Mike Benitez Movies
- 2006
A cranky janitor tired of governmental red tape turns a special election into a horse race in this independent political satire. Leo Meruchal (Ricardo Barber) is the elderly superintendent of a decaying brownstone in a Latin American neighborhood in Manhattan. Leo is a chronically grumpy man who doesn't like his job and is having a hard time looking after his mother, who is waiting out a terminal illness in a local hospital. Leo would prefer to care for his mother at home, but bureaucracy prevents it, and when he learns that a seat in Congress has suddenly become vacant, Leo impulsively decides to run. While a grouchy man waving a mop and plastering homemade signs around the neighborhood wouldn't seem to have much of a future in politics, his two competitors in the race are just inept enough -- and Leo's no-nonsense attitude and winning habit of breaking into song are refreshing enough -- that for a moment it looks like the old man might just pull off the political upset of a lifetime. Vote for Me was the first feature from writer and director Nelson Antonio Denis, a former East Harlem assemblyman who was inspired to make the film after his own unsuccessful run for Congress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ricardo Barber, Mike Benitez, (more)
- 2003
A young Russian model dies while shoplifting at a trendy clothing store, apparently the victim of an overdose of prescription drugs. During their investigation, the detectives cross the path of a controversial and extremely abrasive "Dr. Feelgood" named Ellis Heinz (Jonathan Hogan). But as much as the DA's office would like to send Heinz to prison for his unorthodox drug ministrations, it is just possible that the dead model was the victim of something other than a reckless misdiagnosis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
An explosion in a rent-controlled tenement building results in a single fatality. It is later revealed that the victim, identified as Jeffrey Haden, had his neck broken and was tied up before the explosion. Things take an even more disturbing turn when "Jeffrey Haden" turns out to be an alias for Juseff Haddad who, despite his minimum-wage job, was able to maintain a bank account totalling 89,000 dollars. Dianne Wiest makes her last series appearance as Interim D.A. Nora Lewin in this, the final episode of Law & Order's 12th season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An ex-mercenary (Tom Berenger) becomes a take-no-prisoners teacher in a drug-ridden, gang-infested Miami high school in this campy morality tale about restoring lost American virtues to the inner city. Berenger's character, Shale, has no first name, a shadowy past as a patriotic gun-for-hire, and is temporarily unemployed and living with an idealistic teacher, Jane Hetzko (Diane Verona). Jane has angered a school gang leader, Juan Lucas (Marc Anthony), by asking the principal to get him transferred after he has threatened her in the schoolyard. After Jane is kneecapped by a gang member, Shale fakes a resume and becomes a substitute teacher, Mr. Smith. He lectures his class on the lessons of Vietnam ("We were fighting Communism") while looking for a way to get revenge on Juan. When he challenges the school's tolerance for student misbehavior, Smith is fired by the slimy principal, Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson), an ex-cop who is running for City Council and doesn't want to rock the boat. Shale stays because he cites a union rule requiring two weeks' notice. During that period, tensions escalate and eventually Shale intervenes in a gang war that degenerates into a school-destroying inferno of violence. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, (more)
