Actor Ben Stiller (1965)

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), a American comedy-drama film by Noah Baumbach, follows the story of Danny Meyerowitz. After splitting from his wife, Danny moves in with his father, Harold, a retired art professor and sculptor at Bard College. Alongside Harold is his fourth wife, Maureen, a pleasant but hazy hippie. Danny has a sister named Jean and a younger half-brother named Matthew. He is also very close to his daughter, Eliza, who is a freshman studying film at Bard. During one family gathering, Eliza shares one of her controversial films with them. Although shocked, the family manages to praise its energy and ...

While We’re Young (2014) is an American comedy-drama film by Noah Baumbach. The film follows Josh and Cornelia Srebnick, a married couple and filmmakers living in New York City. Josh has been working on his documentary about leftist intellectual Ira Mandelstam for the past decade, without allowing his producer wife to assist. After giving a lecture at the college where he teaches, Josh meets Jamie and Darby Massey – a young couple who invite him and Cornelia to dinner. Jamie admires Josh’s work and that of his father-in-law, esteemed documentary filmmaker Leslie Breitbart. As they spend more time with ...

Madly Madagascar (2013) is a Valentine’s Day-inspired short film, released on January 29, 2013. All the familiar characters from the Madagascar film series make an appearance in this direct-to-DVD production. Set sometime between the franchise’s second and third films, it boasts an impressive lineup of voice actors, including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Notably, Danny ...

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) is a comedy film from DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount Pictures. The penguins and chimpanzees take off for Monte Carlo in a modified airplane. However, when they fail to return, Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, King Julien, Maurice, and Mort decide to track them down and bring them back to their home at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. They eventually locate them at the Monte Carlo Casino, but things quickly escalate as an argument erupts between Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria. In the chaos that follows, the animals manage to escape from Captain Chantel DuBois of Monaco’s ...

The film, Tower Heist (2011), directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Griffin and Jeff Nathanson, is based on a story by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Griffin. Josh Kovaks manages The Tower, a luxurious apartment complex in New York City with Wall Street mogul Arthur Shaw living in the penthouse. As a favor to Shaw, Josh entrusts him with the hotel staff’s pension ...

Megamind (2010) is an American animated superhero comedy film from DreamWorks Animation and PDI/DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount Pictures. The main characters, supervillain Megamind and the superhero Metro Man, are both aliens who arrived on Earth as infants after their planets were consumed by a black hole. Despite arriving in the same city at the same time, their upbringings are vastly different – Metro Man is raised in luxury while Megamind grows up in prison. Attending the same school as his nemesis, Megamind faces constant bullying until he decides to embrace his destiny as a supervillain. This sparks a fierce rivalry between him and Metro Man that ...

The American comedy-drama film Greenberg (2009), directed by Noah Baumbach, follows the story of Florence Marr as she works as a personal assistant for the Greenberg family in Hollywood Hills. Prior to their trip to Vietnam, Phillip Greenberg informs her that his brother Roger will be staying at the house while he builds a doghouse for their German Shepherd, Mahler. Carol opens up to Florence about how Roger has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital after having a nervous breakdown. When Roger arrives from New York City, he has an awkward interaction with Florence. He spends his days constructing the ...

The Christmas special, Merry Madagascar (2009), was first aired on NBC on November 17, 2009. It features the beloved characters from the Madagascar film series and is set between the first and second movies. After two months have passed since their previous adventure, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria attempt to return to New York City in a hot air balloon. However, their plans are foiled by the lemurs who mistake them for the “Marauding Red Night Goblin” that visits their island every year. This leads to a chaotic situation as the “Goblin” showers coals over the island. In an effort to stop it, Alex shoots it down and discovers that it ...

Tropic Thunder (2008), a satirical action comedy film directed and co-written by Ben Stiller, tells the story of a film adaptation of Hook-handed Vietnam veteran Staff Sergeant John ‘Four Leaf’ Tayback’s memoir. The cast includes has-been action hero Tugg Speedman, five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus, closeted homosexual rapper Alpa Chino, and drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy. Despite newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky’s reliability, the rest of the actors cause chaos for inexperienced director Damien Cockburn. With the project falling behind schedule and ...

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) is a comedic animated film from DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/DreamWorks, distributed by Paramount Pictures. In Kenya, Zuba, the alpha lion, attempts to teach his son Alakay how to fight, but Alakay’s true passion lies in dancing. However, rival lion Makunga challenges Zuba for his title. During their confrontation, poachers capture Alakay and place him in a crate. Zuba pursues them but is injured by a gunshot to the ear. The crate eventually finds its way to New York City where the young lion is renamed Alex and grows up at the Central Park Zoo. Here he meets his lifelong friends: Marty, Melman, and Gloria. After their ...

In School for Scoundrels (2006), an American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder play characters who face ridicule in their daily lives. For example, Roger, a downtrodden meter reader, dreams of dating his building’s foreign graduate student, Amanda, but lacks self-esteem. To boost his confidence and win her heart, he enrolls in a course taught by Dr. P. Unfortunately, this turns out to be no easy fix as Dr. P and his assistant Lesher constantly bully and humiliate their students ...

Madagascar (2005) is an animated film from DreamWorks, with production by DreamWorks Animation SKG and PDI/Dreamworks, and distribution by DreamWorks Pictures. In bustling New York City, Alex the lion resides in the Central Park Zoo as a popular attraction known as ‘King of New York’. He shares his days with his close-knit group of friends: Melman the giraffe, Gloria the hippopotamus, and Marty the zebra, who is Alex’s best pal. However, Marty becomes restless with his mundane routine and yearns for a taste of adventure. On his tenth birthday, despite attempts from his friends to cheer him up, Marty learns that the zoo’s penguins – ...

Directed by Todd Phillips, Starsky & Hutch (2004) is an American comedy featuring two Bay City Police detectives. David Starsky, known for his love of his 1974 Ford Gran Torino and his tendency to recklessly chase minor offenders, is paired with the laid-back Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson as punishment for their recent escapades. As they adjust to working together, they stumble upon a new form of untraceable cocaine developed by drug lord Reese Feldman and his associate Kevin. When one of Feldman’s dealers fails him, he resorts to violence and disposes of the body in the bay.

The American comedy-drama film, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), was directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson. In the film, Royal Tenenbaum informs his three teenage children, Chas, Margot, and Richie, about his impending separation from his wife Etheline. Each of the children had achieved impressive accomplishments at a young age. Chas was a genius in both math and business, but Royal would often steal money from him. Margot, who was adopted, had received a grant for a play she wrote in ninth grade. Meanwhile, Richie excelled as a tennis prodigy and artist ...

Keeping the Faith (2000) is an American romantic comedy film written by Stuart Blumberg. In a New York City bar, a drunken Catholic priest named Brian Finn fills the bartender in on the ongoing love triangle involving himself, his best friend Jake Schram (a Jewish rabbi), and their childhood friend Anna Reilly. While Brian has been devoted to his calling as a priest since childhood, he shares his duties at the parish with an elderly priest named Father Havel. Jake, who has been inseparable from Brian since they were kids, is now the youngest rabbi at his synagogue and focuses heavily on his work to the disappointment of ...

Black and White (1999), an American drama film by director James Toback, follows the life of Rich Bower. As a mover and shaker in the rap music scene, he is also involved in numerous other legitimate and illegitimate business ventures. His apartment serves as a popular gathering spot for musicians, hangers-on, and hipsters striving to fit into what they perceive as the most fashionable crowd. Among them are a group of white kids seeking acceptance within this community. Sam Shields, a filmmaker, is working on a documentary about Rich and his inner circle with the assistance of her husband Terry Downey, who feels out of ...