Shameless Self Expression

Vince Vaughn plays a small-time telemarketer whose gig working for the frankly shonky Stephen Tobolowsky and J.J. Johnston ends, leaving the already barely scraping by employees out of pocket and out of work. Then an attractive woman (miscast Julia Ormond) approaches him with an offer to work with a previously incarcerated bigwig (Ed Harris), Vaughn having previously expressed interest (to rivals Randy and Jason Sklar) in working for the man. Harris presents a positive and seemingly legit front, but Vaughn isn’t so sure. Meanwhile, he starts a relationship with Ormond, Harris’ cool and aloof business partner. Is this business venture too good to be true? Did I mention that Harris was previously incarcerated and it’s Ed Freakin’ Harris ? Rory Cochrane plays the disabled and somewhat lazy brother Vaughn cares for (I’m disabled and lazy myself, just so you know), whilst Romany Malco Jr., Amber Benson, and Tom Wright play his co-workers. George Wendt, Wallace Shawn, and Brian George pl...

Kristy McNichol stars as a NY jazz flautist, newly moved into the area with boyfriend Justin Deas. One night she is attacked in her apartment and nearly raped, before she fatally stabs the intruder. Unfortunately, the nightmare has only begun for her- she’s literally having nightmares about the incident. It doesn’t help that Deas cheats on her, and there’s something not quite right with her relationship with dad Paul Shenar, either (Kissing on the lips for one thing). Along comes Ben Masters, a handsome dream analysis researcher who wants McNichol to be a part of his experiments. And hey, if it cures her of her problems, that’s a bonus. Unfortunately, it looks as though it’ll only make things worse. John McMartin and Gayle Hunnicutt play family friends (who are only in the film to cast aspersions on Mr. Shenar for possible red herring purposes).   Not the crowning achievement in the career of director Alan J. Pakula ( “Klute” , “All the President’s Men” , “Sophie’s Choice...

A film depicting what goes on inside a half-way house facility for at-risk kids, taking the principal point of view of supervisor Grace (Brie Larson- playing this like she’s lived the part), a young woman with a tragic upbringing of her own. We see her try to do her job and maintain her romantic relationship with likeable co-worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr.) whilst dealing with some pretty damn major scars of her own that she isn’t quite letting Mason in on. These old wounds are possibly about to re-open not only due to her estranged father’s impending release from prison, not only because she’s just found out she’s pregnant, but also because of an angry young arrival (Kaitlyn Dever, one of Larson’s co-stars in “The Spectacular Now” ) who seems to come from a similar violent circumstance. Kevin Hernandez and Keith Stanfield play two other at-risk teens, the latter about to turn 18, and therefore leave the facility.   One of those indie sleepers just begging to be seen and...

Set on the planet Ygam, which has two distinct races: Humanoids called Oms, and blue-skinned Draags (an intellectual and somewhat meditative race). The Draags are the superior race on the planet, with the Oms (who were nabbed from a planet called Terra) resigned to being slaves or pets for the younger Draags. We follow one particular Om child through the years, given the name Terr. Eventually Terr becomes accustomed to life as a pet, until his Draag owner grows up and loses interest in Terr. Terr eventually hooks up with a bunch of other Oms on the lam, so to speak. Meanwhile, it is decided that the Oms have become a problem for the Draags, and must be exterminated. But that may not be as simple as they think, as the Oms have become educated, and learn of this extermination plan, as they prepare to launch an uprising.   One of the weirdest animated films you’ll ever see, this 1973 French/Czech sci-fi flick from debut director Rene Laloux (a Frenchman) and co-writer Roland...