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Even fans of “La Soga,” the 2009 crime drama shot in the Dominican Republic, will have their patience taxed by this vacuous follow-up that catches up with Luisito (Manny Pérez), a former executioner for the secret police in Santiago now living a quiet life in New England with his girlfriend Lia (Sarah Jorge Leon).

Things don’t stay quiet for long. Luisito’s past intrudes on his domestic bliss in the form of a well-dressed U.S. federal agent (Chris McGarry), who kidnaps Lia and threatens to murder her unless Luisito takes down a Dominican drug lord before he can testify in court. The assignment gets complicated fast. But despite the mayhem, the film remains curiously inert, unable to generate even the B-grade buzz of a lower-tier Liam Neeson paycheck picture.

The original movie — a minor phenomenon back in 2009, being the first Dominican Republic-made feature to screen at the Toronto International...

Screen Media has acquired all North American rights to “La Soga Salvation” following its premiere at 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, where it screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section. The crime thriller is directed by and stars Manny Perez, who previously appeared in “Pride & Glory” and “Homeland.” “La Soga Salvation” also stars Chris McGarry (“Lucifer”), Juan Fernández (“The Collector”), Hada Vanessa (“La Bruja”), and Sarah Jorge Leon (“La Siete Muertes”). Screen Media is planning a day-and-date release in early 2022.

Here’s the official log-line: “Years after his last hit as a skilled and sought-after hitman under the alias La Soga, Luisito (Perez) has finally settled down with his girlfriend Lía (Sarah Jorge Leon) in a quiet seaside town. Unfortunately, his past isn’t done with him. When criminal contractor Jimmy Mac (Chris McGarry) finds himself in need of a skilled hitman to take out a powerful Dominican drug lord,...

James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems has invested in Authentic Artists, a seed-stage startup that Wednesday launched a new AI-powered virtual artist platform for music, gaming and streaming applications.

Chris McGarry, who previously led music integration at Facebook’s Oculus, is the founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based company. He said the platform, which instantly composes and produces fully-formed, high-quality songs performed by AI-powered virtual artists, enables “entirely new, never-before-seen virtual music experiences designed to serve the evolving preferences, tastes and desires of fans searching for truly unique content.”

It can deliver these interactive experiences, or what it calls “adaptive” or “generative” music, across the globe, 24 hours a day to all connected channels.

The company noted that popular virtual concerts on Fortnite and Roblox in 2020 showed “there are now billions of gamers globally for whom the traditional lines between music and gaming are blurred, or even non-existent. Authentic Artists offers...

Stars: Trevor Long, Andrea Chen, Garr Long, Kevin Breznahan, Chris McGarry, Michelle Liu Coughlin, Adrian Enscoe, Shannon Hartman, John Emigh, Abby Mills, Lowry Marshall | Written by Owen Long, Steven Weisman | Directed by Owen Long

[Note: With the film now set for release in the Us this week, here's a re-posting of our review of Seeds, from the films screening at Frightfest back in 2018]

When his increasingly depraved behaviour spirals out of control, Marcus retreats to his family home along the New England coast. But instead of finding solace, Marcus is haunted by his darkest fears and deepest desires. Could something be underneath the bed, lurking? Is he losing his mind or has something terrible burrowed deep within him? Incubating. Waiting until the climate is right. Marcus must fight to save his crumbling sanity and protect Lily, his beloved niece from a monster that lies in wait.

Is there or isn’t there a monster in the house? Or is the “monster” a manifestation of the monster that is Marcus, a man whose escapes the troubles of one sexual act and walks right into another…...

Stars: Trevor Long, Andrea Chen, Garr Long, Kevin Breznahan, Chris McGarry, Michelle Liu Coughlin, Adrian Enscoe, Shannon Hartman, John Emigh, Abby Mills, Lowry Marshall | Written by Owen Long, Steven Weisman | Directed by Owen Long

When his increasingly depraved behaviour spirals out of control, Marcus retreats to his family home along the New England coast. But instead of finding solace, Marcus is haunted by his darkest fears and deepest desires. Could something be underneath the bed, lurking? Is he losing his mind or has something terrible burrowed deep within him? Incubating. Waiting until the climate is right. Marcus must fight to save his crumbling sanity and protect Lily, his beloved niece from a monster that lies in wait.

Is there or isn’t there a monster in the house? Or is the “monster” a manifestation of the monster that is Marcus, a man whose escapes the troubles of one sexual act and walks right into another…...

This is the Pure Movies review of Lawless, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Shia Labeouf, Tom Hardy , Jason Clarke, Guy Pearce, Jessica Chastain, Mia Wasikowska, Dane DeHaan, Chris McGarry, Tim Tolin and Gary Oldman. John Hillcoat picked up widespread acclaim for his Australian outback Western, The Proposition, in 2005. It was scripted by Nick Cave and starred Guy Pearce, among others. For Lawless, Hillcoat has again teamed up with Cave and Pearce for another period piece about outlaws who refuse to play by the rules. This time, the story is set in the Depression-era Virginia, in the midst of Prohibition. Based on real events, Shia LeBeouf and Tom Hardy play brothers Jack and Forrest Bondurant – country boys who supplement their income producing 'moonshine' liquor for their neighbours. Impressed by local gangster Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman), younger brother Jack decides that the brothers need to step up their operation to compete...

Cal (Tim Roth) is asked to look into a collapse at a construction site by Fema where three construction workers are missing. Everything is in chaos with the Fema agent Greg Stevens, Boulware (Richard Brooks) and the construction foreman, Kevin (Fredric Lehne) blaming each other , causing Cal to grab a bullhorn. Stevens (Chris McGarry) gives Cal the lowdown. Boulware tells where the focus of their search has been. Gillian (Kelli Williams) gives Ria (Monica Raymund) and Eli (Brenden Hines) one of her cases and joins Cal at the site. Ria tells her to drive fast as Gillian comments she needs to get there before Cal alienates everyone. Cal and Gillian question the worker who last saw the men and he appears to be holding something back. Cal shows his photos and asks him to describe the emotions he sees from the photos. The only one he gets right is disgust,...

A girl throws a party to which she invites her best friend, the school bully, Blaire (Linsey Godfrey) who asks what the new girl is doing there. Later Blaire's tied to a goalpost on the sportsfield and made to listen to the bullied student's complaints about her bullying to the Principal, before being stoned to death. Horatio (David Caruso) arrives at the scene to the sight of gawking students, many of whom must have been secretly relieved to see her no longer of this world. As he asks Tripp (Rex Linn) to clear the scene. Horatio finds stones were used from the construction taking place at the school, believing she was stoned. Natalia (Eva Larue) calls that 'archaic.' Horatio calls it "downright Biblical." Me Tom (Christian Clemenson) appears to relish the moment, once again. (No, imagine him secretly twiddling his moustache, everytime he comes across something new in his job,...

"Who is Don Draper?" is the question that opens "Mad Men's" fourth season, asked to Don himself by an unenthusiastic, one-legged reporter from Advertising Age. Don can't answer, even if he wanted to, and I can't either, at least not without using the standard adjectives of "cold," "amoral" and "borderline-sociopathic." The question I would have asked Don, and have asked myself more than once, is, "Why do I watch 'Mad Men'?" Why do I tune into a beautifully crafted yet emotionally unavailable Social Studies presentation each week, especially when I know how the '60s will end? (Badly.) But things have changed in the "Mad Men" world, especially with the Season Three finale "Shut the Door. Have a Seat," in which the major players of the series broke off from Sterling Cooper advertising agency to form Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce -- an almost Sorkian plot twist where...