The Amati Girls 2000  PG, 91 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Anne DeSalvo
Cast: Mercedes Ruehl, Paul Sorvino, Cloris Leachman, Sean Young, Dinah Manoff, Lily Knight, Lee Grant, Mark Harmon, Jamey Sheridan, Marissa Leigh
Three generations of the Amati women, each having her own set of problems, must contend with sisters, mothers, and daughters who don't hesitate to make their own thoughts known. Unfortunately, the good cast cannot compensate for this bad movie.
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 Arthur 1981  PG, 97 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Steve Gordon
Cast: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, Stephen Elliott, John Gielgud, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jill Eikenberry, Ted Ross, Barney Martin, Paul Gleason, Anne DeSalvo
A billionaire alcoholic (Dudley Moore) falls in love with a poor waitress (Liza Minnelli) with a heart of gold and stands to lose a fortune for not marrying the girl his family has planned for him. The best part of this film, however, is John Gielgud's Oscar-winning performance as Arthur's long-suffering valet. An Oscar was also awarded for Best Song: "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)." Dudley Moore was nominated for Best Actor.
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Compromising Positions 1985 R, 98 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Frank Perry
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Raul Julia, Mary Beth Hurt, Edward Herrmann, Judith Ivey, Anne DeSalvo, Josh Mostel, Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Deborah Rush
Susan Isaacs wrote the screenplay for this film based on her novel of the same name. When a skirt-chasing dentist is murdered in New York, a local homemaker turns amateur sleuth. Some pretty good (black) humor keeps this from being a bomb.
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D.C. Cab 1983  R, 100 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Max Gail, Adam Baldwin, Mr. T, Charlie Barnett, Gary Busey, DeWayne Jessie, Irene Cara, Anne DeSalvo
Harold (Max Gail) owns a rundown taxi company whose cars are dilapidated and its drivers are out in left field. Then Albert (Adam Baldwin) arrives on the scene, and he tries to turn things around. But, it takes a kidnapping for the cabbies to heed Albert's advice.
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Hi-Life 1998 R, 90 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Roger Hedden
Cast: Campbell Scott, Eric Stoltz, Daryl Hannah, Charles Durning, Katrin Cartlidge, Moira Kelly, Peter Riegert, Anne DeSalvo, Saundra Santiago, Bruce MacVittie
It's Christmastime, and Ray (Campbell Scott) runs a bar in New York where the usual group is gathered spreading the cheer. Meanwhile, Jimmy (Eric Stoltz) is in debt to Fatty (Charles Durning), and Jimmy needs a way to pay it off–fast. So, maybe the unpopular Jimmy can get his girlfriend (who happens to be the sister of Ray) to get the cash from Ray.
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Lovesick 1983 PG, 95 min.
Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Director: Marshall Brickman
Cast: Dudley Moore, Alec Guinness, Elizabeth McGovern, John Huston, Wallace Shawn, Alan King, Renee Taylor, Ron Silver, Gene Saks, David Strathairn, Christine Baranski, Kent Broadhurst, Anne DeSalvo
Saul Benjamin (Dudley Moore) is a married psychiatrist who is about to commit the #1 professional taboo: he is falling in love with his patient Chloe Allen (Elizabeth McGovern). He ignores the advice of Sigmund Freud's ghost (Alec Guinness) and enters into a passionate affair with Chloe. Will he eventually heed Freud's advice or continue with the affair?
