Texas Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘After All’ (2025), starring Erika Christensen, Penelope Ann Miller, Kiara Muhammad, Zach Gilford, Sierra McCormack, Mike O’Malley and David James Elliott

November 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

Penelope Ann Miller, Kiara Muhammad and Erika Christensen in “After All” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“After All” (2025)

Directed by Kerstin Karlhuber

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2025, in the Texas cities of Austin and Shelbyville, the dramatic film “After All” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one biracial person and one South Asian person) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Three generations of females in a working-class family confront generational trauma and health issues when the family’s matriarch has a stroke, and her estranged middle-aged daughter comes back home to help take care of her and to reconnect with the daughter’s estranged teenage daughter.

Culture Audience: “After All” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and people who are interested in watching realistic movies about family dysfunction.

Zach Gilford in “After All” (Photo courtesy of Brainstorm Media)

“After All” is a richly layered emotional drama about three generations of women dealing with trauma and other issues in their family. The movie has impressive performances and a creative use of flashbacks. “After All” might be too heavy and slow-paced for some viewers, but there are enough glimmers of hope and comic relief in the story to prevent “After All” from being completely depressing.

Directed by Kerstin Karlhuber and written by Jack Bryant, “After All” takes place in 2025, in the Texas cities of Austin and Shelbyville. The movie was filmed in Texas. “After All” is Karlhuber’s second feature film and is loosely based on real experiences in her family’s life. According to the movie’s production notes: “‘After All’ is partnering with the KINDR Foundation, whose mission is to provide positive mental health habits for people of all ages who seek more joy in their lives.” The notes also mention that it is also allied with the non-profit group Caring Across Generations, which is focused on caregiving for aging adults.

In “After All,” rebellious and short-tempered Ellen Sharpe (played by Erika Christensen), who is in her early 40s, is living in Austin. She has just gotten fired from her job as a sales clerk in a record store because of chronic tardiness and for being extremely rude to a demanding customer. Ellen’s life is in disarray. She’s unemployed with no job prospects lined up, she abuses alcohol, she’s been having car problems that she can’t afford to fix, and her widowed mother Verna Sharpe (who lives in the small city of Shelbyville) has recently had a stroke and is no longer able to fully take care of herself. Before having the stroke, Verna was showing signs of having dementia, which gets worse after the stroke.

Meanwhile, Ellen’s estranged 16-year-old daughter Haley Sharpe (played by Kiara Muhammad) has lived most of her life with Verna. The movie doesn’t go into all the details about why Ellen hasn’t been in Haley’s life for many years, but it’s implied that Ellen willingly gave up custody of Haley to Verna because of Ellen’s unstable lifestyle. Ellen later reveals to Haley that Verna told Ellen to stay away from Haley. Verna is a loving and mostly even-tempered person, but she also has a feisty side that comes out when she feels that she or her loved ones are being mistreated or disrespected.

Haley’s father, who was not married to Ellen, is not in Haley’s life and is mentioned only briefly in the movie as someone who had an ill-fated romance with Ellen. Haley is an introverted loner, who is bullied at her school by two “mean girl” classmates named Monica (played by Sierra McCormick) and Alison (played by Allie McCarthy), who cruelly insult Haley because of Haley’s family situation. These bullies also try to intimidate Haley by doing things like throwing a wad of paper at her. Haley self-harms by scratching herself hard enough to draw blood to cope with her inner turmoil. She mostly doesn’t defend herself against being harassed until an incident that pushes her too far.

When Ellen comes back to Shelbyville to help take care of Verna, it triggers memories, resentments, and unresolved issues in the family. The memories include Verna, Ellen and Verna’s son/Ellen’s older brother Leonard “Lenny” Sharpe (played by Austin P. McKenzie) suffering in a household where Verna’s husband Walter Sharpe (played by David James Elliott) was an angry, racist and very abusive tyrant. Ellen and Verna are also dealing with their grief over the death of Lenny, a U.S. Army private first class who died in combat in 2003, when he was 20 years old. Verna had begged Lenny not to enlist in the Army, but he wanted to enlist to escape from Walter.

“After All” has a lot of emotionally painful issues, such as infant death, mental illness, self-harming, caregiving for a physically disabled person, substance abuse and attempted suicide. During the course of the story, Ellen must decide if she will stay in Shelbyville to take care of Verna and Haley, or if Ellen will go back to Austin and put Verna in a nursing facility, which would mean that Haley could end up in the foster care system. The Sharpe family doesn’t seek help through professional therapy or any religious faith, so don’t expect any “savior” aspects to this often-grim story.

Haley is a biracial African American in a community that consists mostly of white people. The movie could’ve done a better job of addressing the racism or other racial issues that Haley has to deal with in her life. But considering that the Sharpe family members often have difficulty communicating with each other, it’s not surprising that they don’t talk openly about many of their problems.

The only time that Haley’s racial identity is mentioned in the movie is in a flashback scene when Haley was a baby. In this scene, Walter calls Haley a racial slur in front of Verna and says he wants to throw Haley off of a cliff. Verna has a fierce maternal response that shows she is capable of standing up to Walter when it comes to protecting Haley.

Supporting performances are performed sufficiently, but the movie revolves mostly around Verna, Ellen and Haley. Zach Gilford portrays Ellen’s ex-boyfriend Bobby Burnett, who reconnects with Ellen when she’s back in Shelbyville. Bobby and Ellen, who were high school sweethearts, broke up before Ellen got in a short-lived relationship with the guy who became the father of Haley.

Jennifer Griffin has the role of Inez, who is Verna’s longtime best friend. Mike O’Malley has a cameo as Barry, the manager of the record store where Ellen used to work. In the flashback scenes, Nicole Elliott portrays a young Verna, Lauren Newsham has the role of teenage Ellen, and Harper Navarre depicts Ellen as a pre-teen child. One of the flashback scenes reflects Verna’s dementia when she can’t distinguish between Haley and a teenage Ellen.

Christensen and Miller give often-raw and complex performances in “After All,” while Muhammad is also effective in the lesser screen time that she has in the movie. The movie puts more emphasis on Ellen and Verna, since they are the ones who have the flashback memories that give more context to why this family is so dysfunctional. Clocks are used in the movie not only as symbols of time but also as symbols of regret and feeling trapped in the past. “After All” is not an easy film to watch, but it offers an insightful and meaningful look into what can happen when family members reach inward and toward each other to try to cope with and heal from their problems.

Brainstorm Media released “After All” in select U.S. cinemas on October 17, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 7, 2025.

Review: ‘Unexpected Christmas’ (2025), starring Lil Rel Howery, Anna Maria Horsford, DomiNque Perry, Tabitha Brown and Reagan Gomez

November 7, 2025

by Carla Hay

Howie Bell, Cecelia Friday, Trell Woodberry, Reagan Gomez, Lil Rel Howery, Anna Maria Horsford, Ricco Ross (back row), Terrence Terrell (back row), DomiNque Perry and Tabitha Brown in “Unexpected Christmas” (Photo courtesy of 3 Diamonds Films)

“Unexpected Christmas” (2025)

Directed by Michael Vaughn Hernandez

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas and briefly in New York City and in Los Angeles, the comedy/drama film “Unxpected Christmas” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A family gathering at Christmas time turns into a roller coaster of emotions, as family members navigate tensions and long-held resentments.

Culture Audience: “Unexpected Christmas” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and entertaining dramedies about family reunions during the end-of-year holiday season.

Lil Rel Howery, DomiNque Perry and Reagan Gomez in “Unexpected Christmas” (Photo courtesy of 3 Diamonds Films)

“Unexpected Christmas” follows a typical comedy/drama formula about holiday gatherings where family members argue, show love, and reveal secrets. The second half of the movie is better than the first half. The performances are engaging but not outstanding.

Directed by Michael Vaughn Hernandez and written by Cassandra Mann, “Unexpected Christmas” takes mostly place in an unnamed city in Texas over a Christmas holiday weekend. There are brief scenes in the beginning of the movie that take place in New York City and Los Angeles. “Unexpected Christmas” was filmed in Los Angeles.

“Unexpected Christmas” begins in New York City, by showing Marissa Dudley (played by DomiNque Perry) having a romantic night with her boyfriend Richard (played by Lil Rel Howery) during the Christmas holiday season. They are cuddling in her bed when he says that she never told him what she wants for Christmas this year. Marissa smiles happily at him and suddenly turns into a Mariah Carey song when she tells Richard what she wants for Christmas: “All I want is you.”

Marissa (who is a coffee shop owner in her late 30s) and Richard (who is an emergency room doctor in his mid-40s) have been dating for only three months, but Marissa is already getting impatient about knowing where this relationship is headed. “What are we doing?” Marissa asks Richard, to prompt him to give him a definite answer on how much of a commitment he’s willing to make to her. Richard tactfully tells Marissa that they’re “having fun,” he likes the way things are going, and he wants to keep things casual. Marissa smiles and agrees, but she still looks a little disappointed.

When Richard temporarily leaves the room to use the restroom, Marissa accidentally knocks over his toiletry bag (Richard plans to spend the night) that was on a nightstand. She notices inside the bag, there’s a ring box with a diamond engagement ring inside. Marissa doesn’t tell Richard that she found this ring because she assumes he’s planning to give her a surprise marriage proposal. A day or two after finding this engagement ring, Marissa gleefully tells her platonic best friend Michael (played by Terrence Terrell) that she’s pretty sure that Richard is going to propose to her.

The marriage proposal never happens. Richard breaks up with Marissa and cuts off contact with her because he says he has to go away to “find himself.” A heartbroken Marissa goes to Texas for a family reunion during the Christmas holiday weekend. The reunion will be held at the home of Marissa’s mother Marie Scott, nicknamed Momma Scott (played by Anna Maria Horsford), and Marie’s second husband Willie Scott (played by Ricco Ross), who is a retired military officer. Marie and Willie are happily married.

Marie’s unnamed first husband—who was the father of Marissa and Marissa’s younger brother Kyle (played by Trell Woodberry, one of the producers of “Unexpected Christmas”)—died when Marissa and Kyle were children. Within a year of his death, Marie was married to Willie. At the time that Marie met and began dating single father Willie, he had custody of his daughter Kerry, who is around the same age as Marissa.

It’s explained later in the movie that Kerry’s biological mother, who was never married to Willie, had a severe drug addiction and died a few years after she lost custody of Kerry. When Marissa and Kerry were living in the same household as stepsisters, Marissa felt that Marie paid more attention and was a more loving parent to Kerry than to Marissa. This alleged preferential treatment caused a lot of conflicts between Marissa and Kerry for most of the time that they’ve known each other.

Marissa and Kerry (who lives in Los Angeles) have not seen or talked to each other for years. Marrisa and Kerry (played by Reagan Gomez, also known as Reagan Gomez-Preston) have opposite personalities and fashion styles. Marissa is not career-driven and prefers to dress casually (jeans and sweatshirts), wear her hair in a ponytail, and not wear a lot of makeup. Kerry is a workaholic financial broker who wears upscale business suits and likes to look as glamorous as possible all the time.

For a while, Marissa was also estranged from Marie and Willie, but the relationship between the three of them has been mostly mended. Marissa and Kerry will be at this family reunion at the house of Marie and Willie. The other relatives who are attending this Christmas family reunion are laid-back Kyle and his high-maintenance wife Alicia (played by Cecelia Friday); Marie’s sassy cousin Debbie (played by Tabitha Brown); and Marie’s frisky bachelor brother Earl (played by Howie Bell), who enjoys being single and available.

Three of these family members bring unexpected dates. As already revealed in the “Unexpected Christmas” trailer, the biggest shock for Marissa is when Kerry shows up with Richard as her date. Richard insists that he didn’t know that Marissa and Kerry were stepsisters because they never talked about each other to him. How long were Richard and Kerry dating each other? That question is answered in the movie when Richard makes a confession to Marissa.

Not long after Marissa finds out that Richard and Kerry have been dating each other, Marissa convinces her best friend Michael to be her Christmas holiday date and asks Michael to pretend that he’s her new boyfriend. Earl’s date is a “video vixen” type named Imani (played by Koryn Hawthorne), who is young enough to be Earl’s daughter. Earl learns something about Imani that will make him rethink their relationship.

During the course of the holiday weekend, the family members experience ups and downs with secrets that emerge and loyalties being tested. Kyle has been avoiding being sexually intimate with Alicia. She begins to suspect that Kyle is having an affair when Alicia sees text messages on his phone from a woman she doesn’t know named Rachel, who is asking things in the messages such as, “When are you going to tell your wife?” You can almost do a countdown to when Alicia, who gets increasingly agitated with her suspicions, confronts Kyle to demand that he tell her who Rachel is.

That’s not all that is causing turmoil in the family during this Christmas get-together. A company named CZN Industries is pressuring the family to sell the land where the family owns Prosperous Spirit Baptist Church, which has been in the family for generations. The father of Marissa and Kyle is buried at the church’s cemetery. CZN Industries, which wants the land to build commerical buildings, has given a recent purchase offer of $1.5 million. The family’s general consensus is that the family will refuse to sell the land, no matter what the offer is.

The main conflict in the story has to do with the love triangle between Marissa, Richard and Kerry. Richard, who seems to still have strong romantic feelings for Marissa, comes from a family of doctors, but Richard isn’t happy being a doctor and is thinking about quitting medicine. Kerry dislikes this idea and has been pushing Richard to quit emergency room work to open up his own private practice. Kerry has ambitions to eventually own her own brokerage firm.

Some of the secrets are more predictable than others. And although the movie has some laugh-worthy jokes, other parts of “Unexpected Christmas” sometimes drag with slow pacing and lukewarm comedy. After a while, the character of Debbie isn’t given much to do but be a bystander to the family drama. Some of the best scenes in the movie are when the men have a candid talk with each other about relationships, and when Marie, Kerry and Marissa have heart-to-heart talks about their mother/daughter relationships with each other.

One of the best things about “Unexpected Christmas” is that even though some moments are unabashedly sentimental, all of it looks authentic to what the characters would do in that moment. The outcome of the Marissa/Richard/Kerry love triangle is also handled realistically. All of the cast members give believable performances, with Perry, Horsford and Gomez-Preston having to do the most in the emotional scenes.

“Almost Christmas” also has a memorable soundtrack with original songs from several artists, such as October London (“Unexpected Christmas”), K-Ci Hailey (“Christmas Just Ain’t Christmas”) and Kevin Ross (What Christmas Means To Me”). Movies about family reunions can often go down an over-the-top-path to try to stand out from the pack. Although “Almost Christmas” has some surprising family secrets exposed, the movie keeps things on a relatable level that many people from various backgrounds can enjoy.

3 Diamonds Films released “Unexpected Christmas” in U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025. Starz will premiere the movie on December 1, 2025.

Review: ‘Charliebird,’ starring Samantha Smart, Gabriela Ochoa Perez, Gabe Fazio and Maria Peyramaure

June 14, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Charliebird”

Directed by Libby Ewing

Some language in Spanish with no subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Houston-Galveston area, the dramatic film “Charliebird” features a predominantly white and Latin cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A music therapist, who works in the children’s ward of a hospital, forms a tension-filled friendship with a moody teenage girl who has kidney problems.

Culture Audience: “Charliebird” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching realistic portrayals of chronically ill teenagers and the adults in their lives.

Beautifully understated and never cloying, “Charliebird” is a tender and sometimes emotionally raw drama about a hospital’s music therapist who befriends a teenage girl living with kidney issues. The movie’s direction and performances are not flashy but are grounded with an authentic tone. Viewers who are expecting a formulaic movie depiction of friendships that can develop between a hospital employee and a hospital patient might be disappointed that “Charliebird” doesn’t have sweeping dramatic moments or brisk pacing. But for people who are looking for a “slice of life” drama that doesn’t pretend to have all of life’s answers, “Charliebird” is worth watching.

Directed by Libby Ewing and written by Samantha Smart, “Charliebird” is Ewing’s feature-film directorial debut. “Charliebird” had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it won two prizes: the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature and Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature. Gabriela Ochoa Perez won the latter prize for her portrayal of the teenage patient who is one of the two central characters in the story. “Charliebird” screenwriter Smart portrays the other central character.

In “Charliebird” (which takes place in the Houston-Galveston area of Texas), Smart portrays Al (whose real name is Alyse), a music therapist who works with child patients in a hospital. Most of Al’s group therapy consists of doing sing-alongs with patients, as she plays acoustic guitar, as seen in the movie’s opening scene. She will do one-on-one therapy with patients who really need it.

Al (who is a bachelorette with no children) lives a quiet life with her reclusive father Fred (played by Jeffrey Grover), who seems to be depressed. It’s implied that he’s depressed over something that happened to Al’s sister. Al has visions and flashbacks of something from her childhood that has caused her to have unresolved trauma about something that happened to her sister when they were both about 8 to 10 years old. The movie doesn’t give all the details, but it drops enough hints about what happened.

Al is assigned to work one-on-one with 17-year-old Charlotte “Charlie” Reese (played by Ochoa Perez), who has spent the past few years living in hospitals because of her kidney issues. Charlie turns 18 during the course of the movie. At first, Charlie is very hostile to Al. However, Al doesn’t coddle Charlie or treat her with pity.

Slowly but surely, Charlie and bond over music and then bond as friends. Al has a small turntable where she plays a blues record that Charlie seems to like. It isn’t long before Charlie share some of the hip-hop music with Al, who doesn’t mind when Charlie makes fun of Al for awkward dancing when the music is played.

Charlie has loving and supportive parents named Frank (played by Gabe Fazio) and Elena (played by Maria Peyramaure), who want the best for Charlie. However, Charlie is in the rebellious teenage phase where she’s embarrassed by her parents and wants to assert more of her independence. There’s a very good scene where Elena and Al talk privately, and Elena candidly expresses her feelings about the toll it can take on a parent to have a child with Charlie’s issues.

“Charliebird” is filmed in a boxy aspect ratio that resembles home movies filmed on a phone. There’s an intimacy to the story that can be considered mundane at times but the movie can be admired for not indulging in melodrama. Smart and Ochoa Perez give admirable performances that brim with genuine camaraderie. Mostly, “Charliebird” (whose title is explained in the last 15 minutes of the film) succeeds in showing that even though Al is a therapist, she and Charlie each learn from each other what it means to experience some emotional healing in tough situations.

