Sunday, December 31, 2023

CITIZEN TOXIE - THE TOXIC AVENGER IV (2000)
























Directed by: Lloyd Kaufman
Starring: David Mattey, Clyde Lewis, Mark Torgl, Heidi Sjursen, Joe Fleishaker, Paul Kyrmse, Ron Jeremy, Dan Snow, Michael Budinger, Lisa Terezakis, Barry Brisco, Trent Haaga, Caleb Emerson, Yaniv Sharon, Stan Lee, James Gunn, Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, Corey Feldman, Debbie Rochon, Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Al Goldstein, Tom Fulp, Kevin Eastman, Julie Strain, Lemmy Kilmister, Eli Roth, Bill Weeden, Will Keenan, Mitch Collins, Rick Collins, Gil Brenton, Charlotte Haug, Tromelissa Saytar, Bella Compagna, Terri Firmer, Stacy Burke, Tiffany Shepis, Celeste Octavia, Devin DeVasquez, Masuimi Max, Lenore Claire, Hugh Hefner, Lloyd Kaufman

109 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, sci-fi/fantasy violence, gore, nudity, drug use)

PLOT:
When the notorious Diaper Mafia take hostage the Tromaville School for the Very Special, only the Toxic Avenger and his morbidly obese sidekick Lardass can save Tromaville. However, an explosion results in some unforeseeable consequences, creating a dimensional tear between Tromaville and its dimensional mirror image, Amortville. While the Toxic Avenger (Toxie) is trapped in Amortville, Tromaville comes under the control of Toxie's evil doppelganger, the Noxious Offender (Noxie). Will Toxie return to Tromaville in time to stop Noxie's rampage or is he doomed to remain a second-class citizen in Amortville forever? How did Toxie's wife Sarah become pregnant with two babies from two different fathers? Will Tito ever get over his teen angst and become a productive member of society?

 

THE TOXIC AVENGER PART III - THE LAST TEMPTATION OF TOXIE (1989)
























Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Starring: John Altamura, Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, Rick Collins, Lisa Gaye, Michael J. Kaplan, Jessica Dublin, Dan Snow, Paul Borghese, Fernando Antonio, Sylvester Covin, William Decker, Joe Fleishaker, Mark Fucile, Marc Allen Ginsberg, Sal Lioni, Doug McDonald, Benny Nieves, Kariim Ratcliff, Michael Jai White, Susan Whitty, Jeremiah Yates

102 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, sci-fi/fantasy violence, gore, some nudity)

PLOT:
Toxie finds he has nothing to do as a superhero, as he has ridden his city of evil. He decides to go to work for a major corporation, which he discovers may be the evilest of all his adversaries.

 

THE TOXIC AVENGER PART II (1989)
























Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Starring: John Altamura, Ron Fazio, Phoebe Legere, Rick Collins, Lisa Gaye, Rikiya Yasuoka, Mayako Katsuragi, Tsutomu Sekine, Jessica Dublin, Jack Cooper, Don Eckhart, Fernando Antonio, Paul Borghese, Sylvester Covin, William Decker, Joe Fleishaker, Mark Fucile, Marc Allan Ginsberg, Sal Lioni, Doug McDonald, Benny Nieves, Kariim Ratcliff, Michael Jai White, Susan Whitty, Jeremiah Yates, Dan Snow, Scott Leva, Lloyd Kaufman

103 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, sci-fi/fantasy violence, gore, nudity)

PLOT:
The Toxic Avenger is tricked into traveling to Tokyo to search for his estranged father, leaving Tromaville open to complete domination by an evil corporation.

CLIP:


 

THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984)


 





















Directed by: Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman
Starring: Mitch Cohen, Kenneth Kessler, Mark Torgl, Andree Maranda, Pat Ryan Jr, Sarabel Levinson, Dan Snow, Dick Martinsen, Gary Schneider, Robert Prichard, Jennifer Babtist, Cindy Manion, Chris Liano, David Weiss, Doug Isbecque, Charles Lee Jr, Pat Kilpatrick, Larry Sulton, Michael Russo, Al Pia, Dennis Souder, Steven Zmed, Xavier Barquet, Reuben Guss, Matt Klan, Dominick Calvitto, Marisa Tomei

82 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, sci-fi/fantasy violence, gore, nudity)

PLOT:
This is the story of Melvin, the Tromaville Health Club mop boy, who inadvertently and naively trusts the hedonistic, contemptuous and vain health club members, to the point of accidentally ending up in a vat of toxic waste. The devastating results then have a transmogrification effect, his alter ego is released, and the Toxic Avenger is born, to deadly and comical results. The local mop boy is now the local Superhero, the savior of corruption, thuggish bullies and indifference.

DANGER 5 (2012 - 2015)
























Created by: Dario Russo, David Ashby
Starring: David Ashby, Nataša Ristić, Sean James Murphy, Amanda Simons, Michelle Nightingale, Tilman Vogler, Aldo Mignone, Pacharo Mzembe, Elizabeth Hay, Fumito Arai, Carmine Russo, Andreas Sobik, Robert Tompkins, Brendan Rock, Paul Muscat, Greg Marsh, Marlon Shepherdson, Craig Behenna, Eddie Morrison, Tim Overton, Ben Finn, Steve Parker, Nathan Cain, Vince Poletto, Daniel Becker, Kade Marsh, Mike Gray, Aaron Melville-Smith, Anthony Rinna, Andrew Wallis, Shaun Micallef, Dario Russo, Cathy Adamek, Chris Asimos, Sandy Cameron, Ryan Cortazzo, Michael Crisci, Susanna Dekker, Caitlin McCreanor, Grant Page, Cameron Pike, Daniel Vanderwerf, Sarah Macdonald, Anna Cashman, Tahnee Garner, Paul Hanna, Vivyan Madigan, Obie O'Brien, Noemi Remete, Peter Raymond Powell, Matt Crook, Debra Liang, Tran Nguyen, Eri Ratcliffe, Bobak Bahrami, John Blaney, Simon Crisci, Massimo Granchi, Louisa Mignone, Nima Nabili Rad, Josh Van Looy, Bluey Byrne, Mariana Rego, Maddy Jevic, Nelson Granchi, Richard Harris, Kate Croser, Nikola Despoja, Ruth Natalie Fallon, Matthew Fragomeli, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Rob MacPherson, Rourke Ryan, Juan Lorenzo Suarez, Yee Weng Wong, Charlotte Batty, James Bonifazio, Taylor Backhouse, Coralie Bradbery, Emily Branford, Michael Cleggett, Angela Heesom, Briony Kent, James Lloyd-Smith, Tim Noonan, Dan O'Grady, Miranda Pike, Peta Shannon, Jay Mathews, Tia Azara Mathews, Stephen Tongun, Marlon Toth, Daniel O'Grady, Nicholas Buratto, Derek Crawford, Max Mastrosavas, Rie Nakagawa, Brendan Williams, Roberto Zenca, Nicholas Ely, Nicole Goodes, Tom Heuzenroeder, Lloyd Owusu, Diego Boy, Toby Bramwell, Robin Copini, Brinkley Davies, Ryder Grindle, Jamie Black, Mel Eckert, Matt Hawkins, Binh Phan

13 episodes
(TV-MA - strong language, adult themes, sexual situations, violence, drug use, nudity, surreal humor)

PLOT:
Set in a bizarre, 1960's inspired version of World War II, action comedy series Danger 5 follows a team of five spies on a mission to kill Adolf Hitler. Danger 5 is the finest group of special operatives the Allies have to offer; Jackson from the USA, Tucker from Australia, Ilsa from Russia, Claire from Britain and Pierre from Europe. In each episode Danger 5 unravels another of Hitler's diabolical schemes as they travel across a myriad of exotic locations. The action and offbeat humour is relentless as Danger 5 mounts a series of thrilling missions which include discovering Josef Mengele's perverted Antarctic death circus, busting down Erwin Rommel's golden murder casino and posing as exotic dancers in an attempt to take out Hitler at his own birthday party.

season 1 - 
A team of Nazi zeppelins abduct the Eiffel Tower and Danger 5 heads straight to Paris to investigate. The team find help from an all-girl team of resistance vixens, but their plans are swiftly hampered by a Nazi task force raid. Ilsa and Claire are taken to a torture dungeon where Josef Goebbels recruits them as part of his dance troupe for Hitler's birthday spectacular. Tucker and Pierre follow the girls to Hitler's private retreat, the Eagle's Nest, and try to mount a rescue mission. Meanwhile Jackson tries to stop the Nazis from stealing the Statue of Liberty. American GIs are being decimated by Nazi dinosaurs all over the Western front. Danger 5 heads to Belgium to investigate and has a series of close shaves with a trigger-happy Triceratops and a perverted Nazi Pterodactyl. Claire discovers that the dinosaurs have all been implanted with a mysterious type of crystal, native to Antarctica and Danger 5 embark on a journey to the South Pole. Antarctica proves to be a lost plateau of prehistoric wonder where Danger 5 encounter the bizarre Dr Josef Mengele and his sinister volcano base filled with Nazi dinosaur minions. Allied Air Support surrounding China is being thrashed by Japanese Zero fighters piloted by robot super soldiers and, to make matters worse, Japan itself has completely vanished from the map. Danger 5 sets off in their Danger Fighters to give the Japanese some healthy competition. The Japanese robo-pilots prove to be too formidable even for the Danger 5 team, who are shot out of the sky. After bailing from their damaged aircraft, Ilsa and Tucker find themselves in a mysterious spa-resort while Claire, Jackson and Pierre land amongst the insalubrious surrounds of General Chang's Burmese Opium Pagoda. Danger 5 must reunite and locate Japan and put a stop to the ever growing army of Japanese, Nazi robot soldiers. An Allied Agent has uncovered strange happenings at a Nazi-owned casino in North Africa where Hitler is rumoured to be located. After the agent goes missing under mysterious circumstances, Danger 5 is sent into Waheed Al-Quarn to smoke Hitler out of his African cash-hole. Things get complicated when Tucker is captured by Italian Submariners and Ilsa bumps into her ex-husband, Erwin Rommel, The Desert Fox. Allied troops throughout Europe are spontaneously turning Nazi. Danger 5 are sent to connect with Field Marshal Jenkins as he travels out of Switzerland by train after a weekend of R and R at Switzerland's top brothel 'The Palomino'. Jenkins' entire platoon has recently turned Nazi and Allied Command want him home safe before Jenkins can be turned too. Things turn pear-shaped on the train when Jenkins starts babbling Kraut-speak and has to be put out of his misery. Ilsa and Jackson knock off Reinhard Heydrich, a would-be Nazi jewel thief, in the drinks cart and accept a belt of whisky from a British spy who is not who he claims to be, buying them a one-way ticket to Hitler's dungeon of occult perversions. The world is under attack from invincible, giant Nazi monsters and Allied Command is ready to surrender, when out of the blue they receive a strange telegram from a man called Gibraltar, who claims to be from the lost city of Atlantis. Gibraltar claims that the Atlanteans have developed a weapon powerful enough to destroy the Nazi monsters and all they require is some refined uranium to complete the device. On their way to deliver the uranium to Atlantis in the Danger Submarine, Danger 5 comes under attack from perils of the deep, resulting in Jackson and Claire being separated from the team, feared dead. Ilsa, Pierre and Tucker reach the strange sanctuary of Atlantis and deliver the uranium, however, Gibraltar is not as friendly as he appears to be.

season 2 - 
After Colonel Chestbridge is killed in an apparent assassination by Hitler and a wolf-headed man, Allied super-team Danger 5 reunite after years of far-flung obscurity to stop Hitler's ultimate quest for world domination and to save Christmas in a 1980s excess-soaked universe of neon, ninjas, discos, dinosaurs, pizza and prom-queens. Hitler has infiltrated a high school in the American mid-west in search of a female senior student. His motives are unknown. Danger 5 are forced to go undercover and back to school, where Tucker's teaching skills are pushed to the limit, Pierre's coolness is put to the test and Jackson is hunted by a ruby-eyed wolf man with a machine gun and a grudge. Danger 5 are fugitives in Metro City, wrongfully accused of kidnapping high school senior Holly De Palma. Hitler has infiltrated the police and leads the hunt for Danger 5 but little does he know that his own people are working against him: Joseph Mengele and his sinister accomplice Mr. Pedro are plotting a scheme, which involves the return of some scaly, prehistoric bad guys. Hitler has been taken captive by a cabal at the Vatican. McKenzie attempts to discover the secrets behind Hitler's plan regarding Holly, as Tucker attempts to deal with his trauma related to Claire. Ilsa and Jackson deal with relationship woes. Pierre finds Jesus as Hitler finds a new source of power. Danger 5 goes to USSR Land to reclaim Holly from her kidnapper Khrushchev, while Ilsa and Jackson both vie for revenge. Things don't go exactly as planned as Hitler's zombie army comes into the mix and Danger 5 are forced to deal with the consequences of the space-time continuum. Danger 5 go back to World War II in an attempt to stop Hitler from changing the fabric of time. Ignoring the perils of messing with the space-time continuum, Tucker is dead set on changing the course of history for his own selfish motives while Pierre suffers the consequences. Jackson and Ilsa have a run-in with their past selves and share advice on the future. Meanwhile Hitler is holding Colonel Chestbridge hostage in his mountain lair. In the final installment of Danger 5, the team find themselves in an alternative future where Hitler is undisputed ruler of the universe. In Hitlerland everyone speaks German, everyone loves dogs and worst of all, everything is vegetarian! Danger 5 embark on a quest across space dodging Hitler's deception at every turn. They encounter old friends, new foes and a talking pelican on this epic quest to save the universe. 

Saturday, December 30, 2023

THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943)
























Directed by: Richard Wallace
Based on the novel by: Dorothy B. Hughes
Starring: John Garfield, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, Patricia Morison, Martha O'Driscoll, Bruce Edwards, John Banner, John Miljan, Hugh Beaumont

94 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
November 1940. The son of a retired NYPD officer, John McKittrick - Kit to his friends - who has been in convalescence on an Arizona ranch after being rescued as a POW in the Spanish Civil War, he held captive and tortured for two years after the end of the war, rushes back to New York City upon reading that Police Lieutenant Louie Lepetino, his longtime friend and rescuer, died one month ago in a fall out of a Park Avenue high rise apartment window. Inspector Tobin, who led the Lepetino investigation, ruled the death accidental, while Kit believes, unspoken, that Louie's death is tied somehow to his own incarceration in Spain. The "accident" apparently occurred during a party hosted by Kit's former girlfriend, Barby Taviton, she and her and Kit's mutual friends socializing with some people associated with the Refugee Committee: wheelchair-bound Norwegian historian Dr. Christian Skaas, accompanied by his nephew Otto Skaas, and Prince François de Namur. Of those at the party, no one is above suspicion including even his friends such as Barby, and his friend Ab Parker's younger nightclub singer cousin, Whitney Parker - sometimes called The Imp - as she has brought into her life a new accompanist named Anton, who Kit does not trust. Kit doesn't even trust Inspector Tobin as Kit knows the accidental death ruling is hogwash. Also on the suspect list is Toni Donne, the Prince's granddaughter, who seems to appear in Kit's life when he least expects it and rebuffs him when he tries to get close. The issue for Kit with regard to Toni is that he is starting to fall in love with her. The further Kit gets into his own investigation of the incident, the more he isn't sure what is real or what is in his troubled imagination, especially as he begins to hear the same labored footsteps, he always heard during his tortures at the POW camp, the footsteps those of someone with a limp.

TRAILER:


 

Friday, December 29, 2023

MAN OF TAI CHI (2013)
























Directed by: Keanu Reeves
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Tiger Chen, Iko Uwais, Karen Mok, Simon Yam, Yu Hai, Ye Qing, Sam Lee, Michael Tong, Silvio Simac, Yoo Seung-jun

105 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, martial arts violence)

PLOT:
Hong Kong tycoon Donaka Mark runs an underground network of martial arts applied in bloody duels for paying audiences, live on site or pay per view. The police haven't got anywhere investigating him after the suspicious death of an informer who was put down after a fight. Donaka also recruits in mainland China, looking for novelties at mainstream martial arts events. In Beijing he spots and invites Tiger' Chen Lin Hu, a bike courier and the last student of tai chi master Yang, who almost despairs if his gifted disciple will finally embrace the meditation-based lifestyle or be destroyed by the destructive logic of violent ambition. To make tiger accept fighting for cash, Donaka arranges for the temple to need a small fortune within a month to avoid demolition. Tiger wins fast but descends in an amoral spiral and the police is on their trail.

TRAILER:


 

Thursday, December 28, 2023

FORMULA 51 (2001)
























Directed by: Ronny Yu
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Carlyle, Emily Mortimer, Rhys Ifans, Meat Loaf Aday, Ricky Tomlinson, Sean Pertwee, Stephen Walters, Paul Barber, Michael Starke, Ade, Angus MacInnes

92 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, violence, drug content)

PLOT:
Elmo McElroy is a streetwise American master chemist who heads to England to sell his special new formula - a powerful, blue concoction guaranteed to take you to 'the 51st state.' McElroy's new product delivers a feeling 51 times more powerful than any thrill, any pleasure, any high in history. But his plans for a quick, profitable score go comically awry when he gets stuck in Liverpool with an unlikely escort and his ex-girlfriend and becomes entangled in a bizarre web of double-dealing and double-crosses.

TRAILER:


 

THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
























Directed by: Alan Crosland
Based on the stage play by: Samson Raphaelson
Starring: Al Jolson, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer, May McAvoy, Otto Lederer, Richard Tucker, Yossele Rosenblatt, Bobby Gordon

96 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
Cantor Rabinowitz is concerned and upset because his son Jakie shows so little interest in carrying on the family's traditions and heritage. For five generations, men in the family have been cantors in the synagogue, but Jakie is more interested in jazz and ragtime music. One day, they have such a bitter argument that Jakie leaves home for good. After a few years on his own, now calling himself Jack Robin, he gets an important opportunity through the help of well-known stage performer Mary Dale. But Jakie finds that in order to balance his career, his relationship with Mary, and his memories of his family, he will be forced to make some difficult choices.

ACTUAL MOVIE:


 

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

MAGGIE MOORE(S) (2023)
























Directed by: John Slattery
Starring: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Happy Anderson, Mary Holland, Nicholas Azarian, Louisa Krause, Derek Basco, Christopher Denham, Tate Ellington, Oona Roche, Allison DunbarBobbi Kitten

99 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, violence, brief nudity, drug use)

PLOT:
Jay Moore, the slovenly manager of a sandwich store in Buckland, NM, has gotten involved in some shady stuff. When his wife finds out and threatens to go to the cops, he hires a hit man to scare her but who decides to kill her. Police chief Jordan Sanders naturally suspects him for his wife's murder. To divert suspicion, he rehires the hit man to kill another woman with the same name, hoping the cops will think his wife's murder was a case of mistaken identity. And then things really start to spiral out of control.

TRAILER: 


 

GIANT (1956)
























Directed by: George Stevens
Based on the book by: Edna Ferber
Starring: Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Carroll Baker, Jane Withers, Chill Wills, Mercedes McCambridge, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Elsa Cardenas, Earl Holliman, Robert Nichols, Fran Bennett, Paul Fix, Judith Evelyn, Carolyn Craig, Noreen Nash

201 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
Sprawling, epic tale of a wealthy Texas rancher and his wife, their descendants, and their life together over twenty-five years. Jordan "Bick" Benedict, Jr. met his future wife Leslie while on a trip East to buy breeding stock, returning home with a bride. Living on a half-million-acre ranch takes some getting used to for Leslie, as does the rough and tumble lifestyle. They have children who have their own minds and are apt to disappoint their parents over their life choices. As Leslie says at one point, "you can't live their lives for them, you can only raise them." Bick's rival is a former ranch hand, Jett Rink, who inherits a tract of land from Bick's late sister Luz Benedict. Jett strikes oil and becomes as wealthy as the Benedicts although there is one thing Bick has that he can never have as his own.

TRAILER:


 

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR (2013)
























Directed by: Anthony Leonardi III
Starring: Anne Heche, James Tupper, Ethan Peck, Rebekah Brandes, Carter Cabassa, Wayne Pere, Jennifer Stone, Clancy Brown, Morgan Roberts

100 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, violence, disturbing images)

PLOT:
A family's journey toward a better life is interrupted by an unstable man of the cloth.

TRAILER:


 

LEO REICH - LITERALLY WHO CARES?! (2023)
























Directed by: Thomas Hardiman
Starring: Leo Reich

66 minutes
(TV-MA - explicit language)

PLOT:
Leo Reich, this self-diagnosed important young mind faces the swirling uncertainty of our collective future, asking the big questions, such as: "Is this helping?", "Am I hot?", and "No offense guys but literally what is going on?".

TRAILER:


 

Monday, December 25, 2023

INJUSTICE (2021)
























Directed by: Matt Peters
Based on characters appearing in DC Comics
Based on the video game "Injustice - Gods Among Us" developed by: NetherRealm Studios
Starring: (voices) Justin Hartley, Anson Mount, Laura Bailey, Zach Callison, Brian T. Delaney, Brandon Michael Hall, Andrew Morgado, Edwin Hodge, Oliver Hudson, Gillian Jacobs, Yuri Lowenthal, Derek Phillips, Kevin Pollak, Anika Noni Rose, Reid Scott, Faran Tahir, Fred Tatasciore, Janet Varney

78 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, animated sci-fi/fantasy violence)

PLOT:
Who will stand against The Man of Steel? When his world is shattered by tragic events set in motion by the diabolical Joker, Superman becomes hell-bent on enforcing peace... at any cost. The Man of Steel begins a reign of tyranny that can only be stopped by one hero: Batman. The splintered Justice League divides its ranks as the two former allies wage a deadly battle for freedom. In this alternate world of chaos, loyalties are tested, and the line between friend and foe blurs. Can the world survive?

