Center Stage: On Pointe pirouettes onto Lifetime!
Ballet sure has changed a lot since I was a kid…
Lifetime dumps a ton of movies off this weekend as well, it’s like they’ve been saving them up and are now on a spending spree! First up is the second sequel to the movie Center Stage, a film you may not even know had a first sequel. Well, it did, and sequel 2 continues the story of ballet, but not in the Black Swan way. Center Stage: On Pointe features the return of Nicole Muñoz as Bella Parker, the sister of the last main character, Kate, and the trials and tribulations of being a top dancer in ballet. It looks like Rachele Brooke Smith is back as Kate, though I don’t know how big her part will be as she isn’t even mentioned in the Lifetime blurbs. There is actually several returning actors including Peter Gallagher and Kenny Wormald, and the film features Dance Moms star Chloe Lukasiak.
A valued patron tasks Johnathan Reeves with taking the American Ballet Academy (ABA) in a new direction that combines contemporary styles with ballet. Reeves enlists his top dancers/choreographers Tommy, Cooper and Charlie to recruit modern and ballet dancers to compete at a Dance Camp training intensive with the winners gaining entry into the ABA. Tommy’s lead recruit is Bella Parker, the younger sister to renowned ballerina Kate. Bella, a natural modern dancer but whom struggles with ballet, is at first reluctant but decides to enter the program to try and prove herself and get out from under her sister’s shadow. Alongside other top dancers, including Gwen, will Bella have what it takes to make the cut?
Center Stage: On Pointe is directed by Director X. Yes, that’s his name, Director X., the period is part of his name. This is his first feature film, though he has directed a lot of music videos. No one seems to list who wrote the film, so it will be a mystery for now! It stars Nicole Muñoz, Peter Gallagher, Sascha Radetsky, Kenny Wormald, Ethan Stiefel, Barton Cowperthwaite, Maude Green, and Chloe Lukasiak.
Center Stage: On Pointe premieres Saturday, June 25th on Lifetime!
via Lifetime
The Wrong Girl goes to the wrong channel — Lifetime!
Just because I’m left handed it doesn’t mean I’m the wrong girl!
You can tell Lifetime has a lot of faith in its latest original movie The Wrong Girl (aka Fatal Friends), because it hasn’t even bothered to release any promotional material besides a trailer. No pictures, no real information, and the link on the MyLifetime.com website doesn’t even point to the right place. But I have faith in The Wrong Girl, because someone has to. That’s what I do, step up when no one else will.
Sophia is the perfect 17-year-old girl. She studies hard, stays out of trouble, and is a promising pianist. The only problem is that she’s always been quiet and keeps to herself, so when she strikes up a friendship with Grace, the new girl in school, her parents are happy for her. Unfortunately it’s not long before Grace starts showing signs of being possessive. Then, when she tries to destroy Sophia’s family and seduce her would-be boyfriend, Sophia can’t help but wonder if she’s befriended the wrong girl. Now, Sophia must uncover Grace’s secret past and learn the truth about her new friend before it’s too late.
Lifetime continues to teach us that the only thing more dangerous than men are new girls at school.
The Wrong Girl stars Jamie Luner (Stranger in My Bed) as Ashley Allen, Kirsten Prout (Joy Ride 3) as Michelle, Sarah Grey (Embrace of the Vampire) as Sophia Allen, Nels Lennarson (Spooky Buddies) as Dylan Allen, Dominika Juillet (Dracano) as Hana, Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica) as Mr. Clark, and Nicole Muñoz (Chupacabra vs. the Alamo) as Allison. It is directed by Jason Bourque (Stonados) and written by the incredibly prolific Peter Sullivan (Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Jersey Shore Shark Attack, every The Dog Who Saved… movie)
The Wrong Girl premieres Saturday, May 16, on Lifetime!
via Lifetime
Categories: Movie News Tags: Alessandro Juliani, Dominika Juillet, Jamie Luner, Jason Bourque, Kristen Prout, Lifetime, Nels Lennarson, Nicole Muñoz, Peter Sullivan, Sarah Grey
Scarecrow haunts SyFy Saturday!
Fine, we’ll read Twilight! Just call off the Scarecrow..
Saturday, October 5th brings the premier of the SyFy original Scarecrow! And it’s more than just a previously used horror title, it’s also got Robin Dunn! And Lacey Chabert, but she’s not a SyFY master like Robin Dunn (Species III, Beyond Sherwood Forest) Let’s also welcome back Nicole Muñoz of Chupacabra vs. The Alamo fame!
For generations, it was an urban legend that lived in the nightmares of children. Now, the season to rejuvenate the tale will revive a town’s darkest fears. With the Scarecrow Festival on the horizon, school teacher Aaron Harris is doling out punishment for six students serving detention, including the moody Tyler, Goth girl Nikki, wrestling team captain Daevon, and straight-A student Jun. Their task: help Aaron’s girlfriend Amanda fix her family farm before it’s sold. But the cornfields circling the farm come with a legend-and Tyler takes macabre delight in recounting the tale: It never sleeps, it never dies, it can’t be stopped, hear their cries. The Scarecrow lives to kill us all. Keep it buried in the fall… When the kids play a terrifying game of cat and mouse in the cornfield with what they believe is a wild animal, Amanda tries to convince them that the Scarecrow is a very real creature of fierce strength and power, rejuvenated by the blood of its prey-and proof comes all too soon. As darkness falls over the rustling fields, the last survivors must fend off the flesh-ripping terrors of the Scarecrow. For the terrified prisoners of Miller Farm, surviving the night seems a distant prayer-especially in light of the tale’s final, desperate warning: “Beware the mark, the end is near, your death is certain, run in fear…” This fall, there’s a chill in air that can freeze the blood. Scarecrow is coming.
Scarecrow Festival? Here’s hoping the mayor refuses to cancel the Scarecrow Festival despite the rash of Scarecrow murders because we must be absurd and strict in our Jaws lifting! Of that Breakfast Club group of kids, don’t expect Jun to last long, he doesn’t even rate an IMDB cast listing!
Scarecrow is another film with a generic description, but the magic will be in the execution. Will it be an amazing achievement with lots of subtextual messaging and good clean fun? Or will it just be generic and boring, angering the masses and leading to SyFy revolution? We shall see on October 5th!
Categories: Movie News Tags: Lacey Chabert, Nicole Muñoz, Robin Dunn, SciFi Channel, SyFy
Chupacabra vs. the Alamo
Chupacabra vs. the Alamo
2013
Story by Peter Sullivan and Jeffrey Schenck
Written by Peter Sullivan
Directed by Terry Ingram
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That’s what you get for not having a basement!
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Chupacabra vs. The Alamo retells the battle of the Alamo with a modern twist. And has an ending that might enrage certain people with an unhealthy Texas obsession, which gives it bonus points in my book. There is also Erik Estrada gunning down chupacabras while getting over his wife’s death and reconnecting with his distant children. But mostly chupacabras.
It’s one of the few horror films with a largely Latino-American cast. Spanish is sprinkled in in levels not unusual for a border town or a town with a lot of migrant workers. Both most of the police characters and most of the gang members are Latino, giving a wide slice of personalities.
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Do you think Larry Wilcox could deal with these chupacabras? Please!
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Chupacabra vs. The Alamo is not afraid to address issues of modern border life, from drug smuggling to Mexican gang violence to illegal immigration to the lack of concern in government response. You can easily see some symbolism in the invading immigrant chupacabras attacking heroes holed up at the Alamo on Cinco de Mayo. But inside the heroes are mostly Latino, and they’re fighting to save their homes. The chupacabras are not illegal immigrants, but crazed gang violence, represented in the monstrous form it deserves to be regarded as. Agent Carlos’s son Tommy spent time in jail for bombing a Mexican drug lord (actually for possessing explosives because they didn’t have proof he killed the man), but it’s revealed he did it to prevent the drug lord from killing more innocent people like his gang war was doing. The mix of ethnicities shows that everyone must come together.
Instead of the classic chupacabra image from witness descriptions that loos sort of like an alien grey with claws and spikes, we get a chupacabra based on those dead “chupacabras” that make the news every few years, which are really just foxes and dogs with mange. Thus, the fierce creatures tearing everyone apart are played by tiny dogs. If you ever wondered what would happen if the cast of Beverly Hills Chihuahua went feral and started chomping necks, now you can find out! As you can imagine, it makes the attack scenes range from ridiculous to ridonkulous.
This movie loves green-screening Erik Estrada on a motorcycle! Why not have the star of CHiPs driving around on a bike for most of the film? If you can, you must! Despite the craziness of the title and premise, some of the action sequences are pretty cool. Notably, Erik Estrada running through a high school blasting chupacabras with a shotgun. The ending also takes some guts, especially since it was filmed with the cooperation of the Alamo. The film knows it’s roots and gives us some winking nods to more famous genre films. Though symptomatic of many of the problems that plague SyFy’s low-budget creature features, there is an energy and fun with Chupacabra vs. the Alamo that makes up for it. The important thing for these films is to be fun and entertaining, and Chupacabra vs. the Alamo definitely is.
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I’ll be chupacaback!
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Director Terry Ingram is a veteran of genre films and shows, such as Ice Road Terror, the SyFy Ice Truckers vs. Monsters movie, as well as some episodes of Relic Hunter and Honey I Shrunk The Kids: The TV Show. Writer Peter Sullivan took a break from writing all his The Dog Who Saved… scripts to give us this masterpiece about dogs gone bad (He also wrote Christmas Twister!)
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Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Anja Savcic, CGI trainwreck, David Nykl, Erik Estrada, Jeffrey Schenck, Jorge Vargas, Julia Benson, Nicole Muñoz, Peter Sullivan, SciFi Channel, SyFy, Terry Ingram, Vanesa Tomasino
