Alex Van Movies

Sahara director Breck Eisner teams with screenwriters Ray Wright (Pulse) and Scott Kosar (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) to give George A. Romero's underrated 1973 shocker a shiny new makeover in this update starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell. Perform a Google search on "small-town America," and eventually you'll stumble across Ogden Marsh, a picturesque hamlet situated a safe distance from the nearest big city, and full of friendly faces. The citizens of Ogden Marsh are happy, albeit unremarkable people, but they're about to discover just how fragile their warm slice of the American dream really is. When a mysterious toxin transforms the locals into murderous maniacs, it's up to Sheriff David Dutton (Olyphant) to find out why a man who was once an upstanding citizen would attempt to massacre the local youth baseball team, and a caring father would burn his beloved family alive. Within hours the town has descended into total chaos, and the government has ordered it quarantined. Anyone who attempts to escape will be shot on sight, whether they're infected or not. Realizing that their only hope for survival is to fight through the madness that has consumed their once-quiet town, Sheriff Dutton, his pregnant wife, Judy (Mitchell), his deputy Russell (Joe Anderson), and frightened medical center assistant Becca (Danielle Panabaker) wage an epic struggle to discover the source of this malevolent scourge while fending off their infected friends and neighbors. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A true story of tragedy, hope, and resilience comes to the screen in this sports drama. Huntington, WV, is home to Marshall University, a school where college football is a way of life. Huntington is also a town that learned to deal with tragedy in the fall of 1970 when Marshall's "Thundering Herd" boarded an airliner to return home after a football game in North Carolina. The jet crashed into a hill due to bad weather, and 75 members of Marshall's football squad and athletic staff died that night. The accident dealt a crippling blow to the city of Huntington, as well as Marshall's faculty and student body, and university president Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) considered abandoning the school's football program. But instead Coach Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) was recruited from Ohio's College of Wooster to rebuild Marshall's football program. Lengyel was not naïve about the task ahead of him, and working beside Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), an assistant coach who narrowly missed the doomed flight and was one of the program's only survivors, he came to understand his job was not just to put a team on the field, but help a college and a community heal their wounds from the tragic accident. Together Lengyel and Dawson turned a handful of rookies and second-string players into a competitive team who in 1971 showed the world what they could do in a legendary game against Marshall's rivals, Xavier University. Produced with the cooperation of Marshall University and filmed in part on their campus, We Are Marshall also stars Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, and January Jones. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Actor Arliss Howard made his debut as a director with this emotional drama adapted from a handful of short stories by Larry Brown. Barlow (Arliss Howard) is a deeply troubled Vietnam veteran who has been chasing a career as a writer, with little success; when he isn't struggling with his typewriter, he's usually drinking, and his wild mood swings and alcoholic fits of rage have driven away his wife Marilyn (Debra Winger), who has taken their son Alan (Zach Moody) and daughter Alisha (Olivia Kersey) with her. Barlow would like to see his children, but Marilyn refuses to allow it until he catches up on his alimony and child support payments; one of Barlow's few loyal friends, Monroe (Paul LeMat), a buddy from his Army days, is able to get him work as a house painter. With steady paychecks, Barlow is finally able to clear his debts to Marilyn, but she refuses to acknowledge that he's made much progress in turning his life around, and he doesn't get much more emotional support from his ailing mother (Angie Dickinson) or his friend Velma (Rosanna Arquette). Big Bad Love marked the second screen pairing for husband-and-wife Arliss Howard and Debra Winger; it was also Winger's first screen appearance in six years. Acclaimed songwriter Tom Waits composed the film's original score. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this made-for-TV movie, a former lap dancer befriends a well-off young man who's investigating the murder of his family and the disappearance of his father. When Ivy Leaguer Tim Faulkner (Patrick Muldoon) finds his sister and mother dead, he can't locate his father. He soon learns that his dad may have been involved with the Mob. But despite eyewitness testimony that his father drowned, Tim skips town to look for him anyway. He soon meets Meredith (Tori Spelling), a bubbly good-time girl who helps him stay one step ahead of the authorities who are also trailing his father. Meanwhile, violent crook Mariano (Richard Belzer) keeps tabs on the boy, hoping Tim will lead him to Mr. Faulkner, who owes him a large sum of cash. As Tim's search continues, he gets closer to the truth -- and grows closer to Meredith. So why is she behind his back taking phone calls from Mariano? Originally broadcast on NBC in 1996, Deadly Pursuits aired again in 1999 and subsequently joined several other Spelling vehicles in frequent rotation on the Lifetime cable channel. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

When an elderly woman dies, she decides to take possession of a stray dog's body so as to keep an eye on her widowed husband in this wonderful tale based on the novel by Terry Kay. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

In this second sequel to Robocop, the mechanical humanoid opposes the evil designs of his creators, who have gone corrupt and are trying to take over all real estate in Detroit, kicking the poorer citizens out of their homes and turning them out into the streets. ~ Rovi

In the made-for-television film Web of Deceit, a West coast lawyer (Linda Purl) returns to her hometown of Atlanta to defend an unfairly accused teenager (Paul de Souza) of rape and murder. As she investigates the case, she re-ignites an old love affair with the prosecuting attorney, who just may be a suspect in the killing himself. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

John Lithgow sets aside his patented drooling villainy to play the sympathetic title character in Traveling Man. Beset by business and marital problems, salesman Lithgow feels as though he's at the end of his rope. But it's at this point that he avoids the Willy Loman syndrome by realizing that there's more to life than a smile and a shoeshine. Fade-out salvation arrives in the lovely form of Margaret Colin. Jonathan Silverman co-stars as Lithgow's eager-beaver assistant, while John Glover is slime personified as the sales manager. Written for television by David Taylor, Traveling Man debuted June 24, 1989, over the HBO Cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi