Daniel Lugo Movies
- 1998
Alejandro Saderman directed this Venezuelan-German-U.S. thriller, set during a nationwide financial scandal, about four stressed-out, middle-class guys in desperate financial straits. Their solution is a robbery of the state-run Pan-American Bank. Arriving shortly after the New Year, adman Horacio (Orlando Urdaneta) and childhood pals Valmore (Daniel Lugo), Rogelio (Aroldo Betacourt), and Vicente (Mariano Alvarez) quickly discover that the bank has been victimized in a fake robbery by its own president. Further, accountant Pujol (Armando Gota) managed to beat them to the bank. After the gang mistakes the filming of a TV commercial for TV news cameras, the determined policeman Gomez Lira (Manuel Salazar) and other cops surround the building. Despite the police presence, Horacio successfully cracks the computer code, adds hostages to the heist happening, and finds time for some romance -- as a party atmosphere begins to pervade the stand-off. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Orlando Urdaneta, Daniel Lugo, (more)
A disconnected accountant finds his mundane life injected with a new sense of urgency after striking up a friendship with a charismatic attorney in director Marcel Langenegger's sexually charged action thriller. Jonathan (Ewan McGregor) is an accountant who has lost his passion in life. When his powerful new lawyer friend, Wyatt (Hugh Jackman), introduces Jonathan to a salacious underground sex club called The List, the dejected accountant soon believes he has found the woman of his dreams (Michelle Williams). His newfound happiness takes a turn for the worse, however, when Jonathan is named the prime suspect in the woman's disappearance as well as the theft of 20 million dollars. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, (more)
Barry Levinson directed this comedy in which success has a rather surprising effect on two old buddies. Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) and Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) are best friends and next-door neighbors who work together at a sandpaper factory. Nick and Tim often find themselves wishing for something more from life, and Nick has a habit of dreaming up harebrained get-rich-quick schemes that usually end in disaster. Tim is particularly appalled by Nick's latest idea, "Vapoorizer," a cleaning product which will make pet feces magically disappear, but to their shock, it turns out to be an incredible success, and before long Nick is wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Tim, however, is still the same guy getting by in suburbia he's always been, and soon Tim finds himself bitterly resentful of his old friend. As Nick gets richer, Tim gets angrier, and he develops a drinking problem. One night, in a bar, Tim meets an eccentric drifter (Christopher Walken) who offers him some not-so-friendly advice on getting even with his old friend. Envy also stars Rachel Weisz and Amy Poehler as Tim and Nick's much-put-upon spouses. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Stiller, Jack Black, (more)
- 1987
La Gran Fiesta is set in 1942, when relations between the Continental United States and Puerto Rico were delicate at best. Casino de Puerto Rico, a lavish San Juan nightspot, is about to be turned over to a recreational center for US troops. To celebrate their last night as a "civilian" nighterie, the staff members of the Casino stage one final all-stops-out Grand Ball. Everyone is invited, even those "undesirables" who would normally be shut out of the black-tie establishment. The names of the film's stars will probably be unfamiliar to a non-Latino audience; most filmgoers, however, will quickly recognize Raul Julia and E.G. Marshall in their brief guest appearances. Though many American films and TV programs had previously been lensed in Puerto Rico, La Gran Fiesta was the first feature-length film to be produced by the Puerto Rican film industry itself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Lugo, Miguel Angel Suarez, (more)
- 2006
Director Diego de la Texera's magic realist fable Meteoro (AKA Meteorite, 2006) unfolds in April 1960, at the time of Brasilia's inauguration as the new capital of Brazil. As de la Texera's film opens, the Brazilian government orders the construction of a major highway between Brasilia and the remainder of the country. The work crew assigned to build the stretch between Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza must labor in a severely underdeveloped, barren region, surrounded by thousands of square miles of uninhabited Brazilian wilderness. Each month, the government office in charge of the crew sends provisions to the unsupervised workers, including a cadre of prostitutes known as "Madam's Girls." The unit's condition nonetheless deteriorates ever further, until - on the night of a military coup d'etat - a yellow meteorite streaks across the sky and hits the ground, causing a fountain to open. Soon after, Julião, a Brazilian Indian, turns up and teaches the workers how to draw on the practices of the ancients to decode the messages written in the stars. Together, the workers establish a village, christen it 'Meteoro,' and live there contentedly until a Brazilian military helicopter turns up. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Married for twenty years, Maggie (Roma Downey) and George (Tim Matheson) have drifted apart and are on the verge of divorce. To prevent this, the couple's kids (and their respective parents) bankroll a second honeymoon vacation on a lush tropical island. But though Maggie and George struggle mightily to rekindle their romance, things don't look good when Maggie is swept off her feet by a local Romeo and George is entranced by a leggy blonde. Evidently at this point the marriage can be saved only by an improbable twist of fate, so guess what happens? Made for TV and originally telecast by CBS, Second Honeymoon was first aired on March 11, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- NR
This lively musical has political overtones as it tells the tale of the happy reunion of a famous Argentine tango dancer, who fled the country during a military coup, and his long-time friends and partners ten years later. Actually, the story is an excuse to show many film clips from the history of the famous dance. It also chronicle's the country's political history. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raul Julia, Valeria Lynch, (more)
Functioning as an unofficial Spanish-language equivalent of Steven Soderbergh's muckraker Traffic (2000), co-directors Ricardo Mendez Matta and Poli Marichal's meller Thieves and Liars traces the web of drug money-related corruption inherent in the Puerto Rican socioeconomic climate. As in the Soderbergh ensemble picture, Marichal and Matta interweave a number of socially relevant stories on various levels of Puerto Rican society - all about the movement of drugs from the Third World to Puerto Rico to the States. In one substory, Puerto Rican man Oscar (Steven Bauer) - in an attempt to gain revenge for the death of a friend - rubs out a drug boss, and thus sinks to a level every bit as dirty and shameless as his victim. In another, two young men, Cheo and Miguel, use drug money to support their needy grandmother. In a third, single mother and airport worker Wanda Velez (Magda Rivera) attempts to navigate her way through the byzantine Puerto Rican legal system, taking on the fly-by-night company that manipulated and conned her. And in still another substory, adolescent Luisito (Carlos Paniagua) teeters on the verge of self-destruction with illegal drug use, despite the constant admonitions of his concerned mother. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steven Bauer, Elpidia Carrillo, (more)
