City of Women

This week on Throwback Sundays, we visit Italy and one of my all time favorite filmmakers. Here is a great clip from Fellini's much slept on City of Women.

Cassandra Riddick's "Shining Star"

Our partner, producer/writer/director Cassandra Riddick, debut feature film Shining Star is coming soon to film festivals.

Shining Star is based on the award winning short film titled Shining Star. It was one of the top ten films chosen in the B.E.T. Rap-It-Film Short Film Competitions in 2006.

Basketball player Alex Cash is accepted to play ball overseas. He meets and falls in love with Keyshia, a young talented singer focused on her career. He finds out a month earlier that he is HIV positive and keeps is status a secret from everyone he loves.

When Keyshia finds out the question remains, can love really conquer all? Will she forgive him and stand by her man?

Check out the trailer:

Hear selections from the wonderful score HERE.

Become a fan of Facebook HERE.

Follow the film's blog HERE.

Rick Borgia's "Gunner's Rift"

Our friend producer/actor Rick Borgia, who played the father in Cookies & Cream, has a new film that shoots next month. Here is more about the film and his very recognizable cast!

Steven Bauer - "Manolo" - Scarface
Angel Salazar - "Chichi" - Scarface
Robert Funaro - "The Sopranos"
Steve Dash - "Jason" - Friday the 13th 3
Al Linea - "HBO's Boardwalk Empire"
Tito Puente Jr - Salsa Celeb.
Anthony Becht - NFL's St. Louis Cardinals
Rick Borgia - Cookies & Cream, Twists of Fate

Gunner's Rift

What makes a man tick and drives him to follow the life he leads? What voice speaks of right and wrong? Does he sense fear, hold faith in fellow men, understand respect, know of honor?

Joseph ‘Gunner’ D’Amato is such a man, earning his rep and respect as a ruthless hit man for a mob boss. He ultimately learns the answers to those questions after his ex-girlfriend, now the girlfriend of a drug lord, is murdered.

Gunner’s brother Dominic took the road of honor by becoming a cop and working the homicide unit, run by a tough ex-marine with an itch to rid the precinct of Gunner and his boss.

The brothers lower the walls of distrust weakening the rift separating them as a drug war escalates, and a rival thug seeks Gunner's assistance in taking out another precinct boss.

Gunner finds deception and friendship converging to bring an escape from his pending downfall, allowing what he inwardly desired all along… a way out.

Gunner's Rift is a meaningful glance at a man's path to destruction through trust, loyalty, betrayal, and desire while surviving the mire of crime and corruption.

Tom Reviews "Youth in Revolt"

Tom's Corner:

Youth in Revolt

(2009, Miguel Arteta dir.)

The grand Hollywood tradition of taking half decent teen novels and turning them into mediocre movies continues. C.D. Payne's novel of the same name is this installment's victim. Michael Cera plays the lead character, Nick Twisp, and for once, he does not play a nerdy awkward teenager...well, ok, not for the whole movie. Given the nature of the movie, this may be a short romp into the mind of a schizophrenic. No not me, you assholes....

Anyway...Michael Cera plays a pathetic virgin who seemingly has no hope of getting laid. No, this isn't Superbad. Or any of his other movies...or "Arrested Development." This time, he actually meets and kisses a girl in the first half hour (and not a cousin either). Relative newcomer Portia Doubleday plays Sheeni Saunders, a Francophile whom Nick meets when his really pathetic mother Estelle (Jean Smart) and her loser-of-the-month boyfriend Jerry (Zach Galifiankis, whose name I almost spelled right the first time) have to flee their home because Jerry is a complete dumbass. But there's a problem: Nick is only up there with his family for a while. He'd have to find his father (the always wonderful Steve Buscemi) a job in Ukiah where Sheeni lives and find a way to get his mother to kick him out. To this end, he creates an alternate personality, Francois. Shades of Fight Club, huh?

Anyway, Nick gets kicked out, Sheeni finds his dad a job in Ukiah and it looks like happily ever after right? No, now Sheeni is getting sent to a French boarding school where her ex-boyfriend Trent (Jonathan Bradford Wright) is also a student. Nick does what any of us would do: recruits his new friend Vijay (Adhir Kalyan) to go and see her and her new roommate Taggarty (Rooney Mara, who played Nancy in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street) who is a bit...promiscuous. After those naked hijinks, they head back to Ukiah, and Nick comes up with a cunning and frankly fucked up plan to get Sheeni expelled.

In the end, they throw the schizo into juvie. But I know you're all wondering if he gets laid? Well, I'm not going to tell you.

Ok ok he does. He also crossdresses!

The movie was so uneven. At some times you root for Nick and his massive mental problems. At other times, you wonder what the fuck is wrong with him, aside from the aforementioned mental problems. So, see it. Or don't. It wasn't too bad. Or too good.

- Tom

Official Trailer HERE.

Tom Reviews "Zombies Anonymous"

Tom's Corner:

Last Rites of the Dead (2006)
Released as Zombies Anonymous (2008)
– Marc Fratto, director

Ok, pop quiz hot shots...what's the current trend in supernatural movies and books? Did you say vampires? Oh, no no no, what are you, still watching or reading Twilight (also, unless you are a 12-15 year old girl, and you are reading Twilight, seriously, what the fuck? But I digress...)? Lately, I see more books and comic books (I'm looking at you Marvel Zombies and you too Blackest Night) full of those shambling brainless undead known the world over as zombies. Director Mark Fratto of New York based Insane-O-Rama Productions is a man who was ahead of his time. In 2006, this film premiered at the New York Horror Film Festival as Last Rites of the Dead. In 2008, it was finally released to DVD as Zombies Anonymous, but with 17 minutes cut (we'll talk about that later).

This is a non-traditional take on the zombie genre. You know the usual zombie film plot: Group of humans from varying backgrounds and with various degrees of weapons skills gather somewhere somewhat defensible and fight off zombies until 3-5 are left. Those left flee their formerly safe haven and attempt to get to a zone of purported safety. This usually cuts our cast down to 2-3. Alternatively, they never leave the safe haven and all die. THIS IS NOT THAT MOVIE! That's right, completely new plot here people! And guess what? It's good! The only thing that reminds me of other zombie movies is the flickering newscast introduction, and even that is actually a wonderful homage to the genre.

Our heroine is Angela (Gina Ramsden), who is shot in the head by her obsessive ex-boyfriend Josh (played to crazy perfection by Joshua Nelson). Zombies in this movie can only be killed if the brain is completely destroyed, and many choose to be in government run centers (shown in a gruesome flashback). Also, ANYONE WHO DIES by ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, becomes a zombie.
Sucks to be a mortician right about there, huh?

The movie jumps ahead five months and we find Angela at a “Hugs for the Mortally Challenged” support group. She's having trouble coping with her new status (obviously) and the group, which wants zombies to be normal, sits in a circle and talks in much the manner of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A lot of these zombies seem to be ashamed of their condition, and, in fact, take great pains to avoid using the word zombie.

Meanwhile Josh, whom Angela did NOT turn in, has plans to join up with a militant zombie hate group. They don't want zombies moving into their neighborhood, and will take violent action to prevent it. He and friends Richie, Malcolm and the Gooch become members of the Commandant (Christa McNamee)'s sadistic army. Josh neglects to tell them he has a zombie ex-girlfriend who he killed, since he's still in love with (and stalking) Angela.

Angela, meanwhile, meets up with eye-patched group member Louis (Kevin T. Collins) who introduces her to members of a radical cult run by Good Mother Solstice (Mary Jo Verruto). The cult is into some pretty funky things (and also, oddly, mostly women) like lighting candles, and chanting and oh yeah, eating human flesh fresh off the bone. I assume they kill the person after they eat them; I know if I came back to life, and you just motherfucking ate parts of me, I would feel no kinship to my fellow zombies and I'd beat your ass down. I feel I am not alone in this viewpoint.

So, who thinks these two groups would get along worse than Jerry Falwell and Bruce Vilanch? Good, go to the head of the class Howard Hesseman. The zombie killers win round one, and Angela only gets away due to Josh letting her. Here, we see her life begin to spiral down. She loses her job and can't get a new one, due to, y'know, the whole being dead thing.

As she vents to her friends, they are attacked by the Commandant's Army. There's a knockdown drag out in the woods and Angela is saved and initiated into the flesh eaters cult. She meets Solstice, and the two...just don't get along. Zombie on zombie violence is just so fun! Concurrently, Josh, who...lost a lot more than just the gunfight, is working with the Commandant on a plan to kill the zombies. Watch as the commandant fights like a Terminator through the rather inept zombie attack! And hey, Josh and Angela finally get to hash out their relationship problems. Find out who ends up hash! My only disappointment is with the fact that those seventeen minutes are cut. Some of those minutes are important plot points, and they DO affect being able to follow the film.

Does anyone need me to point out the racial overtones in the zombie killing army? This is what good film making is. Zombies are best used when they are an allegory for something else. I recommend this movie to ANY fans of good horror. I wasn't disappointed, and I hope you won't be either.



- Tom

Jace Nicole Featured in The Examiner

Our very own Jace Nicole was recently featured in yesterday's The Examiner, written by Corey Williams (a Maryland-based indie film producer). Here it is below:

"Family support is a must if you want to be successful in acting. Jace Nicole knows all about good family support. Jace's family has been very supportive since she started acting in 2005. Her fiance' Akbar and his family have come to the premieres of her different films. Jace feels comfort in knowing that Akbar is behind her acting dream 110%. Jace's daughter Jaylon is a huge fan of her mom so much that she calls her "famous mommy". Jaylon jumped at the chance to work with her mom in the independent feature film Cookies & Cream.

Jace Nicole's Baltimore independent full length feature credits include TORN, Razorblade City, Can't Complain, Sleeping with Fate and two short films Hangman and The Charl(y)ie Factor. Jace feels that Baltimore has the talent to have its own Baltimore Black Film Festival. Jace sees that the talent within the African-American community is strong. Even though Jace films in New York and other states, she thinks that filming in Baltimore is so special because of the people that she has worked with. Jace sums it up perfectly. Baltimore has many spots to film and it's a place that is laced with culture."

Original piece with photos HERE.

Official Jace Nicole site HERE.

OneWayTV Reaches 20,000 Visitors!

Our blog here, has reached over 20k visitors. Our daily reader count at one point has reached over 350, and at that point, the count kicked into its highest gear. We want to thank all of you that have faithfully dropped by and checked us out. We know we have been busy lately with the premiere of Uptown, as well as Uptown and Cookies & Cream's DVD releases in particular, so we apologize for the lack of frequent updates.

Things will however, be returning to normal by next week, when you can expect us to return to our frequent update productivity. We have several new, exciting contributors that will be adding some really cool news, articles, editorials, and opinions to the blog, and you can expect more from our regular features including Tom's Corner, Reel of the Week/Month, Throwback Sundays, and more.

Cheers to you, reader!!

- One Way TV