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My Favorite Year 1982   PG, 92 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Richard Benjamin
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Jessica Harper, Lainie Kazan, Mark Linn-Baker, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Anne DeSalvo, Basil Hoffman, Lou Jacobi, Cameron Mitchell
The year is 1952, and the TV show "The Comedy Cavalcade" is about to debut starring an aging film star. One of the show's young writers is given the job of watching over the film star and ensuring that he does not come into contact with any alcohol before showtime. This film gives an inside look at the pressures of those days when TV was "live" and anything could happen. Peter O'Toole was nominated for an Oscar. 1 User Review
| User Review |
| | A fine comedy. 6 or 7 scenes are worth their weight in gold. | 1fatts 03/12/2007 | Richard Benjamin's first directing job is surprisingly assured and successful. The apocryphal story is that when Mel Brooks was the junior writer on Sid Ceaser's Your Show of Shows, the reknowned actor, womanizer and drunk, Errol Flynn, was scheduled to be the week's guest, and Mel Brooks was assigned to babysit Flynn and make sure he showed up sober. Brooks claims it never happened and, in fact, that Flynn was never on the show. Who cares! It's a great premise anyway. Peter O'toole turns in another over-the-top performance as the Flynn character, here named "Allan Swan". Those of us old enough to remember Caeser in his hayday really appreciate the take that Joseph Bologna does on the character. The scene where the young writer, Stone nee Steinberg, takes the matinee idol home to Brookyn for dinner (His aunt shows up in her wedding gown; "I only wore it once" she says in a New York Yiddish accent.) is hard to over-appreciate.
The movie lags here and there and ten or twelve minutes of tightening would have been to the good, but I'm quibbling. The cast shines; the writing is sharp; and the nod to "Your Show of Shows" brings warmth to those of us who remember when. |
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Spike of Bensonhurst 1988  R, 101 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Paul Morrissey
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Sasha Mitchell, Anne DeSalvo, Sylvia Miles, Geraldine Smith, Talisa Soto, Antonia Rey, Rick Aviles, Christopher Anthony Young, Maria Pitillo
A young boxer, Spike Fumo (Sasha Mitchell), tries to gain success in the ring, but involvement with the Mafia brings on personal problems.
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Stardust Memories 1980 PG, 89 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Jessica Harper, Charlotte Rampling, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts, Daniel Stern, Amy Wright, Cynthia Gibb, John Rothman, Anne DeSalvo
In this Woody Allen film, a director (Woody Allen) has problems dealing with his latest film that reflects what is occurring in his real life.
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Taking Care of Business 1990 R, 108 min.
Genre: Comedy
aka: Filofax
Director: Arthur Hiller
Cast: James Belushi, Charles Grodin, Anne DeSalvo, Loryn Locklin, Stephen Elliott, Hector Elizondo, Veronica Hamel, Mako, Gates McFadden, John de Lancie
Die-hard Cubs' fan/car thief Jimmy (James Belushi) is serving his last two days in prison and wins a pair of World Series tickets to the final game–which includes the Cubs. When the warden refuses to let Jimmy out early, the prison-mates spring Jimmy. Meanwhile, rich businessman Spencer (Charles Grodin) leaves his filofax (holding his personal information, money, and mansion keys) at an airport. Yes, Jimmy finds the filofax and starts the search for Spencer to claim the reward that is offered for the return of the filofax. In the process, he ends up assuming Spencer's identity. Low-level fun, but the Cubs in the World Series? Get real.
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Unstrung Heroes 1995 PG, 93 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Diane Keaton
Cast: Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards, Maury Chaykin, Nathan Watt, Kendra Krull, Anne DeSalvo, Joey Lauren Adams, Candice Azzara, Celia Weston
Based on the Franz Lidz autobiographical novel, this story is set in the early 1960s. The story is about a young boy (Nathan Watt) who seeks refuge with his eccentric uncles while his family tries to deal with his mother's (Andie MacDowell) diagnosis of cancer.
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| 1. The Amati Girls (2000)
2. Arthur (1981)
3. Burglar (1987)
4. Compromising Positions (1985)
5. D.C. Cab (1983)
6. Hi-Life (1998)
7. Lovesick (1983)
8. My Favorite Year (1982)
9. Spike of Bensonhurst (1988)
10. Stardust Memories (1980)
11. Taking Care of Business (1990)
aka: Filofax
12. Unstrung Heroes (1995)
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