I have to admit, seeing Ralph Macchio in any role other than in The Karate Kid is a bit jarring for me.  Growing up in the 80’s, it’s hard to see Macchio and not hope for him to randomly balance on one leg and do a crane kick, but alas, decades have passed and Macchio has come a long way.  Now we get to see Macchio all grown up step into the role of dad in his new film A Little Game.  While Macchio may share the headlines of this all-star cast that includes F. Murray Abraham, Janeane Garofalo, and Olympia Dukakis, the real star of the film is a name many would be unfamiliar with, Makenna Ballard.  You may not know her name now, but after this debut performance I’m willing to bet this is only the first step in a bigger and promising career.

Max (Ballard) goes through the unfortunate hurdle of being removed from her school where she was once surrounded by her friends to being thrust into a new school so she can get a “better” education.  Though the school may look good on transcripts when applying for ivy league schools, right now Max is simply a 10-year-old girl who simply wants to be accepted by her classmates and have fun like any other 10-year-old girl would.  Unfortunately being the new girl at school attracts the attention of a rival classmate who sees Max as nothing more than competition.

Despite Stephen King’s place in modern literary history, Hollywood continues to be hit-or-miss at successfully adapting King’s work for the big screen and television. Personally The Mist is one of my favorite films based off of King’s work, but one can never forget The Shawshank Redemption. Unfortunately, though, there are many more duds than there are successes when it comes to adapting “the Master of Horror’s” work.  Big Driver is the most current work to be brought to the screen. While it may not hold up to some of his more “classic” films, i.e.: Misery, Stand By Me, or Carrie, it is a relief to say it fares better than many of the duds that have been produced.

Maria Bello takes on the lead as Tess Thorne, a mystery book writer who seems to appeal mostly to retired housewives.  It’s a career that has brought Tess plenty of success, and in a way to reach out and meet some of her fans she goes on a book tour. Bello eases into this role nicely as the quirky mystery writer, talking to her pet cat and characters from her book that follow her around. She even goes so far as to strike up a conversation with her Tom Tom device.  It is crucial that the viewer likes Tess early on, because it doesn’t take long before things go horribly wrong for her.

Who Killed Alex Spourdalakis sounds like a murder mystery. The cover of the DVD says, “Ignorance, negligence, indifference”. The documentary was produced by the Autism Media Channel, and the cover also says, “Autism and the US healthcare system”. The implication is that things are not going well for the growing number of parents of autistic children. In March of 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that the rate of autism had risen to 1 out of 68 births in the United States, and that was nearly double from ten years prior. That sounds like a major problem, and that doesn't even get to the heart of exactly how tragic that really is. Death rates are high for children with autism, and that too tends to get swept under the rug. The problems of dealing with an autistic child are unimaginable to those who live a normal life.

Alex Spourdalakis had two extremely devoted caregivers who would literally do anything to relieve the problems that he dealt with. He was a normal, happy baby until 18 months. Dorothy, Alex's mother, and Yolanda Agata Skrodzka, Alex's godmother, doted on him every moment when he started to show problems, often never leaving his bedside when he wound up in various hospitals. The story that movie tells is a heartbreaking tragedy of an arrogant and misguided healthcare system, not able to accept the changing state of autism in America. Dorothy and Yolanda trusted the doctors as Alex went through numerous changes, assuming the doctors knew best. Over time, it became clear that the doctors mostly didn't know what they were doing. Eventually, at age 14, Alex died.