In the heart of the exciting downtown scene if New York City’s TriBeCa, a fading bookmaker and restaurateur, Louis is struggling to come to grips with the murder of his partner as well as his turbulent relationship with the talented head chef, his son, Udo as his eatery undergoes a major transformation from a neighborhood bistro to a trend setting establishment. At the same time, the dictatorial “star chef” is in nightly competition for both is father’s allegiance as well as for the affections of sexy hostess, Nicole with his assistant, the streetwise sous chef, Duncan, an addicted gambler. This particular night, Louis is confronted in the restaurant by a low-level Queens hood, Carmen and his obese partner commonly known as “Black and Blue,” who want not only to take over Louis’ local bookmaking business, but his long-time restaurant as well. As the drama unfolds throughout the evening, a living commentary on New York’s restaurant scene takes place with the comings and goings of the evening’s patrons including Louis’ murdered partner’s daughter, Natalie for whom Louis has a long time attraction, a Wall Street trader, Ken, the obnoxious art gallery owner, Fitzsgerald, the pretentious food critic, Jennifer whose sexual encounters with star chef Udo has helped put him near the top of Manhattan’s culinary world, plus the restaurant staff including trivia genius bartender, Sean and ambitious waitress/painter, Marti. As the baton is passed from one generation to another, the evening comes to an end with an old recipe – revenge – taking center stage. Starring Danny Aiello, John Corbett, Edoardo Ballernini, Kirk Acevedo, Mike McGlone, Summer Phoenix, Mark Margoles, and Sandra Bernhard. Directed by Bob Giraldi. US Distributor New Line Releasing. 98 minutes.
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Three life-long friends, Jux (Mike Norris), Conrad (David White), and Oren (Carey Scott) journey to Mexico on a mission of mercy. Their plane mysteriously loses power and crashes in the middle of the Texas desert. Stranded, they walk for hours, until they are drawn to the sound of a hollow church bell ringing in the town of Ceres, a town that time forgot. Immediately, the trio realizes that Ceres is like no other place on Earth. Its bizarre townspeople wander aimlessly in a mental haze, shying away from any attempts at contact. All communication to the outside world is absent, except for a crude short-wave radio belonging to Matthew (Chuck Norris), a mysterious rancher who lives on the outskirts of town. Under the control of Joshua (Marshall Teague), an immortal being, the townspeople plot to fulfill an ancient prophecy of sacrifice and destruction. It becomes clear the journey of psychological terror to Ceres was no accident. Jux, Conrad, and Oren are the chosen-ones, willed to Ceres by a demonic force that has controlled the town and its children for centuries. Armed only with their faith, they must become pawns in a chess game played between Heaven and Hell facing evil itself in order to save the innocent. Directed by Mike Norris.
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The throbbing uptown Manhattan neighborhood inhabited largely by immigrants from the Dominican Republic is the setting for "Washington Heights," a movie that conveys the essence of its setting with a gritty authenticity that makes you believe completely in its characters and their struggles. Exploring the passionate but sometimes stifling family ties between older residents, who have settled comfortably into a life of limited expectations, and their restless children, who want to burst out and assimilate into the broader culture, it ponders the age-old generational conflicts of first- and second-generation immigrants in the urban melting pot. These pressures tear at Carlos Ramirez (Manny Perez,), a talented cartoonist who commutes to the East Village daily to work as an inker of comic books. Carlos dreams of having his own sci-fi imprint and of moving to the Lower East Side. But his fiancée, Maggie (Andrea Navedo,), is ambivalent. Her brother, Angel (Bobby Cannavale,), a hot-tempered neighborhood wheeler-dealer, represents the other side of the younger generation, seeking to earn enough money to return to the Dominican Republic and buy a farm. Angel has amassed a stash of $40,000, which he has hidden in his collection of battered L.P.'s, and has been foolish enough to let word of its existence slip out. Carlos's widowed father, Eddie (Thomas Milian,), a man known to be a soft touch as well as a spendthrift, is a beloved neighborhood character who owns a flourishing bodega. Eddie worships his dead wife as a saint because she forgave his philandering. He also scorns his son's artistic ambitions, which she encouraged, as pie in the sky. The Ramirezes' best friends are an Irish-American father and son, Sean (Jude Ciccolella,) and Mickey (Danny Hoch,) Kilpatrick, who manage the apartment building where they all live and where Mickey works as the superintendent. Their relations are harmonious until the day Eddie is shot in an attempted robbery at his bodega and left paralyzed from the waist down with a shattered spine. Immediately after the shooting, Sean reveals to Carlos that he had lent Eddie $25,000 and is worried that he may never be repaid. At the same time, Mickey, who dreams of being a professional bowler and knows nothing of his father's loan, begs Carlos to lend him the money to travel to Las Vegas to compete in a tournament. Eddie pressures his son, who is itching to leave the neighborhood, to run the bodega during the months of his recovery. Carlos has no choice, and time that was once devoted to drawing must now be spent minding the store. Directed by Alfredo deVilla. 90 minutes.
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