Antonio David Lyons Movies

Filmed independently under the title Gas Station Jesus, this contemporary parable stars Lori Heuring as Maggie Tate, who finds herself pregnant by "miraculous conception." Miraculous or no, Maggie doesn't want to have the baby, but is pressured to do so by a group of threatening-looking Christian fundamentalists. She ends up stranded at a remote gas station with an enigmatic old preacher named Isaiah (Tucker Smallwood) and his equally strange son, who repeat the mantra that Maggie has absolutely no control over her future nor the future of her baby. A climactic chase and a second miracle provide any number of surprises for both our heroine and her pursuers. After a limited round of film-festival showings, Gas Station Jesus was brought to American cable television through the auspices of the Lifetime channel under the less provocative title Miracle Baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tony Kaye made his feature directorial debut with this dramatic exploration into the roots of race hatred in America. In a shocking opening scene, teen Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) races to tell his older brother, neo-Nazi Derek (Edward Norton), about the young blacks breaking into his car in front of the house, whereupon Derek gets his gun and with no forethought shoots the youths in their tracks. Tried and convicted, Derek is sent away for three years in prison, where he acquires a different outlook as he contrasts white-power prisoners with black Lamont (Guy Torry), his prison laundry co-worker and eventual pal. Meanwhile, Danny, with a shaved head and a rebellious attitude, seems destined to follow in his big brother's footsteps. After Danny writes a favorable review of Hitler's Mein Kampf, black high-school principal Sweeney (Avery Brooks) puts Danny in his private "American History X" course and assigns him to do a paper about his older brother, who was a former student of Sweeney's. This serves to introduce flashbacks, with the film backtracking to illustrate Danny's account of Derek's life prior to the night of the shooting. Monochrome sequences of Derek leading a Venice, California gang are intercut with color footage of the mature Derek ending his past neo-Nazi associations and attempting to detour Danny away from the group led by white supremacist, Cameron (Stacy Keach), who once influenced Derek. Director Tony Kaye, with a background in TV commercials and music videos, filmed in L.A. beach communities. Rated R "for graphic brutal violence including rape, pervasive language, strong sexuality and nudity." ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide