Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Beastie Boys Story (2020)



Released on Apple TV+ through instant streaming , April 24th in the US.
Filmed entirely in New York.
The story : In early 2020 , Michael Diamond AKA Mike D and Adam Horovitz AKA Ad-Rock take the stage in Brooklyn , New York at The King's Theatre , without their friend Adam Yauch AKA MCA.
There , the longtime friends of over 40 years , tell the long windy story of the Beastie Boys.
The story they adapt from their book of the same name.
Mike and Adam tell us how the Beastie Boys met and came to be a music group.
Their transition from a punk group , with friends Kate Shellenbach and John Berry, to a rap group without them but finally being signed to Def Jam , who marketed the trio as giant stars.
They tell of their love for music and what they turned that love into.
Filled with many ups and downs , Mike and Adam pour their hearts out , always paying tribute to their beloved friend/band founder Adam Yauch who passed away in 2012 , while showing us videos and clips of themselves , along with friends , through the years.
Stars Michael Diamond , Adam Horovitz , David Cross , Ben Stiller , Steve Buscemi , (voice) Spike Jonze , (voice) Bill Hadar
Directed by (& story partly written) Spike Jonze
Rated TV MA
DOCUMENTARY/BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY/MUSIC/TV

"In memory of Adam Yauch."

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Drowning Mona (2000)



Released March 3rd in the US.
Filmed in California.
The story: In the small town of Verplanck, upstate New York, everyone has a vanity plate.
A vanity plate identifying themselves.
Verplanck is a town infamous for the car company Yugo testing its cars there...
Anyway, everyone who lives there knows each other, and most things that go on around town are just a bit off.
One morning, unlike any other around Verplanck, Mona Dearly sets off to work.
But instead of taking her car, she takes her son Jeff's.
On her way, things take a turn for the worse when she tries to apply the brakes, heading straight for a guardrail, and the brakes do not work.
Mona goes straight over a cliff and into the river below, killing Mona.
Quickly, the news hits everyone in town.
When the police begin investigating the crash, they start believing that Mona's crash and death were no accident.
Mostly because Mona wasn't a very nice person to anyone who knew her.
Stars Bette Midler , Tracey Walter , Casey Affleck , Marcus Thomas , Danny DeVito , Peter Dobson , Paul Ben Victor , Paul Schulze , William Fichtner , Kathleen Wilhoite , Robert Arce , Neve Campbell , Jamie Lee Curtis , Mark Pellegrino , Raymond O Connor , Will Ferrell , Lisa Rieffel , Brittany Peterson
Directed by Nick Gomez
Rated PG13
DARK COMEDY

"You know, you're my brother...can't you just do a brotherly deboning or something?..."

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Nonnas (2025)



Released May 9th in the US.
Filmed entirely in New Jersey.
Based on truths.
The story: As a child, Joe Scaravella had a great love for his mother and grandmother.
He also, along with everyone else in their big family, loved their cooking.
It always brought everyone together, and Joe fondly remembers that time in his life as a really happy time.
Fast forward to present day.
Joe has just lost his beloved mother.
She left him some money and a letter, a letter Joe doesn't want to open because it will mean it is the last thing his mother will ever say to him...
After his best friends try talking him into doing something he would never do before with the money she left him, Joe goes out on his own and decides to buy a restaurant.
But not any restaurant.
Joe's vision is to hire as many "Nonnas" as possible, who love to cook and will cook their most beloved dishes for all who will love and appreciate them.
It's a great idea, but it will cost a lot of money, as well as being quite the task, because Joe and his friends know absolutely nothing about owning and running a restaurant.
Stars Theodore Helm , Jamie Eddy , Jack Casey , Kate Eastman , Karen Giordano , Adam Ferrara , Tammy Pescatelli , Lorraine Bracco , Drea de Matteo , Joe Manganiello, Brenda Vaccaro , Susan Sarandon , Talia Shire , Linda Cardellini , Michael Rispoli , Quincy Dunn Baker , Jimmy Smagula
Directed by Stephen Chbosky
Rated PG
DRAMA/COMEDY/HISTORY

