Actor Ricky Jay (1946)

The movie The Great Buck Howard (2008) is directed by Sean McGinly. Troy Gable, despite his father’s disapproval, leaves law school to chase his dream of becoming a writer in Los Angeles. He lands a job as a road manager for fading mentalist, ‘The Great’ Buck Howard. Troy accompanies Buck on tours to smaller cities like Bakersfield and Akron, where he grows fond of the mentalist’s signature trick – finding a hidden fee from an audience member every night without fail (reportedly done 6,000 times with only nine failures by Kreskin). A reluctant publicist named Valerie Brennan is sent to join ...

In the drama film Last Days (2005), directed, produced, and written by Gus Van Sant, we witness a fictionalized portrayal of a musician’s final days, loosely based on Kurt Cobain. The central character, Blake, breaks out of a rehab facility and makes his way back home through the forest. After swimming through a lake and spending the night by a fire, he returns to his house and changes his clothes before wandering around with a shotgun in hand. Among his roommates – Scott, Luke, Asia, and Nicole – is Thadeus A. Thomas, who chats with him about advertising in the upcoming Yellow Pages book. Despite ...

Heist (2001) is an American heist film written and directed by David Mamet. The story follows Joe Moore, the leader of a team of skilled thieves consisting of Bobby Blane, Donnie ‘Pinky’ Pincus, and Joe’s wife Fran. During a jewelry store robbery in New York City, Joe’s uncovered face is caught on camera as he attempts to distract the store’s last employee. Knowing that both the photo and a witness can identify him, Joe decides to retire from crime and escape with his wife on their sailboat. However, this doesn’t sit well with Mickey Bergman, Joe’s fence who runs a garment ...

Magnolia (1999), an American drama film directed and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, follows Los Angeles police officer Jim Kurring as he investigates a disturbance at a woman’s apartment. Inside, he discovers a body in the closet. A neighborhood boy named Dixon futilely attempts to reveal the identity of the murderer to Jim. Later, Jim visits Claudia Wilson’s apartment after her neighbors call the police during an argument with her estranged father, Jimmy Gator. Despite her erratic behavior and drug use, Jim still asks her out on a date. Meanwhile, Jimmy is dying of cancer and hosts a quiz show called ...

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), a spy film and the eighteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, stars Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode and written by Bruce Feirstein, the film follows Bond as he is sent into the field by MI6 to investigate a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border. Despite M’s insistence on allowing Bond to complete his reconnaissance mission, Royal Navy Admiral Roebuck takes matters into his own hands and orders the frigate ...