Adam 2009  PG-13, 99 min.
Genre: Drama / Comedy / Romance
Director: Max Mayer
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison, Mark Linn-Baker, Haviland Morris, Adam LeFevre, Mike Hodge, Peter O'Hara, John Rothman, Susan Porro, Maddie Corman, Terry Walters, Jeff Hiller
Beth Buchwald (Rose Byrne) moves into her Manhattan apartment and soon meets her new neighbor, Adam Raki (Hugh Dancy). Adam, who suffers from Aspberger's Syndrome, lacks communication skills and is often embarrassed, but Beth is intrigued by Adam. They form a friendship despite concerns of Beth's mother Rebecca (Amy Irving), and, as their friendship deepens, Beth pulls Adam into the outside world.
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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
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| | 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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Noises Off 1992   PG-13, 102 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Cast: Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, Denholm Elliott, Julie Hagerty, Marilu Henner, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Mark Linn-Baker, Nicollette Sheridan
Based on Michael Frayn's play, this is the story of how eccentric theatrical actors and stagehands manage to get off the ground and onto Broadway. 1 User Review
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| | Imperfect for sure, but a classroom in comic timing | 1fatts 03/14/2007 | The third act is unnecessary and unbelievable. The finale is so artificial that it passeth all justification.
But Bogdanovich is a master of comic timing. (Watch the opening scenes of "What's Up Doc?" sometime.) And this movie is worth the price of admission just to watch the timing in the first two acts. The actors are one-dimensional, but it is a farce, and they are meant to be one-dimensional. We expected this level of work from Carol Burnett -- frankly, we saw it every week on TV for years -- bit John Ritter is a revelation as a physical comic and Christopher Reeve is really quite good as an understated comic foil.
Watch the first half anyway. If fact, watch it twice. |
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Twelve and Holding 2006 R, 94 min.
Genre: Drama
aka: 12 and Holding
Director: Michael Cuesta
Cast: Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Zoe Weizenbaum, Jeremy Renner, Linus Roache, Annabella Sciorra, Jayne Atkinson, Marcia DeBonis, Tom McGowan, Bruce Altman, Mark Linn-Baker, Tony Roberts
Rudy and twin brother Jacob (both played by Conor Donovan), Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum), and Leonard (Jesse Camacho) make up a tight group of friends. When Rudy is killed by local bullies who set fire to their tree house with Rudy in it, each of the group deals with the tragedy in their own way. Timid Jacob, who is self-conscious because of a large birthmark on his face, visits the jailed boys who set the fire to find out their motivation despite the grievances of his parents. Malee becomes infatuated with a construction worker who is one of her psychotherapist mother's clients, and obese Leonard starts working out and dieting while encouraging his overweight mother to do the same. A good coming-of-age film on coping with tragedy. Fine sound track.
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| 1. Adam (2009)
2. My Favorite Year (1982)
3. Noises Off (1992)
4. Raggedy Ann and Andy (1977)
5. Twelve and Holding (2006)
aka: 12 and Holding
In The News
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