Thursday, September 24, 2020

Film Review of Sarah Megan Thomas' A Call to Spy Coming to Theaters and Streaming: This Story Inspired by Female Spies Virginia Hall, Vera Atkins and Noor Khan is Engaging, Historical and Above All Inspiring

By Harry Sherer


Looking at the cinematic chronicle of historical drama, there’s many things to love about the genre. It’s a form of cinema that isn’t just about entertainment, it’s also about enlightenment. Historical dramas highlight important individuals from the past that most of the general public doesn’t know about, but deserve to. They teach lessons from our history in the hopes that we won’t make the same ones today. They shed new light on new puzzle pieces of history that can recontextualize how we think about the world. Above all, I think we love historical dramas because, more often than not, they tell a tried-and-true underdog story that we all know and love. Better yet, they’re true.


Sarah Megan Thomas' A Call to Spy could not have come at a better time. It tells the tale of three women employed by Allied intelligence to try and take down the Nazi regime from the inside. It’s a mesh of genres— WWII, spy, drama, thriller— that within the overall narrative hides a heartwarming (and equally heart-wrenching) story about disability, discrimination, and overcoming impossible odds. In the broader context of the horrors of WWII, A Call to Spy highlights the individual struggles of those brave enough to stand and fight. Such a story is beyond topical in a time like this, as the world battles an unprecedented pandemic but most individuals feel its effects on a personal and individual level. 


Directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher, A Call to Spy engages the audience on this kind of personal level from the very first scene. We’re not treated to the massacre of nameless soldiers on foreign battlegrounds, or the bombing of a vast European city, or the rounding up of hundreds of Jews by the Nazi regime, but instead the individual torture endured by our lead, American spy Virginia Hall, as she is interrogated by Nazi tormentors to give them the information they need to undermine the Allied intelligence operation.

A Case of Blue Film Starring Stephen Schnetzer and Annapurna Sriram to Screen at 2020 Virtual Imagine This International Women's Film Festival

Editorial Staff

A Case of Blue, a film by Dana Glazer is an official selection and will screen at the 2020 Imagine This International Women's Film Festival from September 24th-October 4th. There will be a  Live Director Q & A with Dana Glazer, who wrote and directed the film.There will also be a Q & A with the film's co-producers on September 30, 2020, Suzanne Ordas Curry and Dottie Fucito. Scott Rosenfelt (Home Alone, Mystic Pizza, Teen Wolf) is Executive Producer.

Forever and a Day is a New Scripted Soap Podcast filled with Intrigue, Romance & More: Founders Candice Mack and Casey Hutchinson Talk about Why they Started it and How They Got Beth Ehlers as Their Anchor

by Suzanne Ordas Curry

If you like drama or soaps and want to absorb them in the trendy way - a podcast,  then you'll want to tune in to the new soap  Forever and a Day, the brainchild of Candice Mack and Casey Hutchinson. Ironically, soaps first started on the radio, so almost a hundred years later they are back to their roots.... filled with all the intrigue, suspense, love and glamour that has made them surive for almost a century.

Candice and Casey are no strangers to the soap world, being well-known on social media platforms for their views and knowledge. Many soap actors have been on Candice's show, Soap Party 411. I interview both of them to find out what made then start this already successful scripted soap series.

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Interview with Founder and Filmmaker Patrice Francios: Why She and her Mom Susie Started the Brooklyn-Based Imagine This International Women's Film Festival, What's on Tap for This Year and Why We Still Need A Festival Like This


By Suzanne Ordas Curry

This year's Imagine This International Women's Film Festival kicks off on September 24  and runs until October 4. 2020. Their mission - to  to amplify and empower women in filmmaking. Due to the pandemic, it's a virtual festival. But as film festival fans have found out, these virtual festivals offer a  convenient way to view films and even to network - the two things we love best about film festivals.  And you can watch the films at your leisure. We chat with Patrice Francois, who along with co-founder Susie Francios started up this meaningful  festival five years ago. Read on to fine out who the special guests are, about their 300 + film lineup and about everything else the festival will be having - including some free special events. 

We also find out about what Patrice thinks about the progress being made for females in the industry - or rather how they still have a long way to go. 

Tell me why you started this. Are you accomplishing what you set out to do?

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Movie Review of Taylor A. Purdee's Killian & The Comeback Kids - An Indie-Rock, Summer-Feeling Movie Filled with Music


By Harry Sherer

Recent college grads and those whose university days are winding down find themselves in a unique generational middle-ground. Not exactly old enough to identify with the MTV generation of the millennials, but too old to associate with Tik-Tok consumed Gen Xers. We’re a bit too hopeful to want desk jobs, and a bit too practical to pack up our cars and drive to Hollywood. This middle-of-the-road existential dread is what indie film Killian and the Comeback Kids (#KillianRoxMovie) tackles with more accuracy than I’ve seen out of many recent films.

The story follows recent college graduate and folk-rock musician Killian (played by Taylor A. Purdee, who also wrote and directed the film) as he and his former classmates form a band and attempt to perform at a local music festival. The unique perspective of those struggling in the digital generation adds an engaging flair to this tried-and-true plot. The backdrop of a middle class rural state only further adds to the theme of dreams and missed opportunities, as each character struggles with their own economic concerns in the former steel town. In the midst of a global recession, this film will hit home with those struggling with identity in a world where your spot in the workforce isn’t guaranteed.

Monday, September 14, 2020

New Indie Rock Film Killian & the Comeback Kids Begins in Theaters September 2020: Socially Relevant, Entertaining and Just What we Need Now - View Trailer



The indie-rock film Killian & the Comeback Kids is coming soon to a theater near you, as they used to say -yet this has so much more meaning now. If you're in an area where theaters are open, you may find Killian and the Comeback Kids making a stop at your local theater.

Killian & the Comeback kids is a feel good, summer breezin' musical movie about a multi-racial young man named Killian, who comes back to his depressed home town after college and tries to make something of himself, and do something for the town. Given what's going on in the world today, it's a relevant film touching on important issues many young people have to deal with. But it's easy to watch, and spoiler alert- it's got a  happy ending. And it's filmed in the beautiful countryside. When you see a shooting star go across the screen, realize it's a real shooting star. 

NYC MCC THEATER'S PRODUCTION OF MISCAST 2020: Delightfully Funny, Poignant and a Reminder of Why We Love Theater

 By Allyson Schiller

When you think of a musical theatre fundraising event, your first thought is not typically of a grown man (Joshua Henry) singing “Tomorrow” from Annie, or a young woman (Bernie Feldstein) singing Fiero’s “Dancing Through Life” from Wicked, featuring guest appearances from Kristin Chenoweth and her pug, but with Miscast 2020 at MCC Theatre, that is just what you’re going to get. The Youtube-based event held on September 13 2020, 7 months into the pandemic and reminded us of why we all love the NYC Theater world so much, and how we can't wait for it to come back. Which it will.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Twice Upon a Time: A Short Film by a 911 Widow With a Message For all who Experience Loss


Twice Upon a Time
is a short film written by Actress/writer Iliana Guibert.  Iliana stars in this short as a woman who lost her husband on 9-11 and is trying to cope with it. The film is based on her own personal experiences having lost her husband in the attack on the Twin Towers as well as from meeting many others who suffered losses from that devastating event. As one of the most tragic times in modern American history, this story is relatable to anyone who has suffered an unimaginable loss.  

Friday, September 4, 2020

Review of Documentary Class Action Park on HBO Max - You'll Only Believe it if You Were Actually There

 by Suzanne Ordas Curry

If you lived in NJ, or anywhere near in the 80's, you went to Action Park. Or as we called it in Jersey, Traction Park. 

You just went. it was cool to go. It was a rite of passage. Little did we know what was really going on behind the scenes. I mean, I got some stories from my cousin who was a lifeguard at the wave pool, but it was more about the cool jewelry she would find at the bottom. And everyone had their own stories as well. 

The last time I went I was in college, I went with my boyfriend now husband and three other friends. I remember coming off an attraction and seeing a line of blood down my thigh. I remember saying, "Something was scratching me me whole time."