Karla Montana Movies
- 1993
Radio sex therapist Kate Vernon could use a slice of her own advice in the R-rated Dangerous Touch. Against her better judgement, she falls hard for charismatic Lou Diamond Phillips. As the relationship intensifies (and we see plenty of that intensification), Phillips inveigles Vernon in a hellish world of crime, double-cross and death. Why is it that we would know enough not to get in so deep, but the characters on the screen don't seem to have any sort of built-in early warning system? Why? Because someone has to watch movies like Dangerous Touch, and yell such things as "Look Out!" "Don't Trust Him!" and "What the heck were you thinking of?" at the screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
In this modern version of a traditional holiday pageant, a young Mexican girl has a dream about the shepherd's who went to Bethlehem to see the young king. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The New York Mounted Police division teams up a former rodeo cowboy and a veteran police officer. ~ All Movie Guide
In this touching family drama, a young girl's dreams of having an extra-special 15th birthday party are shattered when she discovers that her father is an illegal alien and may be deported back to Mexico. The movie was first shown as part of the Wonderworks family film series on PBS. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Karla Montana
Edward James Olmos portrays the real-life Jaime Escalante, a no-nonsense mathematic teacher in a tough East LA high school. Handed a classroom full of "losers" and "unteachables," Escalante is determined to turn his young charges' lives around. Drawing from his own cultural heritage, Escalante forms a bond with his largely Hispanic student body, evoking the names of famous Spaniards and Latin Americans whose great accomplishments were predicated on their ability to learn. The students gradually come to realize that the only way they'll escape their own poverty-stricken barrio is to improve themselves intellectually. As a result, the class' academic achievements soar dramatically -- too dramatically for the Educational Testing Service, which is convinced that the class' high test scores are the results of cheating. The triumphant exoneration of Escalante's students provides Stand and Deliver with its rousingly upbeat conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips, (more)
Colors stars Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as partners on the LAPD's gang crime division. Duvall had hoped to spend more time with his family, but he's pulled back into active service because of a step-up in gang activity. He makes no secret of his contempt for his novice partner Penn, but eventually comes to rely on the younger man as a valuable street contact. The central crisis is the battle for supremacy between the "Crips" and the "Bloods", with every effort to call a truce stymied by the gang members themselves and by undue police intervention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, (more)
