Serenity (2019)

Released January 25th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Mauritius.

The story: Baker Dill is a fisherman living in a small island town called Plymouth 

His current main concern is to reel in a huge tuna he has been trying to capture for some time.

Although Baker does take paying customers out on the water with his boat for tours and fishing from time to time. 

When Baker's ex shows up, he isn't happy to see her.

It doesn't help matters that she has a scheme involving Baker, to off her abusive husband with a large chunk of change as his reward.

Baker knows that helping his ex get rid of her husband will help her and his son, but killing someone isn't exactly part of his nature.

Stars Matthew McConaughey, Diane Lane, Robert Hobbs, Kenneth Fok, Djimon Hounsou, David Butler, Charlotte Butler, Michael Richard, Rafael Sayegh, Jeremy Strong, Anna Hathaway, Jason Clarke, John Whitely, Garion Dowds, Edeen Bhugeloo, Guillaume Silavant, Redd Pepper

Directed by (& story written) Steven Knight

Rated R
MYSTERY/THRILLER/FANTASY

Asphalt City AKA Black Flies (2023)

 

Released March 29, 2024 in the US.

Filmed in New York.

The story: Ollie Cross is a young paramedic from Colorado.

He is currently living and working in New York City.

Ollie hasn't been on the job long , he is still learning the ropes.

But with all the hustle and bustle of the dark streets of New York, things get hectic in his line of work fast.

Ollie and his veteran paramedic/partner Gene Rutkovsky quickly begin bonding, while Ollie learns a lot about the job from Gene.

Their line of work is slowly taking its toll on Ollie but things get heavy when he and Gene are called to help a woman giving birth.

Stars Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, Mike Tyson, Michael Pitt, Raquel Nave, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Ramon Aleman, Shelly Burrell, Katherine Waterston, Kali Reis, Jagan Badvel, Jagruti Deshmukh, Tanzeel Kayani, Daniel Foote, George W Contreras, Donna Glaesener, Decanter James 

Directed by Gene Stephane Sauvaire 

Rated R
DRAMA/THRILLER

"Dedicated to all the Emergency Medical Services workers across the world who continue to provide uninterrupted service on the front lines of emergency care.

May those who have lost in the line of duty, to suicide or illness, forever rest in peace and be our guardian angels."

Here Today (2021)

Released May 6th in the US.

Filmed in New York.

The story: Charlie Burnz is a famous veteran comedy writer.

He is also currently fighting the beginning stages of a form of dementia but is keeping that from everyone who knows him.

One day, Charlie is invited to lunch by Emma.

Emma is having lunch with Charlie because her ex won the date with Charlie on a bid...

While at lunch, Emma has an allergic reaction to shellfish. 

Charlie helps by paying her hospital bills.

Emma swears she will repay Charlie, but he isn't bothered and is glad to have helped.

Soon enough, Charlie finds Emma at his door, holding to her promise to pay him back.

Slowly the two begin getting to know each other, which eventually turns into an important friendship.

When Charlie's dementia starts to get worse, Emma is the first one there to help him through his struggles.

Stars Billy Crystal, Chad Jennings, Dierdre Friel, Matthew Broussard, Susan Pourfar, Alex Brightman, Gianmarco Soresi, Sarah Stiles, Max Gordon Moore, Joanna Adler, Andrew Durand, Tiffany Haddish, Zuhdi Boueri, Andy Grotelueschen, Tijuana Ricks, Penn Badgley, Laura Benanti, Audrey Hsieh

Directed by (& story partly written) Billy Crystal

Rated PG13

DRAMA/COMEDY

"What are you looking at!!??"

"Ew!!!"

Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013)

Released August 16th in the US.

Filmed entirely in Texas.

The story : Bob and Ruth are young lovers , who have nothing , but will soon be parents...

After their recent money making scene of robbing a local business goes bad and their friend is killed , Bob gives himself up to save Ruth.

Bob gets 25-years in prison while Ruth is acquitted.

Back in the same hometown Bob and Ruth grew up in , Ruth has their child , finds a job and gets help from many friends in the community.

But Bob wants out of prison and to be back in Ruth's arms.

It's been four years since Bob has been away and during those four years , he has tried escaping prison five times without success.

Except for his recent endeavor.

Bob is on the run , and is surely on his way back to Ruth , no matter the price.

Stars Rooney Mara , Casey Affleck , Kentucker Audley , Ben Foster , Turner Ross , Will Beinbrink , Frank Mosley , Steve Corner , Keith Carradine , Nate Parker , Jacklynn Smith , Kennadie Smith , Augustine Frizzell , Charles Baker , Robert Longstreet , David Zellner , Annalee Jefferies , Rami Malek

Directed by (& story written) David Lowery

Rated R
DRAMA/THRILLER/MYSTERY

Donkey Skin AKA Peau d'ane (1970)

Released November 12, 1971 in the US.

Filmed in France.

Based on the 1694 French fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

The story : Once upon a time there lived a very happy king and queen.

They had everything they could ever want , including one very lovely daughter and one very important donkey...

When the queen takes ill, she makes the demand that her beloved king promise to remarry. He refuses , claiming he will never find anyone as lovely as her. 

But the queen insists , claiming the government will demand that he remarry and have a son.

The king agrees and with that his queen is gone.

In deep desperation , the king hids himself away. He wants no part in anyone , including his daughter.

One day , as the queen warned , the government shows up , claiming that the king remarry because it isn't healthy to be alone.

The king demands that the only way he will remarry is if they find him the perfect princess.

The government searches high and low and returns with many photos of princesses, but the king isn't impressed.

That is until he is shown a photo of his own very daughter. That's when the king finally agrees to remarry.

The king asks his wizard if marrying his daughter is the right thing to do, and he agrees that it is.

So the king asks to see his daughter, who is completely charmed that her father wants her in his life once again.

When he asks to marry her, she is confused. But because she desperately wants him to love her, she accepts.

The princess's godmother, The Lilac Fairy finds out about this and tries to convince her that marrying her father is wrong.

But the princess doesn't understand.

The Lilac Fairy comes up with many ideas to sway the king from wanting to marry his daughter, but nothing works.

The last effort involves the skin of the king's beloved donkey. 

When the king accepts the request, in the hope that it will make the princess marry him, he follows through.

What the king doesn't realize though, is that the donkey skin will be the princess' vehicle for escape.

Stars Jean Marais , Catherine Deneuve , Micheline Presle , Fernand Ledooux , Delphine Seyrig , Jacques Perrin , Henri Cremieux , Sacha Pitoeff , Pierre Repp , Jean Servais , Georges Adet , Annick Berger , Romain Bouteille , Louise Chevalier , Sylvain Corthay , Michel Delahaye , Simone Guisin

Directed by (& co-written) Jacques Demy 

Not Rated

French w/English subtitles

FANTASY/MUSICAL

Grand Theft Parsons (2003)

Released June 18 , 2004 in the US.

Filmed entirely in California.

Based on truths.

The story : 1973 , Joshua Tree , California.

26-year-old musician Gram Parsons has just overdosed in his room at the Joshua Tree Inn.

A woman spending time with him and freaking out that he is dead makes a frantic phone call to Gram's best friend and road manager , Phil Kaufman.

Phil instantly begins setting in motion a plan that stemmed from a pact between the two friends.

The pact is that when one of them dies , the other is to burn his friends body in the desert of Joshua Tree...

Phil cannot give up on this pact and will not.

Without telling anyone about what he is up to , Phil rents a hurse that comes along with a driver who happens to own the hurse, steals Grams body from an airport where Gram's stepfather is to pick it up and proceeds to get Grams' body out to Joshua Tree.

The pact proves to be not an easy task , causing much confusion and chaos , but Phil perserveres.

Stars Gabriel Macht , Danielle Sapia , Johnny Knoxville , Jamie McShane , Robert Alan Beuth , Marley Shelton , Christina Applegate , Scott Adsit , Sara Arrington , Mary Pat Gleason , David Caffrey , Alexa Sheehan , Wesley Mann , Jim Cody Williams , Kay E Kuter , Michael Shannon , Robert Forster

Directed by (& story co written) David Caffrey

Rated PG13

HISTORY/COMEDY/DRAMA

"Oh. Okay. It's a 200 hundred dollars worth of surprise?"

"No. No. No. It's more of a 50 dollars surprise."

Lowlifes (2024)

Made for Tubi, released on instant streaming April 11th in the US.

Filmed in Canada.

The story: Keith and Katherine have taken their teenage children Amy and Jeffery out of the city for their school break.

They are camping in their grandfather's camper...

While eating a meal cooked by Keith, two grimy men show up.

They claim they are looking for their cousin. But the family claims to have not seen him.

Finally, the two guys leave, and the family packs up, quickly getting back on the road.

On their way, they are stopped by the same two guys who now claim their pickup just stopped running.

They ask that the family take one of them just down the road to pick up another car to come and get him.

The family allows the man to go with them, but not even at the house yet, Jeffery does the guy in...

After the family rallies together to clean up the mess, they make their way to the very house they were supposed to bring that guy to.

There, the family finds two sisters and their grandfather, who are more than happy to allow the family inside their home, after the family claims they had car trouble.

But they should have never allowed them in.

Stars Matthew MacCaull, Elyse Levesque, Amanda Fix, Josh Zaharia, Todd Masters, Richard Harmon, Ben Sullivan, Brenna Llewellyn, Cassandra Sawtell, Kevin McNulty, Dayleigh Nelson, Alexander Calvert

Directed by Tesh Guttikonda & Mitch Oliver

Not Rated

MYSTERY/THRILLER/HORROR