A doctor's past comes back to haunt him in an unexpected way in this modern variation on the classic tale of Faust. Dr. Fausto (Miguel Angel Sola) is a respected oncologist whose career has practically taken over his life; he has no wife or children, and he's barely aware of the fact his beautiful assistant Julia (Najwa Nimri) is obviously in love with him. One day, Fausto finds himself so overwhelmed with his wildly stressful career that be begins pondering suicide as he waits for a train, only to be interrupted by Julia, who brings him the briefcase he left at his office. After boarding his train, the distraught Faust encounters Santos Vella (Eduard Fernandez), who introduces himself as one of Fausto's former patients; after Fausto removed his stomach and informed him that he had but three months to live, Vella opted to stop seeing doctors and ignore their advice -- and he says he's been feeling fine ever since. Despite Vella's contemptuous attitude towards modern medicine, he is both friendly and grateful to Fausto, and insists on giving the doctor a ride after a taxi breakdown leaves Fausto stranded. From then on, Fausto finds he can't get rid of his new friend, no matter how hard he tries -- everywhere he goes, Vella is close behind, and when Faust declares that he needs female companionship instead, Vella arranges for Fausto to spend the evening with Marta (Irene Montala), a prostitute who proves to be similarly unavoidable. Fausto 5.0 was the first motion picture directed and produced by members of La Fura, an acclaimed Spanish theater troupe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Former pro wrestler Roddy Piper plays the captain of a Southern California charter boat who gets mixed up with South American drug smugglers. He is seduced by the wife (Tawny Kitaen) of a powerful drug dealer (Juan Fernandez) into taking a load of drugs between California and Mexico. This brings him to the attention of the DEA and a U.S. Customs officer who holds a personal grudge against him. ~ Brian Gusse, Rovi

Sex, drugs, lies and betrayal form the basis of this gritty crime thriller that centers on two white guys, Pooch and Big Boy, lifelong friends who decide they want a piece of the local drug trade action in their old neighborhood. They end up being distracted by aspiring-model and pathological-liar Eva, who involves them in an increasingly kinky menage-a-trois that results in jealousy between the friends. Still the two, with the help of their pal Juanito, are getting close to having total control and will be able to make a proposition to the mob behind it all. Unbeknownst to the others, Pooch is working as a spy for the police, but toward the end, he is undecided about whether he should help them, or help himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on horror author H.P. Lovecraft's writings, Necronomicon: Book of the Dead includes three short stories devoted to the deadly and mysterious "Necronomicon." When Lovecraft (played by Jeffrey Combs) manages to smuggle the legendary book out of a heavily guarded library, he quickly finds himself immersed in its passages, and three short stories take form as he sets off to record the information. In the first, Bruce Payne plays a disgruntled man whose inheritance of an old motel turns out to be more than he bargained for, as there are a nasty group of demons populating its basement. The second story follows a young reporter in search of a doctor who allegedly found the path to immortality, though, like the unwitting motel owner, he wouldn't realize how far in over his head he was until it became too late. The last story features Signy Coleman as a tough-as-nails police officer who descends into a strange set of catacombs in order to find her missing partner -- little does she know that an infamous serial killer is already living inside its subterranean depths. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Maniacal Dennis Hopper plays a high-strung L.A. homicide detective who embarks upon a vengeful hunt for the drug pushers who brutally murdered his partners. His investigation soon reveals that the dealers' influence extends to the highest echelons of city government. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Elmore Leonard's brittle novel is brought to the screen in this adaptation by director Abel Ferrara and screenwriter James Borrelli. Peter Weller plays George Moran, a Miami hotel owner who in times past fought in Santo Domingo during the American intervention into that country. George finds himself drawn back to Santo Domingo to try to find a woman who had given him the moniker of Cat Chaser. Instead of the woman he is looking for, George finds Mary (Kelly McGillis), and as it comes to all men, George ends up having a passionate affair with Mary -- so passionate, in fact, that Mary announces to her husband Andres (Tomas Milian) that their marriage is over. Unfortunately for Mary and George, Andres, who at one point in the past was the head of the Santo Domingo secret police, has other ideas concerning the dissolution of their marriage. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Once again, Charles Bronson plays a renegade cop out for vigilante justice in the darkest heart of the urban jungle. This time, he is targeting an especially ruthless pimp who has been leading innocent young girls into prostitution. When the pimp kidnaps the beautiful daughter of a Japanese businessman, rapes her and forces her to begin streetwalking, the cop decides to let nothing, not even the law, stop him from bringing the slimeball to graphically violent justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Frank McBain (Gary Busey) is a cop who earned the nickname of "bulletproof" from the dozens of shootings he has survived over his career. He is called on to retrieve a tank held by communists across the border of Mexico. The enemies are cardboard caricatures of Arabs, Russians, and Mexicans led by the evil Colonel Kartiff (Henry Silva). Darlanne Fluegel co-stars with Juan Fernandez and Rene Enriquez in this forgettable feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi