Tony Plana Movies

Based on writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo's novel of the same name, Life Is Hot in Cracktown explores how crack cocaine infiltrated the streets of urban America by following the journeys of four people whose lives are on a tragic collision course. Pre-op transsexual Marybeth (Kerry Washington) is working as a prostitute in order to save enough money to make her transformation complete. She lives with her lover, Benny, a small-time burglar, whom she hopes to marry after her final operation. Meanwhile, Manny (Victor Rasuk) is busy pulling double shifts while his wife, Concetta (Shannyn Sossamon), cares for their sickly infant son in their run-down apartment. By night Manny works at a 24-hour bodega frequented by junkies, drug dealers, and prostitutes, and by day keeps the peace as a security guard at a welfare hotel. One of the residents at that hotel is Willy, a ten-year-old boy who lives with his mother (Illeana Douglas) and her abusive boyfriend. Willy begs for money on the street so he and Susie can get some fast food. But it's dangerous out there, because volatile gangster Romeo (Evan Ross) is still searching the streets for his brother's killer, and he won't hesitate to terrorize anyone unfortunate enough to cross his warpath. Lara Flynn Boyle, Brandon Routh, Desmond Harrington, and RZA co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

First time director/screenwriter Antonio Negret details the frightening trend of kidnapping in Colombia with this tense tale of a young photographer who is abducted and held for ransom as his desperate parents scramble to raise the money that could save their child's life. Jose Gutierrez (Roberto Urbina) is a Colombian photographer in his early twenties who had come to America in order to pursue an education. Upon returning to his homeland, Jose is greeted by his good friends Jaime (Andres Toro), Pedro (Roberto Cano), and Luiza (America Ferrera. In the following days, Luiza attempts to show Jose just how much beauty Colombia truly has to offer. Despite the undeniable beauty of the land, however, Colombia holds a hidden danger that many fail to see until it's too late. Unfortunately for Jose, the night he realizes his love for Luiza and his homeland is the very same night that vicious kidnapping ringleader Manuel (Carlos Valencia) decides to strike. Now, realizing that their son's fate relies solely on the speed with which the ransom can be delivered, Jose's parents Marta (Alejandra Borrero) and Carlos (Tony Plana) hire an American "Kidnap and Ransom" company led by the experienced John (William Atherton) and his partners Victor (Cameron Daddo) and Charlie (David Sutcliffe) to negotiate with the quick-tempered Manuel. When Marta and Carlos' insurance company denies the claim and John attempts to reason with the increasingly erratic kidnapper, Victor begins to fear that time is running out and rounds up a team of special ops soldiers to search for Jose by helicopter. With only ninety-minutes to go before the deadline is up and Jose is killed, the race is on to either deliver the ransom or confront the kidnappers with force and firepower. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Wilmer Valderrama, Angie Cepeda, Joel David Moore, and Michael Parks star in director Brian Cox's adaptation of Javier Hernandez's gothic-flavored comic book about a young man gifted with a strange supernatural power, and determined to save the soul of the woman he loves. As a young orphan, Diego (Valderrama) met a mysterious Indian man who spoke Aztec and marked the boy with the sign of Tezcatlipoca before dropping dead and leaving the child to fend for himself in the desert. A decade later, Diego has settled in a Latino community in the southwestern United States. The love of Diego's life is a beautiful girl named Maria (Cepeda), the niece of a padre who resides at a local mission. To this day Diego holds a strange fascination with the Aztec gods, and on the Day of the Dead he paints himself up as a zombie mariachi before setting out to celebrate. On the way to the party, however, the mark on Diego's hand reappears and he is suddenly killed in a violent automobile accident. Upon awakening in the Aztec afterlife, Diego's heart is ripped out by Mictlantecuhtli and offered up to Tezcatlipoca. Now Tezcatlipoca retains full power over Diego's soul, and the apocalyptic prophecies of the Aztecs begin to come true as a cycle of sun showers commence. But with each sun shower a sacrifice must be made - a sacrifice of significant symbolic value. Unfortunately for Maria, her family is of the same Christian bloodline that once brought about the demise of the Aztecs, making them an ideal candidate for sacrifice as the sun showers commence. The one thing that Diego doesn't realize is that the mark left on him by that strange Indian so many years ago singled him out as the sacrificial priest charged with carrying out the sacrifices, and that his supernatural mission won't be completed until the last of Maria's bloodline has been offered up to the ancient gods. Now, in order to protect his love and prevent the apocalypse, Diego must turn against an ancient deity whose power and wisdom is beyond that of anything than the newly transformed sacrificial priest can even comprehend - much less hope to defeat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A secret U.S. military strike force battles a vampire infestation in the South American jungle in this action/horror film commissioned for the SciFi cable network. The top brass can't officially admit that vampires exist, but that doesn't stop Col. Jessica Weaver (Lynda Carter) from sending army commando Hawk (Casper Van Dien) and his team to the rain forest, where entire villages are being overrun by bloodsucking fiends. Things get even trickier when Hawk finds out that his ex-wife, Laurie (Jennifer O'Dell) -- who is also Col. Weaver's niece -- is in the same region conducting scientific research. Grieves (Kevin Grevioux), Hawk's right-hand man, soon gets enlisted into the ranks of the undead. But it's Laurie who unwittingly stumbles on the king of all vampires: Javier (Tony Plana), a seemingly mild-mannered nobleman whose secret history begins with the conquistadors and their quest for the fountain of youth. Slayer premiered July 8, 2006, on SciFi. Star Van Dien and writer/director Kevin VanHook previously teamed up for the 2005 horror film The Fallen Ones, while Van Dien and Grevioux are both veterans of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Dina (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and Behrooz (Jonathan Ahdout) successfully convince Navi (Nestor Serrano) that the teen has murdered his American girlfriend. But then the girl's mother (Phyllis Lyons) comes looking for her. Back at CTU, Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) has been busted by Driscoll (Alberta Watson) for secretly helping Jack (Kiefer Sutherland). Driscoll decides not to press charges, but demands Chloe's resignation. On her way out, she tells Edgar (Louis Lombardi), "Good luck today. You're gonna need it." She's right, of course. Marianne (Aisha Tyler) knows that Edgar was secretly helping Chloe, and threatens to tell Driscoll unless Edgar bumps up her security clearance. Driscoll agrees to let Jack run the ground operation, and asks the local cops to back off of Kalil (Anil Kumar), but a couple of patrolmen get the message late, arousing Kalil's suspicion that he's being followed. Once CTU determines the location of the compound where Heller (William Devane) and Audrey (Kim Raver) are being held, President Keeler (Geoff Pierson) authorizes a preemptive laser-guided missile strike to destroy the facility before the terrorists can broadcast Heller's show trial. The marines are on their way, but they won't get to the compound in time, leaving Jack as the only hope for rescuing the two captives. Heller, meanwhile, comes up with his own drastic plan to keep his show trial and execution from going forward. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Season four of the wildly successful "real-time" adventure series 24 begins some 18 months at the end of season three. John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) has succeeded David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) as president of the United States, and the new secretary of defense is James Heller (William Devane) -- who is also the new boss of crack CTU agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). One of Heller's first moves is to reunite Jack with his old nemesis Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), now the head of the CTU. Unbeknownst to most of the principal characters, Jack is in love with Heller's daughter (and policy assistant), Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), this despite the fact that Audrey is still legally married to estranged husband, Paul (James Frain). Outside of Jack Bauer and President Keeler, the only series character from season three to return as a regular in season four is CTU tech analyst Chloe O'Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub); the rest of the cast is virtually brand-new. The "day" that comprises the fourth season begins, typically, with a nail-biting crisis, when James Heller and his daughter Audrey are captured by a terrorist group headed by Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo), who has already set a fiendish master plan in motion with a train bombing in the U.S. It soon develops that the abduction of Heller and Audrey is but a subterfuge to allow an enemy stealth bomber to blow up Air Force One and eliminate the president -- and ultimately to gain control of a nuclear warhead that will destroy a major U.S. city. Making matters worse, there is a turncoat in the ranks of the CTU -- and without giving the game away, it can be noted that CTU agent Sarah Gavin (Lana Parrilla) tumbles to the mole's identity before Jack Bauer does. As the tension mounts, Paul Raines is seriously wounded saving Jack during a covert mission, which "ices" Jack's relationship with Audrey; a shattering personal tragedy forces Erin Driscoll to resign from her post in mid-season; there is dissension in the terrorist ranks during a concerted effort to trigger nuclear meltdowns in six different cities; the seldom-used 25th Amendment is invoked to change presidents in midstream; and an old enemy of Jack's from the series' first two seasons appears virtually out of nowhere to make a terrible situation far worse than could ever be imagined. Clearly, the fourth season of 24 drew inspiration from the headlines of the day, notably the controversial treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The series also was attacked by certain special-interest groups for making several of the villains Arabs, or of Arab descent. And of course, there were those who carped that the series' notion of "real time" (each episode consisted of a single uninterrupted hour in the same day) resulted in some rather ludicrous lapses of logic. But 24 was as big a hit in the ratings throughout its fourth season as it had been all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Police arrive on the scene to find that Heller (William Devane) and Audrey (Kim Raver) have been taken prisoner by the terrorists, while Richard (Logan Marshall-Green) hides in the house. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) asks Driscoll (Alberta Watson) to reinstate him, but she wants to detain him for torturing Sherek. Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) confides in Jack, telling him about Driscoll's mishandling of Andrew's call. She calls Andrew, who tells her that everyone in his office has been murdered, and the terrorists are after him. Unaware that a terrorist, Kalil Hasan (Anil Kumar), has cloned Andrew's cell and is listening in, Jack tells Andrew that he'll come to pick him up at Union Station in 30 minutes. Jack confronts Driscoll about ignoring Andrew's call, and demands to be reinstated, or he won't tell her where they've arranged to meet. Driscoll agrees to reinstate him temporarily, but insists that he work under Ronnie (Shawn Doyle). They head to the station, but Kalil gets there first, and pretends to be Jack in order to lure Andrew away. Meanwhile, at the Araz home, Behrooz (Jonathan Ahdout) is still in contact with his American girlfriend, Debbie (Leighton Meester), despite his parents' demand that he break things off. He goes on a crucial errand for Navi (Nestor Serrano), bringing the mysterious briefcase to the compound where (unbeknownst to Behrooz) Heller and Audrey are being held. Debbie, mistakenly thinking he's involved with another girl, follows him and is spotted by one of the terrorists. Behrooz later tells his father that Debbie didn't see anything incriminating, but Navi insists that he invite Debbie over to their house. As the hour closes, the terrorists blast the entire Internet with video of the captured Secretary of Defense, and explain that he'll be publicly tried for his crimes against humanity. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, this massive biography of Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins in the 1950s, when the title character, then a young and hungry lawyer, bristles at the iniquities and corruption of the Batista political regime. Inspired by the words by left-wing radio commentor Eddie Chibas (Hector Elizondo), Fidel becomes active in a revolutionary movement aimed at toppling Fulgencio Batista (Tony Plana). In 1959, Castro and his followers stage a spectacularly successful coup, one that is staunchly supported by thousands of idealists and Cuban expatriates in the United States. Unfortunately, to paraphrase cartoonist Bill Mauldin, no sooner has Fidel come down from the hills like Robin Hood than he begins behaving like the Sheriff of Nottingham, killing scores of his political enemies in round-the-clock executions, routinely snatching away the basic human rights that he had promised his followers, and embracing Communism with a fervent passion. Although the film does not shy away from showing the darker side of Castro, it is essentially sympathetic to its subject, balancing the Cuban dictator's political outrages with his many acts of benevolence, and attempting to provide "motivation" for what seem to be appalling contradictions. Victor Huggo Martin and Honorato Magaloni are cast respectively as the younger and older Castro, with Maurice Compte as his brother Raul and Gael Garcia Bernal as the ill-fated Che Guevara.Fidel was originally telecast in two parts over the Showtime cable network on January 27 and 28, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sports drama, a tough and ambitious woman follows her dream to succeed in a field where few women have dared to go. Isabelle Alvarado (Sophia Adella Hernandez) grew up in a tough neighborhood in East Los Angeles, where her father once had a promising career as a professional boxer. He set sports aside and took a job as a policeman, and her mother when Isabelle was still a child. Now that Isabelle has grown to adulthood, she wishes to follow in her father's footsteps and become a female boxer. She discovers, however, that in a sport dogged by corruption and dominated by men, the climb to the top is steep and slippery. Knockout also features Paul Winfield, William McNamara, and Tony Plana. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A pretty Hispanic high school student from a well-to-do family (Marisol Nichols) falls in love with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks (Nicholas Gonzalez) in this family-friendly drama inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale The Little Mermaid. The Princess and the Barrio Boy also stars Maria Conchita Alonso, Edward James Olmos, Tim Thomerson, and Pauly Shore. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV drama was based on the true story of Marita Lorenz (Gabrielle Anwar), an idealistic American of Latin descent who, in 1959, became fascinated with Fidel Castro (Joe Mantegna), the revolutionary leader who had recently seized control of Cuba. Against the wishes of her mother Alice (Jill Clayburgh), who works with the CIA, Marita travels to Cuba in hopes of meeting the charismatic leader. Fidel is quite taken with her, and he immediately asks her to stay on as his translator and secretary. But it quickly becomes obvious that Fidel's greatest interest in Marita is not professional; they are soon having an affair, and she becomes pregnant with his child. Marita becomes disillusioned with Fidel, believing that power has led him to betray many of the principles he fought for, but she's shocked and confused when she becomes frighteningly dizzy and passes out, only to wake up in New York City several days later, without her baby. Alice tells Marita that she was rescued in a daring raid after Fidel's henchmen poisoned her and aborted her unborn child. Alice now tries to persuade Marita to return to Cuba -- not to help Fidel, but to assassinate him. Originally produced for the Lifetime cable network, My Little Assassin also stars Robert Davi, Ada Maris, and Scott Paulin. The real Marita Lorenz served as an advisor to the production. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gina Gallagher (Tracey Needham) is a federal prosecutor who sends a major drug dealer to prison only to find herself the target of his partners in crime. Their reprisals become too close for comfort when Gina's partner is killed, but she begins to suspect that the drug lords have gained some powerful allies when a major U.S. attorney begins running interference against her. However, Frank (James Belushi), an undercover FBI agent, and Moe (Charles Durning), a retired cop, become Gina's unlikely allies as she tries to get to the bottom of the dealers' tangled web and save her own neck in the process. JoBeth Williams also stars. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide