Dominic Daniel
Salton Sea director D.J. Caruso travels from the shore to the suburbs for this suspenseful tale of a high-school senior who suspects that his neighbor is a notorious serial killer. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a high-school senior who has yet to come to terms with the fact that his father is gone, the tragic victim of a fatal accident. As Kale's mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) struggles to pay the bills by picking up extra shifts at work, her son's behavior grows increasingly erratic. When an altercation at school finds Kale placed under court-ordered house arrest, the homebound student teams with newly arrived girl-next-door Ashley (Sarah Roemer) to investigate the suspicious neighbor (David Morse) whom Kale believes to be an elusive and wanted serial killer. Their attentions focused intensely on the man they believe to be a murderous maniac hiding in broad daylight, Kale and Ashley trespass down a dangerous path while attempting to discern whether his suspicions are grounded in fact or just a combination of deep depression and suffocating cabin fever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, (more)
Assigned the thankless task of teaching freshman English at a gang-infested Long Beach, CA high school, a 23-year-old teacher resorts to unconventional means of breaking through to her hardened students in director Richard LaGravenese's adaptation of Erin Gruwell's best-seller The Freedom Writer's Diaries: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. Her students had been written off, and her chances of succeeding scoffed at, but Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) wasn't about to go down without a fight. Long Beach is a place where a new war is waged with each passing day, and when the hardened students who walk those dangerous hallways sense an outsider attempting to understand their plight, their cynical resentment threatens to keep a deadly cycle in motion. Despite the initially hostile reaction she receives in the classroom, Gruwell uses the writings of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo to teach her students not only the basis of the English language, but compassion and tolerance as well. Later, when the time comes to tell their own tales in a project specially designed to explore the daily violence that the majority of students have grown numb to, the barriers that had once stood so strong gradually begin to crumble. When the only chance for survival is to befriend the person who was once your mortal enemy, the world is opened to a whole new realm of possibilities. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, (more)
A dying man wages a valiant battle to better his own life by altering the fate of the man responsible for murdering him in this supernatural thriller from director Peter Engert. Adam (Ezra Sutton) is on the verge of death. The man who put him there is his former friend Lock. But is it too late for Adam to prevent his own grim fate and save Lock from straying down the path of eternal damnation? As Adam begins to slip away, he has a vision in which God implores him to save his own life by getting Lock to repent for his sins. But there's a catch: while Adam will be able to see everything unfolding around him during his journey, he won't be able to hear or communicate with anyone directly. Realizing that his only hope of succeeding is to get to Lock emotionally, Adam attempts to steer his old friend in the direction of the girl with whom he once fathered a child. Meanwhile, Adam watches in pain as his grieving wife Eva (Gabi Gubas) and young daughter Emily do their best to carry on without him. Later, when Lock decides to kill Adam's family, Adam enters into a supernatural struggle of epic proportions as his ex-partner David reveals his true feelings for Eva. Could it be that in life Adam was no better than Lock? Over the course of his conversations with God, Adam begins to realize things about his life that he never knew during his time on Earth. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A Midwestern bar tender hungering for life in the fast lane enters a Hollywood King of the Bar contest in this fast-paced showbiz satire starring Jason Mewes and Paris Hilton. Owen Peadman (Mewes) is Minnesota's "Golden Boy" of bartending, but the Midwest has grown a little bland, and now Owen is looking make a name for himself in the thriving L.A. nightclub scene. When Owen gets word of a high profile bartender contest with a hearty cash prize, he sets his sights on Hollywood and prepares to knock the judges dead. Unfortunately for Owen things don't quite work out as planned, and after losing out to a well-known L.A. barman he is forced to seek the help of his flamboyant Uncle Earl. A fast-talking producer of a popular tabloid new program, Uncle Earl offers Owen a job and the pair soon set out to get the scoop on Hayden Field - the hottest young star around. Getting to Hayden isn't going to be easy though, and after hatching a plan to befriend Hayden's glamorous girlfriend Lisa Mancini (Hilton), the one-time drink slinger find out just how wild the west coast nightlife can truly get. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paris Hilton, Jason Mewes, (more)
- 2005
Aceveda (Benito Martinez) starts a political battle against Monica (Glenn Close) over her department's property seizures. He also turns to a call girl, Sara (Abby Brammell), to help him work through his ongoing trauma over being sexually assaulted. Danny (Catherine Dent) and Julien (Michael Jace) pick up a graffiti artist (Vanetta Smith) who might be involved in fomenting a gang war. ADA Encardi (Anna Maria Horsford) tells Dutch (Jay Karnes) that the DA's office wants a "favor" in exchange for getting him and Claudette (CCH Pounder) back in their good graces. They're told to bust a drug dealer (Mel Winkler), who turns out to be very small-time, arousing Claudette's suspicions. A rapist escapes from the county courthouse and attacks another victim. Vic turns to Suvuto (Noel Guglielmi), a gang leader, for help in capturing the rapist, with decidedly mixed results. Shane (Walton Goggins) and Army (Michael Pena) make a power play, beating up on Antwon's (Anthony Anderson) lieutenant Halpern (Laurence Mason) when the man himself fails to show up at a meeting. Vic continues to go after Antwon, this time busting one of his many illegitimate children, Donald III (Edward Hendershott), on a minor charge. Vic also feeds Shane some information about one of Antwon's operations to see if the information will get back to Antwon. After promising Antwon protection from Vic, Shane asks to come back to The Barn. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
An incarcerated father is forced to stand by and watch as his two young sons struggle to survive on the streets in a gritty urban drama starring Clifton Powell and Sean Blakemore. Ali Dean is a failed father, and now he will bear witness as his failure threatens to turn into an endless cycle of violence and poor decision making. Though Ali's son Tariq shows much promise as an emerging pugilist, Cesar falls on the wrong side of the law after becoming involved with the local drug trade. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Powell, Dominic Daniel, (more)
