Actor David Paymer (1954)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019) is a comedy-drama movie by director Richard Linklater, based on the 2012 novel of the same name written by Maria Semple. The story follows former architect Bernadette Fox, who now struggles with agoraphobia and lives in a rundown schoolhouse in Seattle with her husband Elgie Branch and their daughter Bee. After her award-winning house was destroyed, Bernadette fell into depression and became isolated. Despite having a close bond with Bee, Bernadette rarely ventures outside and fears interaction with others, including their neighbor ...

Into the West (2005) is a TV Miniseries, produced by Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. The six two-hour episodes (including commercials) were first broadcast in the U.S. on Turner Network Television (TNT) over six consecutive Fridays in June and July of 2005. It was also shown in the UK on BBC2 and BBC HD from November 4, 2006, as well as on CBC Television in Canada. In the U.S., AMC aired the series during both summer and fall seasons in 2012. With a setting spanning from the 1820s to 1890, the miniseries follows two families – one white American and one Native American – whose lives become intertwined ...

Bounce (2000) is an American romantic drama film starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow, directed by Don Roos. In Chicago’s O’Hare airport, advertising executive Buddy Amaral finds himself delayed by a snow storm on his return flight to Los Angeles. Coincidentally, it happens to be the same airline that Buddy just signed as a big client. During this time, he crosses paths with writer Greg Janello. When boarding for his flight eventually begins, Buddy selflessly gives his ticket to Greg so that he can make it ...

The American biographical sports drama film, The Hurricane (1999), was directed and produced by Norman Jewison. It tells the story of Rubin ‘The Hurricane’ Carter, a middleweight boxer wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey. After spending nearly two decades in prison, his sentence was finally overturned. The film focuses on Carter’s life from 1966 to 1985 as he fights against the unjust conviction. In parallel, we follow the journey of Lesra Martin, an underprivileged Afro-American youth from Brooklyn now living in Toronto. In the 1980s, Lesra becomes intrigued by ...

Payback (1999) is an American neo-noir action thriller film written and directed by Brian Helgeland in his directorial debut. Porter, a career thief and former U.S. Marine, has been shot and betrayed for $70,000. Following months of recovery, he takes matters into his own hands, using a series of petty thefts and short cons to obtain cash, a new suit, and a revolver. He had previously stolen $140,000 from a local Chinese Triad with the help of his partner-in-crime Val Resnick. However, things took a turn when Val manipulated Porter’s wife Lynn into thinking that he was having an affair with Rosie, a call girl he ...

Based on the 1949 film of the same name, Mighty Joe Young (1998) is a grandiose movie. The plot revolves around a colossal mountain gorilla, Joe, who is taken to a wildlife reserve in Los Angeles by his young caretaker and a zoologist, for his safety against poachers. The film was expertly directed by Ron Underwood. During her childhood, Jill Young and her mother Ruth, who is a primatologist, conduct research on mountain gorillas in the Pangani Mountains of Central Africa. One day, while observing an infant gorilla and its mother, Jill names him Joe. However, their peaceful life is disturbed when poachers led by Andrei ...

Based on the events in 1839, Amistad (1997) is an American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. It depicts the story of Mende tribesmen who were abducted for the slave trade aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad. The men managed to overpower their captors and take control of the ship off the coast of Cuba. This led to an international legal battle after their capture by a U.S. revenue cutter named Washington. Eventually, the case was resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841. The film follows Cinqué, a captive who leads an uprising against the crew, resulting in most of them being killed. Pedro Montes and ...

Get Shorty (1995), an American gangster comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Scott Frank, is based on Elmore Leonard’s novel of the same name. Ernesto ‘Chili’ Palmer, a loan shark and movie enthusiast from Miami, faces trouble when his leather jacket is taken by rival mobster Ray ‘Bones’ Barboni. In retaliation, Chili retrieves it and breaks Bones’ nose. However, Bones later tries to ambush him at his office, only for Chili to shoot first and graze Bones’ ...

Oliver Stone’s American epic historical drama film, Nixon (1995), follows the events of the Watergate scandal. In 1972, members of the White House Plumbers break into The Watergate and are arrested. A year and a half later, Richard Nixon’s Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, provides Nixon with audio tapes regarding the scandal. As they discuss the chaos that ensued from Watergate and the passing of J. Edgar Hoover, Nixon expresses his anger towards John Dean, James McCord, and others involved in the scandal. He even questions why he has not been given a pistol to end his own life like an honorable soldier. Most ...

Heart and Souls (1993) is an American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Ron Underwood. Set in San Francisco in 1959, four individuals board the same night trolleybus. Penny, a single mother, regrets leaving her three children at home to work the night shift. Harrison, a wannabe singer, has backed out of an important audition due to stage fright. Meanwhile, Julia leaves her job as a waitress to visit her boyfriend John, who had proposed to her but was rejected. Milo, a small-time thief, also joins them after failing to retrieve valuable stamps that he had swindled off a young boy. The trolleybus driver is Hal, who ...