Dave Brown Movies

The residents of a small town feel different varieties of grief in the wake of a shocking death in this independent drama from director Gaby Dellal. Angels Crest is a community at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where local news is rarely interesting and nearly everyone knows one another. Ethan (Thomas Dekker) is a young man in his early twenties who was once involved with Cindy (Lynn Collins); it's common knowledge that Cindy has a serious drinking problem, and the responsibility of looking after their three-year-old son usually falls to Ethan. While out on a fishing trip on a snowy day, Ethan leaves the boy alone in his car for a few minutes; when Ethan returns, his son has somehow gotten away, and days later the boy's frozen remains are found in the woods. Ethan is shattered by this turn of events, and many in Angels Crest feel sorry for him, but Cindy isn't one of them. Meanwhile, a local prosecutor assigned to the case (Jeremy Piven) must come to terms with his own demons as he prepares to charge Ethan with negligent homicide. Featuring a distinguished supporting cast including Mira Sorvino, Elizabeth McGovern, and Kate Walsh, Angels Crest received its world premiere at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The hottest summer on record turns downright chilly when some unexplainable crop circles appear in a local field, and representatives from a mysterious foreign oil company turn up hoping to buy the local grain elevator in this comedy starring Tom Green and Crispin Glover. As night falls over Laxdale, a series of strange events culminate in the discovery of some elaborate crop circles on a local farm. Before the locals have a chance to try and make sense of all the strangeness, Petrocon General Manager Veirgacht (Glover) appears in town and announces plans to purchase the local grain elevator. This plan doesn't sit well with former NHL player Bill Swanson (Green), because should Veirgacht succeed in convincing the locals to let Petrocon start searching for oil, Bill will be out of work. Later, Bill finds his old minor league hockey coach Arnie locked in his house and dying from hypothermia. Arnie claims that the only thing protecting him from some mysterious invaders is the cold, but promptly freezes to death before giving Bill any concrete information about who "they" are or why "they've" come to Laxdale. Now convinced of foul play, Bill enlists the aid of local barmaid Gina Larson in getting to the bottom of this extraterrestrial mystery. When local gear-heads Randy and Dwayne spontaneously combust during a joyride down a country road, the time finally comes to uncover Veirgacht's true intentions. Upon discovering that Petrocon is actually an "off world" time-share company intent on transforming the Earth into a lavish resort for extraterrestrials, Bill and Gina team up to find the aliens' Achilles heel and save the entire human race from being enslaved as cabana boys and chambermaids. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams stars as Randolph Smiley, a popular children's show host known professionally as "Rainbow Randolph." Dismissed from his beloved job when he's caught taking payola, Randolph becomes increasingly mentally unhinged and the target of his delusional revenge fantasies is Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), otherwise known as Smoochy, the fuchsia rhino character that has replaced him and soared to national popularity. Randolph soon learns that his ex-girlfriend and network executive Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) is sleeping with Sheldon, so he sets out to kill Smoochy, egged on by an unexpected ally: corporate president Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart), who should be profiting from Smoochy's rise to fame, except for the fact that he and his cronies are unable to control the idealistic Sheldon's on-air agenda. Death to Smoochy (2002) co-stars Harvey Fierstein, Vincent Shiavelli, and Michael Rispoli. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi