In ‘This is the Night,’ a love letter to cinema, ‘Rocky III’

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

Filmmaker James DeMonaco remembers the day “Rocky III” hit theaters as if it were yesterday. On Staten Island in 1982, it was an all-out event. He waited four hours in line to get tickets and saw it twice in a day. It’s this memory that inspired his latest film, “This is the Night,” which follows one Staten Island family on opening day of “Rocky III.” The film is newly available on video on demand. It stars Naomi Watts and Frank Grillo as the parents of two teenage boys, portrayed by Lucius Hoyos and Jonah Hauer-King, and all have their own crises to navigate (in addition to getting tickets to the film).