Shameless Self Expression

Robert De Niro stars as thirtyish loser Rupert Pupkin, whose dream is to become a great TV comedian like his idol, late-night talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). He acts out his sad little fantasies in the basement of the house he still shares with his shrill mother. His repeated attempts to get Jerry to listen to his material and get a gig on his show fall on deaf ears. Mostly because there are appropriate channels for aspiring comedians to go through, and Pupkin lets that information fall on deaf ears himself. Fed up and frankly deranged, he and his equally nuts partner in crime Masha (Sandra Bernhard) decide to take desperate measures and kidnap their idol, demanding that Pupkin get a spot on Jerry’s show. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Diahnne Abbott plays a bartender who probably has a bit more time and patience with Pupkin than she should, Shelley Hack plays Langford’s personal secretary who tries to shoo away Pupkin in the nicest way she possibly can. Ed Herlihy plays the f...

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays an enforcer/debt collector for mid-level gangster Miguel Ferrer (whom he sees as a sort of father figure), who finds out drug dealer Frankie Tahoe wants Ferrer dead. Ferrer, being the hard-arse that he is, decides not to sit and wait to be bumped off, he decides to take Tahoe out first. Unfortunately, it seems Mr. Tahoe was a very important connection of a rival gangster, Harvey Keitel. Needless to say, Keitel is pissed and seeks retribution, sparking a war between the duo, whilst Gooding (who is still haunted by childhood memories of his drug dealing dad) is left thinking it might be best if he finds another line of work. Johnny Messner plays Gooding’s loudmouth dip-shit associate, Mike Starr is one of Keitel’s goons (it’s the only role the guy plays, aside from an occasional barroom bully), Alex Meneses is Ferrer’s unfaithful wife, and Leonor Varela is Keitel’s squeeze. Michael Sean Tighe turns up as a childhood friend of Ferrer’s, who is now a reckless drug ...

Matthew Broderick plays a smart-arse trainee Air Force pilot demoted after an incident involving a girl, liquor, and a plane. Now he’s been sent to a flight simulation base where in a research program, chimpanzees are trained as pilots. He eventually forms a bond with one seemingly expressive chimp named Virgil (played by Willie), and eventually discovers that Virgil knows sign language. He was apparently at one time part of a University study carried out by Jean Smart and Helen Hunt, before funding was cut off and Virgil was sent to the Air Force. Soon, Broderick has uncovered the rather sinister motives of the program’s head (William Sadler) and military bigwigs, and teams up with Hunt to rescue Virgil before it’s too late. Produced by the team behind  “WarGames”  and starring that film’s lead Matthew Broderick, this 1987 flick from director Jonathan Kaplan ( “Truck Turner” ,  “The Accused” ) isn’t the smoothest blend of teen-centric adventure, nuclear disaster fl...

Set in the 70s, Gary Oldman is George Smiley, a retired British secret agent hired by Undersecretary Simon McBurney to find a mole in the Service (AKA ‘The Circus’), after the death of Control (John Hurt). The culprit is likely to be one of the four heads of The Circus (Toby Jones, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, and David Dencik), and Smiley, aided by a small band of helpers (including Benedict Cumberbatch to do the grunt work), must be very, very careful in not arousing any of their suspicions. No one is to be trusted. Mark Strong plays agent Jim Prideaux, who had been dispatched by Control to Budapest to get some critical information, in a mission that went pear-shaped. Tom Hardy turns up as Ricki Tarr, a possible deserter who played part in a bungled operation.   This is a strange one. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (the overrated “Let the Right One In” ), this 2011 adaptation of the classic John Le Carre novel is a perfectly admirable film, I suppose. Some people will absolu...