Review: ‘Unknown Serial Killers of America,’ a true crime documentary series about lesser-known serial killers

May 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Unknown Serial Killers of America”

Culture Representation: The documentary series “Unknown Serial Killers of America” features a predominantly white group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Various people share their stories about being involved in investigations of serial killers whose names aren’t widely known by the general public.

Culture Audience: “Unknown Serial Killers of America” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching true crime documentaries about how serial killers are investigated.

“Unknown Serial Killers of America” tells stories about seeking justice for crimes committed by lesser-known serial killers, with a different story per episode. The series follows a familiar true crime format but values the victims and their loved ones. It’s a straightforward, no-frills and well-edited series that can be recommended for true crime aficionados who want to find out more about serial killer cases that haven’t been overexposed in the media

“Unknown Serial Killers of America” is produced by Pantheon Media Group. Haylee Vance is the showrunner of the series. The Oxygen network only made the series premiere episode available for review in advance of the series premiere, so this review will cover this first episode, which is titled “Carl Watts.” Each episode is named after the serial killer who is the featured murderer in each episode.

Carl Eugene Watts, nicknamed Coral Watts, was born on November 7, 1953, in Killeen, Texas. He died of prostate cancer on September 21, 2007 at a hospital in Jackson, Michigan. At the time of his death at age 53, he had been serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. Watts confessed to murdering 13 women from 1974 to 1982 in Michigan and Texas. However, authorities believe he could have murdered as many as 100 people.

The documentary mentions Watts (who was raised by a working-class single mother) began assaulting women when he was about 14, and he went to prison for it for the first time when he was 20. His hatred of women seems to have begun after he recovered from a bout of meningitis when he was around 8 or 9 years old, according to the documentary. Decades later, after he was arrested for being a murderer, Watts told officials who interviewed him that he believed the women he killed were demonic and he needed to get rid of their evil spirits.

In Michigan, Watts had a pattern of murdering young women who were walking somewhere alone late at night or in the early morning hours. Many of his victims were college students. Some of his victims died just a few feet away from their front doors. Because most of his murders happened on Sunday mornings, he was called the Sunday Morning Slasher in the media before he was identified.

Over time, he changed his pattern to murder women in their homes. He also changed his method of killing from stabbing to strangulation. Watts’ crimes started in Michigan (in cities such as Ferndale and Ann Arbor) before he moved to the Houston area n Texas in December 1980. His crime spree continued in the Houston area.

He got caught in Houston on May 23, 1982, when he attacked three women on the same day. One woman (20-year-old Michele Maday) did not survive when he drowned her in her apartment bathtub. He then tried to kill two roommates—21-year-old Lori Lister and 18-year-old Melinda Aguilar—in their apartment, but Aguilar was able to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window. She got help immediately, and Watts was apprehended and found guilty of murder and attempted murder.

The story didn’t end there. Due to a legal technicality in Texas, Watts was scheduled to be paroled in 2006. The legal technicality was the Texas Court of Appeals had ruled that Watt was not told that in his attempted murder of Lister by drowning her in a bathtub, he had not been told that the bathub and water combined were considered a deadly weapon. Therefore, he was reclassified as a non-violent felon who was eligible for parole. The episode describes extraordinary efforts from community activists and law enforcement to find Watts guilty of murders that he committed in Michigan.

People interviewed in this episode are Joseph “Joe” Foy, a Ferndale resident who witnessed Watts stab 36-year-old Helen Dutcher near Foy’s house in 1979; investigative reporter Glenna Whitley; Paul Bunten, former captain of the Ann Arbor Police Department; Donna Pendergrast, former assistant district attorney of Michigan; psychologist Dr. Harley Stock; Andy Kahan, director of Victims Services; and John Semander, Joanna Semander-Nicolaou and Maria Crawford, the siblings of murder victim Elena Semander, who was 20 years old when Watts killed her on February 6, 1982. “Unknown Serial Killers of America” does not glorify these serial killers or their crimes. Instead, the show is about how victims’ loved ones, their allies and law enforcement can work together to get justice, even if that justice is sometimes delayed.

Oxygen premiered “Unknown Serial Killers of America” on May 18, 2025.

Review: ‘The Takedown: American Aryans,’ starring Rich Boehning, Steve Lair, Kate Taylor, Micheal Bianculli, Caroline Canville, Cody Skipper and Shawn Hanley

April 27, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The Takedown: American Aryans”

Directed by Neil Rawles

Culture Representation: The four-episode documentary series “The Takedown: American Aryans” features a predominantly white group of people (with one African American and one Asian/multiracial person) discussing the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of 2010s crackdown on the white supremacist gang the Aryan Brothers of Texas (ABT).

Culture Clash: Members of the ABT committed numerous crimes, including murder, until most of the group’s leaders were arrested after some members and associates of the ABT became confidential informants working with law enforcement.

Culture Audience: “The Takedown: American Aryans” will appeal primarily to people who want to know more about how U.S. federal law enforcement agencies deal with white supremacist gangs, but the documentary is sloppily constructed and leaves out a lot of important information.

Kate Taylor in “The Takedown: American Aryans” (Photo courtesy of Max)

“The Takedown: American Aryans” had the potential to give an insightful look into how the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) busted several key leaders and other members of the white supremacist gang the Aryan Brothers of Texas (ABT) during the 2010s. This four-episode docuseries needed better editing and becomes dull by the third episode. The admirable work of law enforcement in tackling the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas is presented in a jumbled timeline and over-relies on repetitive footage. It just becomes a mind-numbing loop of descriptions of methamphetamine-abusing ABT people turning on each other in violent ways or by becoming informants working with law enforcement.

Directed by Neil Rawles, “The Takedown: American Aryans” has an irritating tendency to repeat the exact same footage in multiple episodes, as if it doesn’t trust viewers to be intelligent enough to remember the footage the first time it was shown. The docuseries also has a questionable narrative that makes it look like one man—ATF special agent Rich Boehning, the documentary’s main narrator—was the top crusader in busting these dangerous members of the ABT, a gang that was formed in the early 1980s and has a military-like hierarchy. Boehning graciously says toward the end of the documentary that the ABT takedown was a team effort from law enforcement, but the documentary still makes a statement in the last episode that Boehning should get most of the credit.

Episode 1, titled “The Innocents,” is the most compelling because it talks about a series of murders in Texas in 2005 and 2006 that were the catalyst to the ABT getting on the federal government’s radar and includes interviews with some victim family members. Episode 2, titled “The Hunt for the General,” chronicles the search for Steven Walter Cooke, nicknamed Stainless, who was considered the most ruthless ABT general at the time. Episode 3, titled “The Wheel,” details the 2008 murder of ABT major Scott Alan Freeman, as well as ATF’s efforts to do wide-sweeping busts of the ABT on racketeering charges. Episode 4, titled “The Informants,” tells the story of a few of the ABT informants who contributed to the downfall of certain ABT members, such as James “Skidz” Sampsel, who was ABT’s Midland/Odessa general.

It’s explained in the documentary that the ABT was structured like a combination of a Mafia gang (with leaders in charge of certain territories) and a military operation, with members having hierarchy titles similar to the military and having to adhere to bylaws and a constitution. Three of the biggest rules of the ABT are (1) All members have to do exactly what they are told by those with superior rankings; (2) Membership is for life; and (3) Anyone who betrays the ABT is marked for death.

The ABT hierarchy has generals at the highest level, followed by majors, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, made members and prospective members. Five generals each oversee five regions in Texas, with a general assigned to each region: Dallas/Forth Worth, Amarillo, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, and Houston. Each general has two majors: An inside major oversees ABT members who live inside prisons. An outside major oversees ABT members who live outside prisons.

Boehning, who is a native of New York City, is a former major in the U.S. Army who says he decided to join the U.S. Department of Justice when he felt he went as far as he could in the Army and wanted to take on new challenges. At the time he began investigating the ABT in the late 2000s, he says the ABT was “the biggest domestic threat in the United States,” responsible for murders, drug trafficking, illegal weapons dealing and many other felony crimes. Boehning says in the documentary: “They were like an army, so we had to build our own army.”

Two of the ABT murder victims in 2006 were Anthony “Gino” Clark (a wannabe ABT member) and Breanna Taylor, a 19-year-old girlfriend of ABT Dallas general Jason “Trooper” Hankins. According to court records and confession evidence, Clark and Taylor (who were murdered separately) were killed because members of the ABT wrongfully suspected that Clark and Taylor were snitches working with law enforcement. Taylor’s body, which was reportedly thrown in Lake Ray Hubbard, was never found.

“The Takedown: American Aryans” includes compelling and emotional interviews with Breanna Taylor’s parents Donna Taylor and Gene Taylor; her younger sister Kate Taylor; and her younger brother Curt Taylor. They talk about their emotional devastation of losing Breanna to murder. They also talk about happy memories. Kate describes Breanna as “extremely popular, confident and charismatic.” Gene says of Breanna: “She was always the life of the party.”

Unfortunately, Kate says that Breanna’s partying ways led her down a destructive path. Breanna began abusing alcohol and marijuana and eventually became addicted to cocaine and meth. Her meth addiction got her involved with ABT, which is known for rampant meth addiction among its members. Meth is also the drug most likely to be sold by ABT members in the group’s drug trafficking, according to law enforcement officials interviewed in the documentary.