TRAILER:


 

A VERY BRADY CHRISTMAS (1988)
























Directed by: Peter Baldwin
Starring: Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, Ann B. Davis, Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight, Eve Plumb, Mike Lookinland, Jennifer Runyon, Ron Kuhlman, Jerry Houser, Lewis Arquette, Caryn Richman, Carol Huston, Zachary Bostrom, G.W. Lee, Jaclyn Bernstein

100 minutes
(TV-PG - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
Mike and Carol Brady decide to use the money that they saved in a vacation fund to pay the travel expenses for Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby, and Cindy and their families, so that they can have a family Christmas. Then after the entire family is back together, they end up helping one another resolve their personal conflicts.

 

BARRY MANILOW'S A VERY BARRY CHRISTMAS (2023)
























Directed by: Matt Askem
Starring: Barry Manilow, Sharon Hendrix, Kye Brackett, Melanie Taylor

45 minutes
(NR - suitable for all ages)

PLOT:
Music legend Barry Manilow and his world-renowned band celebrate the holidays at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino with performances of Manilow's greatest hits along with several holiday favorites.
 

Sunday, December 24, 2023

SURVIVING CHRISTMAS (2004)
























Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Starring: Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara, Josh Zuckerman, Bill Macy, Jennifer Morrison, Udo Kier, David Selby, Stephanie Faracy, Stephen Root, Sy Richardson, Tangie Ambrose, Peter Jason, Ray Buffer, Phill Lewis, Hailey Noelle Johnson, Sean Marquette, Sonya Eddy, Tom Kenny

91 minutes
(PG-13 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
Wealthy Chicago ad executive Drew Latham has long avoided the family traditions of Christmas but has dreaded being alone on the actual day. So, when his tropical Christmas vacation with girlfriend Missy Vangilder falls through and Missy breaks up with him in the process, a self-therapy session leads Drew to decide to relive his best childhood Christmases. With his loved ones long-gone, he decides to rent a family: the Valcos, the current owners of his childhood home in suburban Chicago. Tom Valco wants nothing to do with Drew until an exorbitant amount of money is involved; they draw up a contract which expires at the end of Christmas night. What Drew doesn't (or refuses to) realize is that the Valcos are having their own problems, which his presence exacerbates. Can the Valcos endure their unexpected guest? If they can, will the money solve their problems? Meanwhile, will Drew come to realize what he wants in life and how to achieve it?

TRAILER:


 

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947)
























Directed by: George Seaton
Starring: Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Philip Tonge, Jack Albertson, Harry Antrim, Lela Bliss, Jeff Corey, Mary Field, William Forrest, Alvin Greenman, Theresa Harris, Percy Helton, Herbert Heyes, Robert Karnes, Snub Pollard, Thelma Ritter, James Seay

96 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
At the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the actor playing Santa Claus is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades him to take his place. He proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to play Santa at the main store. While he is successful, Doris learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by his doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her six-year-old daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas among the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways. When a raucous conflict with the store's cruelly incompetent therapist, Granville Sawyer, erupts, he finds himself held at Bellevue where, in despair, he deliberately fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment. All seems lost until Doris' neighbor, Fred Gailey, reassures him of his worth and agrees to represent him in the fight to secure his release. To achieve that, Fred arranges a formal hearing in which he argues that Kris is sane because he is in fact Santa Claus. What ensues is a bizarre hearing in which people's beliefs are reexamined and put to the test, but even so, it's going to take a miracle for Kris to win.

TRAILER:


 

EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS (2002)
























Directed by: Seth Kearsley
Starring: (voices) Adam Sandler, Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Norm Crosby, Jon Lovitz, Tyra Banks, Blake Clark, Peter Dante, Ellen Albertini Dow, Kevin Farley, Lari Friedman, Tom Kenny, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, Carl Weathers, Jamie Alcroft, Brooks Arthur, Allen Covert, Judith Sandler, Stan Sandler, Archie Hahn, Josh Uhler, Jason Houseman, James Barbour, Ali Hoffman, Ann Wilson, Richard Page, Lainie Kazan, Alison Krauss

76 minutes
(PG-13 - frequent crude and sexual humor)

PLOT:
Davey Stone, a 33-year-old party animal, finds himself in trouble with the law after his wild ways go too far. In keeping with the holiday spirit, the judge gives Davey one last chance at redemption: spend the holiday performing community service as the assistant referee for the youth basketball league or go to jail. Davey thinks he's gotten off easy until he meets Whitey Duvall, the eccentric, elf-like head referee. The mismatch between Whitey's good heart and never-ending optimism and Davey's constant troublemaking soon has them both wondering if going to jail wouldn't have been easier. In this new full-length animated feature about basketball, old girlfriends, holiday spirits, and the mall, Adam Sandler voices the three lead characters of Whitey, Davey, and Whitey's fraternal twin sister Eleanore.

TRAILER:


 

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)
























Directed by: Arthur Crabtree
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Michael Balfour, Kim Parker, Terry Kilburn, Gil Winfield, Shane Cordell, Stanley Maxted, James Dyrenforth, Kerrigan Prescott, Meadows White, Lala Lloyd, Robert MacKenzie

77 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
Local farmer Jacques Griselle is found dead in the woods outside the fences of the US Air Force base in Winthrop, MB, Canada, he with an expression of horror even in death. Although not required to do so from purely jurisdictional terms, US Air Force Major Jeff Cummings feels compelled to investigate the death due to circumstances, including the locals' suspicions about the secretive nature of the atomic work being done on the base related to long range flights and radar, he wanting to reassure the locals that the atomic work had nothing to do with the death. One person who visits the base to speak to Jeff is the victim's sister, Barbara Griselle, especially as she knows what her brother was doing so close to the base related to the effects of that atomic work on the locals. The nature of Jeff's investigation changes when more locals are found dead for unknown reasons, albeit the nature of the unexplained deaths become more and more grisly in what happens to the victims. Jeff begins to believe that Barbara, for who he is falling, may have some other connection to what is happening, namely her work for retired British scientist R.E. Walgate. If Jeff's assumptions are correct, he, Barbara and others involved may have a battle for their lives unless the cause of what is happening can be neutralized.

TRAILER:


 

HE WHO DANCES ON WOOD (2016)

 













Directed by: Jessica Beshir
Starring: Fred Nelson

6 minutes
(NR - adult themes)

PLOT:
One man's search for joy has culminated in a constant experience of rhythm in the world around him.

HELL FEST (2018)
























Directed by: Gregory Plotkin
Starring: Amy Forsyth, Reign Edwards, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Tony Todd, Christian James, Matt Mercurio, Roby Attal, Michael Tourek, Courtney Dietz, Elle Graham, Stephen Conroy, Daniel Wilson

89 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, violence, gore)

PLOT:
A masked serial killer turns a horror-themed amusement park into his own personal playground, terrorizing a group of friends while the rest of the patrons believe that it is all part of the show.

TRAILER:


 

Saturday, December 23, 2023

UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (2003)
























Directed by: Audrey Wells
Based on the memoirs by: Frances Mayes
Starring: Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan, Raoul Bova, Vincent Riotta, Mario Monicelli, Roberto Nobile, Anita Zagaria, Evelina Gori, Kate Walsh, Pawel Szajda, David Sutcliffe, Jeffrey Tambor, Giulia Steigerwalt, Valentine Pelka, Sasa Vulicevic, Massimo Sarchielli, Claudia Gerini, Laura Pestellini, Don McManus, Matt Salinger, Elden Henson, Jack Kehler, Kristoffer Ryan Winters, Nuccio Siano, Malva Guicheney, Dan Bucatinsky

113 minutes
(PG-13 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
Frances Mayes is a San Francisco-based literature professor, literary reviewer and author, who is struggling in writing her latest book. Her outwardly perfect and stable life takes an unexpected turn when her husband files for divorce. He wants to marry the woman with whom he is having an affair. Frances supported her husband financially as he was writing his own book, and he sues her for alimony despite her financial difficulties. And he wants to keep the house. Frances eventually accepts her best friend Patti's offer of a vacation, a gay tour of Tuscany which Patti and her lesbian partner Grace originally purchased for themselves before Patti found out that she is pregnant. The gift is a means to escape dealing with the divorce, from which Patti feels Frances may never recover emotionally without some intervention. Feeling that Patti's assessment may be correct in that she has too much emotional baggage ever to return to San Francisco, Frances, while in Tuscany, impulsively ditches the tour to purchase an aged villa, which ends up being a fixer-upper. Frances has many obstacles in eking out a productive and happy life in her new surroundings, that happy life which she hopes will eventually include rediscovering romantic love. In a discussion with sympathetic real estate agent Signor Martini, Frances outlines what emotionally she wants to accomplish with the villa, despite none of those items in a substantive material sense currently being in her life. In response, Martini tells her the story of a set of railroad tracks that were laid between Vienna and Venice before an engine that could make the trek being built, a train which now regularly travels the route. The question becomes whether Frances, in going through the process, will be laying another Vienna to Venice track, and if so whether that end product emotionally will be exactly as she envisions.

TRAILER:


 

REVENGE OF THE BRIDESMAIDS (2010)
























Directed by: Jim Hayman
Starring: Raven-Symone, Joanna Garcia, Virginia Williams, Beth Broderick, Chryssie Whitehead, David Clayton Rogers, Lyle Brocato, Brittany Ishibashi, Maureen Brennan, Gary Grubbs, Ann McKenzie, Angelena Swords, Lacey Minchew, Billy Slaughter, Carl J. Walker, Esmeralda Alaniz, Evelyn Boyle, Audrey P. Scott, Talia Tooraen

95 minutes
(PG-13 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
When Abigail and Parker return from New York City to visit their hometown, they discover that their best friend Rachel is a bridesmaid in the wedding of their childhood friend Caitlyn and Tony, who was Rachel's boyfriend until Caitlyn interfered. Abigail and Parker decide to run their own interference. They manipulative Caitlyn and become bridesmaids so that they and Rachel can sabotage the wedding from the inside. With help from a police detective who happens to be a groomsman, the girls strive to ruin Caitlyn's wedding while dodging her controlling mother and--hopefully--reuniting Tony and Rachel.

TRAILER:


 

Friday, December 22, 2023

JACKASS - THE MOVIE (2002)

 






















Directed by: Jeff Tremaine
Produced by: Spike Jonze
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Ehren McGhehey, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Loomis Fall, Brandon DiCamillo, Raab Himself, Rake Yohn, April Margera, Phil Margera, Jess Margera, Stephanie Hodge, Mike Kassak, Manny Puig, Rip Taylor, Tony Hawk, Clyde Singleton, Eric Koston, Mat Hoffman, Naoko Kumagai, Eric "Butterbean" Esch, Henry Rollins

85 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, adult situations, extremely crude stunts, nudity)

PLOT:
Johnny Knoxville and his band of maniacs perform a variety of stunts and gross-out gags on the big screen for the first time.

LEGO JURASSIC PARK - THE UNOFFICIAL RETELLING (2023)
























Directed by: Ken Cunningham
Starring: (voices) Bradley Duffy, Ayla Evans, Dominic Good, Ian Hanlin, William Kuklis

23 minutes
(TV-Y7 - animated sci-fi/fantasy violence)

PLOT:
After finding his journal, Chaos Mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm recalls the mishaps and mayhem from 30 years ago about the island amusement park filled with prehistoric dinosaurs who escape and run amok...a story 65 million bricks in the making.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS (2015)
























Directed by: Ken Scott
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, Dave Franco, Sienna Miller, Nick Frost, James Marsden, June Diane Raphael, Ella Anderson, Britton Sear, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Michael Tow

91 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, sexual situations, drug use, graphic nudity)

PLOT:
A hard-working small business owner and his two associates travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every way imaginable - and unimaginable.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
























Directed by: Ang Lee
Based on the short story by: Annie Proulx
Screenplay by: Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, David Harbour, Roberta Maxwell, Peter McRobbie, Kate Mara, Scott Michael Campbell, Graham Beckel, Mary Liboiron, Larry Reese, Marty Antonini

134 minutes
(R - strong language, adult themes, sexual situations, some violence, nudity)

PLOT:
Brokeback Mountain, Wyoming. Their acquaintance began in the warm summer of 1963 when cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist ended up on the sheep farm of Joe Aguirre. They were looking for work. And under unexpected circumstances, the two men developed an intimate relationship that evolved into a profound but secret bond right under the nose of their families. After all, life is an exciting surprise. Who can stop love, life's ultimate truth?

TRAILER:


 

SMOOTH TALK (1985)
























Directed by: Joyce Chopra
Based on the short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by: Joyce Carol Oates
Starring: Laura Dern, Treat Williams, Mary Kay Place, Levon Helm, Elizabeth Berridge, Margaret Welsh, Sara Inglis, Geoff Hoyle, William Ragsdale, David Berridge, Cab Covay, Michael French, Joy Carlin, Mark McKay, Carl Mueller

96 minutes
(PG-13 - adult language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:
A free-spirited 15-year-old girl flirts with a dangerous stranger in the Northern California suburbs and must prepare herself for the frightening and traumatic consequences.

TRAILER:


 

THE MIDDLE (2009 - 2018) draft

Created by: Eileen Heisler , DeAnn Heline Starring: Patricia Heaton, Neil Flynn, Charlie McDermott, Eden Sher, Atticus Shaffer, Chris Kattan...