Timothy J. Sexton Movies

The advertising industry in America exists in a paradox -- while it's all but impossible to go a day without being exposed to the work of leading figures in the advertising business, very little is known about the people behind the ads and the process by which they're created. Filmmaker Doug Pray offers a rare look inside the business of advertising in the documentary Art & Copy, in which he profiles a number of the most respected men and women in the ad game as they talk about their work, their motivations, and their views on the creative process. Pray's interview subjects include Lee Clow, who created memorable television spots for Apple's Macintosh computer and later their iPod MP3 player; Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby, who gave new life to the dairy industry with the "Got Milk?" campaign; Hal Riney, who helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House with his "Morning in America" TV spot; George Lois, who remade popular culture by coining the slogan "I Want My MTV"; and Mary Wells, the first woman to run a major ad agency and the creator of the "I (heart) New York" campaign. Sponsored in part by the One Club, an organization dedicated to excellence in advertising, Art & Copy received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Made for cable, Walkout is the true story of a little-known but profoundly significant moment in the history of the Latino community in East Los Angeles. In 1968, Lincoln High School honor student Paula Crisostomo (Alexa Vega), outraged at the shabby treatment afforded Chicano students in the L.A. school system -- including habitually lowered expectations, poor facilities, a total absence of bilingual courses or textbooks, unfairly administered penalties for slight infractions, demeaning corporal punishment, and out-of-hand refusal to write letters of recommendation to choice colleges -- challenges the authority of her elders for the first time in her life by organizing a mass student walkout at five barrio high schools. Mentored by dedicated young teacher Sal Castro (Michael Pena), Paula and her fellow student activists intend to make their protest a peaceful one, but the L.A. cops typically use brute force to quell the "radicals." Even when it seems that the school board will capitulate to the Chicano students' demands, the kids are betrayed (there's an undercover police officer in their midst) and the leaders of the walkout are threatened with lengthy prison sentences on trumped-up "conspiracy" charges. It will not spoil the ending of the film to reveal that the students are ultimately successful; as directed by actor Edward James Olmos (who also plays one of the school board members), the dramatic thrust of the story is the lasting effect that the protest has on its participants -- especially the idealistic Paula Crisostomo. Executive producer Moctesuma Esparza, who'd been one of the original walkout organizers back in 1968, spent a full two decades getting this story on film; Esparza is played by Bodie Olmos, son of the director, while Esparza's daughter Tonantzin Esparza is seen as Vickie Castro. Also, Paula Crisostomo's daughter Marisol Crisostomo-Romo is seen as Mita -- and in addition, several of the former student activists are interviewed during the closing credits, or appear as extras in the crowd scenes. Produced for HBO, Walkout originally aired on March 18, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In 1955, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks dared to take an empty seat in the "Whites Only" section on a city bus in Montomery, AL, and sparked one of the first major battles in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, thus bringing the work of Martin Luther King to the attention of many Americans for the first time. Boycott is a made-for-TV movie that dramatizes the events of the Montomery bus boycott, weaving vintage newsreel footage with scenes depicting the public and private dramas involved in the protests. Boycott stars Jeffrey Wright as Martin Luther King, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King, and Terrence Dashon Howard as Ralph Abernathy; CCH Pounder, Reg E. Cathey, and Shawn Michael Howard highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide