Actor Mike Starr (1950)

The Black Dahlia (2006), an American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Brian De Palma and written by Josh Friedman, is based on the 1987 novel of the same name by James Ellroy. The plot is inspired by the widely sensationalized murder of Elizabeth Short. LAPD detectives Dwight ‘Bucky’ Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are partners, paired after engaging in a boxing match to raise public support for the department. During this time, Lee introduces Bucky to his girlfriend Kay Lake, and the three become ...

The black comedy film, Elvis Has Left the Building (2004), directed by Joel Zwick features a star-studded cast. Kim Basinger plays a cosmetics saleswoman who unknowingly ends up killing multiple Elvis impersonators while on her way to a convention in Las Vegas. The role of her love interest, an advertising executive, is portrayed by John Corbett. A surprise cameo from Tom Hanks as one of the deceased Elvis impersonators adds to the comedic tone. In her final role before 2024, ...

Jersey Girl (2004), a American comedy-drama film written, co-edited and directed by Kevin Smith, follows the story of Oliver ‘Ollie’ Trinké. Ollie is a successful media publicist who falls in love with Gertrude Steiney, a young Latina woman. The two quickly get married and are overjoyed with their relationship. However, after six or seven months of marriage, Gertrude discovers she is pregnant. Despite this exciting news, Ollie becomes consumed with his work and neglects Gertrude in favor of his job. He ignores any signs of her struggling and continues to pile on more responsibilities for himself. Eventually, ...

James and the Giant Peach (1996) is a musical fantasy animated film, based on Roald Dahl’s novel of the same name, and directed by Henry Selick. In the summer of 1948, James Henry Trotter, an English orphan, lives with his cruel aunts Spiker and Sponge after his parents were devoured by a flying rhinoceros on his birthday. One day, while saving a spider from his aunts’ wrath, James receives enchanted ‘crocodile tongues’ from a mysterious stranger. These magical objects have the ability to make anything they touch grow to enormous proportions. But ...

The American biographical comedy-drama, Ed Wood (1994), was directed and produced by Tim Burton. At the time, Ed was determined to make a name for himself in the film industry. He heard that producer George Weiss was looking to purchase Christine Jorgensen’s life story from an announcement in Variety magazine. Hoping to direct a film based on this story titled I Changed My Sex!, Ed met with Weiss, but was not selected. However, he did have the opportunity to meet his lifelong idol, horror film star Bela Lugosi, and their friendship began. Convinced that having a well-known actor in the film would attract ...

The American romantic thriller drama film, The Bodyguard (1992), is directed by Mick Jackson and written by Lawrence Kasdan. It follows the story of Rachel Marron, an Academy Award-nominated actress and music superstar who is being targeted by a stalker. In the wake of a bomb explosion in her dressing room, Bill Devaney, her manager, enlists the help of Frank Farmer, a professional bodyguard with prior experience working for the Secret Service during Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan’s presidential terms. Despite initial hesitations, Frank takes on the job to protect ...

Goodfellas (1990) is a biographical crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. Set in Brooklyn during the mid-1950s, the film follows Henry Hill as he becomes infatuated with the Mafia lifestyle in his Italian-American neighborhood. Working under caporegime Paulie Cicero and alongside his fellow delinquents Jimmy ‘the Gent’ Conway and Tommy DeVito, Henry starts off as a fence for Jimmy and gradually progresses to more serious crimes. The trio spends their evenings at the Copacabana nightclub, indulging in their glamorous lifestyle surrounded by women. Despite initial concerns about Henry’s criminal ...

Radio Days (1987), an American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, nostalgically looks back at the golden age of radio in the late 1930s and 1940s. Set in Rockaway Beach, New York, it follows a working-class family, with fictional narrator Joe (voiced by Allen himself) recounting their adventures. Among these is how two burglars stumbled upon a radio show while robbing a home. For Joe, old radio songs evoke childhood memories of his time living with his modest Jewish-American family in Rockaway Beach during the late 1930s and early 1940s. His mother was ...