Chad E. Donella Movies
A quiet community reveals an ugly underside in the wake of a horrible crime in this independent drama. Robbie Levinson (Seth Peterson) and Trey McCoy (Brian J. Smith) are a gay couple who've been together for six years; they've been sharing a comfortable home in suburban Dallas most of that time, and are planning to get married once the legalities work themselves. Robbie and Trey are good neighbors who get along well with the other folks in the community until Chris Boyd (Chad Donella) moves in next door. Chris is a youth pastor at a church run by his father (Bruce Davison), a fundamentalist Christian who preaches often and with great vehemence about the evils of homosexuality. Chris doesn't keep his feelings about gays to himself, and when Trey is found dead in a nearby park, the victim of a sadistic beating with a baseball bat, Robbie believes Chris may be involved. However, Chris' father and mother provide an alibi for him, and the police hand the case from Detective Fisher (Farah White), who investigates hate crimes, to Sgt. Esposito (Giancarlo Esposito) in the homicide department. Robbie is appalled to discover he's now the leading suspect in the murder, and begins making his own investigation into Trey's death. Hate Crime was the first feature film from writer and director Tommy Stovall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Seth Peterson, Chad E. Donella, (more)
- 2003
The police are in high-alert mode as San Francisco is terrorized by a series of deadly mail bombings. Monk (Tony Shalhoub) thinks he has pinpointed the most likely suspect, a man named Brian Babbage (Matt Winston). But as so often happens in this series, Brian has the "perfect" alibi: He was in a terrible car accident several months ago--and has been in a coma ever since. And to make Monk's job all the more difficult, Brian's accident was witnessed by both Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford)! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Before Jayson Blair made headlines for his plagiarized New York Times reporting, Stephen Glass defamed the weekly current events magazine The New Republic with a series of eye-catching, entertaining, and completely fabricated stories. Now Glass' trail of lies gets the big-screen treatment in writer/director Billy Ray's Shattered Glass, featuring Hayden Christensen in the title role. The film chronicles Glass' time at the magazine in the late '90s, when his colorful coverage of a hedonistic Young Republican convention, superstar web hackers, and the circus surrounding the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal made him the toast of the publishing world, garnering attention from such national publications as George and Rolling Stone. Barely out of college, the eager Glass ingratiates himself with the office staff, including his mentor, managing editor Michael Kelly (Hank Azaria). But when Kelly is unceremoniously fired and replaced with editor Chuck Lane (Peter Sarsgaard), Glass' pieces come under a greater degree of scrutiny, until one in particular threatens to expose his tall tales to the rest of the world. Based in part on a Vanity Fair article by journalist Buzz Bissinger, Shattered Glass premiered at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals before its limited fall theatrical release. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, (more)
Executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, the ten-episode, 20-hour miniseries Taken was one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by cable TV's Sci-Fi Network, ultimately costing 40 million dollars -- a price that proved well worth it, inasmuch as the series posted the network's highest-ever ratings. Covering a period from 1947 to the present, the story focused on three different families, each of whom was profoundly affected by extraterrestrial visitation. The Keys family was headed by WWII bomber pilot Russell Keys (Steve Burton), who spent virtually his entire adult life haunted by his "close encounter" with aliens. The Clarkes were originally represented by lonely Texas waitress Sally Clarke (Catherine Dent), who was impregnated by a charming stranger (Eric Close) who turned out to be an alien survivor of the Roswell crash. And the lives of the Crawfords were dictated by ruthless Army officer Owen Crawford (Joel Gretsch), who was determined to prove that the government had covered up the truth about Roswell by dedicating his life to tracking down all space aliens and their half-human descendants. The story was narrated by Allie Keys (Dakota Fanning), a "hybrid" child of the present day, whose story determined the outcome of the final episodes. Boasting impressive computer-generated special effects and eye-popping facial makeup, Taken was seen over a two-week period, beginning December 2, 2002, and ending on December 13. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dakota Fanning, Alonso Oyarzun, (more)
Art student Sam (Chad Donella), stricken with love at first sight for Hope (Erinn Bartlett), spends several weeks trying to find her and then woo her out of a mysterious and intense depression. His light-hearted schemes involve many other women, including Annie (Jennifer Morrison), who falls for Sam herself. It all leads up to Sam being surrounded by 100 women, but the one he loves comes as a surprise even to himself. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chad E. Donella, Jennifer Morrison, (more)
- 2001
After a strange and puzzling accident, nerdy teenage bug collector Greg Arkin (Chad E. Donella) finds he is possessed with super-powers. His classmate Clark Kent (Tom Welling) cannot help but notice that the shy, self-effacing Greg has undergone a radical change of personality, aggressively stalking high school homecoming queen Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) and plotting to destroy Lana's current boyfriend, Whitney (Eric Johnson), by any means available. By the time Clark has figured out that Greg has himself become a giant, highly dangerous humanized insect, poor Lana is in the predatory teenager's clutches, helplessly encased within a huge cocoon in preparation for a bizarre mating ritual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this teenage horror film, a young man avoids the hand of death, only to find that he can't get away from it so easily. On the way to Paris with his high-school French club, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a vivid premonition of the plane crashing and killing all its passengers. After Alex and some other passengers demand to be let off the flight, his premonition turns out to be true, and the jet explodes during takeoff. While the FBI is convinced that Alex was involved in some kind of foul play, the passengers who got off the flight are all dying in horrible ways, as if whoever determined that the passengers would perish is punishing those who cheated death. Final Destination marked the feature directorial debut of James Wong, a producer and director for the TV series The X Files. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Devon Sawa, Amanda Detmer, (more)
David Nutter made his directorial debut with this fantasy thriller, attempting a switch on The Stepford Wives premise. The Clark family moves from Chicago to Cradle Bay, and Steve Clark (James Marsden) is cautioned by Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl) about the separating factions at the local high school, where the Blue Ribbons, a club of robotic perfect students, rule. Gavin claims a conspiracy is afoot, and sure enough, he turns into an ultra-perfect himself. Rachel Wagner (Katie Holmes) joins Steve in investigating, and they soon suspect school psychiatrist Dr. Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood), a neuropharmacology specialist. The soundtrack contrasts alternative rock with tunes by Barry Manilow, Wayne Newton, and Olivia Newton-John. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Marsden, Katie Holmes, (more)
- 1998
Carter (Noah Wyle) is forced to shave off his precious beard when he gets carpenter's glue stuck in it. He also seeks out a new residence, ending up with a surprising landlord. Elsewhere, Ross (George Clooney) risks life and limb to rescue gay teenager Kevin Dulaney (Chad E. Donella), who has been beaten and left for dead in a very dangerous neighborhood. And Corday (Alex Kingston) asks to intern for Benton (Eriq La Salle), who is himself preoccupied with finding help for his hearing-impaired son, Reese. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
