Alvaro Augustin Movies

Director Juan Antonio Bayona follows up his critically acclaimed feature debut The Orphanage with this drama set during the 2004 Thailand tsunami, detailing one family's incredible fight for survival. Inspired by actual events, The Impossible finds Henry (Ewan McGregor), his wife Maria (Naomi Watts), and their three sons lounging poolside at a scenic Thailand resort following an eventful Christmas. But just as the family begins to forget their troubles and settle in for a relaxing tropical getaway, one of the worst natural disasters in modern history changes their lives in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, as shock gives way to abject horror, the devoted parents fight to protect their children, encountering scenes of heart-wrenching tragedy and experiencing acts of incredible compassion as the entire country is engulfed in chaos. Tom Hollander and Geraldine Chaplin co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Corrupt cop Santos Trinidad (José Coronado) seeks to silent the witness who watched him drunkenly kill three people in a bar as the official police investigation into the murders uncovers a vast conspiracy involving a dangerous terrorist cell. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A doctor is forced to examine his principles and the consequences of his actions in this psychological drama from Spain. Diego (Eduardo Noriega) is a doctor who is generally assigned patients who are in critical condition; after several years of dealing with death and crisis, he's beginning to burn out and feels dulled to the pain and confusion felt by those around him. Diego's marriage to fellow doctor Pilar (Cristina Plazas) is falling apart, and he's not doing much better with his angry teenage daughter Ainhoa (Clara Lago) or his ailing father. One of Diego's patients is Sara (Angie Cepeda), who is dealing with multiple sclerosis while expecting a baby; when she overdoses on her medication, her husband Armand (Carlos Leal) is certain Diego is at fault and shoots him before taking his own life. Diego survives the attempt on his life, but when he regains consciousness, everything seems different; a woman named Isabel (Belen Rueda) insists she's his wife, and they have to deal with a crisis involving their teenage daughter. El Mal Ajeno (aka For The Good Of Others) was the first feature film from director Oskar Santos. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

An angry man with a secret becomes a silent witness to the life of strangers in this drama from Spanish filmmaker Sebastian Cordero. Jose Maria (Gustavo Sanchez Parra) is a South American exile who has emigrated to Spain in search of a better life. Jose is working in construction when he meets Rosa (Martina Garcia), a fellow exile who is a maid for a wealthy couple who live in a rambling mansion that has seen better days. Jose has an uncertain temper and when a conflict with his boss turns violent, he finds himself wanted by the law. Adding to Jose's problems, he's in the country illegally, and when he turns to Rosa for help, she hides him in the attic of the home where she works. Rosa's employers (Concha Velasco and Xavier Elorriaga) are none the wiser as Jose slips in and out of the house's many hiding places, spying on their every move as he tries to satisfy his curiosity while remaining out of sight. But the couple has a son (Alex Brendemühl) who is attracted to Rosa, and when he tries to seduce her, the young man doesn't realize a jealous man with a violent streak is watching. La Rabia (aka Rage) received its North American debut at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Inspired by the visually stylish Italian giallos of the 1970s, first-time writer/director Stefano Bessoni's Imago Mortis follows a young film student on his quest to unmask a killer who projects his victims' last visions for the entire world to see. Bruno (Alberto Amarilla) is a student at the F.W. Murnau Institute, an international film school where aspiring filmmakers ply their trade. After discovering a bizarre helmet that immediately goes missing, Bruno is troubled to see his classmates start dropping like flies. There's a killer on the loose, a madman who taunts his prey by using a camera obscura to project the final image seen by his previous victims before moving in for the kill. His gruesome technique is based on the theory of "Thanatography," in which the final image a person sees before death is permanently imprinted on their retina. By removing his victims' eyes after the murder has been committed, the killer not only collects the ultimate trophy, but has a morbid means of taunting future victims, as well. But Bruno suffers from terrible nightmares, and his waking reality becomes ever more twisted; identifying the killer becomes an impossible task. After all, it could be anyone from former director of photography Astolfi (Francesco Carnelutti), whose son was killed while working on a film directed by Professor Olinski (Alex Angulo), to Prof. Olinski himself, or even school proprietor Countess Orsini (Geraldine Chaplin), whom Bruno suspects to be the leader of a collegiate cabal that may wield more power than either he, or the rest of the student body, actually realizes. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Nearly 40 years after Che Guevara's execution in Bolivia, director Steven Soderbergh retraces the life of the iconic Cuban revolutionary in this nearly four-and-a-half-hour saga. Part 1 begins on November 26, 1956, as Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) sails into Cuban waters with 80 rebels in tow. Among those rebels is Argentine doctor Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Benicio Del Toro), a man who shares Castro's dream of overthrowing corrupt dictator Fulgencio Batista. As the struggle gets under way, Guevara proves an indispensable part of the revolution due to his firm grasp on the concepts of guerilla warfare. Guevara is heartily embraced by both his comrades and the Cuban people, and quickly rises through the ranks to become first a commander, and ultimately a revolutionary hero. Part 2 of the saga begins with Guevara at the absolute peak of his fame and power. Disappearing suddenly, Guevara subsequently resurfaces in Bolivia to organize a modest group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits in preparation for the Latin American Revolution. But while the Bolivian campaign would ultimately fail, the tenacity, sacrifice, and idealism displayed by Guevara during this period would make him a symbol of heroism to followers around the world. Part 1 and Part 2 were screened together as Che at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, and also received a limited theatrical release under that same title in U.S. theaters later that same year. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A young American mathematician visiting the United Kingdom is drawn into a complex murder mystery when his landlady is brutally slain in director Álex de la Iglesia's tense and stylish thriller. John Hurt stars in a film scripted by longtime de la Iglesia collaborator Jorge Guerricaechevarría. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When an American couple (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) traveling from China to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian Railway meets an outwardly friendly couple (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara) traveling the same route, deception soon gives way to murder in The Machinist director Brad Anderson's tense tale of international intrigue. Ben Kingsley and Thomas Kretschmann co-star as a pair of Russian police officers striving to solve the case and stop the rising body count. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro produces director Juan Antonio Bayona's gothic frightener about a long-abandoned orphanage with a particularly troubling past. As a child, young orphan Laura spent her formative years being cared for by the staff of a large orphanage located by the Spanish seaside. Those were some of the happiest years of Laura's life, and now, 30 years later, the former charge returns to the dilapidated institution with her husband, Carlos, and their seven-year-old son, Simon, to reopen the orphanage as a facility for disabled children. However, something ominous haunts the darkened hallways of this silent, stately manor. When Simon's behavior begins to grow increasingly bizarre and malicious, Laura and Carlos start to suspect that the mysterious surroundings have awoken something ominous in the young boy's imagination. It's not long before Laura, too, is drawn into this disturbing web and the repressed memories of the past come flooding back in a terrifying torrent of tension and deeply disturbing revelations. With opening day drawing near and their situation growing increasingly grim by the hour, Carlos attempts to write off Simon's bizarre behavior as a desperate bid to get more attention from his distracted parents. Laura isn't so easily convinced of this theory, though, and soon embarks on a desperate quest to unearth the terrible secret that lurks in the old house, waiting for just the right moment to inflict devastating damage on both her and her family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Spanish writer-director Emilio Martínez Lazáro's bawdy musical comedy romance Both Sides of the Bed (Los Dos Lados de la Cama, 2006) constitutes a sequel to that director's earlier musical The Other Side of the Bed (AKA El Otro Lado de la Cama, 2002). Just as that first film plays out the farcical romantic shenanigans of a group of single young men and their lovers, the sequel offers more of the same, but adds greater depth to the proceedings. The story finds Javier (Ernesto Alterio) and Marta (Veronica) celebrating their pending nuptials in a nightclub, on the evening before their wedding. They are accompanied by two friends romantically involved with one another, Pedro (Guillermo Toledo) and the chanteuse Raquel (Lucia Jimenez). The plans of each couple are soon undone by Marta's hesitation - the product of her undeclared lesbianism and carnal involvement with Raquel (evident when the women quietly slip off to the ladies' room and have intercourse). A third friend, Carlota (Pilar Castro), happens to stumble onto the women making it, but says nothing to the boys. The next morning, Marta jilts Javier, Raquel leaves Pedro, and the remainder of the film has the men gradually coming face-to-face with the girls' lesbianism, while forging a deeper bond with Carlota. Throughout the film, Lazáro laces his picture with bubble-gum music (predominantly breezy 1970s and 1980s Spanish pop hits) and electric choreography, performed by an ensemble of twenty dancers. In lieu of employing musical asides, the director integrates the musical numbers into individual scenes. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the phantasmagorical cinema that defined such early fare as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone with this haunting fantasy-drama set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and detailing the strange journeys of an imaginative young girl who may be the mythical princess of an underground kingdom. Her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), recently remarried to sadistic army captain Vidal (Sergi López) and soon to bear the cruel military man's child, shy young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) is forced to entertain herself as her recently-formed family settles into their new home nestled deep in the Spanish countryside. As Ofelia's bed-ridden mother lies immobilized in anticipation of her forthcoming child and her high-ranking stepfather remains determined to fulfill the orders of General Francisco Franco to crush a nearby guerilla uprising, the young girl soon ventures into an elaborate stone labyrinth presided over by the mythical faun Pan (Doug Jones). Convinced by Pan that she is the lost princess of legend and that in order to return to her underground home she must complete a trio of life-threatening tasks, Ofelia sets out to reclaim her kingdom and return to her grieving father as Vidal's housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdú) and doctor (Alex Angulo) plot secretly on the surface to keep the revolution alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A disgraced bodyguard is torn between duty and vengeance when he's forced to protect the very same assassin who previously murdered his client. John Ridley (Til Schweiger) has been sworn to protect, and when he fails at his job, he simply walks away. Haunted, he spends years attempting to erase the image of a client being killed right before his eyes. But when Ridley is offered a job that could set him up for life, he has no choice but to accept. Little did Ridley realize that the man he would be protecting is Lee Maxwell (Chazz Palminteri). It was Maxwell who dispatched with Ridley's client as the helpless bodyguard watched in horror, and with three days to go before the cold-blooded hit-man testifies before the grand jury, the man hired to guard his life begins plotting his revenge. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Filmmaker Chus Gutiérrez directs this high-spirited comedy set in newly democratic Spain and detailing the adventures of a teenage virgin who flees to a decadent nightclub in order to escape her tyrannical mother. Sara (Verónica Sánchez) may be virginal, but as with most teens she's got a rebellious streak a mile wide. Upon discovering a Madrid club known as El Calentito, Sara finally finds a place where she can be her true self. Anything goes at El Calentito, and the vibe at the club is both pansexual and punk rock. Presiding over El Calentito is motherly transsexual Antonia (Nuria Gonzalez). One of the biggest bands on the local scene is Las Sioux, so when lesbian lead singer and Joan Jett lookalike Carmen (Ruth Diaz) and free-spirited Leo (Macarena Gomez) invite Sara to join the band, the eager adolescent jumps at the chance. But on the night of their performance for a hig-powered record executive, something astonishing happens -- the remaining members of Franco's fascist regime stage a daring coup d'état. Will El Calentito survive the ensuing chaos, and what will become of Las Sioux? With the future of the entire country suddenly thrown into doubt, the club is suddenly infused with a newfound sense of energy and urgency, and young, innocent Sara will experience sights and sounds that she could never have imagined. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi