Actor Bob Balaban (1945)

The French Dispatch (2021) is an American comedy drama film. Written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he co-created with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman, it boasts a sprawling cast and tells three unique tales set within the fictional French foreign bureau of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun newspaper’s concluding edition. In the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé (translated as “boredom on jaded”), Arthur ...

Isle of Dogs (2018) is a stop-motion animated comedy film written, produced, and directed by Wes Anderson, narrated by Courtney B. Vance. In the year 2038, a canine flu outbreak hits Japan, affecting the fictional city of Megasaki. The virus poses a threat to humans as well. In response, Mayor Kenji Kobayashi implements a decree banishing all dogs to Trash Island. This decision is made despite Professor Watanabe’s pleas for more time to find a cure. The first dog to be deported is Spots Kobayashi, a white and black-spotted canine who happens to be the bodyguard of ...

Condor (2018–2020) is a thriller series based on James Grady’s novel Six Days of the Condor and its 1975 film adaptation Three Days of the Condor, written by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel. The show features Max Irons in the lead role. Created by Todd Katzberg, Jason Smilovic, and Ken Robinson, it ...

The war film, The Monuments Men (2014), was both directed and written by George Clooney with Grant Heslov as producer. As the Allies made progress pushing back the Axis powers in Italy in 1943, Frank Stokes convinced President Roosevelt that preserving the artistic treasures of Western civilization was crucial. In response, Stokes was tasked with assembling a specialized Army unit, known as the ‘Monuments Men’, consisting of museum directors, curators, art historians, and an architect. Their mission was two-fold: to advise Allied units and recover stolen art ...

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) is an American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Roman Coppola. Set on the New England island of New Penzance, 12-year-olds Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop cross paths at Camp Ivanhoe, a Khaki Scout summer camp run by Scout Master Randy Ward. While Sam is an orphan, Suzy lives with her parents Walt and Laura, both lawyers, and her younger brothers in their home named Summer’s End. Despite their similar introverted nature and intelligence beyond their years, they first meet during a church performance of ...

Lady in the Water (2006) is a riveting fantasy thriller by acclaimed director M. Night Shyamalan, who also produced alongside Sam Mercer. The story follows Cleveland Heep, the newly appointed superintendent of a Philadelphia apartment complex, whose tragic past drives him to discover a mysterious Narf named Story in the pool. Just as he saves her from the clutches of a Scrunt, an eerie wolf-like creature camouflaged in grass, she reveals she has come to find the Writer – a person with magical powers who will pen a book that will save humanity. When Heep mentions ...

The Mexican (2001), an American dark comedy adventure crime film by Gore Verbinski, takes place in Los Angeles. You hear a car accident off-screen as a traffic light turns red. Five years pass and Jerry Welbach has been paying off his debt to Arnold Margolese, a mob boss now behind bars. But when Jerry messes up his last task, Bernie Nayman, Margolese’s right-hand man, assigns him a new final mission: retrieve an antique pistol named ‘the Mexican’ from a man called Beck in Mexico. This job pushes Jerry’s girlfriend Sam over the edge and she leaves for Las Vegas. Upon arriving in Mexico, Jerry ...

The American romantic drama film, The Majestic (2001), was produced and directed by Frank Darabont and written by Michael Sloane. Set in 1951 during the height of McCarthyism, the story follows Peter Appleton, a rising young Hollywood screenwriter. He is informed by his agent Leo Kubelsky and attorney Kevin Bannerman that he has been accused of being a communist due to attending an antiwar gathering in college. Despite claiming he only went to impress a girl, the accusation causes his latest film, Ashes to Ashes, to be delayed and credited to someone else. It also leads ...

Deconstructing Harry (1997) is a dark comedy film from the United States that Woody Allen wrote, directed, and acted in. One evening, Lucy hails a taxi to visit Harry Block, a well-known author in Manhattan. Recently finishing his latest book, Lucy is upset to see that her own affair with Harry has been used as inspiration for the character Leslie’s affair with her sister’s husband Ken. Enraged by this public portrayal of their relationship, Lucy pulls out a gun she had concealed in her purse and threatens to take her own life. She then turns the weapon on Harry and begins shooting at him. As he runs away ...

Alice (1990), an American fantasy romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, follows the story of Alice Tate. Alice is an upper-class Manhattan homemaker who indulges in shopping, beauty treatments, and gossip with her friends. After being married to the wealthy Doug for 16 years, their two children are primarily raised by a nanny. One day, she meets Joe Ruffalo, a handsome jazz musician, and feels drawn to him. Despite her Catholic guilt for these emotions, which eventually manifest as a backache, she seeks help from Dr. Yang – an Asian herbalist who hypnotizes her. Under hypnosis, Alice reveals ...

2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) is a United States-produced science fiction film written, shot and directed by Peter Hyams. Acting as a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s famous 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and based on Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2010: Odyssey Two (published in 1982), the movie follows a joint American-Soviet team sent to Jupiter to uncover the reason for the failure of the previous Discovery One mission. In this timeline, nine years have passed since the five crew members, ...

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is a compelling science fiction drama film written and directed by the renowned Steven Spielberg. During an expedition in the Sonoran Desert, French researcher Claude Lacombe, along with his American interpreter David Laughlin and other members of their team, make a surprising discovery – Flight 19. This group of United States Navy Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers had mysteriously disappeared while flying over the Bermuda Triangle on December 5th, 1945. To everyone’s surprise, the planes are found unoccupied but perfectly preserved. Nearby, an elderly witness ...