David Alford Movies
An actor who gradually segued into writing and directing, David Alford got his start on camera in the 1999 sci-fi comedy musical Existo before penning the script for the 2000 made-for-television drama On Music Row. In the following years, Alford appeared in such features as The Last Castle, Changing Hearts, and Charlie's War while penning the screenplays for Yard Sale, Adrenaline, and Prisoner -- as well as appearing in each of them. 2007's Prisoner -- a tense tale of an egotistical filmmaker held captive in a crumbling, remote penitentiary -- also marked Alford's directorial debut. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A happy and successful family man is lured down the destructive path of revenge after his son is killed and his wife brutalized in a vicious home invasion. Thomas Archer (Ron Eldard) had it all, a successful career as a senior associate at a prominent architectural firm, a beautiful wife, and a wonderful child. Just when it seemed that things couldn't get any better for Thomas, however, his life was suddenly transformed into a waking nightmare. One night, a violent criminal breaks into Thomas' home, attacking his wife and senselessly murdering his innocent young son. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Thomas implores the police for help in catching the criminals while attempting to pick up the pieces of his broken life by visiting a highly respected therapist (Christopher Plummer). When local law enforcement fails to turn up any leads, Thomas' therapist suggests that the vengeful father contact a mysterious group with the resources to ferret out his son's killer and let the father exact the any kind of justice that he sees fit. His marriage failing, Thomas decides to take his therapist up on the offer, sending the lives of everyone involved down a dark path from which there is no escape, and no return. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Eldard, Til Schweiger, (more)
A notorious Hollywood bad boy (Golden Globe winner Julian McMahon) is captured by a mysterious Jailer (Elias Koteas) while scouting a decrepit, abandoned prison for an upcoming film in co-directors David Alford and Robert Archer Lynn's unforgiving thriller. Derek Playto is a volatile visionary whose controversial reputation has earned him more than his fair share of enemies in the entertainment industry. In preparation for his upcoming feature film -- a violent prison drama -- Playto sets out to find the perfect surroundings in which to tell his brutal tale. Upon discovering a dilapidated prison that was once a notorious house of pain, it appears that Playto has found just such a location. But Playto isn't alone in this crumbling penitentiary, and upon being captured by the Jailer, the director's only hope for escape is to answer a series of increasingly intimate questions concerning his art and his life. With every unanswered question, Playto moves one step closer to the electric chair, yet as every answer reveals a telling piece of the filmmaker's deplorable past, the prospect of death becomes more of a welcome release than an unjustified punishment. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julian McMahon, Elias Koteas, (more)
Two very different men are brought together and learn a mutually important lesson about the real function of a church in this drama. Ethan Jenkins (Michael W. Smith) is a man in his mid-thirties who after years of scuffling as a musician on the West Coast has decided to move back East and work with his father. As it happens, his father is Jeremiah Jenkins (J. Don Ferguson), a well known and respected minister who leads the flock at "The Rock," a massive "superchurch" where worship often looks more like a flashy multi-media presentation than a church service. Ethan becomes an associate pastor at The Rock, but it's clear he views his mission more as a business than service to the community, and Jeremiah decides his son needs to learn a bit more about what work at a church is all about. In the early '60s, Jeremiah helped found the Second Chance Community Church during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The inner-city neighborhood Second Chance serves is now a crime-ridden slum, and Jeremiah sends Ethan there to assist pastor Jake Sanders (Jeff Obafemi Carr) as he tries to maintain an oasis of peace and hope in the middle of a gang-dominated war zone. Through Jake, Ethan gains some hard-won wisdom about the true nature of faith and service, and he tries to share his new knowledge with his father, whose new congregation is a far cry from where he started his mission for the Lord. The Second Chance marked the first feature film role for award-winning Christian musician Michael W. Smith. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael W. Smith, Jeff Obafemi Carr, (more)
Adapted from James Agee's posthumously published, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Death in the Family is set in Knoxville, TN, in 1915. The death of husband and father Jay Follett (John Slattery) in a car accident has profound and long-reaching effects upon his wife, Mary (Annabeth Gish), and his sensitive, seven-year-old son, Rufus (Austin Wolff). At the core of the crisis is Mary's prickly relationship with her own family, exacerbated by her late husband's unwillingness to "go with the flow" in terms of religion and race relations. The kindly intervention of Mary's free-spirited artist brother, Andrew (David Alford), enables her and her son to go on with their lives. Told from Rufus' point of view, the novel version of Death in the Family had previously served as the source for the Broadway play and film All the Way Home. This production, filmed on-location in Tennessee, was telecast by PBS on March 25, 2002 as part of Masterpiece Theatre's "American Collection." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Redford stars in this action drama as General Irwin, a respected three-star tactician whose career ends in disgrace when he's court-martialed and sent to The Castle, a maximum security military prison. Irwin quickly butts heads with the facility's autocratic warden, Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), who runs his command with an iron fist, even killing prisoners when he deems it necessary. Irwin rallies his fellow convicts into a rag-tag army and leads them in a revolt against Winter, an action that the warden is ready to repel by violent means. Mark Ruffalo, Robin Wright Penn, and Delroy Lindo co-star in this Dreamworks production, the third feature film from one-time film critic Rod Lurie. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, (more)
