Alan Lazar Movies
Writer/producer/director Chris Angel examines the paranoia of life in the age of terrorism with this drama about a Los Angeles man who attempts to prepare for the worst after becoming convinced that his city has been targeted for a nuclear attack. Carl (Hill Harper) and Vivian Ashby (Robinne Lee) are a young couple just getting started in life. They're attempting to conceive a child, and as Carl spends his days mentoring inner-city teens, Viv goes to work for a progressive candidate for city council. Their ideal life is shattered when Carl begins experiencing a recurring dream in which he fails to save Viv after terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in the city. Upon seeing a news report alerting citizens to a heightened terrorist threat in Los Angeles, Carl finally decides to conquer his fears by becoming more proactive. It's during a seminar hosted by terrorism expert Robert Forte (Eddie Cahill) that Carl first encounters comedian Tom Arnold (playing himself). Arnold, too, is concerned about nuclear terrorism, and hires Carl to design a fallout shelter for his Malibu home. When Carl decides to build his own fallout shelter, Viv begins to think that his paranoia has finally gotten the best of him, and refers him to one of her co-workers, LAPD officer Rick Smyth (Gordon Currie). But Rick has an ulterior motive in talking to Carl, and purposefully gives him bad advice in hopes of driving he and Viv further apart. Though Carl hatches a plan to sidestep the disaster by moving to Canada, Viv's candidate wins the election and refuses to leave Los Angeles. Later, when Carl arrives at Santa Monica Airport determined to get out of the city while he still can, the civil defense warning system goes off, forcing him to decide between making a quick escape, or venturing back into the city to be with the woman he loves. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hill Harper, Tom Arnold, (more)
The true story of a young girl held captive by her insane caretaker comes to life in this disturbing film from Ella Enchanted director Tommy O'Haver. Hard Candy's Ellen Page stars as Sylvia Likens a teenager who, along with her sister, is left to live temporarily with seemigly-mild-mannered housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, played by Catherine Keener. Unfortunately for Sylvia, Gertrude soon snaps and holds her hostage in harsh conditions until the former's eventual death. Bradley Whitford costars as the prosecutor tasked with trying the case against Baniszewski. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Keener, Ellen Page, (more)
The documentary Camp Out joins Fish Can't Fly, God and Gays, and other recent films that examine the attempts of some left-leaning factions of mainstream evangelical Christianity to promote greater acceptance and understanding of male homosexuality. Bravo television veterans Kirk Marcolina and Larry Grimaldi (Boy Meets Boy) helm, thus interweaving the stylistic influences of reality television throughout the project. The two filmmakers hone in on the first all gay male Bible Camp, and on ten gay male adolescent attendees (all self-professed born again Christians). The young men in question are visiting the camp for the first time and attempting - per the camp's theme - to reconcile their sexual orientations with their shared belief system. This involves interacting over the course of several days with other gay Christian teens, and participating in such joint activities as fingernail painting and nighttime, bunkroom pow-wows where campers tell all. Grimaldi and Marcolina spend time acquainting the audience with each camper and his individual struggle(s). More broadly, the film also point toward the potential for harmony between Christians and gays by working in an interview with openly gay Lutheran pastor Jay Wiesner, that depicts his special ordination ceremony. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
An aging societal outcast and a motherless duck set out to find shelter and meaning in a future where people are separated by as many degrees as they are connected. The year is 2009, and the last public park in Los Angeles has been closed to the public. The city is a desert, and dispossessed widower Arthur Pratt (Philip Baker Hall) has outlived his usefulness. A retired history professor who spent all of his savings caring for his beloved late wife, Arthur sets out to the park where his son and dearly departed are buried to pay his final respects before ending his own life. Arthur's grim westward march hits an unexpected hitch, however, when an orphaned duckling that has recently cheated death adopts the homeless septuagenarian as a surrogate mother figure. Once again displaced when their park becomes a landfill and their pond is drained, the unlikely pair embarks on a Sisyphean journey to find shelter and meaning in a world where their lives seem to have little value. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Baker Hall, Bill Brochtrup, (more)
An Internet entrepreneur looking to revolutionize the way the world wide web is utilized finds out that there's more to the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" than he ever imagined in this tale of innovation soured, helmed by greedy dot-com cynic Alan Ari Lazar. As the personal home-computer revolution reaches a fever pitch, visionary tech innovator John Elias dreams of shattering national borders and changing the way computer users communicate with the outside world; and with Robert Jennings closing the deal, it appears as if Elias may finally have the opportunity to make his dreams a reality. As fast as the money starts rolling in though, Elias quickly loses himself to the intoxicating effects of success, isolating himself from his business partners and girlfriend and losing site of his original goals. Despite the fact that Elias let fame go to his head, where there's a will to succeed there's a chance for redemption, and before the book on his success story reaches the final chapter, the well-intending dot-com king may finally make amends for the pain his greed has caused to those he cared for most. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