Sunday, June 1, 2025

I Care a Lot (2020)



Released February 19, 2021, in the US.
Filmed in Massachusetts and England.
The story: Marla is a confident woman.
She has made a career as a professional, court-appointed legal guardian, typically for the elderly whose doctors claim they can no longer care for themselves.
But instead of doing what is right, Marla is trying to get rich.
She schemes, with many people working along with her, to take these elderly people out of their homes and put them in assisted living facilities.
Then, while those people are safely locked away from what they know, Marla makes sure to sell off all of their belongings.
When Marla is informed by her doctor friend of a well-off elderly woman who is in the early stages of dementia and has no living family, it seems like a very easy gig.
Big problems arise though when the woman's son, who no one knew about, comes looking for his mother.
Stars Rosamund Pike , Eiza Gonzales , Macon Blair , Damian Rice , Alicia Witt , Dianne Wiest , Nicholas Logan , Isiah Whitlock Jr , Peter Dinklage , Chris Messina , Liz Eng , Georgia Lyman
Directed by (& story written) J Blakeson
Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/DARK COMEDY

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

I See You (2019)



December 6th in the US.
Filmed in Ohio.
The story: Greg Harper is a policeman who is investigating the recent disappearance of a local 10-year-old boy.
The case is the cause of much stress for Greg.
His home life isn't great either, as he is struggling with the recent infidelity of his wife Jackie, while their young teen son Connor is extremely angry about the situation.
Also, lately, things around their family home have been strange.
Things are going missing and being in spots where they would not normally be.
But everyone in the house disregards it for the most part.
When the man Jackie was involved with shows up unexpectedly, things get really bad.
So bad that Greg and Jackie end up having to hide his body...
Stars Riley Caya , Jon Tenney , Helen Hunt , Judah Lewis , Gregory Alan Williams , Erika Alexander , Allison Gabriel , Adam Kern , Nicole Forester , John Newburg , AJ Ransom , Libe Barer , Owen Teague 
Directed by Adam Randall
Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER

Tragedy Girls (2017)



Released October 20th in the US.
Filmed entirely in Kentucky.
The story: BFF's Sadie and McKayla are high school seniors who just happen to be obsessed with death...
They also have an Instagram page , dedicated to death but feel it doesn't get the attention it deserves.
There is a serial killer lurking around their small town, and the girls have been studying everything about the murders.
When they kidnap the serial killer, they do believe they have one-upped him.
Sadie and McKayla decide that they will start killing off people around town, blaming the serial killer for the killings, of course, but still taking in and feeding on all the attention surrounding the mystery.
Stars Brianna Hildebrand , Austin Abrams , Alexandra Shipp , Kevin Durand , Jack Quaid , Nicky Whelan , Craig Robinson , Timothy V Murphy , Katie Stottlemire , Josh Hutcherson , Elise Neal , Andy Bethea , Keith Hudson , Savannah Jade , William Tokarsky , Loren Lester , Rosalind Chao 
Directed by (& story partly written) Tyler MacIntyre
Rated R
DARK COMEDY/THRILLER/MYSTERY/HORROR

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Coming Home in the Dark (2021)



Released October 1st in the US.
Filming location(s) unknown.
The story: Hoaggie and Jill are a married couple who both happen to be school teachers.
They are taking their two teen sons on a road trip vacation through New Zealand.
Everything is going well until they stop by a quiet road for a picnic.
While there, the family is approached by two strange men.
After questioning them and invading the family's space, the men decide to rob the family at gunpoint.
The family complies, but that isn't good enough for the two drifters.
Slowly, the family is put through tortures one by one until the drifters learn something about Hoaggie's past that makes their torturous rampage all the more meaningful.
Stars Erik Thomson , Miriama McDowell , Frankie Paratene , Billy Paratene , Daniel Gillies , Matthias Luafutu , Alan Palmer , Desray Armstrong , Sam Carter , Ike Hamon , Bailey Cowan , Timon Zeiss
Directed by ( & story partly written) James Ashcroft
TVMA
MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR