Castulo Guerra Movies
The prophecy of a worldwide spiritual awakening gradually begins to come into focus in director Armand Mastroianni and screenwriters James Redfield, Barnet Bain, and Dan Gordon's sweeping adaptation of James Redfield's best-selling novel. John Woodson (Matthew Settle) was a high-school history teacher before the loss of his job left him disillusioned and facing an uncertain future. When John is contacted by ex-girlfriend and journalist Charlene (Robyn Cohen), who is currently in town on a brief layover after covering a story in Peru, the pair arrange to meet for dinner and Charlene explains that she has just returned from a remote Eden known as Viciente, where scholars are currently studying a mysterious set of eight ancient scrolls. It was there, continues Charlene, that she came into contact with a priest named Father Jose, who explained to her that the scrolls contain a prophesy written before the birth of Christ and foretell a coming time of enlightenment that will redefine life in the 21st century. Though at first skeptical, John is compelled to book a flight to Peru when Charlene states that she appears to have been drawn to him by a higher power, and a travel brochure on Peru appears in his mailbox the following day. A subsequent encounter with a professor who is also on John's flight and has been studying the scrolls reveals that the scrolls were written in 5 or 6 B.C. and buried in a wooden box that was assembled in the 1600s. Though there was, according to legend, a ninth scroll, it has yet to be recovered. A late-night stroll on the streets of Lima soon leads John into the company of Father Jose, who later disappears after a frightening encounter in which a high-ranking operative holds the priest at gunpoint while insisting that he reveal the location of the lost scroll. Later led to Viciente by the guide who was with Father Jose when the cleric discovered the scrolls, John is haunted by dreams of a remote paradise and a young child, setting into motion a spectacular series of events that will ultimately culminate in a transformation of light that promises to reveal the future of humanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Settle, Thomas Kretschmann, (more)
Re-teaming Dennis Quaid with John Lee Hancock, the director of 2002's The Rookie, The Alamo retells the story of the historic 1836 battle in the Texan War of Independence. Facing 4,000 Mexican troops, 186 Texan soldiers and volunteers -- including William Travis (Patrick Wilson), Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton), and Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) -- retreat within the walls of the Alamo, a Franciscan mission that was converted into a military fort. Once inside, the men prepare themselves for what will be a bloody battle to the death, as General Sam Houston (Quaid) leads the charge from the outside. Emilio Echevarria and Jordi Molla co-star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, (more)
- 2002
Erstwhile "James Bond" Roger Moore guest stars as Edward Poole, an SD-9 leader who has startling information about a turncoat in the Alliance of Twelve. Elsewhere, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is not the only one who is astonished to find her own image on a sketch drawn 500 years earlier by the prophetic Milo Rambaldi. The text surrounding the sketch is partially decoded, revealing an ominous message regarding the fate of the world. Alas, the key to the entire code is locked somewhere in the Vatican -- compelling Sydney to prevail upon Vaughn (Michael Vartan) to pull off his most daring burglary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A clumsy criminal is put in a position where he not only has to save his own skin, but that of his girlfriend in this comedy with strong undercurrents of romance. Jerry Welbach (Brad Pitt) is a low-level Mafia "mechanic" whose ineptitude is countered by frequent (but unpredictable) bursts of dumb luck. Jerry's girlfriend Samantha (Julia Roberts) wants him to get out of the business, and after his latest blunder lands capo Arnold Margolese (Gene Hackman) in jail, so does mid-level crime kingpin Bernie Nayman (Bob Balaban). But Bernie insists that Jerry do one last errand for the mob before they let him find employment elsewhere -- he has to go to Mexico and recover a rare and very valuable pistol, which is said to be cursed. While Samantha objects to Jerry taking the assignment, he isn't in much of a position to argue; Jerry heads south of the border, while Samantha, in a huff, sets out for Las Vegas. Once in Mexico, Jerry finds the pistol easily enough, but making his way back to the States proves to be an unexpected challenge. Meanwhile, Jerry's superiors want insurance that he'll return with the goods, so they hire Leroy (James Gandolfini), a hitman, to kidnap Samantha and hold her hostage until Jerry comes back. However, Samantha and Leroy quickly strike up a friendship, and she soon learns the gunman has a sensitive side he doesn't show to the world -- along with a few other secrets. The Mexican marked the first screen pairing for mega-stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt -- though, given the film's narrative arc, they play only a handful of scenes together. The film was directed by Gore Verbinski, who won awards for his work in commercials before breaking through with the quirky family comedy Mouse Hunt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, (more)
- 2001
Unable to get away from his workload, Benton (Eriq La Salle) may lose Reese (Matthew Watkins) in a court custody battle with Roger (Vondie Curtis-Hall). Carter (Noah Wyle) makes a play for Lewis (Sherry Stringfield), who is not resistant to his charms. While treating a married couple who may literally be allergic to sex, Weaver (Laura Innes) begins a relationship with feisty female firefighter Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal). Kovac (Goran Visnjic) learns more about Nicole's (Julie Delpy) "pregnancy." And while preparing to leave County General, Cleo Finch (Michael Michele) is reluctant to say goodbye to anyone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
This episode marks the final regular ER appearances of Eriq La Salle and Michael Michele. After resorting to desperate measures to retain custody of his son, Reese (Matthew Watkins), Peter Benton (La Salle) realizes that he must make a choice between the boy and his overloaded ER schedule. He opts to take a less demanding job at a clinic in the Chicago suburbs, where his current love, Cleo Finch (Michele), is already working. In other developments, a boy accidentally shot by his mom on Christmas Eve is a cause of great concern amongst the ER staffers; Abby (Maura Tierney) sees Nicole (Julie Delpy) where she didn't expect to see her; the relationship between Weaver (Laura Innes) and Lopez (Lisa Vidal) enters a new phase; and Carter (Noah Wyle) receives startling but not unexpected news about his parents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Monica (Roma Downey) shows up as a social worker at the Kewanee Women's Correctional Facility, and in this capacity meets Carol (Viveka Davis), who is doing 25-to-Life for murder--but insists she is innocent, and that she has no memory of the night of the killing. Meanwhile, Andrew (John Dye) is hired as hospice nurse for Santos Gonzales (Castulo Guerra), the stern, unforgiving father of the murder victim. In the course of events, both Carol and Santos must find redemption--and the catalyst for this turns out to be Monica's jailhouse production of the award-winning stage play "Agnes of God." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
Carol (Julianna Margulies) comforts a security guard (Michael Rapaport) as he lies dying from severe chemical burns. The other staffers tend to a young man (Keith Bogart) who fell 75 feet into the Chicago river. Also part of the ER caseload is an elderly couple who may or may not have AIDs, and a heroin-addicted infant named Josh McLean. And elsewhere, Benton (Eriq La Salle) is none too happy that Carla (Lisa Nicole Carson) has invited her boyfriend to Reese's baptism. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
When a desperate convict determines to break out of prison at any cost, his cunning escape plan finds him taking one of his best friends as a hostage and authorities mistakenly assuming that his pal is a willing participant as director Armand Mastroianni recounts one of the most daring prison escapes ever attempted. Randy Savino (Antonio Sabato Jr.) can't take life behind bars another day, but in order to escape from his fortress-like prison he'll have to take to the sky. The only way out is to hijack the helicopter of his life-long friend Colt Erikson (Adrian Pasdar) and take his old pal hostage. As authorities close in and the friendship between the pair is put to the ultimate test, Randy is about to find out there's a high price to pay for being a free man when you've wronged society in the eyes of the law. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A young boy and a brilliant scientist attempt to thwart an evil cyber-villain's attempts to take over the world in this inferior sequel to the 1992 sci-fi adventure The Lawnmower Man. Former Max Headroom star Matt Frewer replaces Jeff Fahey in the title role of Jobe, the mentally challenged gardener transformed into a brilliant, computerized megalomaniac by a series of virtual reality experiments. Though destroyed at the end of the first film, Jobe finds a way to return to digital life, and he sets out in search of an important computer chip that will grant him frightening levels of power. A group of young hackers, led by Peter (Austin O'Brien), discovers this nefarious scheme and turns to retired virtual reality pioneer Ben Trace (Patrick Bergin) for help. Chase scenes and gunfights follow, both in the virtual world and the real world, as Trace and the boys try to figure out how to defeat Jobe. Despite a more blatantly futuristic setting, the sequel's special effects fail to match the standards of the first film, and the confused storyline proves more illogical than suspenseful, limiting the film's appeal to die-hard genre aficionados. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Bergin, Matt Frewer, (more)
- 1996
This made for cable movie premiered over the Lifetime network on August 21, 1996, barely one year after the court case which inspired it. Though they have adopted a son, infertile couple John and Debbie Challender (Randle Mell, Marilu Henner) still feel unfulfilled. Desperate to have a child of her own, Debbie submits to experimental fertility treatments conducted by the brilliant and arrogant Dr. Ash (Castullo Guerra), the self-proclaimed miracle man of Irving University. The treatment, involving "hyperstimulated" ovaries, nearly kills Debbie, but it all seems worth it when she gives birth to a healthy son. But this is not the end of the story by a long shot: As Debbie discovers to her outrage that her own eggs have been implanted in other women without her permission, Marilyn Killane (Linda Lavin), office manager for Dr. Ash, unearths evidence that the doctor's staff has been regularly mishandling embryos--and that several of his nurses aren't even certified. Ultimately, Dr. Ash ends up in court, facing charges that, in so many words, he has been illegally "Playing God" with unwary women for the sole purpose of elevating his own reputation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- R
In this dark thriller set in Las Vegas, a sexy female cop, Rita Cates, begins looking into the brutal murders of two women who had been involved with an ex-police officer, Sam, a wealthy, fast-talker who was also one of her own lovers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Fiorentino, Daniel Baldwin, (more)
Near the end of The Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey, in his Oscar-winning performance as crippled con man Roger "Verbal" Kint, says, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." This may be the key line in this story; the farther along the movie goes, the more one realizes that not everything is quite what it seems, and what began as a conventional whodunit turns into something quite different. A massive explosion rips through a ship in a San Pedro, CA, harbor, leaving 27 men dead, the lone survivor horribly burned, and 91 million dollars' worth of cocaine, believed to be on board, mysteriously missing. Police detective Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) soon brings in the only witness and key suspect, "Verbal" Kint. Kint's nickname stems from his inability to keep his mouth shut, and he recounts the events that led to the disaster. Five days earlier, a truckload of gun parts was hijacked in Queens, NY, and five men were brought in as suspects: Kint, hot-headed hipster thief McManus (Stephen Baldwin), ill-tempered thug Hockney (Kevin Pollak), flashy wise guy Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), and Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a cop gone bad now trying to go straight in the restaurant business. While in stir, someone suggests that they should pull a job together, and Kint hatches a plan for a simple and lucrative jewel heist. Despite Keaton's misgivings, the five men pull off the robbery without a hitch and fly to Los Angeles to fence the loot. Their customer asks if they'd be interested in pulling a quick job while out West; the men agree, but the robbery goes horribly wrong and they soon find themselves visited by Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), who represents a criminal mastermind named Keyser Soze. Soze's violent reputation is so infamous that he's said to have responded to a threat to murder his family by killing them himself, just to prove that he feared no one. When Kobayashi passes along a heist proposed by Soze that sounds like suicide, the men feel that they have little choice but to agree. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, (more)
- 1994
Hosted by Kevin Costner and narrated by Gregory Harrison, the historical documentary 500 Nations, Vol. 3: Clash of Cultures - The People Who Met Columbus is part of an eight-part series that portrays America's original inhabitants. The film provides an in-depth look at Columbus' arrival in the New World, the conquering of Caribbean nations by the Spaniards, and Hernando de Soto's conquests in Florida and the Mississippi Valley. ~ Kathleen Wildasin, All Movie Guide
- 1993
In this made-for-cable thriller an unemployed actor makes a little cash running acting classes. His troubles begin when the student he has been sleeping with calls him one day and says that she has been kidnapped. The next thing he knows, he is being framed for embezzlement and murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Paul Mazursky directed this comedy, which blends a broad satire of the film industry with a thoughtful tale of a middle-aged man looking back on his life's failures. Harry Stone (Danny Aiello) is a film director who desperately needs a hit -- so desperately that he gets talked into directing an inane sci-fi film about a group of farm kids (led by Ally Sheedy) who grow an enormous pickle that they turn into a spaceship, allowing them to visit the planet Cleveland (ruled by Little Richard and his right hand man, Griffin Dunne) where everyone eats nothing but meat. Convinced that the film will flop, Harry is in a state of panic as he returns to New York with his Parisian girlfriend Francoise (Clotilde Courau), a mere 20 years his junior, and visits his ex-wife Ellen (Dyan Cannon); his mother Yetta (Shelley Winters); and his son Gregory (Chris Penn). Meanwhile Harry flashes back on his childhood and the film he could have made of it, and pitches his dream film (a historical epic about the life of Montezuma) to studio executives, who instead want him to make a movie kids can relate to. The Pickle was filmed in 1991, but only received a token theatrical release two years later. Actually, the sci-fi story with Little Richard as the undisputed ruler of Cleveland looks like it might have been an ideal vehicle for Edward D. Wood Jr.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Dyan Cannon, (more)
- 1992
- R
Nicolas Roeg's Cold Heaven (based on a novel by Brian Moore) examines grief and loss and spiritual questions concerning belief and faith. Theresa Russell plays Maria, a woman in deep despair over the death of her husband Alex (Mark Harmon) in a boating accident. When Alex's body disappears from the morgue, she becomes convinced that he is still alive. Before her husband's death, she had been ready to abandon her marriage and start over again with another man, Daniel (James Russo). But Alex's death has made her guilty and has given her pause. Complicating matters is when Maria begins to see visions of Alex before her. Re-discovering her abandoned Catholicism, she begins to speak with a Carmelite nun (Talia Shire), Father Niles (Will Patton) and Monsignor Cassidy (Richard Bradford) about her Bernadette-like visions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Mark Harmon, (more)
- 1991
CBS's scheduled resolution of a Murphy Brown cliffhanger (is she pregnant or not?) cut a vital portion of the audience for Living A Lie upon its initial September 1991 telecast. Those who did tune into this TV movie were in for a well-intentioned if preachy anti-prejudice piece. The scene is a rural Southwestern community, where Jill Eikenberry has been happily married to Peter Coyote for years. An Hispanic family moves into the area, and is promptly subjected to violence. The principal suspect is Coyote--who is, as Eikenberry discovers for the first time, a fire-breathing bigot. As the body of evidence increases, she finds it difficult to stand by her husband, as the community expects her to. Ultimately her conscience wins out over misguided matrimonial loyalty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A sequel to the sci-fi action thriller that made him and star Arnold Schwarzenegger A-list Hollywood names, writer/director James Cameron upped the ante with this follow-up by employing a more sweeping storyline and cutting-edge special effects. Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor, now a single mother to rebellious teen John Connor (Edward Furlong), during the late nineties. Having been informed by a time-traveling soldier in the first film that John will one day grow up to become humanity's savior from a computer-controlled Armageddon, Sarah has responded by becoming a muscle-bound she-warrior bent on educating John in survival tactics and battle strategies. Her ranting about humankind's future has landed Sarah in an insane asylum and John in the foster care system. The rebellious John has responded to his situation by getting into scrapes with the law. When a new and improved Terminator android called the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) arrives from the future to eliminate John, an older model T-800 (Schwarzenegger) is sent to protect the boy. The T-1000, however, has the ability to morph itself into any shape it desires, allowing it chameleon-like powers and near indestructibility. The T-800 saves John's life and helps break Sarah out of the institution. Staying only one step ahead of the dogged T-1000, Sarah leads her son and the T-800 to the headquarters of Cyberdyne Systems, the company that will invent a robotic intelligence that will eventually take over the world. There, they attempt to convince inventor Miles Dyson (Joe Morton) to help them stop the future from ever occurring by destroying his work. Dyson sacrifices himself in an explosion to save the world, leading to a final showdown between the two Terminators at a steel foundry. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which won four Oscars in technical categories for its groundbreaking effects, was followed by a short sequel filmed exclusively as an attraction for theme parks, Terminator 2: 3-D Battle Across Time (1996). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, (more)
- 1989
Counselor Troi falls in love again, this time with handsome Chrysalian delegate Devinioni Ral (Matt McCoy). Alas, the object of Troi's affections is a double-dyed deceiver, intending to employ underhanded methods to gain control of a galactic shortcut called a wormhole. The shock of this discovery has profound long-ranging effects on both Troi and Ral. Scripted by Hannah Louise Shearer, "The Price" made its American TV debut on November 18, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Director Blake Edwards departed from his customary sex farces to direct an unusual satirical Western comedy-thriller. In 1927, legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (James Garner) comes to Hollywood to serve as an advisor to a film studio making a movie about Earp's life. He meets silent screen cowboy star Tom Mix (Bruce Willis). The two stumble upon a murder that has apparently occurred on the set but is linked to a renowned bordello. The aging cowboy and the young actor set off on a series of time-warp misadventures to try to solve the mystery. Along the way, they encounter the shady Alfie Alperin (Malcom McDowell) and the intriguing Cheryl King (Mariel Hemingway). ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, James Garner, (more)
