Category: Entertainment News

Book to movie adaptation: ‘Mustang Miracle’ by Humberto G Garcia

Based on a true story, the movie adaptation of ‘Mustang Miracle’ will be released nationwide on April 12, 2024. Photo: Amazon

Humberto G. Garcia was born in 1955 and raised in the San Felipe section of the City of Del Rio, Texas. He spent many years as a migrant farm worker before graduating from high school in 1972. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin where he received his BA in Government in 1975  and then received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1978. He returned to Del Rio to practice law for six years and then moved to San Antonio where he has practiced as a litigator of civil cases for over twenty five years. In 2006 he became a professional golfer, playing several qualifiers into the Champions Tour as well as several mini tours. He continues to play golf professionally and is devoting time to writing. (Amazon, 2024)

“Mustang Miracle,” his first published book, is the story of young caddies who are recruited to form the San Felipe High School Golf Team and competed against all-white schools for the Texas State High School Golf Championship. The movie adaptation, which will be released on Friday April 12 under the name The Long Game, is directed by Julio Quintana and stars Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid, and Cheech Marin.

“Mustang Miracle” – In 1957, when very few Mexican-Americans were familiar with the game of golf, and even less actually played it, the young caddies are recruited  by two men who loved the game but who had limited access to it. Despite having outdated and inferior equipment, no professional lessons or instructions, four young golfers with self-taught swings from the border city of Del Rio captured the State title. Three of them took the gold, silver and bronze medals for best individual players. This book tells their story from their introduction to the game as caddies to eventually becoming champions.

Movie synopsis: The Long Game tells a true story of the San Felipe Mustangs, a group of Mexican-American youths located in Del Rio, Texas. In 1955, the group sets out to play golf at a white country club in town. Determined to learn how to play they created their own golf course in the middle of the South Texas desert. Despite prejudice, the Mustangs overcame these obstacles to become the 1957 Texas state champions and broke barriers for many Latino PGA Golfers to come.

The Long Game
Drama
Rated PG for language, racial slurs, thematic material, some violence, and brief rude material.
Run time: 1h 52 min

Photo: Google

Opening soon: Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story

From Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story, Corky Lee on 42nd St. Photo: Jennifer Takaki, used with permission.

Documentaries are windows into real-life narratives, offering insights into diverse subjects. They captivate audiences by illuminating untold stories, exploring historical events, or shedding light on societal issues. They not only provoke thought, challenge perspectives, and foster empathy, they also serve as educational tools, imparting knowledge on topics ranging from science and history to culture and politics. Documentaries play an important role in shaping public discourse and fostering understanding of the world around us. One example is Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story.

All Is Well Pictures, in association with Ford Foundation and Scandobean productions, presents Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story. It will be released theatrically in New York (DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema) on April 19 and in Los Angeles (Laemmle Glendale) on April 26 with a regional expansion to follow. (EG-PR, 2024)

Official Selection: DOC NYC, CAAMFest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF), Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF), and many more.

Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story – For 50 years, Chinese American photographer Corky Lee documented the celebrations, struggles, and daily lives of Asian American Pacific Islanders with epic focus. Determined to push mainstream media to include AAPI culture in the visual record of American history, Lee produced an astonishing archive of nearly a million compelling photographs. His work takes on new urgency with the alarming rise in anti-Asian attacks during the Covid pandemic. Jennifer Takaki’s intimate portrait reveals the triumphs and tragedies of the man behind the lens.

Running Time: 87 minutes
Language: English
Not Rated
Documentary Feature (USA)

Corky Lee was born in 1947 in New York to Chinese immigrants who owned a laundry in Queens. He majored in history at Queens College and became a community organizer in Manhattan’s Chinatown in the 1970s. Over the next five decades he photographed countless protests and cultural events in the Asian American Pacific Islander community. Lee’s photographs documented the birth and growth of the Asian American movement for social justice and he became known as “The Undisputed, Unofficial, Asian American Photographer Laureate.” When he died in  2021 at the age of 73 due to Covid, the press mourned his death worldwide.

Filmmaker Jennifer Takaki is a fourth generation Japanese American from Colorado. She began her career in journalism at a Denver TV station and later moved to Hong Kong to work with Encore International. In Hong Kong, she produced English-based news programming broadcast in China, India, and the Middle East via Rupert Murdoch’s STAR-TV. In New York, she produced and directed “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” which premiered at DOC NYC and was supported by the Ford Foundation and The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). She was awarded the prestigious Better Angels Lavine Fellowship in 2023.

MoonKill shares single from forthcoming debut album

‘Ranger Danger, Pt. 2’ is the first single from the Austin punk-metal band’s debut album. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Austin band MoonKill recently shared the lead single from their forthcoming debut album via New Noise Magazine. (MoonKill, 2024)

MoonKill plays untethered Texas Punk, inserting ambient spacey sounds and new-wave tension into a punk world that is difficult to pin down. Vocalist Dan Aronov croons and howls with the powerful pipes of young Glenn Danzig, while the rest of the band blasts out tight and infectious melodic, metallic punk rock. Together throughout the album, the band harnesses simplicity to powerful effect.

MoonKill materialized in a T-shirt factory, which doubled as an after-hours practice space, in Austin, TX. The quartet all connected for a random jam session in May 2022. The drummer was the lynchpin in a network of friends, which included a guitarist who lived in a trailer in his driveway at the time. The first session produced their initial song “Long Line to Hell” and they have been growing their queue of Texas Punk songs ever since.

The band self-produced a 3 song EP, The Kong Sessions, in the loft of their friend’s screen-printing shop. After presenting it to producer/engineer Roky Moon (of American Sharks), he offered to produce their debut album, which was completed in February 2024. They played their first live show in September 2023, to a packed house, and began a relentless live show schedule.

Since then, others have taken notice, including their growing fan base in and around Austin. Their EP gained notice from music critics, including Greg Kot, (Chicago Tribune) who featured “Dead Holiday” on his syndicated show, Sound Opinions.

MoonKill will be available to stream and download on May 3, 2024. Pre-order/pre-save HERE.

Artist: MoonKill
Album: MoonKill
Label: self-released
Release Date: May 3, 2024

Courtesy photo, used with permission

  1. Dead Holiday
  2. Ranger Danger, Pt. 1
  3. Ranger Danger, Pt. 2
  4. Chainsaw Bathroom Sex
  5. Murderhouse
  6. Full Stop
  7. Ghost Town
  8. Long Line to Hell
  9. Rabbit’s Foot
  10. Friend or Foe
1714736349

  days

  hours  minutes  seconds

until

Debut album release date

Children’s Ballet of San Antonio performs Mean Girls JR

The special version of the beloved film and Broadway show will debut in San Antonio for the first time. Photo: Children’s Ballet of San Antonio, used with permission.

Go back to school with the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio and their first-ever musical production, the smart and ferociously funny Mean Girls JR. Premiering Friday, April 5 at the Dance Center of San Antonio’s brand-new Black Box Theatre, the production adapts Tina Fey’s iconic movie and subsequent Broadway smash hit for audiences of all ages, presented by a cast of the region’s finest young performers. (Children’s Ballet of San Antonio, 2024)

Mean Girls JR. tells the story of student Cady Heron who must learn to navigate the treacherous social hierarchy of high school when her family moves to suburban Illinois from Kenya. Cady may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her new school. How will this naive newbie rise to the top of the popularity pecking order? By taking on “The Plastics,” a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a queen bee without getting stung.

Showtimes: Friday, April 5 at 7:30p.m., Saturday, April 6 at 7:30p.m., Sunday, April 7 at 2p.m. and 6p.m.
Tickets: $20, available for purchase online

Mean Girls JR. is a version of the hit musical Mean Girls that has been adapted for performance by students. The musical, featuring a book by Tina Fey (30 Rock), lyrics by Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), and music by composer Jeff Richmond (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), was adapted from Fey’s 2004 film. Mean Girls opened on Broadway in 2018 and was nominated for 12 Tony Awards.

The Children’s Ballet of San Antonio and its sponsor school, the Dance Center of San Antonio, are the leading providers of youth dance instruction and performance opportunities in the region. In less than 10 years, CBSA performers and Dance Center students have won numerous international awards and world-renowned scholarships, and founder Vanessa Bessler is a nine-time consecutive winner of Youth America Grand Prix’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year. The Dance Center was recently recognized as among the top 2.5 percent of dance institutions in the nation. Local audiences delight in CBSA’s biannual professional-grade performances held in San Antonio’s top theatres. Now CBSA is pleased to bring another performing arts opportunity to San Antonio with this Broadway-style musical, the first show to be held in the Dance Center of San Antonio’s new venue, the Black Box Theatre.

Among the stunningly talented CBSA cast are Valeria Velasco as Regina and Madison Aikens as Cady, both committed students of the Dance Center of San Antonio’s Musical Theater day program. Aikens recently won Best Performer in a Musical at the 2023 Broadway World Austin awards. Velasco, is a member of the Texas Cultural Trust’s Young Masters Program, a prestigious scholarship program recognizing excellence in the performing arts. These stars and their CBSA cast members are supported by an experienced production team including specialists in vocal performance, choreography, and theater direction.

The interactive, multimedia production is the perfect show to debut in the new Black Box Theatre at the Dance Center of San Antonio, an intimate performance venue in North Central San Antonio. “The close proximity of the audience allows for intimate and interactive shows,” says Bessler. “Because the black box theatre allows for multiple configurations and settings, it gives young performers the opportunity to play with and explore the space to make creative artistic choices.”

Mean Girls JR. is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International, one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 professional, community and school theatres.

Mean Girls JR. is yet another example of the Children’s Ballet of San Antonio’s ambitious vision for youth performing arts. Don’t miss your chance to see San Antonio’s young stars in action as they dance and sing their hearts out in the city’s coziest new theatre.

The Black Box Theatre at Dance Center of San Antonio
126 West Rector Drive, Suite 120
San Antonio, Texas 78216

Upcoming new animated sci-fi thriller: Max Beyond

Max Beyond will be available for digital download starting April 23, 2024. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

In today’s movie news, I have some exciting news about a new action thriller that will be available as a digital download in the US next month. It’s an animated sci-fi movie called Max Beyond. Gamers should take notice of this movie because there will be a spin off video game coming next year and this movie serves as an introduction to the backstory and characters to the game that is currently in production. (HaZimation, 2024)

The Max Beyond game immerses the players into the same world, action and obstacles as seen in the movie, but taking a fresh approach of this being a co-op based game, where both characters have to help each other to restore reality and escape the facility known as Axion, with the engaging game mechanics and alternative timelines.

HaZimation is excited to share that their animated action-thriller Max Beyond will be available on US Digital Platforms from April 23, 2024.

Max Beyond tells the story of Max, a young boy held captive in a research facility. Using his ability to create rifts in the fabric of spacetime across parallel universes, he searches for the reality in which his brother Leon, a former-marine, manages to rescue him. With attempt after attempt ending in Leon’s death, the strain starts to take its toll on both brothers. When Max discovers his captors are using his power against him, he realizes he must stop focusing on how the story ends and rewrite the story from the beginning.

The cast includes BAFTA-award winning actor Jane Perry, Dave Fennoy, and Cade Tropeano. Motion capture performances from Ace Ruele and Alex Kong.

Max Beyond is directed, co-written and co-produced by Hasraf ‘HaZ’ Dulull, co-written by Stavros Pamballis, and co-produced by Paula Crickard.

“What if you had the ability to reset dimensions to find the right moment that will save your brother, but the more you do it, the weaker you get? Strap in for Max Beyond, a tour de force rollercoaster ride of big & intense action, with edge of the seat thrills and emotionally charged characters as the story pulls the audiences into the mind-bending multi-universe.” – Writer/director Hasraf ‘HaZ’ Dulull

The film’s executive producers are Yariv Lerner, Amy Gardner, and Jason Potter. The music score is by Miroshot, a band known for their experiential music featured in SXSW 2022.

Run Time: 92 Minutes

Max Beyond utilizes the latest ground-breaking Realtime animation technology called Unreal Engine, the same engine tech used to power video games like Fortnite. Using this approach has also enabled HaZimation to take a Transmedia view to expand the story and universe of Max Beyond into a video game (Consoles + PC).

New single: High Hopes and Low Expectations – JD Clayton

High Hopes and Low Expectations is the new single by JD Clayton. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

With his new single, High Hopes and Low Expectations, the Natural State’s new favorite recording artist, JD Clayton, tells the story of a young man searching for a better self and greener pastures, leaving his small town for the glamour of the big city. “This is really a song to myself,” says Clayton who co-wrote High Hopes with Nashville veteran Kendell Marvel. The song was self-produced by Clayton and he teamed up with six-time Grammy Awards winner Vance Powell to mix the track. The song’s protagonist meets an older gentleman who gives him a bit of free advice: “Live with high hopes and low expectations.” It’s not lost on Clayton that Marvel is the one who’s giving him the sage advice back in the real world. “He has become such a good friend and has been so kind to me as I’ve started my career,” says Clayton. “It felt like we were living out the song literally as we penned it.” (IV-PR, 2024)

Clayton found the inspiration for High Hopes and Low Expectations by chasing a blend of James Taylor and Elton John. Acoustically rich, the mid-tempo slow burner rides a heavy emphasis on a borderline-funky backbeat, piano, and guitars playing counterpoint to Clayton’s earnest vocal delivery. High Hopes and Low Expectations is out now and can be streamed or purchased right here. This single is the first in a number of new releases from Clayton as he gears up for a full-length follow-up to 2023’s Long Way From Home.

JD Clayton’s debut album, Long Way From Home, was released in early 2023 receiving overwhelming critical acclaim. Named one of 2023’s most anticipated Americana albums by Wide Open Country, the debut, 10-song offering has simplicity and sincerity running throughout. Earnest lyrics and lived-in vocals are delivered with a balance of warmth and resolve, and his timeless sound has an immediate appeal. Touring-wise, 2023 was spent building fans market by market, city by city while touring with Dwight Yoakam, Old Crow Medicine Show, Josh Turner, Tanner Usrey, Pat Green, Shane Smith & The Saints, Vincent Neil Emerson, Parker McCollum, Hank Williams Jr., Brent Cobb, Ashley McBryde, Cole Chaney and playing tastemaker festivals such as Bonnaroo, Rebels & Renegades, Born & Raised, and Dreamy Draw. On the heels of his debut album’s success, Clayton is putting finishing touches on his forthcoming self-produced record to be announced in spring and released later 2024. 

Clayton just wrapped up a 22 date tour with Tanner Usrey through early March and has upcoming dates with Ashley McBryde in April as well as adding additional headline and other support dates to be announced in the coming weeks.

Catch JD Clayton On Tour:
April 25 – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre *
April 26 – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory *
May 3 – Cullman, AL – Alabama Strawberry Festival 2024
May 12 – San Diego, CA – Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival
May 17 – Bentonville, AR – FreshGrass Bentonville
* With Ashley McBryde

New movie release: Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret

Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret will be showing in limited theaters on March 24, 2024. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

The highly anticipated film Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret is the follow up from What the Health, (which sat at #1 on Netflix for weeks and even came back at #1 again recently and is executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix) Cowspiracy, (executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio) and Seaspiracy. This new movie explores religion and the farming and animal products industry and is in theaters across the United States on March 20 and 24 only, with encores possible, from Trafalgar Releasing as part of the film’s worldwide release. (Christspiracy, 2024)

Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret – their new film is a dive into Christ’s genuine compassion for ALL living beings including animals and how they uncovered His passion for helping animals – an act of animal activism and kindness that dates all the way back to the days Jesus walked the earth. As Christians across the globe are currently celebrating Lent and draw closer to Palm Sunday and Easter, this is perfect topic to continue to the conversation of how Christ showed his love while here on earth.

Kip Andersen and Kameron Waters show how religious leaders of all faiths have overlooked or even promoted animal exploitation, some thinking they’re teaching what Jesus wanted. Christspiracy asks the question: “Is there an ethical or spiritual way to kill an animal?”

The film features interviews with Oxford University doctors, American priests, and religious leaders from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. It shows holocaust survivors and community leaders changing what they teach after witnessing the harrowing truth hidden from the public. The film explores humanity’s relationship with animals and how they ended up on the plates of the human species and how we are living on a planet where over 90 billion animals are enslaved and killed, plus nearly 3 trillion fish killed every year as humans empty the oceans.

“Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret, the latest documentary from Kip Andersen and Kameron Waters, takes us on a philosophical journey to find out the truth in relation to Jesus and the animals. The film explores the answer from many of the world’s religions and exposes unforgiving truths about animal cruelty in the name of religion.” – Oscar-winning actor and animal rights advocate, Joaquin Phoenix.

“Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret has an exclusive discovery about Jesus Christ that has never been shown in theaters before. We believe what we have unearthed will transform history and the future.” – Kip Andersen, president and founder of AUM Films

In Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret, the world-exclusive has been at least double-sourced as they have Oxford University doctors plus senior theologians confirming it. Christspiracy includes teachings from Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism too. It reveals what the world’s religions have hidden from people. Was it deliberate or the gravest mistake and atrocity of all time?”

Tickets are available now online for the March 24 showing.

Upcoming new album release: Every New Beginning – Kim Richey

Kim Richey’s new album Every New Beginning is due out May 24, 2024. Photo: Stacie Huckeba, used with permission.

From her critically acclaimed self-titled 1995 debut to Long Way Back… The Songs of Glimmer in 2020, Singer/songwriter Kim Richey has consistently impressed listeners, garnered accolades, and attracted famous fans with her deft songwriting and crystalline vocals, both of which have made her an in-demand collaborator. Her voice has graced scores of recordings, providing peerless harmonies, including Jason Isbell’s watershed Southeastern, Trisha Yearwood’s Everybody Knows, Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams, Reba McEntire’s Starting Over, and Has Been by Capt. Kirk himself, William Shatner. Richey hits the road in the US and Europe this spring in support of Every New Beginning, her new album due out May 24 on Yep Roc Records. (Kim Richey, 2024)

Over a pulsating rhythm section and moody guitar arpeggios, the widely-beloved voice of songwriter’s songwriter Kim Richey delivers the opening line to her first new music in four years: “So here we go, another day on the water / The sun is shining but we never dive in.” The song is “Floating On The Surface” and it’s the first single to be released from Every New Beginning. Featuring ten songs spanning from more recent writes to decade-old puzzle pieces, finally finding a home on Richey’s 10th studio album, Every New Beginning highlights not just the songs of a master tunesmith—some co-written with fellow greats like Aaron Lee Tasjan and Brian Wright—but a career-defining performance from the voice which Brandi Carlile has cited as formative in crafting her own style. 

Every New Beginning manages to continue the throughline of Richey’s nearly 30-year career while simultaneously adding a new chapter. The songs represent the full spectrum of the Ohio native’s gifts as both a revered songwriter who can leap from melancholy to mirthful in a single couplet and owner of one of music’s truly celestial voices.  

Fans can stream or purchase “Floating On The Surface” at this link and pre-order or pre-save Every New Beginning ahead of its May release here. Fans who pre-order the project on vinyl have the option of Clear Coke Bottle Vinyl or a Limited Edition (250 worldwide pressing!) Translucent Orange Vinyl that includes an autographed handwritten note from Richey. She hits the road again in March for West Coast and Midwest shows before heading across the Atlantic in May.

Catch Kim Richey on tour:
March 22 – Bellingham, WA – Mount Baker Theatre
March 23 – Lake Oswego, OR – Parrott House Concerts
March 24 – Bremerton, WA – Concerts In The Woods
April 21 – Athens, OH – Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium
May 3 – Columbus, OH – Natalie’s Grandview Music Hall & Kitchen
May 4 – Peninsula, OH – GAR Hall

May 15 – Camden, UK – Green Note
May 16 – Swindon, UK – The Old Stables, Cricklade
May 18 – London, UK – Half Moon, Putney
May 19 – Bristol, UK – Bristol Folk House
May 20 – Aberdeen, UK – The Blue Lamp
May 23 – Glasgow, UK – Glad Cafe
May 24 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK – The Cluny 2
May 25 – York, UK – Newbald Village Hall
May 26 – Birmingham, UK – Birmingham Kitchen Garden

June 13 – Auburn, AL – Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series
June 14 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
June 15 – Charlotte, NC – The Evening Muse

Courtesy photo, used with permission
1716544252

  days

  hours  minutes  seconds

until

Every New Beginning release date

Book to series adaptation: ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ by Amor Towles

The series adaptation of ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’ will be available on Showtime/Paramount +. Photo: Amazon

Amor Towles is an American novelist who graduated from Yale College and received an M.A. from Stanford University. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers “Rules of Civility,” “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “The Lincoln Highway,” as well as the short story collection “Table for Two.” His books have collectively sold more than six million copies and have been translated into more than thirty languages. His 2016 novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” was adapted into an 8 episode series and will be available on Showtime/Paramount + starting on March 31, 2024. It stars Ewan McGregor as Count Alexander Rostov. (Amazon, 2024)

“A Gentleman in Moscow” is a beautifully transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.

Upcoming new movie release: Strictly Confidential

Elizabeth Hurley stars in the new thriller Strictly Confidential. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

In movie news today, releasing next month is the new thriller Strictly Confidential starring Elizabeth Hurley and Georgia Lock.

Lionsgate’s new thriller Strictly Confidential is the new feature film directorial debut of writer/director Damian Hurley. It stars Elizabeth Hurley, Georgia Lock, Lauren McQueen, Freddie Thorp, and Genevieve Gaunt and will be released in theaters and digital/on demand on April 5, 2024. (Lionsgate, 2024)

Strictly Confidential – A haunted young woman is lured into a seductive world of infidelity, betrayal and murder as she desperately tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her best friend’s sudden death.

Elizabeth Hurley and Georgia Lock star in a sensual thriller with a devilish twist. On the anniversary of Rebecca’s (Lauren McQueen) death, Mia (Lock) returns to the Caribbean paradise where she and her best friend shared her final days. As Mia and sets out to unravel the mysterious events of her passing, old passions rise, new secrets are uncovered and Mia is pulled into a seductive world of sex, betrayal and murder.

RATING: R
GENRE: Thriller
RUNTIME: 89 min.

Strictly Confidential still. Courtesy photo, used with permission.