Breanna was considered a missing person until an ABT member named Devarin Manuel was hauled into the Mesquite Police Department to be questioned about a series of burglaries. Manuel thought he was being going to be questioned about Breanna’s murder, so he told details about what happened. In the end, four people were arrested and convicted for Breanna’s murder: Manuel, Wlliam Chad Williams, Dale “Tiger” Jameton, and Jennifer McClellan, who was Jameton’s girlfriend at the time.

Investigative journalist Caroline Canville is also interviewed in the documentary. She says that she began corresponding by letters with Jameton, thereby establishing trust with him, in order to find out more about why he committed the crimes that he did. The documentary shows Canville doing a short interview with Jameton in a Huntsville prison and asking him some questions that Kate Taylor (who has publicly said she forgives Jameton) wanted Canville to ask.

One of the questions was if Breanna fought back while she was being viciously tortured. Jameton refuses to go into details but does say about how Breanna reacted to the torture: “She was a fighter. She asked for her mother.” Jameton also shows no remorse for the murder. He says that at no point did he think of stopping the torture. And he blames the victim by saying that Breanna made a “big mistake” by associating with law enforcement. “I did what I did because she did what she did,” Jameton says coldly.

Cody Skipper, a former trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s organized crime and gang section, explains in the documentary that it was easiest to arrest large numbers of the ABT on charges related to RICO (racketeer-influenced corrupt organizations) and VICA (violent crime in aid of racketeering), instead of trying to arrest ABT members one at a time. The ATF began sting operations that included a six-year undercover investigation of the ABT. These stings operations relied heavily on some ABT members becoming paid confidential informants.

Also interviewed in the documentary are former ABT captain Micheal “Crash” Bianculli and his wife Betty “Jewel” Bianculli. They both admit to having longtime meth addictions and they talk about the lifestyles they had when they were associated with the ABT. Women associated with the ABT are not allowed to be members are are instead called “featherwoods,” who are expected to always be obedient and subservient to the men of ABT. Violence among ABT members and their women is expected, says Betty: “You’ve got to be willing to take a beating.”

Micheal became a confidential informant who played both sides, according to people interviewed in the documentary. He says he left the ABT after he spent three years in prison. Steve Lair, an ATF task force officer, comments about Micheal: “I’m surprised Crash hasn’t been killed yet.” Micheal quips in a separate interview, “I’m not easy to kill.”

Micheal also says that even though the ABT is a white supremacist group, they didn’t have a problem with doing business with people of color, as long as there was money to made for ABT. He brags about running crack houses and being a pimp. What the documentary irresponsibly overlooks are details of racist hate crimes that white supremacists gangs commit. The documentary only focuses on ABT’s crimes against other white people.

Boehning says the takedown of the ABT became personal to him when he found out in 2008 that notorious ABT general Cooke was living not far from where Boehning was living at the time in Tomball, Texas. Boehning is an engaging storyteller who leads the narration for the docuseries first three episodes. But in the fourth episode, the narration mostly shifts to ATF task force officer Lair. It’s one of the reasons why the docuseries is uneven.

Adding to the inconsistency, “The Takedown: American Aryans” mentions the outcomes of some ABT murder investigations but not others. For example, the 2005 murder of Tonia Porras and the 2006 murder of Robert McCartney are listed as two of the murders that sparked a federal investigation into the ABT. The documentary mentions that Porras was murdered by a jealous boyfriend (who was a member of the ABT), while McCartney was murdered for his truck parts. The documentary doesn’t mention who was convicted of these murders and what their prison sentences were.

The documentary also skimps on details on who was convicted for the 2007 murder of Christy Brown. Brown’s friend Kristen Reid and Brown’s daughter Rayvn Henson are interviewed. They tell another sad tale of a meth-addicted person who got murdered because of being involved with the ABT.

In the Episode 4, the documentary goes into details about Carol Blevins, an ABT featherwood who became a confidential informant. It’s mentioned that she has gone into hiding and lives in a secret location. However, the documentary shows photos of Blevins. And even though she could look different now, compared to how she looked in the photos, it still seems unnecessary and inconsiderate for the documentary to show the face of someone who is in hiding because of death threats.

One of the few things that the docuseries did fairly well was cast actors and actresses who have strong physical resemblances to the real-life people whom they portray in the documentary’s re-enactments. But that’s not necessarily an asset when many of the re-enactments are tacky and sometimes awkwardly placed. “The Takedown: American Aryans” could have benefited from having more information and less re-enactments.

Because “The Takedown: American Aryans” is determined to make Boehning the biggest hero of the story, all other commentary from law enforcement is treated as secondary. Other people interviewed in the documentary are Shawn Hanley, former detective at the Mesquite Police Department; Kurt Hibbets, former detective with the Dallas Police Department; Byron Lyons, sheriff of Polk County in Texas; Texas ranger Brandon Bess; Ricky Childers, deputy sheriff of Polk County; former Texas ranger Grover Huff; Bill Ball, retired chief deputy of the Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office; and Patrick Smith, former group supervisor for Homeland Security Investigations.

Worst of all, “The Takedown: American Aryans” is very contradictory in what type of message it wants to send about the ABT. On the one hand, it presents a lot of evidence that violence is a way of life for ABT. On the other hand, the documentary makes a hard-to-believe statement at the end that ABT is no longer a violent gang because of the work of Boening and other people in law enforcement. “The Takedown: American Aryans” is a documentary about a white supremacist gang but the documentary doesn’t give any examples of racist crimes that this gang committed. And this documentary’s failure to have this information gives the documentary a questionable credibility that is too obvious to overlook.

Max premiered “The Takedown: American Aryans” on February 6, 2025.

Review: ‘Zurawski v Texas,’ starring Amanda Zurawski, Samantha Casiano, Austin Dennard and Molly Duane

November 5, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Zurawski v Texas”

Directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas and in Indiana in 2023, the documentary film “Zurawski v Texas” features a predominantly white group of people (and some Latin people) who are connected in some way in the lawsuit Zurawski v. Texas about abortion and reproductive rights in the state of Texas.

Culture Clash: The lawsuit’s plaintiffs, including lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski, want to repeal Texas’ strict abortion laws to include the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy that puts the mother’s life in danger or where the pregnancy is ending through a miscarriage.

Culture Audience: “Zurawski v Texas” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in documentaries about abortion that examine personal stories about abortion as it pertains to health care and reproductive rights.

Luis Villasana, Samantha Casiano and Molly Duane in “Zurawski v Texas” (Photo courtesy of HiddenLight Productions, Story Force Entertainment and Out of Nowhere)

Although the candid documentary “Zurawski v Texas” is focused on three plaintiffs and their attorney in their battle for reproductive rights in Texas, the movie sounds the alarm about how restricting abortion is a crisis-level health care issue in the U.S. The movie also serves as a predictor of what could happen if more states pass abortion laws that are similar to the abortion laws in Texas. The plaintiffs (who are all women from Texas) want their lawsuit to be a warning of how reproductive rights that are at risk can be harmful to health care and family planning.

Directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, “Zurawski v Texas” had its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival. The documentary revolves around one particular case, but the tone of the movie is that this case has reverberations and implications for untold numbers of people who are affected by abortion in the United States. The anti-abortion laws in Texas became stricter after 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Curt overturned the landmark 1973 case Roe vs. Wade that guaranteed federal protections for the right to choose to have an abortion.

There were several plaintiffs in the 2023 Zurawski v. Texas lawsuit, but the three plaintiffs featured in the documentary are the plaintiffs who testified in the case and whose courtroom testimonies are featured in the documentary. The featured three plaintiffs are:

Amanda Zurawski was pregnant with her first child—a daughter named Willow—who was dying during a miscarriage during the 18th week of the pregnancy. Under Texas state law, Zurawski could not immediately terminate the miscarriage pregnancy. She went into septic shock, which is the only reason why the pregnancy was eventually terminated. This medical emergency has had long-term consequences for Zurawski’s reproductive health. The documentary shows how Zurawsk finds out more traumatic news about her ability to get pregnant again.
Samantha Casiano was 20 weeks pregnant with a daughter named Halo when she was told that Halo had anencephaly, a fatal fetal diagnosis that meant Halo would either be born dead or not have long to live after birth. Casiano was also not allowed to terminate the pregnancy under Texas law, and she could not afford to travel to a state where she could get this medical procedure. Knowing that Halo would die, Casiano had to give birth to Halo, who lived for just four hours after being born. “Zurawski v Texas” shows the funeral of Halo and the devastating effects on Casiano and her family.
Dr. Austin Dennard, an obstetrician/gynecologist, was 11 weeks pregnant when she found out that the pregnancy would not result in the child being born alive. Dennard was prevented from terminating the pregnancy due to Texas law. However, she had the resources to travel to another state where the procedure was legal. Dennard became a plaintiff in the Zurawski v Texas case to advocate for people in Texas who cannot afford to travel to other states to get legal and safe abortions. “Zurawski v Texas” has footage of what happened with another pregnancy that Dennard had during the filming of the documentary.

The lead attorney in the case is Molly Duane, a senior staff attorney from the Center for Reproductive Rights. Duane says of Zurawski and why the Center for Reproductive Rights wanted to take on this case: “What happened to her was so shocking. We connected with her and instantly clicked.” Duane adds that Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has been “exceptionally cruel” in his prosecution of abortion cases.

After the lawsuit was filed in March 2023, more people came forward with their horror stories about being denied the abortion care that they medically needed, and they wanted to be added as plaintiffs to the lawsuit. Duane’s preparations for the case are chronicled in the documentary, including her nervously rehearsing her opening arguments. Duane comes across as compassionate, principled and deeply committed to the fighting for the rights of her clients.

However, the documentary makes it looks like Duane is a crusading lawyer who did almost all of the work herself, which is definitely not realistic for a legal case of this size. Duane had a lot of behind-the-scenes help that is not adequately shown in the documentary. Autumn Katz, an associate director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, is seen briefly in the documentary, which could have been more informative about who else helped out in this high-profile case.

“Zurawski v Texas” has a TV procedural style to its editing that makes the documentary look a bit formulaic. However, the documentary is at its best when it takes an intimate look at how these abortion stories affect not only the plaintiffs but also people in the plaintiffs’ families. Dennard’s family is not interviewed. However, Amanda’s husband Josh Zurawski, Josh’s brother Sam Zurawski, and Amanda’s parents Mike Eid and Cheri Eid (who both live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Amanda grew up) are all interviewed. Luis Villasana, the partner of Casiano and the father of Halo, is also interviewed in the documentary.

Cheri Eid comments on Amanda’s traumatic abortion experience: “I’m a changed person because of it.” Cheri adds that she’s been a lifelong Republican but will vote differently in the next election because of the abortion issues that she has seen affect families. In the documentary, Amanda confesses that she was in recovery for an eating disorder before she got pregnant. However, Amanda says that the eating disorder has come back because of the trauma she went through over how Texas law made her pregnancy result in her having long-term reproductive damage that was preventable.

Some of what’s in this documentary might be triggering or upsetting to some viewers. A warning to sensitive viewers: Halo’s body is shown in the documentary’s funeral scene. And it might be hard to watch the scenes with Casiano’s other children coping with the devastating loss of their baby sister Halo. Casiano’s testimony is especially heart-wrenching, as she vomits in the witness stand when she has to tell what happened when she saw Halo suffer before Halo died.

“Zurawski v Texas” might not change the minds of people on either side of the abortion debate. However, the documentary gives an effective up-close look at how abortion laws in Texas affect decisions that have long-term effects on families and on the health of individuals. Amanda Zurawski’s April 2023 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is partially shown in the documentary, sums up the message that “Zurawski v Texas” has for lawmakers: “Being pregnant is difficult enough. We don’t need you to make it more terrifying and, frankly, downright dangerous to create life in this country.”

HiddenLight Productions, Story Force Entertainment and Out of Nowhere released “Zurawski v Texas” in select U.S. cinemas on October 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,’ starring Nika King, Demetrius Grosse and Elizabeth Mitchell

July 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot”

Directed by Joshua Weigel

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas from 1997 to 2000, the dramatic film “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” (based on true events) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with a few white people and Latin people ) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A Christian reverend and his wife adopt kids who were abused and neglected, and they motivate other people in their community to also adopt needy kids.

Culture Audience: “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of faith-based movies that tell inspirational true stories.

Aria Pulliam and Elizabeth Mitchell in “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” (Photo courtesy of Angel Studios)

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” is a combination of good intentions and low-budget filmmaking that does the best with what the filmmakers have, even if some of the movie becomes overwrought and cliché. This faith-based drama oversimplifies what it takes to adopt and successfully raise kids who were abused and neglected in their previous homes. However, the movie’s call to action and effective storytelling outweigh the movie’s flaws.

Directed by Joshua Weigel, “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” (which takes place in the late 1990s) was co-written by spouses Joshua Weigel and Rebekah Weigel. (In the movie, Joshua Weigel has a small role as a supporting actor as a character named Pastor Mark.) The movie is based on true events that were chronicled in Reverend W.C. Martin’s 2007 non-fiction book “Small Town, Big Miracle: How Love Came to the Least of These.” The book and the movie tell the story of how Rev. Martin and his wife Donna motivated their Possum Trot community in Deep East Texas, to adopt 77 children who came from abused and neglected homes and were in the foster care system.

The movie begins in 1997, when Rev. Martin (played by Demetrius Grosse) and his homemaker wife Donna (played by Nika King) were living a relatively stable life with a loving family in a Deep East Texas community called Possum Trot. Donna is the intermittent voiceover narrator for this movie. She describes where she lives as the “piney woods of East Texas, where the Lord is easily found. This place, I have loved and hated.”

W.C. and Donna have a happy marriage, but life hasn’t been easy for them. They are the biological parents of two children. One of these children has disabilities. The spouses also have a fairly low household income and often worry about how they’re going to pay their bills.

Their elder child Princeton, nicknamed Prince (played by Taj Johnson), was born in 1981. Prince has learning disabilities because he had oxygen deprivation during childbirth. Prince does not talk but he can communicate through sounds and body movements. Although it’s not said out loud in the movie, Prince also seems to be on the autism spectrum, based on how frightened and agitated he gets from hearing certain sounds.

The couple’s younger biological child is LaDonna (played by Kaysi J. Bradley), who was born in 1987. Even though LaDonna is younger than Prince, she often has the responsibility of looking after Prince and helping take care of him. LaDonna is a typical child who likes to play and is friendly to almost everyone she meets.

Donna explains in the voiceover narration that she’s used to living in a low-income household. She was raised by a single mother who had 18 children. The way that Donna grew up, “you were rich if your roof didn’t leak,” she says in the voiceover narration.

Meanwhile, the movie shows a horrifying scene of two children witnessing their unnamed mother (played by Nikkita Johnson) getting shot to death by her abusive boyfriend or husband in their home somewhere in Texas. The older child is 6-year-old Mercedes (played by Aria Pulliam), who is terrified and on the phone to a 911 operator while she witnesses this heinous crime while she’s hiding in fear in an adjacent room. Mercedes’ younger brother Tyler (played by Asher Clay) is 2 years old and is in a crib in the same room where his mother is murdered.

Tyler is too young to make phone calls for help, but he understands that something is very wrong and is crying hysterically. The depiction of this murder is not graphic in the movie. However, there’s no doubt that it happened because of the gunshot that’s heard right after the gun is pointed directly at the mother. Mercedes and Tyler are subsequently put in foster care and stay there for about a year.

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” gets fuzzy on the exact timeline details, but it’s around this time that Donna has a religious epiphany. She tells W.C. that “the Lord spoke to me” and told Donna to adopt children. Her reverend husband is skeptical and tells Donna they can’t really afford to have any more kids. He suggests that they adopt dogs instead. Donna says no. She also insists that they adopt children, not foster them.

The next thing that viewers see is Donna in a sparsely attended meeting consisting of potential adoptive parents. Her husband is not with her. The meeting is led by social worker Susan Ramsey (played by Elizabeth Mitchell), who shares some statistics about the children in Texas foster care. Susan says that about 70% of the children are there for poverty-related reasons, while the remaining 30% were abused by parents or guardians.

And so, in 1998, Donna and W.C. end up adopting 7-year-old Mercedes and 3-year-old Tyler. This adoption is depicted in a rather unrealistic way. The scene shows Susan driving Tyler and Mercedes to the Martin family home. She tells the kids that they will be living at this home and meeting their new family there for the first time.

The movie makes it look like the adoption paperwork was already completed before Mercedes and Tyler met the Martin family, and the adopted kids were dropped off at the Martin house for a better life. In reality, even in 1997, these foster kids would have to meet their adoptive parents first before the adoption can take place. There would be extensive interviews and inspections to make sure that the adoptive household would be the right fit for the kids.

When Mercedes and Tyler arrive at the Martin home for the first time, Mercedes is wary at first, while Tyler is sweet. Donna and W.C. welcome the kids with open arms and with unconditional love. LaDonna is also a good sister to Mercedes and Tyler, who also accept Prince.

However, because of unknown past traumas, Tyler is terrified of bathtub faucets being turned on and being in a bathtub of water. He goes into crying hysterics when Donna wants to give him a bath. This is another troubling aspect that is handled simplistically in the movie.

The movie makes it look like all Donna needs to do is hug and comfort Tyler to make him feel better. It’s never really shown in the movie if W.C. and Donna ever helped Tyler overcome his fear of bathtub faucets being turned on and his fear of being in a bathtub filled with water. Did they give Tyler sponge baths or make him take showers in the meantime? Don’t expect the movie to answer those questions.

It isn’t long before W.C.’s church sermons include preaching about the virtues of adopting needy kids who are “less wanted” because of their troubled backgrounds. And then, this crusade turns into the Martins convincing other members of their Possum Trot community to also adopt children. In total, 77 children were adopted by the Possum Trot community from 1998 to 2000.

Not long after Mercedes and Tyler are adopted, the Martin family adopts another child: 12-year-old Terri (played by Diaana Babnicova), who also comes from an abusive household. According to social worker Susan, Terri’s father abandoned Terri and Terri’s mother, who is not seen or named in the movie. Terri’s drug-addicted mother sold Terri into child prostitution. The boyfriend of Terri’s mother also raped Terri.

In order to cope with these traumas, Terri likes to pretend that she’s a cat whenever she feels like it. She walks on all fours and refuses to speak a human language but makes cat sounds instead. She gets teased about it by LaDonna and Mercedes.

W.C. quickly “cures” Terri’s cat identity problem by telling her that if she’s really a cat, then she has to eat cat food and sleep outside. It takes less than five minutes before Terri announces that she doesn’t want to be a cat anymore. W.C. reacts by giving a smug smile.

Later, Terri exhibits even deeper psychological problems that result in violence and the most melodramatic scenes in the film. Donna also has a temper that leads to her getting violent too. There’s other drama that happens inside and outside the Martin household because of these adoptions. The cast performances are competent and believable but not exceptionally outstanding.

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” doesn’t portray these adoptions as problem-free and the parents as perfect saints. However, the biggest failing of this movie is how children do not get professional help for their psychological problems. The movie makes it look like all children with these serious psychological problems just need to be hugged and shown love and patience, and everything will turn out okay. The reality that never gets properly addressed is that many of these children need ongoing psychiatric counseling or therapy too. Attending church services and being told “I love you” won’t be enough.

There’s also a lot more that goes into adoption than what’s depicted in this movie, which makes it look like adopting kids is as easy as adopting pets. There’s a scene later in the movie where Susan is called and asked if she has any more kids who need to be adopted. It’s depicted as if social worker Susan is the only person operating the human equivalent of the local stray animal shelter. It’s another example of how oversimplified the movie makes the adoption process look. In reality, there would be more social services workers involved in adopting children to several families in a community.

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” also avoids racial issues that would be realistically discussed in the predominantly African American community of Possum Trot. Black children who are raised in responsible and loving households are almost always taught certain realities about racism to prepare for this difficult fact of life. This movie would also have you believe that race doesn’t play a role in adoptions, when the reality is that race is a huge factor in where adopted children are placed. It’s just so conveniently happens that the neediest kids in this story are African American children who were adopted by African American parents.

On a basic level, “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” succeeds in its message that if people can afford to raise more children, then they should consider adopting the children who are most in need in their communities. Because many adopters often prefer to only adopt babies, “Sound of Hope” also sends an admirable message that older children shouldn’t be overlooked for adoption. However, this movie’s message is only interested in happy endings, not the harsh reality that some adoption stories are disastrous failures.

Angel Studios released “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” in U.S. cinemas on July 4, 2024.

Review: ‘Accidental Texan,’ starring Thomas Haden Church, Rudy Pankow, Carrie-Anne Moss and Bruce Dern

May 22, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Accidental Texan”

Directed by Mark Lambert Bristol

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the small town of Buffalo Gap, Texas, the comedy/drama film “Accidental Texan” (based on the novel “Chocolate Lizards”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A recently fired Los Angeles-based actor is stuck in Buffalo Gap when his car breaks down during a road trip, and he’s recruited by a financially troubled oil driller to pretend to be a Harvard-educated land surveyor who says the rancher’s land is rich in oil.

Culture Audience: “Accidental Texan” will appeal primarily to people are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching substandard “fish out of water” stories that don’t look believable.

Bruce Dern in “Accidental Texan” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“Accidental Texan” is an annoying “fish out of water” comedy/drama about a Los Angeles-based actor who is reluctantly recruited by a Texas oil driller to be part of an oil scheme. The dialogue and scenarios become increasingly ridiculous. It’s one of those movies that could have been better if the filmmakers cared about making the characters seem realistic instead of buffoonish caricatures.

Directed by Mark Lambert Bristol, “Accidental Texan” is based on Cole Thompson’s 1999 novel “Chocolate Lizards,” which was the original title of this movie. Julie B. Denny wrote the adapted screenplay for “Accidental Texan,” which takes place mostly in Texas, where the movie was filmed on location. The movie takes an over-used concept of a city dweller who has to temporarily adjust to life in a rural area and turns it into a one-note, unimaginative joke that runs out of steam early on in the story.

The beginning of “Accidental Texan” shows young actor Erwin Vandeveer (played by Rudy Pankow) on a road trip by himself from his home city of Los Angeles to New Orleans, where he is about to start filming a movie. Erwin is excited about this job, but his excitement turns into devastation when he is fired after a scene that he films goes horribly wrong. Instead of driving directly back to Los Angeles, Erwin takes a detour through a remote part of Texas, partially because he’s avoiding phone calls from his agent Vera (voiced by Elizabeth Maxwell) and his father. Erwin wants to go to an area where cell phone service isn’t guaranteed.

In an open field near the small town of Buffalo Gap, Erwin’s car won’t start, so he calls the nearest towing company, which is Moose’s Automative & Towing. Unfortunately for Erwin, it’s a Sunday, and towing company owner Moose (played by Coy Sevier) doesn’t operate his business on Sundays. The cost of repairing Erwin’s car will be about $600. Erwin only has $40 in cash and no credit card to use, and there’s no ATM machine or bank in sight.

While he is stranded, Erwin goes to a local diner in Buffalo Gap, where he meets a friendly waitress named Faye (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) and a surly oil drilling company owner named Merle Luskey (played by Thomas Haden Church), who both hear about Erwin’s predicament. Merle owns a small company called Luskey Drilling Inc. and is heavily in debt to a bank. Merle’s bank loan is due in 30 days. If he doesn’t pay by the deadline, the bank will take Merle’s assets, and he will be forced to go out of business.

Don Brock (played by Mark Nutter) is the Abilene, Texas-based banker who is anticipating the downfall of Merle’s business. Needless to say, Merle considers Don to be his bitter enemy. Merle has to find land to lease, in order to drill for oil, with the hope that it will lead to a lucrative oil strike that will get Merle out of debt.

It leads to Merle convincing a reluctant Erwin to pretend that Erwin is a Harvard-educated land surveyor who can confirm that the land that Merle’s company is drilling is rich in oil. Merle uses the Harvard name because Erwin studied business at Harvard but dropped out to become an actor. By contrast, Merle’s academic education did not go past eighth grade.

Erwin’s father, who is a professor at Harvard, has had mixed feelings about Erwin’s career choice. Erwin wants his father to be proud of him, which is why he’s afraid to tell his father that he got fired from a movie job that was supposed to be Erwin’s big break as an actor. Erwin’s father is never seen in the movie, but Erwin talks about his father to Merle. “Accidental Texan” has a brief and somewhat sappy reference to this father/son relationship.

The rest of “Accidental Texan” is about Merle’s business scheme and the race against time for Merle to get the oil strike that he needs. Predictably, Merle’s employees aren’t too fond of “interloper” Erwin, especially when it becomes obvious that Erwin doesn’t know anything about ranches and oil drilling. Merle’s employees are stereotypes of small-town, working-class people and have names like Big Gus (played by Selase Botchway) and Mule (played by David DeLao), who report to Merle’s second-in-command Shay Tatum (played by AnnaClare Hicks), a no-nonsense supervisor who clashes with Erwin. Bruce Dern has a small supporting role as a cantankerous local rancher named Scheermeyer, who gives some advice.

Everything about “Accidental Texan” is weak and formulaic. Pankow’s acting isn’t very good, while Church is playing just another version of the long list of sarcastic and difficult characters he has played in many of his on-screen roles. Moss’ Faye character is just a token sidekick who isn’t given much to do in the story. “Accidental Texan” is an example of how a movie can lazily take an engaging novel and water it down into mindless mush.

Roadside Attractions and Vertical released “Accidental Texan” in select U.S. cinemas on March 8, 2024.

Review: ‘The Iron Claw’ (2023), starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany and Lily James

December 13, 2023

by Carla Hay

Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Michael J. Harney and Zac Efron in “The Iron Claw” (Photo by Brian Roedel/A24)

“The Iron Claw” (2023)

Directed by Sean Durkin

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States (mostly in Texas), from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, the dramatic film “The Iron Claw” (based on a true story) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: In professional wrestling, the Von Erich family (led by hard-driving patriarch Fritz Von Erich) achieves great success, but the family also experiences immense tragedies.

Culture Audience: “The Iron Claw” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of professional wrestling, star Zac Efron, and impactful stories about the down sides of chasing after fame and fortune.

Pictured in center, from left to right: Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany, Stanley Simons, Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson in “The Iron Claw” (Photo by Brian Roedel/A24)

The emotionally wrenching drama “The Iron Claw” tells the tragic story of pro wrestling’s Von Erich family from Kevin Von Erich’s perspective. There are advantages and disadvantages to this narrative choice. Good performances outweigh the movie’s flaws. Viewers who already know what happened in real life can still feel deeply affected by how it’s portrayed in this movie.

Written and directed by Sean Durkin, “The Iron Claw” is based on the true story of the Von Erich family, led by domineering patriarch Fritz Von Erich (played by Holt McCallany), a professional wrestler who had one main ambition in life after he retired: make all of his sons world champions in wrestling, just like he was in the 1960s, when he was known for his signature wrestling move called the Iron Claw. Almost all of the movie’s story takes place from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. Fritz and his devout Christian wife Doris Von Erich (played by Maura Tierney) had no daughters. Fritz’s birth name was Jack Barton Adkisson. He changed his name when he became a wrestler.

The sons of Fritz and Doris are introverted Kevin (played by Zac Efron), born in 1957; charismatic David (played by Harris Dickinson), born in 1958; brooding Kerry (played by Jeremy Allen White), born in 1960; and sensitive Mike (played by Stanley Simons), born in 1964. Fritz and Doris had a first-born son named Jack, who died in a drowning accident in 1952, at the age of 6. (In the movie, Jack’s age at the time of death is mentioned as 5 years old.) In real life, Fritz and Doris had another son named Chris (born in 1969), who does not exist in “The Iron Claw.”

The beginning of the movie is a flashback in black and white to a time in the early 1960s, when Fritz’s career was on the rise. After defeating an opponent in a match, a triumphant Fritz is congratulated at the venue by Doris, who has brought their two sons Kevin (played by Grady Wilson), who’s about 6 years old, and David (played by Valentine Newcomer), who’s about 5 years old. As they walk to the parking lot, Fritz proudly shows a Cadillac that he has recently purchased, but the family can’t afford it.

Doris tells Fritz that she’s worried about this financial burden, but Fritz dismisses her concerns and tells her that in order to be a big star, he has to live like a big star. Fritz promises Doris that he will become a world champion and make enough money for them to be affluent. Doris believes that her husband is the boss of their household, so her main response is to start praying out loud.

The movie switches to color when it fast-forwards to 1979, at the beginning of the wrestling careers of Kevin and David. The Von Erichs live on a ranch in Texas, in the Dallas area. (“The Iron Claw” was actually filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.) Kerry is away from home, because he’s training as a track-and-field Olympian for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Kevin, David and Mike live with their parents, who are very strict.

The Von Erichs are a tight-knit clan who love each other and are very loyal to each other. The “Iron Claw” has several scenes of the Von Erich brothers bonding over athletics, whether it’s during their wrestling training, being in the wrestling ring together with opponents, or playing a casual game of football. Fritz’s name is associated with the Iron Claw, but he rules his family with an iron fist. There is harmony overall in the family, as long as Fritz gets his way in telling other people in the family what to do.

Fritz makes their lives revolve around wrestling. Doris makes sure the family also regularly attends church services. Both parents don’t like to get involved in any conflicts that the brothers have with each other and don’t like to hear about any personal problems that their sons might be having. In a scene where Kevin tries to talk to Doris about a problem with David, she cuts him off and tells him that he and David have to work it out amongst themselves.

As Kevin says in a voiceover: “Ever since I was a child, people said our family was cursed. We never talked about it … Bad things kept happening. Mom tried to protect us with God. Dad tried to protect us with wrestling. He said if we were the toughest, the strongest, the most successful, nothing would ever hurt us. We believed him.”

This isn’t a household where the parents act as if they love their children equally. In a scene that takes place during a family breakfast at the Von Erich home, Fritz openly says that Kerry is his favorite child, followed by Kevin, David and Mike. Fritz also says “the rankings can change,” which is an obvious sign that Fritz pits his sons against each other to compete for his approval. Doris doesn’t “rank” her children, but she passively goes along with whatever Fritz’s parenting decisions are.

Although Kevin and David have enthusiastically become wrestlers, Mike isn’t as athletic and shows indications that he would rather be a musician. Mike is in a local rock band, where he plays guitar and sings lead vocals, but he lies to his parents by saying that he’s in a classical quartet. Mike’s brothers know about this secret though, and they support what Mike does with his band. When the Von Erich sons aren’t wrestling, they make some money from the family’s ranch activities.

“The Iron Claw” somewhat wanders for the first third of the film when showing how the wrestling careers of Kevin and David develop. After the United States boycotts the 1980 Summer Olympics, Kerry returns to the family home and willingly becomes a wrestler on Fritz’s orders. At first, Kevin seems to be the son who will become the first wrestling champ of his brothers, but eventually one of the brothers overshadows him, as commanded by Fritz.

A great deal of the movie shows the relationship between Kevin and a local young woman named Pam (played by Lily James), who meets Kevin when he’s approximately 22 or 23 years old, and she’s about the same age. Pam introduces herself to Kevin after one of his wrestling matches. She asks for his autograph, which quickly turns into Pam flirting with Kevin and prompting him to ask her out on a date.

Kevin is depicted as very inexperienced with dating. He later reveals to Pam that he’s a virgin. They have a sweet courtship, with Pam (who is very outspoken and bold) announcing fairly quickly to Kevin that she wants to become a veterinarian and expects her future husband to be okay with her having a career outside the home. Kevin approves and says they can be a power couple who could live on a big ranch with his family.

One of the noticeable shortcomings with “The Iron Claw” is it makes Kevin look too squeaky clean to be completely believable. As the wrestling success of the Von Erich brothers begins to grow, Kerry and David are shown indulging in illegal drugs (such as cocaine) and using steroids. But the movie makes it look like Kevin was just an observer who stayed away from those vices. It’s not very credible, considering that Kevin in real life has openly said in interviews that he had those vices.

Based on what happens to this family, it’s understandable why the movie is told from Kevin’s perspective. Efron gives an admirable performance as Kevin, who keeps a lot of his feelings bottled up inside, often to Kevin’s detriment. However, “The Iron Claw” tends to gloss over the real-life horrific emotional abuse that Fritz inflicted on his sons. And although White gives a very nuanced performance as Kerry, when Kerry starts to unravel, many unflattering details that happened in real life are left out of the story.

Richard Reed Parry and Little Scream’s song “Live That Way” is performed by the character of Mike with his band. Parry (who also composed the musical score for “The Iron Claw”) uses instrumental snippets of “Live That Way” throughout the film. And by the time the song is heard again during the movie’s end credits, it packs an emotional punch that will leave many viewers sobbing.

“The Iron Claw” succeeds in its intentions to be a tearjerking drama. The movie also has well-shot wrestling scenes that will be thrilling for wrestling fans to watch. There’s some good comic relief in scenes depicting real-life wrestling stars Harley Race (played by Kevin Anton), Ric Flair (played by Aaron Dean Eisenberg) and the Fabulous Firebirds (played by Michael Proctor, Silas Mason and Devin Imbraguglio). However, some viewers might think a few of the movie’s sad scenes are too cloying and manipulative.

The character of David is underdeveloped, which is a disappointment, considering that the movie shows glimpses of David’s big extroverted personality but doesn’t really bother to reveal what was going on in David’s interior life. “The Iron Claw” has other huge gaps in the story that raise questions that remain unanswered in the movie. Despite some of these imperfections, “The Iron Claw” is worth seeing and has enough appeal to be appreciated by people who aren’t wrestling fans. Just don’t expect the movie to be a comprehensive character study of all of the Von Erich brothers.

A24 will release “The Iron Claw” in U.S. cinemas on December 22, 2023. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in select U.S. cinemas on December 13, 2023.

Review: ‘The Hill’ (2023), starring Dennis Quaid, Colin Ford, Joelle Carter, Randy Houser, Jesse Berry, Bonnie Bedelia and Scott Glenn

August 25, 2023

by Carla Hay

Colin Ford and Dennis Quaid in “The Hill” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

“The Hill” (2023)

Directed by Jeff Celentano

Culture Representation: Taking place in Texas in 1965 and 1974, the dramatic film “The Hill” (based on the true events) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Rickey Hill faces major difficulties in his goal to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, including a degenerative spine disease, leg disabilities and a conservative pastor father who does everything he can to prevent him from playing baseball.

Culture Audience: “The Hill” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching a very unique baseball story turned into formulaic mush.

Pictured clockwise from upper left: Joelle Carter, Bonnie Bedelia, Hailey Bithell, Dennis Quaid, Mason Gillett and Jesse Berry in “The Hill” (Photo courtesy of Briarcliff Entertainment)

“The Hill” is a poorly constructed faith-based biopic about disabled baseball player Rickey Hill. This long-winded and preachy drama leaves big questions unanswered about his life. The movie is also plagued with hokey dialogue and corny acting performances. Even though “The Hill” is based on real people and true events, much of this movie looks too much like a fairy tale.

Directed by Jeff Celentano, “The Hill” was written by Angelo Pizzo and Scott Marshall Smith. The movie’s total running time is 126 minutes, but the movie spends the first half spinning its wheels in boring repetition, while leaving out large chunks of Hill’s life, only to fast-forward to another part of his life in the second half and get stuck in more boring repetition. Anyone who knows what happens to Hill in real life before seeing this movie might be disappointed to find out that the most exciting highlights of his career are reduced to being an epilogue in the movie.

Hill was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 15, 1956. “The Hill” movie takes place in Texas, in 1965 and 1974. The first half of the movie is about his life when he was 9 years old, while the second half of the movie is about his life when he was 18. The years in between are erased and unexplained in this very flawed and tedious movie.

The movie begins in the small town of Bowie, Texas, where the Hill family is tight-knit but living in near-poverty. (“The Hill” was actually filled in Georgia.) The family patriarch is James Hill (played by Dennis Quaid), a strict and pious Baptist pastor who has a dwindling congregation of working-class people. James can be a loving husband and father, but he’s also very rigid and stubborn in wanting people to do what he thinks is best.

The other members of the family living in the same household are James’ loyal wife Helen Hill (played by Joelle Carter); 9-year-old Rickey (played by Jesse Berry); Rickey’s even-tempered older brother Robert (played by Mason Gillett), who’s about 11 or 12 years old; Rickey’s outspoken younger sister Connie (played by Hailey Bithell), who’s about 7 or 8 years old; and Helen’s pessimistic mother Lillian (played by Bonnie Bedelia, wearing a very bad wig), who is nicknamed Gram.

The movie opens with Rickey, who wears leg braces, practicing playing baseball and perfecting his body swivel so that he can throw the ball without having to strain his legs too much. Viewers later find out that Rickey also has a degenerative spine disease. A neighbor girl named Gracie Shanz (played by Mila Harris) watches Rickey, who tells her, “Girls don’t know spit about baseball.” Gracie, who’s about the same age as Rickey, responds by saying that Rickey won’t play in the major leagues. Gracie also calls Rickey her “boyfriend.”

Gracie’s got her own personal problems. Her father Earl Shanz (played by James Devoti) is an abusive alcoholic. Gracie’s mother/Earl’s wife Carol Shanz (played by Monica Louwerens Kenyon) is passive and is too scared to do anything about Earl’s abuse. The Shanz family members are among the small congregation (less than 50 people) attending the church led by James, who is quite pompous at work and at home.

During a church service, while James is delivering a sermon, he notices that a middle-aged, tobacco-chewing woman named Mrs. Babbitt (played by Taylor St. Clair) is spitting her tobacco juice into a small bowl on the church floor but her spit frequently misses the bowl and is leaving brown tobacco puddles on the floor. Meanwhile, during the same service, Earl is smoking a cigarette. James thinks these actions are very disrespectful in a place of worship.

James stops the sermon to politely ask Mrs. Babbitt and Earl to stop spitting and smoking in the church. Mrs. Babbitt seems annoyed by this request but stops. However, Earl is defiant and keeps smoking. James gets irritated and scolds Earl, by saying: “I am not going to let the Lord’s house be soiled by Satan!” Earl gets up and begins to argue with James in a bullying way. Earl eventually storms out of the church.

Earl isn’t the only congregant who wants to smoke in church, so James knows he could be alienating other members of his congregation with his rule of “no smoking and no spitting in church.” Lillian is quick to warn James that he can’t afford to lose congregants whose donations they need to keep the church running and to provide the Hill family with a steady income. James says he’s willing to take that risk if it means keeping this place of worship as sacred as possible.

At home, around the dinner table, Lillian expresses her disgust that James’ low income can barely feed the family. Rickey also needs an operation that the family can’t afford. Lillian berates James for not having a job that pays more money, while James gets defensive and lectures Lillian by telling her she doesn’t have enough faith in God. Helen tries to keep the peace and doesn’t like to see her mother and husband arguing, but Helen usually sides with James.

James knows that Rickey loves baseball, but James discourages Rickey’s dream to one day play for a Major League Baseball team. In fact, James thinks Rickey shouldn’t be playing baseball at all, because James thinks it will lead to getting Rickey getting seriously injured. Instead, James tries to instill into Rickey that Rickey’s calling in life is to become a pastor, just like James.

One day, Rickey and Robert are playing baseball in open field. Instead of a baseball bat and a ball, Rickey is using a stick and a rock. He hits the rock so hard and far, it breaks a side rear view mirror of an empty car parked dozens of feet away. The car belongs to Ray Clemmons (played by Randy Houser), the owner of a local scrapyard.

Rickey is a very honest boy who believes in confessing to causing this damage and making amends. When Rickey and Robert go over to Ray’s place to tell him what happened and offer to pay for the repairs, Ray isn’t angry but is impressed with Rickey’s baseball skills. Ray asks Rickey to use the stick to hit the rock again from the same distance. Rickey does it again, this time causing the car’s front window to crack. Because he owns a scrapyard, Ray tells Rickey and Robert that he already has many other car parts that can replace the parts that are damaged.

James has become an unpopular leader in his own church, so the Hill family moves away before James can be officially fired. It’s also implied that they relocated to avoid paying a lot of James’ unpaid bills in the area. With no new home or new job prospects lined up, the Hill family packs up and goes on a road trip to an uncertain future. Rickey and Gracie say goodbye to each other, but you just know from the way this movie is made, Rickey and Gracie will see each other again.

“The Hill” is the type of movie that piles on cornball situation after cornball situation. While driving on a deserted road, the car runs out of gas. And then, the car immediately gets a flat tire. Just as James says out loud that things couldn’t get worse, it starts to rain heavily. The family has a laugh over it, in the way that people laugh when they have nothing left to lose.

An elderly couple named Linda Meyers (played by Judy Leavell) and Josh Meyers (played by Wilbur Fitzgerald) happen to be driving by, and they come to the rescue of this unlucky family. Linda and Josh are generous to let the Hill family stay in their home temporarily. James tells Linda and Josh that he’s a pastor. And it just so happens that Linda knows about a church that’s looking for a pastor. Whoever gets the job will also get to live with any family members in a house that’s owned by the church.

James immediately accepts the position before seeing the church and the living quarters. As soon as Linda says that the job has been vacant for a year, you just know that this job is too good to be true. And sure enough, the church and accompanying house are run-down dumps. With no other place to go and no other job offers, James decides he can rebuild the church and the house.

Unfortunately, most of Rickey’s childhood depicted in “The Hill” is a back-and-forth slog of him practicing baseball with Robert in nearby play areas, and Rickey being scolded by James for playing baseball. Rickey is desperate to play on his school’s baseball team, but he needs a signed permission slip from his father. James also gets upset when he sees Rickey has been collecting baseball cards, which James thinks are sinful because they represent “worshipping false idols.”

A teacher at Rickey’s school named Coach Don (as David Marshall Silverman) notices Rickey’s special talent and personally goes over to the Hill household to try to convince James to let Rickey play baseball for the school’s team. However, James stubbornly refuses to change his mind about not giving permission for Rickey to play any baseball. Coach Don, who says he used to be a preacher too, berates James for “crushing” Rickey’s soul and squandering the blessing of Rickey’s athletic talent. There’s more than one scene where James physically punishes Rickey for playing baseball.

“The Hill” also has the expected scenes of Rickey being bullied by other boys, who think he’s delusional for wanting to play baseball. A mean-spirited brat named Quinn (played by Tyler Johnson) is the chief bully. However, several other local boys admire Rickey and are rooting for him to succeed. Robert is also a very loyal brother who protects Rickey from the bullies as much as he can.

James is overly strict but he isn’t a complete tyrant. He is genuinely concerned about Rickey’s health. James clearly has unspoken guilt that he’s powerless to prevent Rickey’s health issues and can’t afford to pay for Rickey’s medical treatment, so James overcompensates by using religion as a way to wield power over his family. After the Hill family finds out that Rickey needs an operation that the family can’t afford, the movie shows the efforts made by the family’s church and other people in the community to raise money for the operation.

The Hill family household is oppressive in many ways, but there’s also a lot of love in the family. A tender scene happens early in the movie when Rickey and Robert go to a local diner to buy one of James’ favorite meals as a surprise gift: a hamburger and a soda, using money that the boys saved up. James is genuinely touched by this loving gesture and shows appreciation for his sons’ thoughtfulness.

For all the time and repetitive effort that “The Hill” puts into showing how much James blocks and discourages Rickey from playing baseball, the movie then does an awkwardly abrupt fast-forward to Rickey (played by Colin Ford) in his last year of high school in 1974. He’s 18 years old and a star player on his school’s baseball team.

What happened during all those years between Rickey being a dejected kid who wasn’t allowed to play baseball to being a star baseball player for his high school? Who coached him during this crucial development period? Rickey being 18 presumably means he no longer needed a parent’s permission to be on a baseball team. But how did he get medical clearance from a doctor to play for his school’s team? Don’t expect “The Hill” to answer any of those questions.

Instead, the last half of the movie drags out with MLB hopeful Rickey wanting to be discovered and chosen for a team during MLB tryouts. And what do you know: Gracie (played by Siena Bjornerud) just happens to have moved to the same area, so now she and Rickey can reunite and fall in love. During this time when Rickey hopes to be recruited to the major leagues, James has refused to watch Rickey play any baseball games. However, Rickey’s mother Helen and siblings Robert (played by Ryan Dinning) and Connie (played by Carina Worm) are supportive spectators at Rickey’s games.

During the MLB tryouts, Rickey catches the eye of MLB scout Red Murff (played by Scott Glenn), who gives very stereotypical tough-but-tender pep talks. And there’s plenty of preaching and praying in “The Hill” too. A lot of this sanctimonious talk ranges from generic to extremely sappy. The baseball game scenes aren’t very interesting, and neither are the acting performances in this bloated biography.

“The Hill” treats Rickey’s medical issues as pesky annoyances. Any excruciating pain he experiences are depicted with some superficial grimaces and groans, some limps and some clutching of his back. There’s a scene in his childhood where Rickey breaks off his leg braces himself and then claims he feels no pain in his legs.

Everything in “The Hills” looks fake, which is a disservice to the real-life physical agony that this talented baseball player experienced. Because the movie ends when Rickey is 18, it cuts off right before the most fascinating part of his baseball journey. Although “The Hill” certainly has an inspirational story, the way that this dreadful dud tells this story is by hollowing it out and replacing a lot of meaningful parts with surface-level preaching and cringeworthy dialogue.

Briarcliff Entertainment released “The Hill” in U.S. cinemas on August 25, 2023.