Jorge Mondragon Movies

Carlos Cuarón, who co-wrote the script for his brother Alfonso Cuarón's breakthrough hit, Y Tu Mamá También, makes his feature directorial debut with Rudo y Cursi. The film also reunites the stars of the earlier film, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, and is the first release from the production company Alfonso started with Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu, Cha Cha Chá. Rudo y Cursi depicts the changing relationship between two brothers who become soccer stars. Beto (Luna), the goaltender, is nicknamed "Rudo" because of his hard-nosed style of play, while Tato (Bernal), a forward, gets the nickname "Cursi" for his flamboyant goal celebrations and his flashy lifestyle. They both start out picking bananas in remote Tlachatlán, where they share a devotion to their mother. Then Batuta (Argentinean comic Guillermo Francella), a charmingly shiftless professional scout, happens by. He can only sign one of the brothers, so they battle it out on the pitch to see who gets his break. Instead of throwing the match to his brother as plan, Tato scores a goal and is on his way to stardom. He's more interested in becoming a pop star than a soccer star, but when he meets Maya (Jessica Mas), a famous TV hostess he's dreamed about for years, he begins to enjoy the trappings of fame. Meanwhile, resentful Beto waits for his chance. When he finally gets his break, he leaves his disapproving wife, Toña (Adriana Paz), and his kids to sneak off to Mexico City. The brothers' fortunes rise and fall, with Tato distracted by a demanding girlfriend and a hopeless singing career, while Beto deals with marital strife and a serious gambling problem. Rudo y Cursi had its New York Premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

In this Mexican supernatural drama, a bereaved mother is granted three wishes after she makes a pact with the devil. Her first wish is to bring her son back from the dead. Unfortunately things don't turn out as well as she'd hoped they would. The story is based on The Monkey's Paw. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

American "B"-movie mogul Jerry Warren can always be counted on to turn a cheap but fun horror import into a boring, unwatchable mess -- as proven by this tedious effort, originally produced in Mexico as The Aztec Mummy and later padded out with deadly-dull exposition. The original film is silly enough; the first of a popular Mexican series, it involves the awakening of the mummy Popoca to avenge the desecration of his tomb by infidels. As a cost-saving measure, instead of re-dubbing the Spanish dialogue, Warren added new scenes with American actors, who drone on about reincarnation and past-life regression and bring the action to a screeching halt. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

In this Mexican wrestling-horror movie, the bizarre experiments of a crazed scientist end in violence and death. The trouble begins when he transplants a gorilla's brain into a man's head. Next he transplants another into a female wrestler's head. She dies. Her sister, another wrestler, vows to get revenge. She recruits other wrestlers and the police to assist her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A thoroughly unfunny Mexican parody of Universal's monster series, Frankenstein, el Vampiro y Compania blatantly plagiarizes the premise and characters of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein for no apparent reason. Manuel "Loco" Valdes (perfectly awful in the Bud Abbott role) and Jose Jasso (as Loco Valdes's mentally-challenged sidekick) play a pair of bumbling delivery boys transporting the remains of Frankenstein's monster to the castle residence of a vampire, who intends to enlist the aid of a scientist (Nora Veryan) in transplanting the sidekick's brain into the creature. One has to wonder why the filmmakers didn't simply make a dubbed version of the original; at least Bud and Lou's physical antics would have remained intact. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Refugiados en Madrid (Refugees in Madrid) boasts an impressive array of Mexican film talent, chief among them Maria Conesa, Arturo de Cordoba, and brothers Fernando and Domingo Solar. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, hundreds of refugees begin pouring into the Mexican embassy in Madrid. Accepting as many fugitives as possible, the officials shepherd the fortunate ones to the safe harbor of Valencia. Inevitably, however, the embassy is forced to lock its doors, resulting in a variety of reactions from the unlucky throngs left on the outside. Taking no sides in the Spanish war, Refugiados en Madrid is a plea for the right of unlimited political asylum. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi