Atrabilious

Release Date:  7/7/23; In Theaters
Genre:  Thriller
Rating:   NR
Running Time:  100 mins.
Director:  William Atticus Parker
Studio(s):  River Styx Productions

Cast:  Leon Addison Brown (Steve), Whoopi Goldberg (Dr. Andrea Hart), Brandon E. Burton (Neil), Steven Maier (Brad), Lewis Black (Roy Altman), Jeffrey Wright (Vincent), Evan Jonigkeit (Dr. Raphael Clearwater), Mark Boone Junior (Dr. Eduard Gillespie), Brooks Ashmanskas (Todd), Joel De La Fuente (Mark), Alec Baldwin (Proctor Carlisle).

Story:  Steven is grieving the passing of his son Neil. He attends therapy sessions with Dr. Andrea Hart and commiserates with his co-worker Roy. Then a mysterious man named Vincent gives Steven an envelope with a piece of paper containing a barcode. This leads Steven to the sinister bar Atrabilious where therapeutic concoctions are served that make people forget their sorrows. Steven senses something is wrong at the bar and recruits his friends Todd and Mark to help him investigate. The more he digs around, the more Steven realizes that his son may not be dead after all.  Source:  filmthreat.com.  Photo source:  rottentomatoes.com.

Trailer:

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Earth Mama

Release Date:  7/7/23 – In Theaters (Original Release: 1/20/23 – Sundance Film Festival)
Genre:  Drama
Rating:   R
Running Time:  97 mins.
Director:  Savanah Leaf
Studio(s):  A24, Academy Films, Film4, Net-Net Worldwide, Park Pictures

Cast:  Tia Nomore (Gia), Erika Alexander (Miss Carmen), Doechii (Trina), Keta Price (Mel), Olivia Luccardi (Alexis), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Monica), Dominic Fike (Miles), Bokeem Woodbine (Paul).

Story:  Earth Mama is based on The Heart Still Hums, a 2020 documentary about mothers and children that writer and director Savanah Leaf made with actress Taylor Russell (Bones and All). Earth Mama centers on Gia a pregnant single mother in recovery with two kids in foster care.  Gia lives in the Bay Area, where she shares an apartment with her sister and works in a mall portrait studio. Gia struggles to get her kids back, a time-consuming process that involves a reunification program in which she’s constantly monitored. Gia is also concerned about the fate of her unborn child. Fearing that the state will also take her third child, Gia enlists the women in her community for guidance as she fights to reclaim her family.  Sources:  hollywoodreporter. com, nytimes.com.  Photo Sources: hammertonail.com.

Trailer:

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Alarmed

a/k/a Long Night

Release Date:  2/17/23; Tubi
Genre:  Drama/Thriller
Rating:   TV-MA
Running Time:  86 mins.
Director:  Matthew Kohnen
Studio(s):  Bombshelter Post Production Studios, MarVista Entertainment, Shadow Vale Productions, Tubi Movies, Tubi TV.
Cast:  Pooch Hall (Sean Davidson), Brittany Baker (Janet Davidson), Chris Whitcomb (Billy Davidson), Eric Lutes (Andrew Tyler).
Story:  A couple’s weekend getaway turns into a kill-or-be-killed crisis when masked men invade their home and make their teenage son a hostage.  Source:  Tubitv.com.

Trailer:

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The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

Release Date:  3/11/23 – South by Southwest Film Festival; 6/23/23 – Streaming
Genre:  Horror/Fantasy
Rating:  NR
Director:  Bomani J. Story
Studio(s):  Crypt TV, RLJE Films
Running Time:  92 mins.

Cast:  Laya DeLeon Hayes (Vicaria), Denzel Whitaker (Kango), Chad L. Coleman (Donald), Reilly Brooke Stith (Aisha), Keith Sean Holliday (Jamaal), Amani Summer (Jada), Edem Atsu-Swanzy (Chris/Creature), Ellis Hobbs, IV (Jerome), Dale Cordice, Jr. (Freeman), Jeremy DeCarlos (Curtis).

 

Story:  Vicaria is a precocious teenager with a penchant for science who has lost her mother to violence. When her older brother, Chris is brutally murdered she pursues her theory that death can be cured and brings him back to life. But after his resurrection Chris is no longer the sibling Vicaria once knew and loved. He is a shell of his former self—a monster of her own creation—hungry for vengeance.  Adapted from Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein.  Source:  rogerebert.com.  Photo Sources:  imdb.com, amherstcinema.org, filmfanatics.com.

Trailer:

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The Burial

Release Date:  9/11/23; Toronto International Film Festival
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  R
Running Time:  126 mins.
Director:  Maggie Betts
Studio(s):  Amazon Studios

Cast:  Jamie Foxx (Willie E. Gary), Tommy Lee Jones (Jerry O’Keefe), Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Bill Camp (Raymond Loewen), Dorian Missick (Reggie Douglas).

Story:  Courtroom drama inspired by true events.  As he turns 75, Biloxi, Mississippi funeral director Jeremiah O’Keefe feels blessed by his wife and children and the legacy he’s proud to leave to them. But debts force Jeremiah to sell parts of his business to a corporation rapidly buying up funeral homes, cemeteries, and insurance companies to profit from what its CEO, Ray Loewen refers to as the golden age of death.  When Jeremiah’s contract with Ray is in dispute, he solicits the services of Willie E. Gary, a flamboyant personal-injury lawyer who hasn’t lost a case in 12 years — but who doesn’t know a thing about contract law. After Ray hires a hotshot defense team, it becomes clear the odds are stacked against Jeremiah and Willie. But despite their different backgrounds, they recognize qualities in each other they feel certain will see them through: faith, integrity, and a tireless fighting spirit.  Source:  tiff.net.  Photo Sources:   people.com, slashfilm.com.

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The Virgin of Seminole

Release Date:  12/5/1922
Genre:  Drama
Rating:  NR
Director:  Oscar Micheaux
Studio(s):   Micheaux Film Corp.
B&W
Silent
Cast:  Louise Borden, William Fountaine, Shingzie Howard

Story:  A young Black man from the South enters the Canadian wilds. By virtue of his strength and daring he is made a member of the Canadian mounted police. Through his admirable work as an officer, and especially through his gunfight with a desperado, the young man becomes rich and famous, then purchases a ranch and finds true love.

Another source explains the pot as an adventure that follows the efforts of a Black Canadian Mounted Policeman to rescue a woman from Native Americans.  He receives a reward and the love of the woman.

The film had its premiere in Chicago in December 1922 and was distributed by the Micheaux Film Corporation. No print is known to exist, and it is considered to be a lost film.  Sources:  tcm.com, Reel Black Talk: A Sourcebook of 50 American Filmmakers by Spencer Moon.  Photos:  daaracarchive.org.

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