ABC Afterschool Specials : Testing Dirty (1990)

Made for ABC, airing October 18th in the US.

Season 19. Episode 2.

The story: At a school board meeting, keeping the kids from street drugs is the current topic due to a student recently overdosing.

The school board believes there isn't much they can do without the cooperation of the students themselves.

Parents want the rules changed.

If any student is caught on drugs, they will be suspended from school indefinitely, which means random drug testing.

One of these very students is Will. He is a good student who is on the swim team, works hard, and is trying to make his way into a specific college.

Although he does have some friends who have been using drugs.

Will finds himself one in the first group of students to take a random drug test.

His test comes back positive but he doesn't use street drugs.

Stars Patrick Cronin, Sandy Martin, Sylvia Walden, Alley Mills, Christopher Rich, Mary Pat Gleason, Matt Alder, Adam Sandler, Barbara Tarbuck, Lisa Dean Ryan, Francesca P Roberts, Tony Maggio, Art LeFleur, Michael Manasseri, Gabriel Bologna, Steve Lindquist, A Martinez, Bridgid Coulter, Casey Ledoux, Micheal Snowwhite, Aimee Victorson

Directed by Lynn Hamrick

Not Rated

DRAMA/FAMILY/SERIES

Downhill (2020)

Released February 14th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Austria.

The story:  Pete and Billie have taken their two young sons to Austria for a family ski vacation.
At first, things go pretty well.

But one afternoon while sitting at an outdoor restaurant next to a snow-covered mountain things get a bit unpredictable and scary when an avalanche almost pummels the family among other guests.

This changes the whole shape of things, mainly because right before the avalanche touched down Pete jumped away and out of danger without his family.

Stars Julia Louis Dreyfus, Will Ferrell, Julian Grey, Ammon Jacob Ford, Miranda Otto, Zach Woods, Zoe Chao, Giulio Berruti, Kristopher Hivju, Alex Macqueen, Nadiv Molcho, Ruth Brauer

Directed by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Rated R
COMEDY/DRAMA

Fragile (2005)

Released August 6, 2010, in the US.

Filmed in the UK and Spain.

The story: Shortly after arriving at the childrens' hospital she is now working at, night nurse Amy meets parentless and sick Maggie.

When Amy meets the children, Maggie is the one child who is keeping to herself and mentions the blocks she is using arent for playing but rather talking...

Later that same night Maggie tells Amy about who she talks to using the blocks. , someone she believes is a  mechanical girl, named Charlotte, who lives on the second floor of the hospital.

The one part Amy finds strange is that the one who Charlotte is talking to lives on the second floor, which she learned earlier has been closed for years.

Little does Amy realize though, there have been some strange and unexplainable happenings in the hospital prior to her arrival.

Only the other night nurse knows this to be true but no one has been listening.

Stars Yasmin Murphy, Susie Trayling , Michael Pennington, Calista Flockhart, Colin McFarlane, Gemma Jones, Elena Anaya, Scarlet Carey, Lloyd F Booth Shankley, Daniel Ortiz, Michael Gatward, Cameron Antrobus, Olivia Bjork, Fergus Riordan, Arthur Rogers , Freda Dowie,  Karmeta Cervera

Directed by Jaume Balaguero

Rated PG13

THRILLER/MYSTERY/HORROR

ABC Afterschool Specials : Dinky Hocker (1979)

Made for ABC, airing December 12th in the US.
Season 7. Episode 4. 

The story: Susan AKA Dinky is an overweight girl who substitutes food for the attention she craves from her mother.

Mom is always so busy with her meetings and charity work, Dinky feels like she is always being shrugged off.

Dinky's friend Tucker seems to be the only one who notices Dinky's eating issue and when trying to talk to her about it, just gets fed up with her feeling bad for herself over the problems she believes she has.

When Tucker meets and asks Dinky's cousin to a dance, he also sets his friend P John up with Dinky.

Dinky and P John hit it off really well, mostly because he cares about Dinky and is very perceptive of the very problems that Dinky's mother chooses to ignore.

At Dinky's house one day P John is helping Dinky take her diet very seriously, her mother then begins taking offense his advice 

While one of Dinkys' mom's Families Against Drugs meetings is going on P John gets into a fight with one of the attendees over cake and is soon asked to leave.

With no other choice left, Dinky finally does something she knows will get her mother's attention.

Stars Wendie Jo Sperber , Jon Walmsley , June Lockhart , Maureen Teefy , Alan Oppenheimer , Gary Springer

Directed by Tom Blank

Not Rated

DRAMA/FAMILY/SERIES

"The real meaning of addiction is that you turn to poison to bring you out of your misery. And then the poison becomes a problem. And then you just keep getting in deeper and deeper, until there's no way out. And it doesn't only have to be drugs. It can be anything."

Deep In the Darkness (2014)

Released April 29th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Connecticut.

The story: Michael is a doctor from the city with a wife and young daughter.

He has decided to bring his family to a quiet little town in New Hampshire and take up residency.

Things seem a little off for Michael but his wife and daughter seem to be fitting in just fine.

When Michael has questions that continue to go unanswered about what goes on in the town he is now living in, he finds himself in terrorizing situations.

The one thing that Michael ignored when he first got to his new home is now catching up with him.

Stars  Sean Patrick Thomas, Kathleen Huber, Kristen Bush, Athena Grant, Dean Stockwell, Anthony Del Negro, Dina Cataldi, Steven A Miller, Yanina Hope, Blanche Baker, Ron Komora 

Directed by Colin Theys

Not Rated

MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

Shut In (2016)

Released November 11th in the US.

Filmed in Canada.

The story: Mary is a psychologist who is married to Richard.

When the couple decides that Richards's son Steven, whom Mary helped raise, should go away to school,  Steven is not happy.

Richard and Steven leave but get into an argument which causes an accident, killing Richard and injuring Steven.

Mary is on her own now, caring for wheelchair-bound Steven.

When she takes in a young boy who she's been working with to help him and then he disappears, strange things begin happening to Mary.

She believes that somehow the young boy is now haunting her.

Stars Naomi Watts , Peter Outerbridge , Charlie Heaton , Ellen David , Clementine Poidatz , Jacob Tremblay , Oliver Platt , Tim Post , Alex Braunstein , David Cubitt , Crystal Balint

Directed by Farren Blackburn

Rated PG13

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Natalie Wood : What Remains Behind (2020)

Made for HBO, airing May 5th in the US.

Filming location(s) unknown.

The story: Natasha Gregson Wood is actress Natalie Wood's eldest daughter.

She was 11-years-old when she learned of her mother's passing.

Natasha was very confused about losing her mom, among many others who were close to her.

Here she tells her story of growing up with such a caring selfless parent along with her mothers, who Natasha is continued to be fascinated by.

Many other loved ones, including both husbands as well as friends, speak of their relationship and feelings for the strong, courageous, brilliant actress.

Stars Natasha Gregson Wood, Courtney Wagner, Robert Wagner, Katie Wagner,  Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, George Hamilton, Mart Crowley, David Niven Jr, Sarah Gregson, Richard Gregson, Delphine Mann, Joshua Donen, Elizabeth Applegate, Alice Emmy Price, Peter Hyams, John Irvin, Michael Childers, Alan Nierob, Dyan Cannon, Elliott Gould, Tonya Crowe, George Segal, Julia Gregson, Jill St John

Directed by Laurent Bouzereau

Rated TV14

BIOGRAPHY/HISTORY

Harper (1966)

Released March 30th in the US.

Filmed in California.

The story: Lew Harper is a private investigator.

He is hired by wealthy and handicapped Elaine Sampson to find her husband Ralph who has been missing for a whole day...

After searching high and low and talking with many people who had recently seen Ralph, Lew learns that he had been kidnapped for ransom.

Everywhere Lew investigates turns out unsafe and without any new leads but many suspects Lew decides paying the ransom is the only last attempt to find Ralph.

Stars Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Robert Wagner, Pamela Tiffin, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters, Robert Webber, Julie Harris, Harold Gould, Strother Martin, Martin West, Roy Jenson

Directed by Jack Smight

Not Rated

MYSTERY/THRILLER

Mojave (2015)

Released December 3rd in the US.

Filmed entirely in California.

The story:  Tom is a famous filmmaker who is going through a rough time in his life.

Tom decides to take some time away from his life and go to the desert.

While there a drifter stumbles onto Toms's camp and shakes him up a bit.

Tom ends up not trusting him and for good reason.

That's when he steals his gun and leaves him for dead.

But on Tom's way out of the desert, he runs into even more trouble when he mistakenly shoots a man thinking it's the drifter.

Now the drifter is bent on getting to Tom's place and taking him down once and for all.

Stars Garrett Hedlund , Walton Goggins , Fran Kranz , Oscar Issac , Louise Bourgoin , Mark Walhberg , Tin Soergel , Ralph Brannen , Cletus Young , Niall Madden , Matt Jones , Ron Duncan , Oliver Cooper

Directed by William Monahan

Rated R
DRAMA/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Vox Lux (2018)

Released December 7th in the US.

Filmed in New York.

The story: When Celeste was a young teenager she was injured by a fellow classmate shooting up her music class.

After a long road to recovery, Celeste found herself performing a song she had written at a memorial for all the classmates who were lost in the shooting.

This performance changes Celeste's life forever, throwing her into the fast hands of popstar fame and fortune.

Now in her thirties, Celeste has just released her sixth album.

While getting ready to tour Celeste is burdened by ill-hearted press while trying to spend time with her teenage daughter whose legal guardian is Celeste's sister.

All the while battling personal demons, depression from scandal, and a longtime dependency on pain meds.

Stars (voice) William Dafoe, Jordan Friedman, Raffey Cassidy, Meg Gibson, Daniel London , Maria Dizzia, Stacy Martin,  Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Ehle, Christopher Dylan White

Directed by Brady Corbet

Rated R
DRAMA

"In memory of Jonathan Demme."

Voyagers (2021)

Released April 9th in the US.

Filmed in the US, Czech Republic, Romania, and the UK.

The story:  As the Earth becomes hotter, it is becoming a threat to the future.

A mission is planned when a new planet to colonize is discovered.

30 children are bred to live on a spaceship, without ever having experienced life in the real world.

Their mission is to learn, obey the rules, live civilized lives, and reproduce so that their grandchildren will be the inhabitants of the new planet.

But when two of the kids who are friends realize that they are being drugged to stay in line things get way out of control for everyone on the ship.

Stars Colin Farrell, April Grace, Laura Dreyfuss, Veronica Falcon, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, Fionne Whitehead, Chante Adams, Quintessa Swindell, Archie Madekwe, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Viveik Kalra, Madison Hu, Archie Renaux, Wern Lee, Patrick Bucur, Rufus Bateman, Jaquelin Capusan

Directed by (& story written) Neil Burger

Rated PG13

SCIFI/THRILLER/MYSTERY