There are always multiple versions of the truth, and at times it comes down to what I said, what you said, and what actually happened.

The Skyjacker’s Tale documents the story of Ishmael Muslim Ali, who was convicted of the murder of several people at an exclusive golf course in the Virgin Islands in 1972.

Originally imprisoned on the island, Ali was being extradited to New York City a dozen years later. However, Ali managed to obtain a gun and subsequently hijacked the plane, sending it off course to Cuba. The redirected flight was on New Year’s Eve, so obviously a lot of people on that plane ushered in the New Year in the last place they expected.

Ali still did time in Cuba, but the seven years he spent incarcerated there was like a country club compared to his previous situation. Ali relates this and more during on-camera interviews that serve as bookends to this intriguing documentary.

The filmmakers present opposing views, namely police and officials who were involved in the case. There’s also testimony from employees and passengers of the airplane that was hijacked.

A shard of racism pervades throughout the movie. The police claim Ali was a career criminal, meanwhile Ali says he was tortured — electric shock to the testicles — for the confession.

Nobody knows how the gun got on the airplane, but the speculation is that Ali went to the bathroom where it was hidden. In his candid feature length interview, Ali says the gun was smuggled to him in pieces while he was in prison and he taped it under his balls. The implication is that while the powers that be have no problem shocking his balls, they don’t want to touch them during a pat down.

A Skyjacker’s Tale is currently playing in select venues. No Houston date has been set as of yet.

Did you ever watch the Carry On film series from Britain? They’re harmless sex farces starting in the late-50s that could be kindly called bawdy, but by today’s standards it’s pretty tame.

Perhaps not surprisingly, filmmaker Jeff Baena has taken the idea of a saucy story and mixed some 70s-style nudity with an erotic story from The Decameron, a 14th-century book by Giovanni Boccaccio that influenced stories from Shakespeare to Pasolini. Baena himself gets a lifetime pass for writing I Heart Huckabees (2004).

In The Little Hours, a Lothario (Dave Franco) finds himself on the run and hiding out in a convent in the Middle Ages. Pretending to be a deaf mute, Franco becomes the desire of most of the nuns. Lots of sex unfolds, even some nun on nun drunken ribaldry. A coven of witches even figures into the plot.

 

 

The production was filmed on location in Italy, and much of the film has an improvised feel. There are some moralists among the characters, but the pagans generally outweigh them. The movie seems like a family affair as Baena lives with co-star Aubrey Plaza and Franco is married to co-star Alison Brie. And with a cast that includes Kate Micucci, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Fred Armisen and Nick Offerman, it’s not hard to recommend The Little Hours as the current go-to comedy for your viewing pleasure.

The Little Hours is currently playing in area theaters.

His company credo is “the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit.” John Paul DeJoria grew up in poverty in Los Angeles, one of two brothers with a single mother.

DeJoria may not be a household name, but his face will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen an ad for Paul Mitchell hair care products or taken a shot of Patrón tequila.

 

 

DeJoria is known for putting back into the system. The Patrón company is sustainable down to the recycled glass used for the bottles and the conversion of agave dross to fertilize the fields. Oh, and the night workers get a free meal as part of their shift.

Good Fortune so solidly documents DeJoria’s altruistic life that at times it seems like an infomercial for good karma capitalism. DeJoria walks the walk of a philanthropist that cements this documentary.

Good Fortune is currently unwinding exclusively at the AMC Studio 30.