AUGUST 18, 2023
<Click film’s poster to see info/trailer>
Blue Beetle
Directed By: Angel Manuel Soto
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Recent college grad Jaime Reyes returns home full of aspirations for his future, only to find that home is not quite as he left it. As he searches to find his purpose in the world, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When the Scarab suddenly chooses Jaime to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary and unpredictable powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero BLUE BEETLE.
Starring: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez
Genre: Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of action and violence, language, and some suggestive references)
Country: USA | Mexico (English)
Runtime: 127 minutes
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Strays
Directed By: Josh Greenbaum
Studio: Universal Pictures
They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but what if the man is a total dirtbag? In that case, it might be time for some sweet revenge, doggy style. When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals–Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal–together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home… and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot.)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Harvey Guillén, Rob Riggle, Brett Gelman, Jamie Demetriou and Sofía Vergara
Genre: Animation | Adventure | Comedy
Rating: R (for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 93 minutes
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Oldboy
(2005 Re-Release)
Directed By: Park Chan-wook
Studio: Neon
Dae-Su is an obnoxious drunk bailed from the police station yet again by a friend. However, he’s abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell, where he remains for the next 15 years, drugged unconscious when human contact is unavoidable, otherwise with only the television as company. And then, suddenly released, he is invited to track down his jailor with a denouement that is simply stunning.
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, and Kim Byeong-Ok
Genre: Action | Drama | International | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: R (for strong violence including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive language)
Country: South Korea (Korean)
Runtime: 120 minutes
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Haunting of the Queen Mary
Directed By: Gary Shore
Studio: Vertical
In the early twentieth century, shipping lines competed to be the fastest to complete a transatlantic crossing. But among the most famous record-holders was the RMS Queen Mary, which held the record for fourteen years, but now stands encased in concrete at Long Beach, California, where it has been used for many years as a luxury hotel and tourist attraction. The ship has a lengthy history of visitors reporting seeing ghosts and visions in its rooms and on its decks, making it the perfect setting for paranormal goings-on on the big screen. In The Queen Mary, a haunting story is unraveled between the ship’s heyday in the late 1930s and the present and tells the story of two families whose lives become violently entangled.
Starring: Alice Eve, Tim Downie, Joel Fry, Nell Hudson, William Shockley, and Angus Wright
Genre: Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 114 minutes
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The Adults
Directed By: Dustin Guy Defa
Studio: Variance Films
THE ADULTS follows Eric (Michael Cera) as he returns home for a short visit and finds himself caught between reuniting with his sisters and chasing a victory with his old poker group. As the trip extends, Eric finds it increasingly difficult to avoid confrontations and revelations as his carefully constructed façade of his adulthood gives way to old childhood conflicts. While Maggie (Sophia Lillis) attempts to recreate the intimate world the three of them once shared, Eric and Rachel (Hannah Gross) are faced with the divide between their childhood selves and the adults they are now.
Starring: Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, and Sophia Lillis
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Rating: R (for language)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 91 minutes
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birth/rebirth
Directed By: Laura Moss
Studio: IFC Films + Shudder Films
Rose (Marin Ireland) is a pathologist who prefers working with corpses over social interaction. She also has an obsession — the reanimation of the dead. Celie (Judy Reyes) is a maternity nurse who has built her life around her bouncy, chatterbox six-year-old daughter, Lila (A.J. Lister). When one tragic night, Lila suddenly falls ill and dies, the two women’s worlds crash into each other. They embark on a dark path of no return where they will be forced to confront how far they are willing to go to protect what they hold most dear.
Starring: Marin Ireland, Judy Reyes, A.J. Lister, Breeda Wool and LaChanze.
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Rating: R (for disturbing material and gore, some sexual content, language and nudity)
Country: USA (English & Spanish)
Runtime: 98 minutes
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Dead Shot
Directed By: Charles Guard & Thomas Guard
Studio: Quiver Distribution
When a border ambush goes wrong, a retired Irish paramilitary Michael (Colin Morgan) witnesses the fatal shooting of his pregnant wife by British Sergeant, Tempest (Aml Ameen). Now wounded, and presumed dead, he escapes, taking his revenge to the dark and paranoid streets of 1970’s London. Raw and suspenseful, Dead Shot is an adrenaline-fueled thriller that will leave audiences weighing up the true cost of revenge.
Starring: Aml Ameen, Colin Morgan, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Sophia Brown, Máiréad Tyers, Mark Strong and Felicity Jones
Genre: Action | International | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: UK (English)
Runtime: 92 minutes
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Back on the Strip
Directed By: Chris Spencer
Studio: Luminosity Releasing
After losing the woman of his dreams, Merlin moves to Las Vegas to pursue work as a magician, only to get hired as the front man in a revival of the notorious Black male stripper crew, The Chocolate Chips. Led by Luther — now broke and broken — the old, domesticated, out-of-shape Chips put aside former conflicts and reunite to save the hotel they used to perform in while helping Merlin win back his girl.
Starring: Wesley Snipes, J. B. Smoove, Gary Owen, Bill Bellamy, Spence Moore II, Raigan Harris, Faizon Love, and Tiffany Haddish
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R (for sexual material, language and some drug use)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 117 minutes
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Bad Things
Directed By: Stewart Thorndike
Studio: Shudder
For a group of friends in the Northeast, a weekend getaway at a snowy resort sounds like just what the doctor ordered. An opportunity to reconnect, relax, and recuperate among serene, snow-capped mountains and trees. But peace doesn’t last long as the ghosts of guests past and relationships long buried come to light. Soon enough, their trip transforms into a psychological tailspin and bloody nightmare, as both long-deceased guests and the space itself come to life, and the group turn on each other in a race to stay alive.
Starring: Gayle Rankin, Hari Nef, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Rad Pereira, Jared Abrahamson, and Molly Ringwald
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 83 minutes
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The Engineer
Directed By: Danny A. Abeckaser
Studio: Lionsgate
In the vein of “Homeland” and “Fauda” comes this pulse-pounding action-thriller based on true events and starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and Tzahi Halevi (Bethlehem). As Israel is rocked by a series of terrorist bombings, a U.S. senator’s daughter is killed in a bloody explosion. Now, ex-Mossad agent Etan (Hirsch) must lead an elite, covert team of agents and mercenaries to find the man responsible — the elusive “Engineer.” Can they find and destroy the madman before more innocent lives are lost?
Starring: Danny A. Abeckaser, Tsahi Halevi, Angel Bonanni, Dan Mor, and Yarden Toussia-Cohen
Genre: Action
Rating: R (for violent content and language)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 93 minutes
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Puppy Love
Directed By: Nick Fabiano & Richard Alan Reid
Studio: Amazon Freevee
After a disastrous first date, wild child Nicole and socially anxious Max vow to lose each other’s numbers, until they learn that their dogs found a love match, and now puppies are on the way.
Starring: Lucy Hale, Grant Gustin, Jane Seymour, and Michael Hitchcock
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 80 minutes
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Landscape with Invisible Hand
Directed By: Cory Finley
Studio: MGM Studios
Years into a benevolent alien occupation of Earth, the human race is still adjusting to the new world order and its quirky coffee table-sized overlords called the Vuvv. Their flashy advanced technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs — and steady income — obsolete. When 17-year-old artist Adam Campbell (Asante Blackk) and new girlfriend Chloe Marsh (Kylie Rogers) discover the Vuvv are particularly fascinated with human love and will pay for access to it, they decide to livestream their budding romance to make extra cash for themselves and their families. Life is good, for a while, until the flame of their teenage love fizzles out and they’re forced to make very different, absurdly life-altering sacrifices for their families.
Starring: Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, Josh Hamilton, and Tiffany Haddish
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi
Rating: R (for language and brief violent content)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 105 minutes
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Mutt
Directed By: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
Studio: Strand Releasing
Within the space of 24 hours, Feña is swept through the extremes of human emotion when people who seemed to disappear when he transitioned are suddenly back in his life.
Starring: Lio Mehiel, Cole Doman, MiMi Ryder, Alejandro Goic, Jasai Chase Owens, Jari Jones, and Ben Groh
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English & Spanish)
Runtime: 87 minutes
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The Moon
Directed By: Kim Yong-hwa
Studio: Well Go USA
Seven years after Korea’s first fully manned mission to the moon ends in disaster, a second human spaceflight is launched successfully–until a strong solar wind causes the spacecraft to malfunction. With an astronaut left stranded in space, and quickly running out of oxygen, the Naro Space Center turns to its former managing director to avert yet another fatal catastrophe.
Starring: Sol Kyung-gu, Do Kyung-soo and Kim Hee-ae
Genre: Adventure | Drama | International | Sci-Fi
Rating: Not Rated
Country: South Korea (Korean & English)
Runtime: 129 minutes
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Madeleine Collins
Directed By: Antoine Barraud
Studio: Greenwich Entertainment
In this tense psychological drama, Judith (Virginie Efira) leads a secret double life split between two households in two countries. In Switzerland, she lives with Abdel, with whom she is raising a little girl. In France, she lives with Melvil, with whom she has two older boys. Gradually this fragile balance, based on lies and back-and-forth trips, begins to veer dangerously off the rails.
Starring: Virginie Efira, Quim Gutiérrez, Bruno Salomone, and Jacqueline Bisset
Genre: Drama | International | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: France | Belgium | Switzerland (French)
Runtime: 102 minutes
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Simone: Woman of the Century
Directed By: Olivier Dahan
Studio: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Simone Veil’s life story from her childhood to her major political battles seen through the pivotal events of the twentieth century. An intimate and epic portrait of an extraordinary woman who eminently challenged and transformed her era: her humanist message is still keenly relevant today.
Starring: Elsa Zylberstein, Rebecca Marder, Élodie Bouchez, Judith Chemla, and Olivier Gourmet
Genre: Biography | Drama | History | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: France (French)
Runtime: 139 minutes
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Dark Windows
Directed By: Alex Herron
Studio: Brainstorm Media
Match Me If You Can centers on two good people trying to find love in the digital age. Female computer nerd Kip Parsons (Georgina Reilly) declares war on iPromise, an online dating service that rejected her as “unmatchable.” Taking her case to social media, she goes viral and becomes the reluctant champion for all those frustrated singles out there. When iPromise mastermind Riley Detamore’s (Wilson Bethel) company is at risk because her blog has gone viral, he maps out a plan to find out why. A chance encounter with Kip creates an awkward chain of mishaps resulting in an unexpected but undeniable spark between the two of them.
Starring: Rory Alexander, Vanessa Borgli, Anna Bullard, Christine Donlon, Rachel Fowler, and Annie Hamilton
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 80 minutes
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Downwind
Directed By: Mark Shapiro & Douglas Brian Miller
Studio: Gravitas Ventures
Hiroshima. Nagasaki. Mercury, Nevada? The latter was the site for the testing of 928 nuclear weapons on American soil from 1951 to 1992. The fallout is still lethally impacting Americans today. Martin Sheen narrates this harrowing exposé of the United States’ disregard for everyone living… downwind.
Starring: Lewis Black, Mary Dickson, Michael Douglas, and Martin Sheen
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 94 minutes
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Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out
Directed By: Jake Van Wagoner
Studio: Vertical
Itsy Levan is devastated by her parents’ decision to leave the city and buy a fixer upper in the middle of nowhere. Her life seems over until she meets her space-obsessed neighbor Calvin Kipler. Calvin has spent most of his life awaiting the next arrival of Jesper’s Comet–partly because of his obsession with Astronomy, but mostly because the last time it came, ALIENS ABDUCTED HIS PARENTS! This year he is going to be ready for its return so he can finally get them back. Itsy sees this as a chance to help her get into a NYC journalism program and decides to help him, however crazy his plan seems. They end up discovering much more than what is on the other end of the comet’s tail.
Starring: Emma Tremblay, Jacob Buster, Will Forte, Elizabeth Mitchell, Matt Biedel, and Hailey Smith
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Sci-Fi
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 87 minutes
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The Owners
Directed By: Jirí Havelka
Studio: Big World Pictures
Mrs. Zahrádková (Teresa Ramba) wants to save the old crumbling building she shares with other apartment owners. She hopes to find supporters for her plan in young newlyweds with their idealistic enthusiasm, who have just moved in and are astonished by the co-owners’ inability to agree on anything. Mrs. Roubíčková (Klára Melíšková) vigilantly controls the proper course of the meeting, not allowing the slightest deviation from the rules; Mrs. Procházková and her proclaimed business partner Mr. Novak are looking for ways to increase the value of their property by subletting the apartment to African students; Mr. Nitranský tries to get a hold of the attic to expand his own flat; and frustrated Mr. Kubát sabotages any and all decisions. Will the neighbors reach an agreement, or will the building become the casualty of their self-centered interests?
Starring: Tereza Ramba, Vojtech Kotek, Dagmar Havlová, Jirí Lábus, Pavla Tomicová, and Ondrej Malý
Genre: Comedy | Drama | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Czech Republic (Czech)
Runtime: 97 minutes
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Night of the Caregiver
Directed By: Joe Cornet
Studio: ITN Distribution
Hospice nurse Julia Rowe is hired to be caregiver for Lillian Gresham, who lives in an isolated house in a remote area. Although she is terminally ill, the elderly Lillian is a cordial and sweet lady. However, as the night goes on, Julia suspects something demonic is also dwelling in the house causing she and Lillian to be in grave danger….
Starring: Natalie Denise Sperl, Eileen Dietz, Anna Oris, Joe Cornet, and Eric Roberts
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 71 minutes
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