Tag: Cathy Moriarty

“Sunday Sauce” Bubbles Up at Holly Shorts 2025

On July 30, 2025

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews

“Sunday Sauce” is a Holly Shorts entry from Matt Campanella, who both directed, wrote and stars as Marco. Anthony Campanella produced and Matt’s real life grandmother, Vincenza Campanella, plays his grandmother at the Italian dinner party that is the center of the story.

If a dinner party sounds drab and dull, now might be the time to mention that the first third of this 14.25 film features Matthew Risch (“Modern Family,” “How to Get Away With Murder”) as Gino, whacking off in the bathroom. He is sexting with a young gay guy he calls Twunk. Gino definitely looks hot, sweaty, bearded, and uncomfortable throughout. His Catholic faith finds him feeling repressed and guiltridden and gives credence to the saying, “Good old Catholic guilt. The gift that keeps on giving.” Many judgmental portraits of Jesus underscore the Catholic guilt he feels.

Cathy Moriarty (and DeNiro) in 1980’s “Raging Bull.”

Gino finally exits the bathroom, having decided to send a face shot to his anonymous sexting partner and begins preparing food for a sumptuous Italian dinner, presided over by Cathy Moriarty as Nancy. Moriarty is the glue holding this short and this family together. She is an intense presence and has worked steadily since her 1980 nomination as Best Supporting Actress opposite Robert DeNiro in “Raging Bull.” Moriarty was only 18 years old at the time, and lush. For those too young to remember her, a picture of her in her prime is essential. Her acting chops are impressive. She also had an iconic role in “Neighbors,” which I highly recommend.I attended a zoom press conference for a 2020 film of Cathy Moriarty’s entitled “Shooting Heroin.”

That film was shot in the middle of Pennsylvania in the winter in 12 days on a shoestring budget and was very much a family endeavor. Moriarty was just as essential in it as she is in this 14.25 minute short. And this film, too, seems to be a family endeavor. Moriarty is the hostess for “Sunday Sauce’s” dinner party and there is a spirited conversation with young Francesca, who is 19, pregnant and unmarried. Nicole Ehringer, who plays Francesca, has a boyfriend (Chad) but Nancy (Moriarty’s character) is obviously trolling for more suitable potential life mates for Francesca. Hence the invitation to Marco and his Nonna to come to dinner.

Francesca (Nicole Ehinger) in “Sunday Sauce” at HollyShorts.

That effort to find a man for the pregnant Francesca reminded me of the film “Love with the Proper Stranger” (Natalie Wood, Steve McQueen) where Natalie’s close-knit Italian family is constantly trying to find a mate for her, since she is also with child. I recently watched the 1963 film for free on YouTube for the first time in 60 years. I was amused to see that Tom Bosley of “Happy Days” portrayed the young Italian man Natalie’s family thought might make a more suitable mate than Steve McQueen (in his prime—his last romantic film.)

When the young Marco and his Grandmother arrive, Gino is horrified to see that his young guest is the very same gay partner, Twunk,that Gio has been sexting with in the bathroom.The rest of the plot (such as it is) reiterates the concept of queer identity and the repression of same in culture and religion. There was a slight injury to Gino’s hand when he grabs the hot pasta sauce pot without a pot-holder and what happens to his hand after that instantly summoned “District 9” and Sharlto Copley. Again, tonally, somewhat at odds with the themes of family, repressed identity and faith.

I would insert a thought here about how queer identity is not that repressed any more. If you haven’t seen the closing night 2025 SXSW film “On Swift Horses,” there’s one example of homosexuality that is very open. It featured a currently hot young star, Jacob Elordi (“Saltburn”) in the gay love scenes.

However, with Trump 2.0 in full swing, stay tuned. Apparently U.S. military records are currently being purged of any mention of “gay” or “homosexual.” “Don’t ask, don’t tell” of the Clinton years is starting to look absolutely progressive in DJT’s America. Russia is not a gay-friendly country—nor are Iran and/or many others that the U.S.’s current leader openly admires. I get the sinking feeling that diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) will continue to be under intense assault for (at least) the next 3 and ½ years.

So my first impulse was to say that Gino shouldn’t feel as much guilt and repression as he obviously does. But that point-of-view has given way to recognizing the cultural norms under which Gino was raised, as well as acknowledging the cultural norms regarding sexuality that are being thrust upon us in 2025 America. Most of the progress in many areas since at least the sixties (and I’ve been reviewing since 1970)—a woman’s right to have control over her own body, racial equality, free speech, diversity—is in the cultural crosshairs right now in the United States. So Gino’s fear of reprisal and good old Catholic guilt are not without a real-life basis and merited.

Gino’s repressed sexuality bubbling over as it does when he finally meets the boy of his dreams, may be timelier than it seemed upon first viewing. All I could think of after the denouement of the plot was how uncomfortable and sweaty and hassled poor Gino looked throughout the entire film. Cathy Moriarty’s line about the death of romance applied. (“Today there’s no romance. They don’t do it like that no more.”)

The original score by Lorenzo Barcella helped escalate the tension in this tale of family, faith and repressed identity. The press notes say, if you’re queer or Catholic, this film about hiding, revealing and transforming, may resonate. Pitching it as “The Sopranos” a la Cronenberg worked.

But, for me, introducing the comatose Maria—an oddball touch— added humor that didn’t really blend that well with most of the film’s messaging. The cinematography (Stefan Nachmann) was good and the Italian aria playing throughout added to the drama (although it also reminded me that Donald J. Trump also has a thing for playing dramatic Italian arias.)

Dinner with the Catholic Campanellas in “Sunday Sauce” was interesting, even if the odd-ball inclusion of the comatose Maria and the lobster-clawed Gino seems like it would be appropriate to a different movie with a different tone. But Maria does get to utter the film’s last line and the incomparable Cathy Moriarty is, once again, the glue for this family dramedy.

“Shooting Heroin” Examines the Opioid Epidemic in Pennsylvania

By Connie Wilson

On April 9, 2020

In Movies, Reviews

“Shooting Heroin” is a film from writer/director/producer/editor Spencer T. Folmar of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. It has a vigilante justice approach to solving the problem of young people shooting heroin and overdosing in this remote area right in the middle of the state of Pennsylvania, where 10 teenagers a day were dying of the opioid epidemic in 2018.

Folmar, a Clearfield native, had a personal stake in the film, which was shot in Pennsylvania communities with names like Clearfield, Altoona and Morrisdale. As Folmar said during a video Red Carpet held on Zoom, “This film is very personal. The area, itself, is like a character. We were trying to show the natural beauty and the grittiness of the area.”

Spencer T. Folmar

At one point during the virtual Red Carpet, Folmar said, “This was the first narrative feature film on the subject.” This surprised me, since, the year the plans for this began (2018) was a banner year for films that dealt with the opioid epidemic in America.

There was “Beautiful Boy” with Timothy Chalamet and Steve Carell and “Ben Is Back” with Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts (directed by Lucas’ father Peter Hedges). Both screened at the Chicago International Film Festival. “Beautiful Boy” was based on the father/son books by Nic and David Sheff and helmed by Felix van Groenegen of Belgium. Timothy Chalamet (“Call Me By Your Name”) was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe award and a Screen Actors’ Guild award. It seemed that every other movie at the festival in 2018 was about drug addiction.

The description for “Shooting Heroin” is: A small town community comes together to eradicate the heroin epidemic from its midst by whatever means necessary.

The cast included such veterans as Sherilynn Fenn (“Twin Peaks”) as Hazel, Cathy Moriarty (“Raging Bull,” “Neighbors”) as Beth and Nick Turturro (“Hill Street Blues”) although I was unfamiliar with the lead, Alan Powell. Garry Pastore (“The Deuce”), who played Lieutenant Jerry Whelan, won an acting award from Hells Kitchen Film Awards. The film won the Award of Excellence at IndieFest 2020.

“Shooting Heroin” is currently screening on Vudu, iTunes, Microsoft, Comcast, Verizon and Amazon and, for a 90-minute film that was shot in 12 days in middle to late October on a shoestring budget in the middle of Pennsylvania, it had nice moments and was enjoyable. Music by Mike Newport was good and cinematography by John Honore did a good job of putting the Pennsylvania countryside on display.

The cast contained many of Folmar’s relatives. The pharmacist with the long blonde hair? Leesa Folmar. Little Phil—a darling blonde child of about two— actually Spencer Folmar’s nephew. Little Phil was such a good actor that, by the end of the shoot, he was holding out his arms for his onscreen Daddy (Alan Powell) and calling him “Daddy” (while his real father was in the next room).

I also learned that all-terrain vehicles really ARE that popular in Pennsylvania and that the house they burn down in the film had to be built in three days so it could be burned down, (after plans for the fire department to incinerate an old one already standing fell through).

I had never participated in a Zoom virtual Red Carpet. It was just as technically challenging as I feared it might be, for the likes of me. I finally succeeded in joining the merry band of about 5 cast members and 5 critics (some of whom had not yet seen the film).

Nick Turturro (who plays a priest in the film) said, with wonderment, when asked about filming on location, “It’s a very different experience when you shoot outside of L.A. It was very personal. You put me at your parents’ house! I got to meet your parents!” Turturro mentioned that the cast arrived 2 days before the 12-day shoot.

There was also some conversation about Turturro’s collection of major league baseball jerseys, hanging on a rack behind him. (You don’t get that on the REAL Red Carpet!) At one point, Sherilynn Fenn’s daughter entered what appeared to be her bedroom to ask Mom a question while Sherilynn was stationed there to answer questions. Lead Alan Powell defended his leaving Little Phil in the car seat of his car outside in the Pennsylvania cold by explaining that he had five children, himself. (Not sure that was a convincing argument, but whatever…).

I sent my questions on to the publicist, which were as follows:

Questions:

Alan Powell and Writer/Director (Producer/Editor) Spencer T. Folmar in Pennsylvania.

1) In one scene Adam (Alan Powell) goes to pick his son up from his drug-addicted sister Cheyenne, who is (supposedly) babysitting. They argue. Adam (Alan) walks out of the house with the small child. Then Adam comes back in the house and argues with the sister for a while. WHO IS WATCHING THE LITTLE BOY DURING THE ARGUMENT? It looks cold in Pennsylvania in all scenes. (You can see people’s breath in the scenes with Cathy Moriarty as his mother Beth and Alan Powell as Adam). Where is the little boy during the argument? Surely not in the car, alone?

2) During the comraderie scenes between Adam and Lt. Jerry Whelan (Garry Pastore of “The Deuce”—who was excellent in his role), do these two ever call an Uber? They’re out drinking and apparently driving from bar to bar. While we were never shown either of the two actually driving a vehicle, one of them is a police officer and I’m thinking they need to either call a cab or a Lyft or an Uber. Later, the Lieutenant is awakened from sleep within the actual police station and he definitely looks the worse for wear. Between the non-stop smoking (Cathy Moriarty and Adam Powell smoke non-stop) and the drunk driving, I’m worried for the citizens of Whispering Pines.

3) The Volunteer Drug Force: [Yikes! ] Vigilante Justice half the time; confusing billboards the other half (rectified after remarks by one of the trio, Edward, to Hazel.) [I actually did not know who “Hazel” was until after Hazel was dead. I tried to remember if her name was used and I just missed it—-possibly in the gymnasium sequence when she is addressing the students? I was very confused by Edward during most of the film.]

4) Whispering Pines. Spent a portion of the time wondering if “Whispering Pines” was the name of the television series town where Toby Jones was the evil Dr. Jenkins. (A: Wayward Pines). However, there WAS a 2018 movie called “Whispering Pines.” Noticed that the side of one police car said “Police” at the bottom of the door, but no name of a city. Later, many cities are in the credits (Altoona, Morrisdale, Clearfield, et. al.) Wondered why the writer/director didn’t just go with “Clearfield” or one of the other “real” towns?

5) Was confused about the emphasis on All Terrain vehicles. Must be a big thing in Pennsylvania. Thought the odds of “Adam” running down a kid on an ATV vehicle in a jazzy mask and having him be the actual kid transporting drugs (kind of a conspicuous outfit for it, don’t you think?) was odd. Found Adam’s behavior at different points (in the cave, during the stopping of the youth with drugs), to be almost bi-polar. (He threatened to KILL the young drug dealer. Yikes! Pretty split personality in the cave scene.)

(L to R) Alan Powell, Cathy Moriarty, Spencer T. Follmar and Garry Parish of “Shooting Heroin.”

6) Was confused about the African American guy’s motives and behavior(s).(Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs)

7) Does vigilante justice in burning down the house seem reasonable? Cinematic, yes, but there didn’t seem to be enough evidence that this house and this individual were definitely proven to be guilty.

Some of these questions were addressed during the Zoom Red Carpet; some were not.

See it for yourself while you’re sheltering at home and enjoy this earnest effort. Cathy Moriarty is great. Garry Pastore and Alan Powell were believable. (Parrish told Powell that it was “a privilege to be in a film with you” and asked him “Did you expect the outcome to be so brilliant?”) Feel free to let me know if you figure out the answers to my questions above.