Fender Bender (2016)

Released May 23rd in the US.

Filmed entirely in New Mexico.

The story: Hillary is a 17-year-old who just got her driver's license.

When she thinks her boyfriend may be cheating she jumps in her mom's brand new car to try and catch him in the act.

Humiliated, Hillary gets the proof she needed to back up her assumptions about her cheating beau.

Heartbroken and on her way home, Hillary gets rear-ended.

She handles the situation really well considering and takes her mom's car home in shame to tell the story.

After explaining the situation, Hillary finds herself grounded, which means she isn't allowed to go on the overnight trip with her parents she's been waiting for all year.

Unfortunately, the driver who hit Hillary isn't just an average, everyday guy.

He's a murderer...and he knows where she lives.

Stars Cassidy Freeman, Bill Sage, Makenzie Vega, Harrison Sim, Summer Cassidy Raine, Dre Davis, Steven Michael Quezada, Lora Martinez Cunningham, Kelsey Leos Montoya, (voice) Hilary Guler

Directed by (& story written) Mark Pavia

Not Rated

MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

A Little Romance (1979)

Released April 27th in the US.

Filmed in France and Italy.

The story: Daniel is a very intelligent French teen who loves going to the movies.

He meets Lauren while watching a movie being filmed.

Lauren is also an extremely intelligent American girl, staying in Paris with her parents.

The two spend much time wandering around Paris while learning things and being fascinated by each other in many ways.

But when Lauren is forbidden by her mother to see Daniel, and then is told they will be moving to Texas, Lauren and Daniel make a plan to go to Italy to spend what little time they have left together.

Stars Thelonious Bernard, Diane Lane, Sally Kellerman, Broderick Crawford, Arthur Hill, Laurence Olivier, David Dukes, Andrew Duncan, Graham Fletcher Cook, Claudette Sutherland, Ashby Semple, Claude Brosset, Jacques Maury, Anna Massey, Peter Maloney, Dominique Lavanant, Mike Marshall, Michel Bardinet

Directed by George Roy Hill

Rated PG
DRAMA

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

Released November 1st in the US. 

Filmed entirely in California.

The story: Richard and Jim are Secret Service Agents.

They have been partners and best friends for the last 7 years.

When Jim has three days before retirement he decides to check out a suspicion about a counter fitting racket on his own.

But Jim gets killed.

Richard makes it his ultimate mission to stop the counterfeiters that killed his best friend.

He takes another agent along with him but just when he wants out, Richard closes in on the counterfeiters.

Stars William Petersen, Michael Greene, Michael Zand, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, John Pankow, Darlanne Fluegel, Steve James, Dean Stockwell, Jacqueline Giroux, Christopher Allport, Michael Chong, Bobby Bass, Dwier Brown, Valentin de Vargas, Jack Hoar, Robert Downey Sr, Debra Feuer

Directed by William Friedkin

Rated R
ACTION/MYSTERY/DRAMA

Barney Miller : Thanksgiving Story (1977)

Made for ABC, airing November 24th in the US.

Season 4. Episode 9.

The story: It's Thanksgiving.

Nick gets a call about three psychiatric patients escaping from a private hospital.

Barney sends Dan to check it out and Rob decides he's bored, so he will go too.

Dan returns with the doctor and nurse from the hospital and while they explain the situation a call comes in about a disturbance at the local automat, which happens to be close to the hospital.

Dan returns once more with the patients who made their escape and Barney wants to solve their problems by hearing them out.

Stars Jack Soo, Max Gail, Hal Linden, Ron Glass, Steve Landesberg, Tom Lacy, Ron Carey, James Gregory, Susan Davis, George Skaff, Charles Lucia, Kip King, Ted Schwartz, Ian Wolfe, Anita Dangler

Directed by David Swift

Not Rated

COMEDY/SERIES/THANKSGIVING

Grown Ups : Why Can't We Not Be Friends (1999)

Made for UPN, airing November 22nd in the US.

Season 1. Episode 10.

The story: Now that Shari and Gordon are married, Shari thinks it's time to start some traditions.

She wants to start by planning Thanksgiving dinner, although no one seems to think she's a great cook.

Melissa has been away for a while and when Shari mentions that J should be super excited to see her, he mentions he really isn't.

Shari and Gordon make an appearance to see Melissa.

J tells Gordon he wants to end his relationship with and Melissa.

Melissa already saw that coming and feels the same way, but she's certain they can still be friends.

J disagrees.

When J shows up for Thanksgiving dinner at Shari and Gordon's he learns they invited Melissa, which makes him uncomfortable.

Stars Marissa Ribisi, Dave Ruby, Jaleel White, Tammy Townsend, Bumper Robinson, Jeff Wood

Directed by Matthew Diamond

Not Rated

COMEDY/SERIES/THANKSGIVING

Dr. Ken : Allison's Thanksgiving Meltdown (2016)

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

Season 2. Episode 9.

The story:  Allison and Ken are planning on doing nothing for Thanksgiving this year.

But Allison's parents are set on them coming there for dinner.

No one in the family is excited about going but Allison thinks it will be a fun family road trip.

Although, once they are on the road, Allison has anything but fun.

Clark is volunteering at the homeless shelter and has invited Connor, Pat, Damona, and Eric to join him.

But the whole situation just stresses him out, making him control hungry.

Stars Ken Jeong, Suzy Nakamura, Dave Foley, Tisha Campbell, Jonathan Slavin, Stephen Guarino, 

Directed by Anthony Rich, Albert Tsai, Krista Marie Yu, Dana Lee, Jerry Minor, LynNita Ellis, 

Rated TVPG
COMEDY/SERIES/THANKSGIVING

Dr. Ken : Thanksgiving Culture Clash (2015)

Made for ABC, airing November 20th in the US.

Season 1. Episode 8.

The story: It is 2 days before Thanksgiving.

Dave is supposed to do a report for school on what his family's holiday traditions are but they don't seem to have any.

This will be the first Thanksgiving that their whole family will be at Ken and Allison's for dinner.

Ken and Allison find out from Dave that Molly got a tattoo and it happens to be a word in Japanese.

This bothers Ken because Molly is also part Korean. But Allison insists that Ken does not embrace his Korean heritage.

Ken tries proving Allison wrong but it makes dinner awkward for everyone.

Meanwhile, Julie throws a party but the only guests who show up are Clark and Damona.

Stars Ken Jeong, Suzy Nakamura, Albert Tsai, Krista Marie Yu,  Tisha Campbell, Jonathan Slavin, Dave Foley, Kate Simses, Dana Lee, Jeanne Sakata, Clyde Kusatsu, Alexis Rhee

Directed by Ken Whittingham

Rated TVPG

COMEDY/SERIES/THANKSGIVING

"Greetings! From under the bus..."

Love , Antosha (2019)

Released August 2nd in the US.

The story: Actor Antosha "Anton" Viktorovich Yelchin was born in the Soviet Union to Russian/Jewish parents Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin.

His parents were figure skaters who starred in the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years.
The family relocated to America when Anton was just six months old.

Right before Anton began taking acting classes for fun, his parents learned their son had cystic fibrosis.

Now unsure of the rest of his life, his parents made sure to guide him along on the path he enjoyed most.

Acting.

He was ambitious, had a love for the camera, and was always so eager to learn.

He began taking acting classes but after a short time was advised to go on auditions.

When he did audition, he got roles in commercials.

Anton also had a love for guitar playing and taught himself to play.

He soon became tired of commercials and went on to find himself starring in movies and television shows.

Anton began learning and growing from the famous people he now got to spend his time around while always acting as much as possible and learning all he could about cinema and life.

He wanted to have all and every experience he could think of , while taking care of himself, by himself and the people he loved.

Just when Anton was finally seeing his dream of directing his own film happen , tragedy struck him down.

Stars (voice) Anton Yelchin, Irina Korina, Viktor Yelchin, John Cho, Sofia Boutella, Marlon Clark, JJ Abrams, Frank Langelia , Kristen Stewart, (voice) Nicholas Cage, Ben Foster, Mary Lester, Ian Cripps, Luke Shaft, Jon Poll, Marlon Clark, Nick Jones, Simon Pegg , Zoe Saldana , Chris Pine , Zachery Qunito , Dave Glowacki , Bryce Dallas Howard , Jodie Foster , Jennifer Lawrence , Gino Tuso , Sophie Simpson , Drake Dorimus , Craig Gillespie , William Defoe , Martin Landau , Joe Dante , Jon Voight , A Purush MD , Mark Palansky , Anya Taylor Joy , Ryan Dean , Paul David

Directed by Garret Price

Rated R
BIOGRAPHY/DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY

"Art was life. Life was art."

Mimic (1997)

Released August 22nd in the US.

Filmed in Canada and California.

The story: Children are dying due to an infection caused by cockroaches.

Susan Tyler is a bug specialist.

She has created a mutant breed of insect that will kill off the cockroach population.

The mutant inspects are also not supposed to be able to reproduce, life expectancy being around 180 days.

When it seems like Susan's accomplishment is working some strange things concerning cockroaches begin happening.

Soon Susan realizes that she has no idea of what the long-term effects of her experiment are and that the bugs she created to kill off the cockroaches and die are instead reproducing.

Stars Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Alix Koromzay, Giancarlo Giannini, Alexander Goodwin, Charles S Dutton, Josh Brolin, F Murray Abraham, James Costa, Javon Barnwell, Norman Reedus

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Rated R
SCIFI/HORROR/MYSTERY

Deerskin (2019)

Released May 1, 2020, in the US.

Filmed entirely in France.

The story:  Georges is a man looking for who he really is.

Recently divorced, Georges has left town, ditched his everyday sport jacket, and gone off the deep end to spend a crazy amount of money on a previously owned, genuine deerskin jacket...

The jacket did come with a previously owned, barely used digital video camera as well.

Now Georges begins his journey on becoming someone else.

Staying at a hotel with no way to pay, he leaves his wedding ring as collateral.

Eating out of dumpsters but paying for drinks at the bar, Georges meets and befriends the bartender.

The bartender believes Georges is a filmmaker because he told her he was , although he is not.

He can be though you see. I mean he does have a camera...

She explains she is an amateur film editor.

Georges concocts a plan to get the bartender to give him money to fund him while his real editors are in Siberia.

Georges also wants to be the only person in the world with a jacket...

So he begins paying random people, to bring all their jackets along with them while they recite words of never wearing a jacket again and then putting them inside his trunk, while he films them.

All goes as Georges's plans until he messes with the wrong person.

Stars Jean Dujardin , Albert Dephy , Laurent Nicolas , Adele Haenel , Marie Bunel , Caroline Piette , Coralie Russier , Pierre Gomme , Stephane Jobert , Geraldine Schitter , Youssef Hajdi

Directed by (& story written) Quentin Dupieux

Not Rated

French w/English subtitles

COMEDY/DRAMA

Witches in the Woods (2019)

Not released in the US...

Filmed in Canada.

The story: 7 friends are making their way for a weekend of snowboarding.

When they hit a closed road they are forced to take a detour 50 miles out of the way.

Halfway through one of the guys highly recommends taking a detour through the woods on a service road.

No one really wants to take that road but it's supposed to be quicker, so why not.

When the driver is preoccupied and not watching the road, they get stuck in a snowbank.

The group gets the truck unstuck, but the girl who hasn't been herself the whole time they've all been together is behind the wheel of the truck.

She drives the truck back into the snowbank, only further in this time.

Now they are really screwed.

Stars Hannah Kasulka , Sasha Clements , Craig Arnold , Corbin Bleu , Alexander DeJordy , Humberly Gonzales , Kyle Mac , Ian Matthews , David Lafontaine , James Gilbert

Directed by Jordan Barker 

Not Rated

MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR

The Watcher in the Woods (2017)

Made for Lifetime, airing  October 21st in the US.

Filmed entirely in Wales.

The story: Mr. and Mrs. Carstairs have taken their two daughters, 16-year-old Jan and younger Ellie to spend the summer in Wales.

Jan is everything but thrilled about it but clearly has to make the best of things, being 16 and all.

The family finds a big old house to rent and when they go to see it are unwelcomely welcomed by its owner, Mrs. Alywood.

Jan is a very curious girl, asking a lot of questions.

While asking Mrs. Alywood questions, the lady gets a feeling about Jan.

When Jan meets neighbor Mark she starts learning about the history of the house she is living in and Mrs. Alywood.

Apparently, she had a daughter Jan's age that one day just vanished.

As the story goes, she was taken by "the watcher in the woods", who - no one has seen and where no one goes.

This makes Jan even more curious as she has been hearing voices from the woods and seeing visions of a young girl in her bedroom mirror.

Stars Tallulah Evans, Dixie Eherickx, Rufus Wright, Melanie Gutteridge, Di Botcher, Melanie Walters, John Cording, Anjelica Huston, Rebecca Acock, Nicholas Galitzine, Benedict Taylor, Ioan Hefin 

Directed by Melissa Joan Hart

Rated TVPG

REMAKE/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Razorback (1984)

Released November 16th in the US.

Filmed in Australia, New York, and California.

The story:  One evening, while Jake is watching his young grandson, they are attacked by a wild boar, a rare type of boar that no one ever really sees called a razorback.

Jake survives the attack with a broken leg and his house a flame but his grandson is gone forever.

On trial now, Jake is accused of making up the story of how his grandson disappeared.

But no proof is found of anything otherwise happening and Jake is set free.

Some years later, Jake makes it his mission to kill all boars.

The small town he lives in is visited by Beth Winters, an American journalist working on a story about the killing of wallabies and other wild animals which are turned into pet food.

Shortly after being in the town, Beth gets into some trouble with a couple rowdy, obnoxious locals.

Later that night, Beth is attacked by the same locals but saved when the razorback makes an appearance.

Beth isn't safe for long though as the razorback makes quick work of her.

When her fiancee finds out that she is missing, he quickly makes his way to Australia to find out what happened to her.

Stars Bill Kerr, Mervyn Drake, Beth Child, Peter Schwartz,, Judy Morris, Gregory Harrison, Arkie Whiteley, Chris Haywood, David Argue, John Howard, Din Smith, John Ewart, Redmond Phillips, Alan Becher, Rick Kennedy, Chris Hession, Brian Adams, Jinx Lootens 

Directed by Russell Mulcahy

Rated R
THRILLER/HORROR