Álvaro Carcaño Movies

In this over-the-top romantic comedy from Mexico, Gabriel (Arath de la Torre) is a regular guy who one day falls head over heels for Alejandra (Barbara Mori), a beautiful girl he sees in a dance club. While it's love at first sight for Gabriel, he doesn't get Alejandra's phone number; soon he's obsessed both with how to find her and then how to win her heart, and the advice of his knucklehead pals doesn't prove to be very helpful. In time, Gabriel finally makes a date with Alejandra, but Gabriel quickly learns that she isn't quite as interested in him as he is in her. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The American military-industrial complex has a blueprint for the perfect mechanical soldier. Unfortunately, the prototype, Solo (Mario Van Peebles), has responded appropriately to his programming (which requires him to reason things out on his own), with results that the designers didn't anticipate and don't like. For one thing, he objects to killing innocent bystanders. Already one of their covert operations has been ruined by his scruples. The manufacturers have given orders that he is to be taken back to the lab and reprogrammed. Now on the run from his makers, he comes to a village of oppressed peasants and teaches them how to fight back successfully in a sequence which harkens to the classic The Seven Samurai.









































































































~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In El Salvador in the late '70s, the wealthy few rule the impoverished many. To maintain the status quo against peasant insurgents and labor organizations, the military regime brutalizes the populace, in particular, rebels who espouse Marxism. Assassinations, executions, and disappearances become commonplace. When the Vatican elevates conservative Oscar Arnulfo Romero (Raul Julia) to archbishop, the military rulers believe he will quiet the masses and the activist priests who support them. "Blessed are the peacemakers," he will preach. At first, that is precisely what he does. But when soldiers thwart voters, shoot indiscriminately into crowds, torture dissidents, and kill a dedicated priest and friend of Romero, the archbishop condemns the regime in radio messages, rebukes quisling bishops, and leads a peasant march into a church occupied by soldiers. He also insults and defies the El Salvadoran president (Harold Cannon), an iron-fisted general, who, ironically, has the same last name as the archbishop Romero, but is not related. The country by this time is in the throes of civil war. In 1980, when military death squads continue their reign of terror even though the government institutes so-called reforms, Romero continues to speak out, gaining international attention. The film then builds to its climax, a scene recreating the events of Monday, March 25, 1980, when Romero is saying mass for his recently deceased mother. Attendees include four men who have no intention of reciting mea culpas or receiving the Holy Eucharist. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

In exchange for staying out of jail, down-and-out bounty hunter Vince Holloway (Dylan McDermott) agrees to work for corrupt IRS agents Vera (Tovah Feldshuh) and Strick (Dean Stockwell). Holloway travels to Diablo, a country run by criminals, to intercept a transfer of funds between crooked banker Cora (Jessica Harper) and gangster Reno (James Russo). Using a plot structure derived from Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest, as well as from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, Holloway forms competing alliances with all parties to steal the money. As expected, everyone tries to double-cross everyone else. A would-be parody of film noir and westerns, John Lafia's The Blue Iguana unfolds more like a cartoon or a pinball game. ~ Steve Press, Rovi

This colorful spoof of pirate movies had all the makings of a classic farce and yet sank straight to Davy Jones' locker at the box-office, for despite it's all-star international cast of famous comedians, and despite the fact that it was largely co-written by "Monty Python"-veteran Graham Chapman and former "Fringie" Peter Cook, the darned thing just wasn't funny. The sketches center around the core story of the dread pirate Yellowbeard's quest for a fabulous treasure, the map for which is tattooed on the head of his prissy son, who wants nothing to do with ships and pirate shenanigans. This was the final film of bug-eyed, beloved comedian Marty Feldman, who died of heart-failure before production finished. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Dentist Sheldon Kornpett (Alan Arkin) is a respectable man. He has a daughter who is about to marry the son of a very suspicious character, Vince Ricardo (Peter Falk). They are practically relatives already, the wedding is so near. Certainly, Sheldon already despises Vince as if he were already a well-known relative. Nontheless, Vince calls on Sheldon and convinces him to go with him on a series of wild and hilarious adventures, claiming all the while that he is a CIA agent, and that what he is doing is in the national interest. Sheldon follows Vince to a South American country ruled by a very odd man, General Garcia (Richard Libertini), who talks to his hand (which talks back). It seems that the dictator is involved in a scheme to counterfeit and undermine U.S. currency. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi