Tony Plana Movies

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

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

This comedy, set in the barrios East L.A. is loosely based upon Mark Twain's parable The Million Pound Bank Note. The new version tells the tale of Juan Lopez a nice, but uneducated hombre trying to earn enough money to support his little boy. Though Juan was born in the States, he lacks proper documentation and is sent back to Mexico. Now he sells oranges at an intersection. His life looks hopeless when a limousine pulls up and he is handed an envelope containing a check for one million dollars. He is told that he has one month. If he uses the money correctly he will get an award. Juan is suspicious and takes it to his immigration worker who encourages him to check it out. A Beverly Hills banker almost has apoplexy upon examining the check and Juan knows he has the real thing. Now the good-hearted Juan must avoid the temptations, and the greedy people that suddenly surround him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, an aloof, taciturn man who aspires to be a navy pilot. Once he's arrived at training camp for his 13-week officer's course, Mayo runs afoul of abrasive, no-nonsense drill sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett Jr.). Mayo --or "Mayonnaise," as he is dubbed by the irascible Foley -- is an excellent cadet, but a little cold around the heart. Foley rides Mayo mercilessly, sensing that the young man would be prime officer material if he weren't so self-involved. Zack's affair with working girl Paula Pokrifi (Debra Winger) is likewise compromised by his unwillingness to give of himself. Only after Mayo's best friend Sid Worsley (David Keith) commits suicide over an unhappy romance does Zack come out of his shell and mature into a real human being. Take away the R-rated dialogue and the sex scenes, and Officer and a Gentleman could have been a 1937 MGM flick, maybe with Robert Taylor as Zack, Wallace Beery as Foley, and Jimmy Stewart as Sid. An Officer and a Gentleman was nominated for 7 Oscars, with wins to Gossett and to the hit song "Up Where We Belong." The closing scene has surely become a classic of movie romance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Richard "Cheech" Marin, of Cheech & Chong fame, directed and starred in Born in East L.A.. Inspired by Marin's music-video parody of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", the film casts Cheech as an East Los Angeles repairman. While paying a visit to a sweatshop toy factory, Cheech is caught in the middle when the feds raid the place and cart off all the illegal alien workers. Since he's forgotten to bring his own i.d., Cheech is also shipped off to Mexico-where, having next to no knowledge of the Spanish tongue, he's virtually helpless. Desperate, he takes a job with crooked Tijuana saloon owner Daniel Stern-the first of many "make-do" jobs that he assumes to earn enough money to return home. Along the way, he falls in love with El Salvadorian girl Kamala Lopez, whose English is as fractured as Cheech's Spanish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This bio-film profiles the life of Pedro Gonzalez, the first Mexican radio show host. Gonzalez, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1928, became a target for racism after he became an important political activist in the 1930's. He was most influential among the residents of East L.A. who began to threaten the racist District Attorney. He ended up being falsely accused of rape. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This bleak post-apocalyptic science fiction actioner substitutes a plague instead of a bomb as the reason for civilization's demise but the result is the same -- grizzly motorcycle gangs with a ton of gasoline to burn. In City Limits the older generation has been wiped out by the plague, and the younger generation lives in a state of anarchy in a world controlled by biker gangs. The gangs live by rules discovered in pre-apocalyptic comic books. Two rival biker gangs, the Clippers and the DAs, have taken to dividing up a city amongst themselves and live under a fragile truce. Utilizing a comic-strip version of medieval times, a code has been established for violations of the pact between the gangs -- competitive jousting or acts of reciprocal retaliation. When a person dies, like a post-Holocaust Viking funeral, he is cremated along with his motorcycle. But this shaky peace between the bike gangs is threatened when the fascistic Sunya Corporation attempts to take over the city with the cooperation of the DA bike gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Originally made for television, this prison drama centers on a hard-core convict who for the past decade has been the king of the other prisoners. Just before he is to be paroled, a young inmate challenges him. This creates considerable tension until he learns that he and the youth are related by more than mere circumstance. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A conniving nephew (Anthony Geary) wishes to get rid of his elderly uncle (Ralph Bellamy) to collect a large inheritance, so he hires the three worst orderlies he can find (played by the Fat Boys). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Christmas and Hanukkah are simultaneously acknowledged during the holiday season at the ER. The faith of Holocaust survivor Hannah Steiner (Joan Copeland) is sorely tested when she is injured in a carjacking and her baby granddaughter is apparently kidnapped; and a priest (Tony Plana) who has been mortally wounded in a shooting at his own church prays that this tragedy will not result in wholesale gang war. As for the staffers, Greene (Anthony Edwards) sullenly prepares to spend his first Christmas without his wife; and Shep (Ron Eldard) finally expresses his true feelings toward Carol (Julianna Margulies). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

El Norte is a realistic picture of both the Guatemalan government's oppression of the Quiche Indians and the hard life of illegal immigrants in the United States. After the Guatemalan army destroys their village of San Pedro, two teenage Quiche Mayan Indian siblings journey north (hence El Norte) through Mexico to the United States to start a new life. The film opens with the destruction of the village and the peasants' pointless appeals to the authorities for justice. Realizing that the government is seizing their land, Enrique and Rosa make the difficult decision to leave their people behind. As they journey through Mexico, the siblings encounter a number of helpful individuals who direct them towards the U.S./Mexican border. There they find a "coyote" (a professional human smuggler) and make the frightening run across border. Once across, Enrique and Rosa are introduced to the impossible realities of life as an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles. Living in constant fear of deportation, they struggle to survive as they are exploited by a series of employers. Eventually, their luck takes a turn for the better when the manager of their motel offers Enrique a job. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

Just released from a long prison stay, a man is thrown into fatherhood when he regains custody of the son he's never met. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide