Pablo Santos Movies
- 2007
Mexican screen legend Angelica Maria returns to the silver screen for the first time in twenty years to star alongside Brazilian star Sonia Braga in this magic realism style film that eschews the cynicism and violence so common in 21st Century cinema to explore the mysteries and wonders of human relationships. Convinced that she shares a powerful connection with the sea, a beautiful woman defies everyone around her and soon discovers that, in a world where myths are reality and truth imaginary, sometimes humans can connect with nature in the most remarkable ways. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnathon Schaech, Sendi Bar, (more)
Made for cable, Walkout is the true story of a little-known but profoundly significant moment in the history of the Latino community in East Los Angeles. In 1968, Lincoln High School honor student Paula Crisostomo (Alexa Vega), outraged at the shabby treatment afforded Chicano students in the L.A. school system -- including habitually lowered expectations, poor facilities, a total absence of bilingual courses or textbooks, unfairly administered penalties for slight infractions, demeaning corporal punishment, and out-of-hand refusal to write letters of recommendation to choice colleges -- challenges the authority of her elders for the first time in her life by organizing a mass student walkout at five barrio high schools. Mentored by dedicated young teacher Sal Castro (Michael Pena), Paula and her fellow student activists intend to make their protest a peaceful one, but the L.A. cops typically use brute force to quell the "radicals." Even when it seems that the school board will capitulate to the Chicano students' demands, the kids are betrayed (there's an undercover police officer in their midst) and the leaders of the walkout are threatened with lengthy prison sentences on trumped-up "conspiracy" charges. It will not spoil the ending of the film to reveal that the students are ultimately successful; as directed by actor Edward James Olmos (who also plays one of the school board members), the dramatic thrust of the story is the lasting effect that the protest has on its participants -- especially the idealistic Paula Crisostomo. Executive producer Moctesuma Esparza, who'd been one of the original walkout organizers back in 1968, spent a full two decades getting this story on film; Esparza is played by Bodie Olmos, son of the director, while Esparza's daughter Tonantzin Esparza is seen as Vickie Castro. Also, Paula Crisostomo's daughter Marisol Crisostomo-Romo is seen as Mita -- and in addition, several of the former student activists are interviewed during the closing credits, or appear as extras in the crowd scenes. Produced for HBO, Walkout originally aired on March 18, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexa Vega, Michael Peña, (more)
The drama Shackles stars D.L. Hughley as a teacher who, desperate for employment, takes the one job he is offered. The job involves teaching inside a prison, a place that is not hospitable to him or to the idea of bettering oneself through education. The teacher stands up to a variety of forces that are against him. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- D.L. Hughley, Jose Pablo Cantillo, (more)
Nothing screams "PARTY!" like a vacant mansion in Beverly Hills, and when a pair of Latino teens finds just such a location, they spare no time in rocking the house in this comedy from director Ted Mendenhall. Though the teens' house-painting jobs provide just barely the money needed to get by, the job does have its perks -- and when they're hired to paint a wealthy couple's house, they find out just much fun it can be. After a few phone calls, the house is filled with some of the duo's wildest friends, and soon enough, the party careens so far out of hand that they're not quite sure they'll be able to reign it in before the owners return! ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Series creator Peter Murrieta based the weekly, half-hour sitcom Greetings From Tucson on his own experience growing up in a multicultural household. When he received a promotion on his job, Mexican-American patriarch Joaquin (Julio Oscar Mechoso) moved his family into a slightly more upscale Tucson neighborhood. Despite his new surroundings, the rule-bound Joaquin remained loyal to the "old values" passed down from his homeland, and tended to keep his children -- son David (Pablo Santos) and daughter Maria (Aimee Garcia) -- on very short leashes. Slightly more liberal in her parental behavior was Joaquin's feisty Irish-American wife Elizabeth (Rebecca Creskoff), while Joaquin's peppery mother Magdalena (Lupe Ontiveros) and indolent brother Ernesto (Jacob Vargas) could easily be described as overraged hippies. Much of the humor was of the culture-clash variety, with Joaquin's Mexican traditionalism, Elizabeth's Irish pragmatism, and daughter Maria's self-imposed Spanish nationalism all brought into play. After a bit of pre-release script tinkering (including changing the family's name from Campos to Tiant and changing the series' title from Just for You), Greetings From Tucson finally premiered on September 20, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julio Oscar Mechoso, Rebecca Creskoff, (more)
- 2001
After foiling a plot to blow up an international seminar with a human bomb, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) is assigned by SD-6 to kidnap a German biotech engineer. CIA agent Vaughn (Michael Vartan) offers to help Syd double-cross SD-6 without their knowing it, using a CIA computer expert named Paul Kelvin (Tom Everett) as a decoy. Elsewhere, Sydney's father, Jack (Victor Garber), is driven to desperate measures to protect his daughter, and Will (Bradley Cooper) comes closer to solving the mystery of Danny's death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
