Actor Oliver Platt (1960)

Chef (2014) is an American comedy-drama film that centers around Miami-born Carl Casper, the head chef at Gauloises in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Despite being popular with his staff and hostess Molly, Carl clashes with the restaurant’s owner, Riva. She wants him to stick to traditional dishes instead of his innovative creations. Carl also has a troubled relationship with his ex-wife Inez and their tech-savvy son Percy. During a visit from food critic Ramsey Michel, Riva insists that Carl stick to old favorites rather than trying something new. These demands lead to a negative review from Ramsey, which prompts Carl to publicly insult him on Twitter and gain a large ...

Lucky Them (2013), an American comedy-drama film by Megan Griffiths, follows Ellie Klug, a music critic in her 40s at Stax, a dying underground magazine. For her next assignment, Giles, her editor, tasks Ellie with writing about Matthew Smith’s mysterious disappearance and assumed suicide on its 10th anniversary. While most people believe he is dead, Ellie, who was Matthew’s childhood sweetheart and last remained with him before he vanished, remains hopeful of finding him. After an online tip leads her to a potential lead on Matthew’s whereabouts, Giles gives Ellie a thousand dollars to pay the source. ...

The superhero film, X-Men: First Class (2011), is based on the X-Men characters from Marvel Comics. At the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, Nazi officer Klaus Schmidt witnesses a young Erik Lehnsherr using his mind to bend a metal gate after being separated from his parents. Schmidt then takes Erik to his office and asks him to move a coin on his desk. When Erik fails, Schmidt kills his mother. In distress, Erik’s magnetic power suddenly appears and destroys the room. Meanwhile, at a mansion in Westchester County, New York, child telepath Charles Xavier meets Raven, whose natural form is blue-skinned scales and has the ability to shapeshift, and invites her ...

Love & Other Drugs (2010) is a romantic comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Edward Zwick. It is based on the 2005 non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy. The story follows Jamie Randall, who gets fired from his job at an electronics store in Pittsburgh after having an affair with his manager’s girlfriend. His brother Josh helps him get a new job as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Pfizer. Jamie attends their training program and begins selling Zoloft to doctors. However, he faces rejection and ...

An American animated superhero film Wonder Woman (2009) centers on the titular superheroine. It draws inspiration from George Pérez’s reinterpretation of the character, specifically his Gods and Mortals arc featured in the character’s second volume in 1987. The story follows a fierce race of warrior women known as the Amazons, who engage in a battle against Ares, the god of war, and his army. During the confrontation, Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons kills Ares’ soldier Thrax, whom he had forced her to conceive with him. However, before she can deliver the final blow to Ares himself, Zeus intervenes and ...

2012 (2009) is a science fiction film directed and written by Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser. American geologist Adrian Helmsley travels to East India in 2009 to meet with astrophysicist Satnam Tsurutani, where he learns about a new type of neutrino causing the Earth’s core to heat up. Upon his return to Washington D.C., Adrian informs White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and President Thomas Wilson. The following year, over forty-six nations work together to build nine arks in Tibet and secure important artifacts. Nima, a Buddhist monk, is evacuated with his ...

Kinsey (2004) is a biographical drama film written and directed by Bill Condon, exploring the life of Alfred Charles Kinsey, a pioneer in the field of sexology. The movie follows Professor Kinsey as he discusses his sexual history, while also delving into flashbacks from his childhood and young adulthood. These flashbacks show the strict views of his father, a lay minister who believed modern inventions led to sin, and how this affected Kinsey’s upbringing. As a teenager, he faced humiliation for being exposed to cigarettes and later disappoints his father with his chosen career path. The adult Kinsey becomes a ...

A Time to Kill (1996), an American legal drama film, is based on John Grisham’s 1989 novel of the same name. In Canton, Mississippi in 1984, ten-year-old African American girl Tonya Hailey is assaulted by two local white men, Billy Ray Cobb and James Willard, while returning home from running errands. Despite their attempt to hang her and leave her in a nearby river, Tonya manages to survive and the two men are apprehended by Sheriff Ozzie Walls. Seeking justice for his daughter, Tonya’s father Carl Lee Hailey enlists the help of Jake Brigance, a white lawyer who previously defended his brother Lester. ...

Benny & Joon (1993) is an American romantic comedy-drama film by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Following the accidental death of their parents, siblings Benjamin ‘Benny’ Pearl and his mentally ill sister Juniper (‘Joon’) live together. When Joon loses a bet during a poker game with friends and agrees to let Sam, the eccentric cousin of Benny’s friend Mike, stay with them, Benny is initially upset. However, after spending an evening at the local diner with Sam and coming home to find that he has cleaned the house, Benny changes his mind and decides to let Sam ...

Flatliners (1990) is an American film that combines elements of science fiction, horror, and psychology. One medical student named Nelson Wright persuades his peers – Joe, David, Rachel, and Randy – to join him in exploring the mysteries of death. After flatlining for a minute and being brought back to life by his friends, Nelson cryptically mentions seeing a boy from his past who he bullied. The others are intrigued and decide to follow suit. During their experiences with temporary death, Joe is enticed by an erotic encounter reflecting his promiscuous ways. Some disagreement arises between Rachel and David about their determination to remain ...