Alanna Ubach Movies

Filmmaker David Scott Hay answers the New Visions Fellowship challenge to make the most out of a small budget, a single location, and no special effects with this inventive and twisting tale of three amiable misfit diner employees whose quest to gain footing over one and other in eventually thwarted by their own ineptitude. Alice's Diner is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, and though all appears well on the surface, unspoken tensions soon boil to the surface when the owner of the restaurant meets a grim fate at the celebratory shindig. Benno is an ex-con and part-time lover to the owner who served as second-in-command to the watchful Alice. Though juvenile delinquent Scotty initially entered the restaurant with the intentions of cleaning out the cash register, he later walked out as Benno's assistant when the sympathetic owner took pity on him. Lastly, Joe makes the deliveries for the diner while struggling through a bad marriage and awaiting the moment to make his big move. When the party takes a turn for the worse and the diner proves in need of a new owner, these three hapless souls will enter into what would be a cutthroat competition for ownership if only their figurative knives weren't so dull. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Learn why you should never send your food back and other valuable lessons in this over-the-top comedy set in the food service industry. Dean (Justin Long) and Monty (Ryan Reynolds) are two longtime friends who work as waiters as Shenanigan's, a self-consciously "fun" chain restaurant. Both have been working at the restaurant since they graduated from high school; it's only recently occurred to Dean that he has nothing to show for the last four years of his life but a community college diploma and his name tag from work, and he's developed a sudden urgency to make something of himself. Monty, on the other hand, is more interested in making time with the women on the wait staff at work than accomplishing anything, though his recent relationship with fellow employee Serena (Anna Faris) has rather dramatically crashed and burned. Over the course of an evening at Shenanigan's, Dean and Monty confront obnoxious customers and train timid new employee Mitch (John Francis Daley) while dealing with wildly eccentric chef Raddimus (Luis Guzman), control-freak manager Dan (David Koechner), and a kitchen full of crazed cooks, prep workers, and dish-washers. Waiting was the first feature film from writer and director Rob McKittrick. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this satirically witty look at the entertainment industry, Cole (Sean Patrick Flanery) is a record company executive who makes a wager with one of his colleagues that he can take anyone off the street and turn him or her into a star. Enter Maggie Moreno (Camille Guaty), an attractive woman with no outwardly visible talent who becomes the subject of Cole's experiment. In less than a month, he subjects her to music lessons, dance lessons, and a makeover so she'll seem "more Latin" while setting the hype machine in action to make the world aware of the emergence of a new star. But Maggie becomes increasingly unsure if she wants to be a star, especially at the expense of her own identity, while Cole has misgivings of his own when he begins to fall for Maggie. 30 Days Until I'm Famous also features Udo Kier and Alanna Ubach; Scott Stapp and Carmen Electra have cameo roles as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Not long after being voted "employee of the month" at a suburban Mega-Mart retail store, Edna Coruthers (Marie Cheatham) is killed in what appears to be a freak accident. Monk (Tony Shalhoub) is called in to investigate by the store's security manager Joe Christie (Enrico Colantoni), who suspects foul play. The assignment proves most distasteful for Monk, inasmuch as Christie is his ex-partner, who'd been thrown off the force for stealing drugs. Despite his animosity toward Christie, Monk manages to figure out that Edna was, indeed, murdered--but NOT for what seems to be the most obvious motive. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An aspiring filmmaker learns that success in Hollywood doesn't come as easy as she suspected as she attempts to discover the formula to success in this satirical comedy from director William Tannen. When the guidance of her helpful has-been uncle (Michael Lerner) fails to pave the way, Sarah Wilder (Alannah Ubach) must seek the advice of such Hollywood heavies as Mike Meyers, Ben Stiller, and Fred Willard -- only to discover that the old adage is true and Nobody Knows Anything about how to succeed in the cutthroat world of Los Angeles. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This WB Network Saturday morning cartoon series was a spinoff of the animated theatrical feature Osmosis Jones. The stories took place in the City of Hector -- actually the blood and immune system within the body of 13-year-old Hector Cruz. The heroes were white-blood-cell police officer Osmosis Jones, aka "Ozzy," and his assistant, over-the-counter cold pill Drix. Together, Ozzy and Drix did battle with the many infectious enemies threatening Hector's health and well-being. Though the TV series lacked the celebrity voice-over lineup (Ron Howard, William Shatner, et. al.) that added so much life to the original feature, the actors chosen to supply the voices did excellent impressions of their predecessors. Ranking high on the gross-out meter, but hilarious all the same, Ozzy & Drix made its first weekly appearance on September 14, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Gallagher directs this film about magic and the mystery of love. Frank and Maggie (Ben Gazzara and Rita Moreno) have been married longer than either of them can remember. In an effort to revive the spark in their relationship, Maggie persuades Frank to visit their old cabin up in the Catskills. There they find themselves in a time warp that allows them to meet their younger selves. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Julianna Margulies and Ivan Sergei star in this romantic comedy about a wedding gone awry when the bridegroom's recovering alcoholic brother reveals that he slept with the bride years previously. The revelation causes groom John to get cold feet and the bride's controlling mother Carol (Dixie Carter) to have a conniption fit. Can the resulting damage be mended? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Monica (Roma Downey) and Tess (Della Reese) find young Lydia (Alanna Ubach), a talented artist from a wealthy family, living in squalor and addicted to crack cocaine. Despite the best efforts by Lydia's father Bill (Dan Lauria) and new stepmother Margaret (Mary-Joan Negro), the girl makes no effort to clean up her act, and in fact becomes more drug-dependent the harder her parents try. Finally, Tess, posing as a drug counselor, tersely advises Bill and Margaret to start practicing "tough love"--in other words, to be cruel in order to be kind. But when Lydia surpasses her previous misdeeds by kidnapping a newborn baby, it looks like even Tess has failed! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Four women reflect on their lowly place in the corporate caste system in this dryly satiric comedy. Iris (Toni Collette) is a college graduate who hasn't decided what she wants to do with her life, except that she doesn't want the job her father has lined up for her at a frozen food company. While pretending to look for other work, she signs on with a temp agency, which sends her out to do office work for Global Credit, a particularly faceless corporation where the permanent employees go out of their way to avoid the temps. Iris is very much aware that she's at the bottom rung at Global, and she bonds with three other women in the temp pool. Paula (Lisa Kudrow) talks about her career as an actress and insists that she will only temp until one of her auditions pans out. Jane (Alanna Ubach) prattles on about her wealthy fiancé, although her friends are convinced that he's cheating on her. And Margaret (Parker Posey) is at once the rebel of the group, regarding her job and general office procedure with a barely disguised contempt, and the one who most desperately wants a "real" job with Global. When office supplies and various personal items start to disappear, all signs point to one of the temp workers (most likely Margaret), though none will own up to any wrongdoing. Clockwatchers was the directorial debut for filmmaker Jill Sprecher, who co-wrote the screenplay with her sister Karen Sprecher. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide