Freddy Rodríguez

The film starts at a Chicago airport. A group of Marines have just returned to the US from Iraq. As the Marines leave, one Marine remains and makes his way towards the exit. The soldiers name is Jesse Rodriguez (Freddy Rodriguez). The film cuts to a house where a man, Edy Rodriguez (Alfred Molina) is on a ladder nailing up a welcome home sign for Jesse. The woman, his wife, Anna Rodriguez (Elizabeth Pena) gives him a rather disgruntled look before leaving to prepare for Jesse's return. Edy then travels to his store, a small neighbourhood supermarket. Along the way, and even in the store, Edy appears to be quite popular with the ladies. Back at the airport, Jesse finally meets up with his friends Johnny (Luis Gusman) and Ozzy (Jay Hernandez), who have come to pick him up. On the way to his fathers store, Jesse takes off his eye-patch to reveal that he can still see, but the area around his eye is badly injured. After some prompting from Johnny and Ozzy, he reveals that he was the lucky one, as his friend Timmy (I think that was his name, he never shows up in the film) was not as lucky and Jesse feels some guilt for this. On the way, the three pass a park and Jesse tells them to stop. The park was their childhood playground and the three take a little time off to play a game of softball and reminisce. While at the park, Ozzy spots Hector (Alexander Bautista), the man who killed his brother, recently been released from prison. Ozzy stares at Hector, and Hector stares back, however, before Ozzy is able to make his way to Hector, both Jesse and Johnny hold him back the they make their way to Edy's store. Upon arrival at Edy's store, Jesse gets a warm welcome from the staff and neighbours being something of a war hero to those around him. Edy, Jesse, Johnny and Ozzy head back home to celebrate Christmas. Jesse is given a warm welcome from his mother as others begin arriving. Jesse's sister Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito) arrives by taxi, although everyone assumes she came in a limo because they all assume that she made it big in Hollywood as an actress. Jesse's Brother Mauricio (John Leguizamo) also arrives, along with his wife Sarah (Debra Messing). Sarah greets Anna and it is evident that she is not exactly comfortable around her in-laws but she is making an effort, even speaking a bit of Spanish. However, the topic drifts towards children and Anna makes it very clear that she wants grandchildren, but Sarah is a very business driven woman and isn't ready for kids, this causes some tension between Sarah, Anna, and Mauricio. After things settle down, everyone sits down and begins to catch up and each person's story is brought up: Jesse has just returned from a three-year tour in Iraq and is being prepared by Edy to take up the family business; Roxanna is waiting on news regarding a new TV deal; and Mauricio and Sarah are both in finances and making a great deal of money, but don't have time for much else. The conversation moves towards Jesse's experience in Iraq, but it's obvious that he does not want to talk about it (this is important later). Soon after, Marissa (Melonie Diaz), her son, and her boyfriend Fernando (Ramses Jimenez) arrive. Marissa is Roxanna's best friend from childhood, and Jesse's ex-girlfriend. It is evident that Jesse still has feelings for Marissa and vice versa, but there is much tension in the air. After everyone has arrived, they all sit down for Christmas dinner. Everyone is digging into an abundant pile of food, chatting away, while Sarah sits there with a look of awe on her face as she has never experienced the holidays with Mauricio's family. Edy is about to give a toast to everyone but gets a call. It seems that Edy has been getting a lot of calls, and often runs out when he does which gets Anna suspicious that he is having an affair, and cheating on her again (there was one previous incident in the past). Well, when the phone rings during Edy's toast, he stops to answer the call, and having broken the last straw, Anna proclaims that she is divorcing Edy. At first everyone thinks this is a joke, but it is soon evident that Anna is dead serious. Edy reacts with little emotion, saying that if it is what Anna wants then he can't really do anything about it. Mauricio is vehemently against this and tries to get some support from Jesse, whose response is similar to his father's, this angers Mauricio further. At this time, Johhny, Ozzy, Marissa and Fernando excuse themselves as it is a family matter. After more arguing, everyone leaves to vent, except for Sarah, who stays at her seat and continues eating, sort of a gesture of comfort/support to Anna; and the two have a somewhat awkward yet endearing bonding moment. At night, Jesse is about to go to bed when Edy shows up, having been kicked out of the bedroom and is not bunking with Jesse. Father and son have a conversation about Jesse's experiences but Edy can't really get much out of his son. Later that night, Mauricio is up in the Attic thinking about the night's events when Roxanna shows up. The two share a drink and Jesse shows up. The siblings reminisce about their childhood and what the future will be like after their parents divorce. Both Roxanna and Jesse are relatively neutral to the matter, but Mauricio is very against them. Being the only one of the three to be married, he believes that after 35 years of marriage, their parents have to have at least some love for each other, and that there is always a chance to salvage what remains of their marriage and he says all this while in his underwear (humorous scene). In the morning, Jesse catches up with Marissa while she is walking to work. She still hasn't forgiven him for leaving her several years ago. As it turns out, Jesse didn't want to stay in town and follow in his father's footsteps and ended up enlisting in the marines. While in Iraq, his unit was holed up in a building for the night, Timmy offered to take Jesse's watch so he could grab something to eat. While Jesse was getting some food, a rocket propelled grenade was shot into the building and Timmy was killed, while everyone else was injured. Ever since then, Jesse blames himself for Timmy's death since it was supposed to be his watch, and his life that would be lost. Marissa sympathizes and forgives him. Back at the house, Mauricio is attempting to get Anna and Edy back together by bringing over their priest, Father Torres (Manny Sosa). Anna returns home and Mauricio brings her into the kitchen. Anna is clearly drunk and is very upset. Another argument ensues and everyone is at everyone else's throat. Mauricio argues with Anna regarding having children, Roxanna reveals that she's not a star and can barely make ends meet. Both Mauricio and Roxanna think Jesse has it easy, since he got the store to manage as soon as he returned. However, Jesse doesn't want to manage the store and his guilt over Timmy's death has been haunting him since his return. After more arguing, everyone leaves. Roxanna, Jesse and Mauricio end up in a bar to drink/party to vent off some tension. Sarah gets back to the house and finds that everyone has left. Edy offers to give her a ride to the bar where everyone is. While driving Sarah to the bar to meet the others, Edy appears to have a heart attack and stomps on the brakes. Luckily, they skid into a parking area and no one is injured; Sarah is able to fetch Edy's medication from the glove box in time. As Sarah looks at the bottles, she realizes that Edy is really very ill and that that's the reason he's getting those phone calls (the doctor). Edy makes her promise to not tell anyone, since he doesn't want anyone to worry so they can enjoy the holidays. At the bar, everyone takes the chance to have some fun, drinking and dancing. Sarah gets hammered and starts dancing with Mauricio, who can't dance at all but does so anyway. Everyone is having a blast and Jesse takes the time to talk to Marissa. Roxanna, receives a call from her agent (with no actual news regarding the new part), goes outside to answer the phone and have a smoke. While Roxanna is out having a smoke, Ozzy comes out to talk to her. It is obvious that Ozzy likes Roxanna, but she is a bit apprehensive as she sees him as a gang-member type person, although Marissa has noted that he hasn't been part of that crowd for quite some time. Roxanna and Ozzy go to the local ice rink to talk, and Roxanna tells him that she really isn't much of a star since she has only had a few small roles in TV and commercials and can't really get a big part. Ozzy assures her that she will get her big break, but she is not so sure. Roxanna mentions returning home since her career isn't going anywhere, and her mom may need her around during the divorce. Ozzy is happy that Roxanna may stay, but is supportive of her career. The next day, everyone prepares to have a little Christmas carol parade, where people travel from house to house carolling, and people join along the way until nearly the entire neighbourhood has joined in. The parade ends with everyone arriving at the church for a big party/dinner. Everyone is dancing and having fun. Fernando goes off to get something to drink and Jesse asks Marissa for a dance. The two begins to get close and Jesse leans in to kiss her, just as Fernando lunges in and hits Jesse. Jesse (being a marine) pummels Fernando before his friends drag him off. While this is happening, Ozzy can't take it any more and leaves to confront Hector. Hector is returning home with his mother and sees Ozzy. Knowing what Ozzy has come to do, he tells his mother to go into the house and make dinner, while he goes outside with Ozzy. Outside, Hector tells Ozzy that he's ready to die, and has been for many years while in prison. Ozzy is visibly struggling to decide whether or not to kill Hector, just then, his phone rings, it's Roxanna. Ozzy gives up, and let's Hector live, and leaves to meet Roxanna. Ozzy and Roxanna go to the river, where he gets rid of the gun, and the two kiss. After midnight mass, Edy drives Anna home. On the ride home Anna confronts Edy about his affair, but all Edy will say is that all he wants is to have a good Christmas with the whole family, and that they should keep it together until the kids leave. Anna says that after the kids leave, there will be nothing more to talk about. Edy is now alone in the kitchen, drinking. Jesse and Mauricio return home and join their father, each drinking to their own little problems. Edy, decides to do one last thing for Anna and finally cut down that tree so the three go outside and secure the tree to a chain that is connected to the rear bumper of Edy's car. Edy guns the engine but the rear bumper comes off and he crashes into a parked car, injuring himself. Anna calls the ambulance and Edy is rushed off to the hospital. Before the ambulance leaves, Sarah runs out to Anna and hands her all of Edy's medication since she's the only one who knows how serious his health is. The whole family is at the hospital to check on Edy. It turns out that Edy has cancer, it's serious but he's being treated for it. Anna finally realizes that Edy was not cheating on her, and that the Susan that Edy was talking to was actually his oncologist. The couple make their peace and profess love for each other, and then Anna smacks Edy for being stupid and not telling her sooner. Having seen how frail life can be, Sarah decides to have children, and take the new position at work, and will try to balance both in her life with support from Mauricio. Back at the house, Anna is teaching Roxanna and Sarah how to cook with moderate success. Roxanna gets a call from her agent, and when she returns, it appears as though she has not gotten the part. Outside the house, Ozzy comes by to talk to Roxanna and she reveals that she actually did get the part, but it wasn't a very big part anyway, and she thought it would be best to stick with her family during these times, so she turned down the part. The next scene shows Jesse visiting Marissa to drop off some Christmas presents and to apologize for his behaviour the previous night. She forgives him, but she has a relationship with Fernando now and a happy family life. Jesse concedes and wishes her a happy life. After leaving, Jesse sits on a park bench, making a call to Timmy's parents to tell them about their son and how he died so he can get closure and move on. The final scene shows Edy, after discharge from the hospital, taking Jesse to his store, who has now decided to take up the family business instead of going back to Iraq.

After an experimental bio-weapon is released, turning thousands into zombie-like creatures, it's up to a rag-tag group of survivors to stop the infected and those behind its release. After an experimental bio-nerve gas is accidentally released at a remote U.S. military base in Texas, those exposed to the gas turn into flesh-eating, mutating zombies out to kill. An assortment of various people who include stripper Cherry, her shady mechanic ex-boyfriend Wray, a strong-willed doctor, the local sheriff, and an assortment of various people must join forces to survive the night as the so-called "sickos" threaten to take over the whole town and the world. —Anonymous In Texas, a gang led by the black market dealer Abby, faces Captain Muldoon and his group of renegades in an abandoned military base. During their shootout, Abby shoots a receptacle, releasing an experimental, highly contagious gas that turns humans into flesh-eating zombies. Meanwhile, in the local hospital, Dr. Block sees an epidemic of patients with the same nasty symptoms. When the outbreak affects most of the local population, a group of people with immunity, including mechanic Wray, Sheriff Hague, the stripper Cherry and Dr. Dakota, fight to survive and become the last hope to save the world. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In a rural town in Texas, go-go dancer Cherry Darling (with a leg/machine gun), decides to quit her low-paying job and find another use for her numerous 'useless' talents. Cherry's ex-boyfriend, El Wray, at the Bone Shack, a restaurant owned by J.T. Hague, a group of military officials, led by the demented Lt. Muldoon, are making a business transaction with a scientist named Abby for a deadly biochemical agent known as DC2 codename "Project Terror", but when Muldoon learns Abby has an extra supply on hand, he attempts to take Abby hostage and Abby intentionally releases the gas into the air. As gun-legged Cherry Darling and one man wrecking crew El Wray try to save the world from a horde of flesh-eating zombies. —Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com} As a desperate chemical engineer releases the airborne "Project Terror" biochemical agent into the air, a small town somewhere in rural Texas becomes the epicentre of a virulent epidemic after a failed transaction with the demented evil-doer, Lt. Muldoon. Now, as an ever-increasing army of ravenous cannibalistic zombies infests the area, a handful of survivors led by the deadly go-go dancer, Cherry Darling, must fight tooth-and-nail, refusing to go down without a fight. Now, a terrible disease is putting the entire world in jeopardy. Is there an escape from the inhospitable Planet Terror? —Nick Riganas

The MS Poseidon, a luxury cruise ship, is on a year-end transatlantic crossing to New York. Jennifer (Emmy Rossum) is with her fiance, Christian (Mike Vogel), and they consider how to tell Jennifer's father, former New York City Mayor Robert Ramsey (Kurt Russell), about their engagement. In the galley, stowaway Elena (Mía Maestro) searches for her friend, a waiter named Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez). Architect Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is making a phone call to his estranged lover. In the grand ballroom, Captain Michael Bradford (Andre Braugher) delivers a New Year's Eve speech before introducing the singer, Gloria (Fergie). Dylan (Josh Lucas), a professional gambler and retired Naval sailor, and Robert play Texas Hold'Em with Lucky Larry (Kevin Dillon). Jennifer, Christian and Elena are partying in the nightclub. Richard is with his friends, talking about his heartbreak. As Dylan walks with his winnings, he bumps into Connor (Jimmy Bennett). Maggie (Jacinda Barrett), Connor's mother, arrives and chats with the gambler. On the bridge, officers see a 150-foot rogue wave coming towards them, while everyone celebrates the New Year countdown. On the promenade deck, Richard, who is contemplating suicide, sees the wave and retreats inside. Though the crew on the bridge sounds warning alarms and turns hard to starboard to meet the wave head-on, the Poseidon turns too slowly. It is hit broad-side and capsizes. Passengers are swept overboard, fall to their deaths in overturned high-ceiling areas or are crushed to death by falling debris. In the galley, crew are incinerated by flash fires caused by rupturing gas lines. In the ballroom, Robert, Dylan, Richard and Maggie wake up, realizing that the ship is now upside down. Robert sees Connor on the piano, which is now on the ceiling. Robert and some officers rescue Connor. In the nightclub, Jennifer looks for Christian, who has been pinned by a fallen light. They and Elena are the only ones to avoid being killed by the combined dangers of the sprinklers activating and numerous broken wires and lights electrifying the water. Captain Bradford reassures the passengers by telling them that a set of GPS beacons were launched during the collision and that help is on its way, therefore they should stay put. Some passengers hesitate. Dylan disagrees and concludes that the bow Thrusters of the ship are the key to survival. He is joined by Robert, Richard, Connor, Maggie and Valentin. The group makes their way through the kitchens to a service elevator. Using a table to bridge the space across the shaft, the group pries open an opposing set of elevator doors. Everyone survives until the table drops as Richard is being pulled up by Dylan. The service elevator, severely damaged by the collision, begins to plummet towards them, and Richard is forced to shake the crewman off. Valentin falls down the elevator shaft and is killed immediately by the fall, and the elevator crashes down moments after Richard is pulled through the doors. The group manages to force the elevator doors shut just before a gas explosion set off by the falling elevator reaches them. Meanwhile, in the nightclub, Elena and Jennifer rescue Christian, with help from Lucky Larry. Robert and Jennifer reunite with the other survivors. The group reaches the lobby and uses a damaged elevator as a bridge. As Lucky Larry takes his turn to cross, an engine smashes its way through the lobby floor above and kills him. Large amounts of leaking fuel follow through the opening in the floor and is ignited. Dylan finds a fire hose and jumps into the flaming water, making a zip line that the others use to cross. In the ballroom, the windows at last give way, the room floods and the surviving passengers, Captain, Gloria and the crew inside are drowned to their deaths. As the surviving group tries to escape from the rising water, they hear all the people from the main hall screaming for help. they go into an air vent which leads to the ballast tanks. Elena struggles to continue moving through the air vent due to her claustrophobia. Robert tries to smash the cover of the vent, but fails, and calls Connor to assist him in the hopes that Connor's smaller fingers will be able to undo the vent screws. Elena successfully gets inside the vent and offers her necklace to be used as a screwdriver. The cover opens and the group climbs into the ship's ballast tank, where they locate a hatch. Robert and Dylan realize that only great pressure can open the hatch, and they flood the chamber. The hatch opens, and they swim through to the next chamber. Elena's dress becomes caught as she swims through, and she hits her head on a sharp beam and loses consciousness. Richard turns back to rescue her, followed by Robert, Dylan and Christian, and takes the unconscious Elena back where Robert tries to revive her, but she dies from her injury without regaining consciousness. The group finds themselves in the galley and see the bow section is flooded, telling them the obvious: the Poseidon is sinking by the bow, and fast. While finding a new exit, an explosion in the engine room causes the bow to rise out of the water and forces the stern down. All of the water in the bow rushes towards the stern, and the stern of the Poseidon sinks underwater. Robert, Christian, Jennifer and Richard go first, leaving Dylan, Maggie and Connor behind. Maggie and Dylan find Connor trapped. He is eventually saved by Dylan and the three reunite with the group. In the engine room, Richard opens a cover and the bow Thrusters, still trying to turn the ship to starboard, begin blasting air into the room. Knowing that the control room for the propellers is now below water, Christian and Robert debate who should go, knowing the one may not come back. Christian decides he will, only to find Robert has already gone. Underwater, Robert finds the off switch broken, but manages to hit the reverse button instead just before he drowns. The propellers briefly stop, then begin turning the other way, and Dylan finds a nitrogen tank and throws it into the propellers. The ensuing explosion destroys the motors for one of the three bow Thrusters. After climbing through the propeller tube, they jump overboard and into an inflatable raft. The survivors start rowing for their lives, as a wave is thrown up as the Poseidon rights herself again, pushing the survivors away from the ship. The Poseidon is too badly damaged to remain afloat anymore, however, and, with her bow pointing high into the night sky, she sinks by the stern in the foaming waters as the handful of survivors looks on. Finding a flare gun in the raft, Dylan fires it, and they wait for rescue. Sometime later, a group of helicopters finds the raft and moves in to pick up the survivors. Just before the credits roll, at least three ships are shown to be racing towards where the Poseidon sank.

Maintenance man Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) tries to keep up with the needs of his many tenants. He comes to realize someone is swimming in the pool after 7 p.m., which is not allowed. The pool cleaner also brings to his attention that there seem to be globs of some sort of hair in the pools filter that have accumulated in just one day. One night, when he is very tired, he hears splashing in the pool and thinks that at last he will catch the mystery swimmer. But when he goes to the pool, there is no one there, not even footprints. As he walks around the pool, he hears someone splashing in the water at that very moment. He thinks all he has to do is wait, and they will surface soon enough. He picks up a brush and walks around the pool, takes a bad step, falls, hits his head and rolls into the pool. In the next scene we find Heep laying on his own couch, and a nude young woman is sitting across from him. There is water on the floor. He asks if she brought him here, but she only nods that she did. He gives her a shirt to wear. She clings to him, saying that she is too scared to go outside. So there he sits, with a young woman in his lap clinging to him who then falls asleep. He is clearly uncomfortable and tries to wake her. He decides he should take her outside for some fresh air, and then he will walk her home. Once outside, however, he is confronted with a growling creature which sends them both screaming back into his house. Heep needs to know who she is and what the creature is. We learn that her name is Story and that there is a creature hunting her. She is somehow prohibited from telling him who she is or what is happening, but she does tell him that she is a Narf. Heep begins asking his tenants if they have ever heard of a character called a Narf. Upon asking a young Asian student named Young-Soon Choi (Cindy Cheung), she says she has heard of a Narf as part of a bedtime story that was told long ago to her mother, but she doesn't remember much about the story. Heep continues doing his repairs, and we are introduced to many of the tenants. Between tasks, Heep tries to catch Young-Soon when she is with her grandmother, so he can ask more questions about the story. Though she has no idea why he is asking all these questions, she is happy to do what she can for this oddly curious man. Her grandmother, however, is suspicious as to why a grown man is so interested in a bedtime story. Frustrated at only getting bits and pieces of the story here and there, he arranges to be invited into the apartment of Young-Soon and her grandmother. Young-Soon tells him to try and act more like a curious child than a man, and it will help to bring out the grandmother's softer side so she will tell him more about the story of Story. After wiggling, eating cookies and dribbling milk down his face, the grandmother is amused and tells him the story. Meanwhile, Story is walking through his apartment, marveling at various objects. She notices a different-looking book and takes it down and reads it. The book is actually a journal, one that Heep wrote following the tragic loss of his family. When Heep discovers her reading the book, he asks her not to tell anyone of his past; no one there knows the story or that he used to be a doctor. He also needs to check with Story that what he has learned so far is accurate. Though Story cannot actually say, she makes a sign when he makes a correct statement. It seems Story is a Narf, here to motivate a great writer to complete his work that will have a tremendous positive effect on the future, at which point a giant eagle will come and take her home. But there is a creature called a Scrunt who will try to kill her before she can complete her task. There are many people who live in the apartment comple, besides the writer, who will unknowingly play different parts in helping Story. Heep believes himself to be her "guardian", the one who can protect her from the Scrunt. In a scene that starts out suspenseful but becomes rather light, Heep tries to face down and battle the Scrunt, being coached by Story via walkie talkie, but it soon becomes apparent that he is not the guardian when the Scrunt attacks him. The attack is interrupted by an arrogant movie critic just in the nick of time. But now Heep has an idea of what he needs to help Story get home. He must cast the roles needed to complete the task from the diverse people that live in the apartment complex. It is such a complex undertaking that he decides to consult the latest addition to the complex, the arrogant movie critic, to help him root out some of the characters described to him. Heep finally concocts a plan, but it is misguided. When it fails, the Scrunt seizes hold of Story and tries to drag her away, but Heep manages to grab hold of her. It is now apparent they have the wrong people for the roles, and they need to rethink them fast. The pivotal character to find is the "symbolist", who can "read" the situation, giving a much better description of the characters needed and what they all must do. At last, most of the correct people are found, all but the guardian. They all encircle her hoping to protect her long enough for the eagle to arrive. But the Scrunt is patient and wily and finds a way to get close to her unseen. Finally, the guardian appears and stares the Scrunt down. We hear the eagle and Heep says goodbye to Story. He realizes she has saved him from hiding himself away, and then she is gone.

After returning home from the Gulf War, Army Ranger Jim Davis (Christian Bale) is having a hard time adjusting to civilian life. Jim is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and having flashbacks and nightmares of the killing he did during the war. Jim's money is running dry, and he is looking for a job. Jim wants to be a policeman, and he has applies for a job with the L.A.P.D. While waiting for the job to come through, Jim hangs out with his best friend and homie brother, Mike Alonzo (Freddy Rodriguez). Jim and Mike begin to cruise the mean streets of South Central, Los Angeles, and they fall back into their old life of crime. Jim doesn't get the job with the L.A.P.D., but he does get a job offer from Homeland Security. The only problem that Jim has in taking the job is that he can't get the war out of his mind. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

A Miami con man agrees to be the human target for a Neo-Nazi manhunter in order to collect $50,000 if he survives. Miami scam artist Pest Vargas is on the run from the Scottish mob and a German headhunter, the mob after 50,000 dollars, the German guy after his head. Pest dons many disguises in an attempt to evade their clutches. —Adam "Mr. Movie" Hakari <spotlite@chibardun.net>