David L. Cunningham Movies
- 2007
- PG
- Add The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising to QueueAdd The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising to top of Queue
Producer Marc E. Platt brings author Susan Cooper's popular series of children's fantasy books to the big screen with this tale of a young boy (Alexander Ludwig) who discovers that he is the latest in a long line of immortal warriors. When the forces of darkness, led by the villainous Rider (Christopher Eccleston), threaten to overpower the forces of light, the young chosen one must venture out into the world to realize his destiny and ensure that evil is defeated. Ian McShane and Frances Conroy round out the cast. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston, (more)
- 2006
This five-hour ABC miniseries depicts the events leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, through the scope of a handful of intelligence and counter-terrorism officials in the U.S. government. Harvey Keitel plays John O'Neill, the counter-terrorism chief of the FBI whose belief that Osama bin Laden was planning assaults on U.S. soil fell on deaf ears and failed to gain the traction necessary to stop the events. In a tragic twist, O'Neill later went to work at the World Trade Center and was killed on that fateful day. Also starring Donnie Wahlberg and Stephen Root, The Path to 9/11 garnered controversy for its questionable depiction of the Clinton administration's failings related to the threat. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Michael Benyaer, (more)
A thrill-seeking group of urban explorers sets its sights on Russia in hopes of locating and documenting Stalin's secret metro and unearthing Ivan the Terrible's notorious torture chamber in director David L. Cunningham's tense, globe-trotting adventure. Nate and his friends are adventure seekers who infiltrate the most treacherous man-made structures on the planet for little other reason than the fact that they can. Their latest mission has found them venturing deep into the underground of modern-day Moscow. As it begins to become increasingly obvious that the fearless adventurers may have gotten in over their heads this time, the physical and mental tolls incurred during their excursion will find them fighting for both their lives and their sanity against an all-consuming blackness that threatens to swallow them without a trace. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Caltagirone, Flora Montgomery, (more)
Narratively, the Disney-produced 2004 miniseries Little House on the Prairie retraces the footsteps of the acclaimed prime-time, nine-year TV series of the same title - albeit in a more abbreviated version. Like the 1970s series, this four-hour Disney adaptation takes as its source the beloved books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, roman-a-clefs about growing up on the rugged American frontier during the nineteenth century. It opens with the arrival of the Ingalls family in Minnesota during the 1870s - father Charles Ingalls(Cameron Bancroft), mother Caroline Ingalls (Erin Cottrell), and daughters Laura Ingalls (Kyle Chavarria) and Mary Ingalls (Danielle Ryan Churchran) - and moves ahead in time as the young girls come of age. Little House on the Prairie originally aired on ABC as episodes of The Wonderful World of Disney. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cameron Bancroft, Erin Cottrell, (more)
David L. Cunningham follows up on his acclaimed Beyond Paradise with this Bridge Over the River Kwai-like POW drama. Following Japan's surprise invasion of Singapore during the waning days of 1941, a small British battalion headed by Lieutenant Colonel McLean (James Cosmo), Major Campbell (Robert Carlyle), Captain Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), and Lieutenant Tom Ridgen (Kiefer Sutherland) are captured and imprisoned in a camp deep in the Burmese jungle. Soon after arriving, Major Campbell starts to an uprising. Worn down by an exhausting march through the woods, brutal daily beatings, and a lack of food, the troops are in no mood for a coup and the scheme collapses. Captain Gordon copes with the camp's extreme conditions in a polar opposite manner -- by forgiving his captors and seeking spiritual salvation. Soon a split occurs within the camp between those who follow Campbell's tireless efforts for physical freedom and those who follow Gordon's more transcendent pursues. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ciarán McMenamin, Robert Carlyle, (more)
- 1998
An ususual story that explores the day-to-day lives of working class Hawaiians (the sort of people tourists never see), Beyond Paradise follows teenage Mark (Roy Newton), who moves to Hawaii with his mother after his parents split up. Among the natives, Mark is an outcast, and he discovers that islanders don't always welcome whites from the mainland, who are coming to their neighborhoods in increasing numbers. After he saves the life of a classmate following a surfing accident, he finds himself more readily welcomed by the local kids, and he makes friends with Zulu (Kalani), Ronnie Boy (Lorenzo Callender), and Keao (Daryl Bonilla). Mark also becomes involved with a Hawaiian girl, Lehua (Priscilla Basque), but the longer he lives on the big island, the more he becomes aware that violence, racism, and poverty are facts of life here as much as anywhere, despite the idyllic surroundings. One of the first independent films to explore contemporary Hawaiian culture, Beyond Paradise was received enthusiastically at the 1998 Hawaii Film Festival and repeated the feat later that year at Los Angeles' AFI Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roy Newton, David Schultz, (more)
