Alex D. Linz Movies
Alex D. Linz kick-started his career when he approached his mother -- reportedly at the age of four -- and precociously expressed interest in appearing in television commercials. She obliged, and in seemingly no time, Linz had racked up filmed promotional spots for JC Penney, McDonald's, and other corporate giants. The young actor transitioned to scripted dramatic work with guest roles in series programs including The Young and the Restless and Step by Step, but achieved his biggest break when he signed to star in Home Alone 3 (1997), the third outing of 20th Century Fox and John Hughes' wildly successful franchise (a job Linz inherited from Macaulay Culkin). Though clearly a formulaic sequel, the film drew praise from no less than Roger Ebert (who proclaimed it better than the first two outings) and performed well at the box office and in ancillary, proving that Linz could hold his own onscreen.After providing a voice in Disney's animated Tarzan (1999) and playing Gwyneth Paltrow's young son in the romantic drama Bounce (2000), Linz graduated to preteen roles as the lead in the Disney comedy Max Keeble's Big Move -- a farce about a seventh-grader who turns the tables on his bullies when he discovers his family's impending move -- little foreseeing the consequences. After several additional supporting roles, Linz next tackled the lead role in Choose Connor (2007). Undoubtedly his most sober and earnest assignment to date, the film told of a teenager ruthlessly exploited when he naïvely signs to work as a politico's (Steven Weber) young spokesperson. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
To assuage the pain endured by his wife Pattie (Sharon Lawrence) after she bears a stillborn child, truck driver Charles Johnson (Beau Bridges) pools his savings and moves himself and Pattie into a new house in an attractive neighborhood. Before long, however, strange and inexplicable things begin occurring in the house--and then there's the matter of those eeries nocturnal noises. Pattie is convinced that the joint is haunted, but Charles concludes that she is merely suffering a nervous breakdown. Made for television, The Uninvited was purportedly inspired by actual events which occurred in Indiana. But once the plot's BIG SECRET is revealed (that ugly tree on the Johnsons' property didn't become gnarled all by herself) we are deeply into Poltergeist territory, replete with a "stacking" scene (with eggs rather than furniture) and an eccentric old psychic (Shirley Knight). Originally telecast by CBS on October 29, 1996, The Uninvited has since been seen on cable TV under the less ambiguous title Victim of the Haunt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Even without money problems, many divorced single parents have a hard row to hoe. At the drop of a hat, a competent, responsible professional person can be reduced to a frazzled, bumbling parent, when his or her children become unexpected daytime wards. This is what happens to Jack Taylor (George Clooney) when his ex-wife suddenly decides to elope, leaving their daughter with him. Unhappily for him, his reporting job demands one-hundred-percent commitment as he attempts to link corruption with city hall. The same sort of thing is true in the life of architect Melanie Parker (Michelle Pfeiffer). She must not only somehow prepare a complex multimillion-dollar real-estate development presentation, but must also keep up the pretense that she doesn't have a son because her boss loathes children. When Jack flubs his assignment of getting the two children off on a school day-trip, he and Melanie, who barely know each other, have to take turns caring for the kids. Mishap follows mishap, as the initially antagonistic Jack and Melanie get to know one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Pfeiffer, George Clooney, (more)
For the third film in this series, Alex D. Linz replaced Macaulay Culkin as the central figure. Four industrial spies acquire a missile guidance-system computer chip and smuggle it through an airport inside a remote-controlled toy car. Because of baggage confusion, grouchy Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes) gets the car. She gives it to her neighbor, eight-year-old Alex (Linz), just before the spies turn up. The spies rent a house in order to burglarize each house in the neighborhood until they locate the car. Home alone with the chicken pox, Alex calls 911 each time he spots a theft in progress, but the spies always manage to elude the police -- while Alex is accused of making prank calls. The spies finally turn their attentions toward Alex, unaware that he has rigged devices to cleverly booby-trap his entire house. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, (more)
Author Edgar Rice Burroughs once suggested that animation would be the ideal medium to bring his Tarzan to the screen, and 81 years after the first film about the famous ape-man, Disney brings us the first full-length animated film starring the King of the Jungle. After a disaster at sea causes their ship to sink off the coast of Africa, a British couple finds their way to shore with their infant son in tow. However, the parents are killed by a leopard, leaving the baby to fend for himself. The child is discovered by a gorilla named Kala (voice of Glenn Close), mate of Kerchak (voice of Lance Henriksen), the leader of the tribe of apes. While Kerchak is taken aback by the foundling and would just as soon leave him in the jungle, Kala's maternal nature is stirred. Kala and Kerchak take the baby with them, naming him Tarzan and raising him among their own. Although Tarzan (voice of Tony Goldwyn) grows up painfully aware that he's different from the apes, he comes to love and respect the gorillas and learns their ways, while they accept him into their tribe as he grows to adulthood. However, Tarzan's idyllic life in the jungle is changed forever by the arrival of Professor Porter (voice of Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter Jane (voice of Minnie Driver), and their guide, a hunter named Clayton (voice of Brian Blessed). The Professor and Jane have arrived in Africa to study the wildlife in its natural habitat, although Clayton would prefer to bag as many trophies as he can. When the explorers encounter Tarzan, they at first think they've discovered the missing link, although soon realize that he's as human as they are. Tarzan finds himself torn between his desire to be with his own kind (and the new, unfamiliar emotions that he feels for Jane) and his loyalties to the gorilla family that raised him -- especially since Clayton sees the apes not as friends but as prey. Dominated by fast-paced jungle action sequences, Tarzan also features voices by Rosie O'Donnell and Wayne Knight, as well as new songs by Phil Collins. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Blessed, Glenn Close, (more)
When a mysterious spell transforms a young teenager's bratty little brother into a pig while their parents are on vacation, their only hope for restoring the hoofed youngster back to his human form is to take a trip south of the border in this supernatural comedy for the whole family starring Scarlett Johansson. For years, Kathy Cauldwell (Johansson) has been the target of younger brother George's obnoxious practical jokes. Soon after Kathy and George's parents leave the youngsters in the care of nanny Matilda (Eva Mendes) in order to get away for a much-needed vacation in France, George is transformed into a pig thanks to Matilda's ancient magical rocks. As the trio sets off to Mexico to seek the help of Matilda's Mexican grandmother with George's best friend Freud in tow (Alex D. Linz), matters are complicated when a local butcher sets his sights on the portly new ham in town. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, (more)
- 2000
Budding poet Ricky Hauk (Pedro Balmaceda) suffers from a profound lack of self-esteem, hiding his talents under the proverbial bushel basket and supporting his family with a series of low-pay, dead-end jobs. In her efforts to help Ricky reach his potential, Monica (Roma Downey) enlists the aid of a few other mortals, notably Ricky's younger brother Joey (Alex D. Linz), a budding inventor, and college student Shelley (Taylor Stanley), who is herself burdened by the proverbial "wrong" boyfriend. The fly in the ointment is Ricky's insensitive mother Ellen (Deborah Strang), a past master at piling guilt upon her son and driving him even further into his shell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Titan A.E. combines cel and CG imagery in this science fiction saga. In 3028, after the Earth is destroyed by an invading alien race, a tiny number of surviving humans roam the universe in ragtag spaceships, trying to find each other and maintain some sense of community. Shortly before the final destruction of the planet, Cale (voice of Matt Damon) was given a map that would guide him to a space station called Titan, secretly constructed as a last hope in the event of alien Armageddon. Cale sets out in search of Titan and the fabled Ice Planet with the help of his friend Korso (voice of Bill Pullman), the beautiful Akima (voice of Drew Barrymore), and a crew of friendly aliens. Titan A.E. was directed by noted animators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman and scripted by Ben Edlund, creator of the comic book series The Tick. Other members of the voice cast include Nathan Lane, Janeane Garofalo, John Leguizamo, and Tone Loc. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, (more)
Shirley MacLaine makes her feature directorial debut with this offbeat comedy. Bruno (Alex D. Linz) is an eight-year-old boy attending a Catholic school; he is bright, is a good student, and wants to become an etymologist. He also likes to wear dresses, which causes him plenty of problems -- bullies beat him up on a regular basis, and the school's Mother Superior (Kathy Bates) thinks that something must be wrong with him. Bruno's mother Angela (Stacey Halprin), who tips the scales at 450 pounds, has just lost her husband Dino (Gary Sinise) to trampy Donna Marie (Joey Lauren Adams). With her pal Dolores (Jennifer Tilly) giving Angela regular reports on Dino's activities, she's too occupied to worry much about her son. When Bruno is hurt one day while wearing a skirt, he's taken to the hospital; with Angela suffering from a heart attack and Dino refusing to look after him, it falls to his grandmother Helen (MacLaine) to take care of the boy. But Bruno has finally found a playmate at school who doesn't find him strange -- Shaniqua (Kaimi Davael), a young black girl who wants to be a cowgirl. While Bruno was Shirley MacLaine's first attempt at directing a fictional film, it was not her first experience behind the camera; she previously made the Oscar-nominated documentary The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Shirley MacLaine, (more)
In this romantic comedy-drama, two people whose lives were touched by the same tragedy find love. Buddy Amaral (Ben Affleck) is a successful L.A. advertising executive who has a way with the ladies, but inside he longs for a meaningful long-term relationship. One day Buddy sells his seat on a sold-out airline flight to a stranger; he's shocked when the jet crashes and the man is killed. A year later, still haunted by the incident, Buddy looks up Abby Janello (Gwyneth Paltrow), the victim's widow, who is now selling real estate to support her children. Buddy soon finds himself attracted to Abby, and the feeling is mutual, but while he's interested in marriage, he isn't sure how (or if) he should tell her that he was indirectly responsible for her husband's death. Bounce was written and directed by Don Roos, who made a splash with his independent debut The Opposite of Sex; supporting Affleck and Paltrow are Natasha Henstridge, Jennifer Grey, David Paymer, and Joe Morton. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Affleck, Gwyneth Paltrow, (more)
- 2000
On his first day back at work in the ER, Carter (Noah Wyle) befriends a paraplegic youngster named Dennis (Alex D. Linz). Elsewhere, several patients are brought in after a freak accident at a sci-fi convention -- and are promptly placed under arrest. During an acute shortage of surgeons, Greene (Anthony Edwards) performs a delicate operation while receiving instructions via intercom hookup with Corday (Alex Kingston). Malucci (Erik Palladino) demands to know who the father of Chen's (Ming-Na) baby is. And Romano (Paul McCrane) fires Benton (Eriq La Salle). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
This made-for-cable comedy, based on a novel by Douglas Preston, concerns an American family who have adopted a chimpanzee brought back from the wilds of Africa. As an experiment, the family, headed by a pair of anthropologists, raises the chimp as if it were a child, teaching it to communicate using American Sign Language. Produced for The Disney Channel, The Jennie Project stars Lance Guest, Alex D. Linz, and Sheila Kelley; the film first aired on July 13, 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Lance Guest, (more)
After having been outmatched in the live-action family film department by rival Nickelodeon in recent years, Disney jumps back into the kid-friendly fray with this comedy about a seventh grader (Alex D. Linz) who's mercilessly picked on by his school's bullies and by his principal (Larry Miller). When his parents (Nora Dunn and Robert Carradine) inform Max that they're moving at the end of the week, he takes the opportunity to exact several forms of creative revenge on his many tormenters. When it subsequently turns out that the Keebles aren't leaving town after all, little Max is left to the mercy of those he's just humiliated. Max Keeble's Big Move is the second feature film from Tim Hill, the nephew of famed director George Roy Hill (The Sting). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Jamie Kennedy, (more)
A chimp helps bring together a boy and his father -- as well as putting America in the lead of the space race -- in this drama, which was inspired by the true story of the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission in 1961. Dr. Wilhelm von Huber (James Woods) is a German expatriate scientist living in the United States in the early '60s who has been hired by the fledging National Aeronautics and Space Administration to help America launch its newly formed space program. Von Huber is recently widowed, and his son, Wilhelm II (Alex D. Linz) -- known as Billy to most of his friends -- is still dealing with the loss of his mother. The often cold and exacting Dr. von Huber is having trouble reaching out to his son, and Billy is having a hard time making friends at his new school in Florida. One day, while dropping by NASA's labs to visit his father, Billy discovers a secret: NASA has previously been using unmanned missiles in their tests, but before taking the giant step of sending a man into space, they're going to try an experimental mission with a chimpanzee on board to get a better idea of how people might be affected by space travel. Dr. Donni McGuinness (Annabeth Gish), NASA's head veterinarian, makes a deal with Billy: If he promises not to tell anyone about NASA's secret project, she'll give him a part-time job helping to train Mac the Chimp for his big flight. Billy soon becomes quite attached to his new friend Mac, and discovers it's harder than he imagined to send him into space without knowing if he'll come back safely. Race to Space also features William Atherton and William Devane, while Tyler the chimp appears as Mac. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 2003
The made-for-cable biopic Full Court Miracle is the true story of Lamont Carr, here played by Richard T. Jones. A college basketball star, Lamont seems to be a shoo-in for the Philadelpha 76ers until he is permanently sidelined by a knee injury. Seeking out employment in his chosen profession, Lamont is invited to be head coach of the Philadelphia Hebrew Academy Lions, a Yeshiva team captained by Alex Schlotsky (Alex D. Linz). Despite the obvious cultural schism between the African-American Carr and his Jewish players, Jason is determined to pull the Lions out of the cellar and lead them to victory at the Liberty Basketball Tournament -- and as part of his strategy, he invokes the heroic example of Judah and the Maccabees. First telecast on the Disney Channel, Full Court Miracle was originally shown on November 21, 2003 -- coincidentally during Hanukkah week. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard T. Jones, Alex D. Linz, (more)
A man down on his luck hatches a different kind of get-rich-quick scheme in this independent comedy. Andy Sargentee (Jeff Bridges) is a middle-aged divorcé who is down in the dumps after the departure of his wife, Thelma (Jeanne Tripplehorn), and son, Billy (Alex D. Linz). The fact that Thelma's new hubby is quite wealthy only makes things more troubling for Andy, and he keeps thinking that if he had more money he could be back in her good graces. One night, while knocking back drinks with his friends, Andy has a brainstorm -- pornography is big business these days, so why not round up the local talent and make an adult movie? Andy persuades his friend Barney (Tim Blake Nelson) to sign on as co-producer, and they start putting together a crew, including Emmett (Patrick Fugit), a kid with a video camera who becomes director of photography, Otis (William Fichtner), who volunteers to be the gofer who doesn't really do anything, and as director a guy known only by his nickname, Some Idiot (Joe Pantoliano). Casting proves to be a bit more problematic, especially after they discover that Moose (Ted Danson), who has been cast in the male lead, may be gay when he repeatedly fails to rise to the occasion. The Amateurs also stars Lauren Graham, Valerie Perrine, and Glenne Headly as some of the local women drafted into appearing in the movie; the picture was released in the United Kingdom under the title The Moguls. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, (more)
A politically savvy 15-year-old learns the true nature of politics after accepting the position of youth campaign spokesman for a determined congressman in the feature directorial debut of 20-year-old actor-turned-director Luke Eberl. When Congressman Lawrence Connor (Steven Weber) speaks before an assembly of high-school students during his run for the Senate, the enthusiastic and well-informed response that he gets from 15-year-old student Owen (Alex D. Linz) results in an invitation to join the campaign as Connor's youth spokesman. Subsequently exploited in a tireless campaign that includes television commercials, posters, radio advertisements, and speaking engagements, Owen is prompted by his growing distaste for the cut-throat world of politics to reconsider his career or risk losing his innocence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex D. Linz, Steven Weber, (more)
