Tag Archives: teacher

American Splendor

IMDB Rating: 7.70
14326 votes

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Storyline
Harvey Pekar is file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. When, years later, Crumb finds international success for his underground comics, the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes his American Splendor a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self portrait. First published in 1976, the comic earns Harvey cult fame throughout the 1980s and eventually leads him to the sardonic Joyce Barber, a partner in a Delaware comic book store who end ups being Harvey's true soul mate as they experience the bizarre byproducts of Harvey's cult celebrity stature.
Actors
SupermanChris Ambrose
BatmanJoey Krajcar
RobinJosh Hutcherson

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

IMDB Rating: 6.70
30769 votes

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Storyline
Toula Portokalos is 30, Greek, and works in her family's restaurant, Dancing Zorba's, in Chicago. All her father Gus wants is for her to get married to a nice Greek boy. But Toula is looking for more in life. Her mother convinces Gus to let her take some computer classes at college (making him think it's his idea). With those classes under her belt, she then takes over her aunt's travel agency (again making her father think it's his idea). She meets Ian Miller, a high school English teacher, WASP, and dreamboat she had made a fool of herself over at the restaurant; they date secretly for a while before her family finds out. Her father is livid over her dating a non-Greek. He has to learn to accept Ian; Ian has to learn to accept Toula's huge family, and Toula has to learn to accept herself.
Actors
Toula PortokalosNia Vardalos
Gus PortokalosMichael Constantine
Ian MillerJohn Corbett

The Laramie Project

IMDB Rating: 7.20
2485 votes

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Storyline
'Moisés Kaufman' (qv) and members of New York's Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, Wyoming after the murder of 'Matthew Shepard (I)' (qv). This is a film version of the play they wrote based on more than 200 interviews they conducted in Laramie. It follows and in some cases re-enacts the chronology of Shepherd's visit to a local bar, his kidnap and beating, the discovery of him tied to a fence, the vigil at the hospital, his death and funeral, and the trial of his killers. It mixes real news reports with actors portraying friends, family, cops, killers, and other Laramie residents in their own words. It concludes with a Laramie staging of "Angels in America" a year after Shephard's death.
Actors
Romaine PattersonChristina Ricci
Doc O'ConnerSteve Buscemi
Sherry JohnsonLaura Linney

Whale Rider

IMDB Rating: 7.90
12227 votes

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Storyline
On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.
Actors
PaikeaKeisha Castle-Hughes
KoroRawiri Paratene
Nanny FlowersVicky Haughton

Sidewalks of New York

IMDB Rating: 6.50
2902 votes

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Storyline
Six New Yorkers have an interrelated series of relationships. TV producer Tommy, who's just broken up with his girlfriend, has a short relationship with commitment-phobe Maria, who he meets in a video store, and also hooks up with married real-estate agent Annie, who he meets while apartment hunting. Annie is open to a relationship because her husband, Griffin, is cheating on her, which she slowly comes to realize through talking to her friend/co-worker who's gone through the same thing. Griffin, a 39-year-old dentist, is cheating with 19-year-old waitress Ashley, who he picked up in a park; she realizes she can do better when Ben, a hotel doorman and aspiring musician, tries to pick her up, in a belated attempt to recover from his divorce a year ago from schoolteacher Maria (the same Maria from the video store). Most of these relationships seem driven more by a desperate need to be in a relationship than actual love.
Actors
Young HookerPenny Balfour
Thomas 'Tommy' ReillyEdward Burns
Gio/HarryMichael Leydon Campbell

Donnie Darko

IMDB Rating: 8.30
103769 votes

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Storyline
Donnie Darko gets along badly with his family, with his teachers and with his classmates; but he does manage to find a sympathetic friend in Gretchen, who agrees to date him; and he has a compassionate psychiatrist, who discovers hypnosis is the means to unlock hidden secrets. His other companion may not be a true ally. Donnie has a friend named Frank, who is either a large purple bunny, or man in a large purple bunny costume. Either way, Donnie is the only one who can see him. When an engine falls off a plane and destroys his room, Donnie is not there. Both the event, and Donnie's escape, seem to have been caused by supernatural events. Donnie's mental illness, if such it is, may never allow him to find out for sure.
Actors
Drew Barrymore
Jena Malone
Donnie DarkoJake Gyllenhaal

The Sixth Sense

IMDB Rating: 8.20
141773 votes

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Storyline
Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient. After this encounter, Crowe takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient. This boy "sees dead people". Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy (Cole) much to the dismay of his wife. Cole's mom is at her wit's end with what to do about her son's increasing problems. Crowe is the boy's only hope.
Actors
Dr. Malcolm CroweBruce Willis
Cole SearHaley Joel Osment
Lynn SearToni Collette

Wild Things

IMDB Rating: 6.60
20037 votes

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Storyline
When High School Guidance counselor Sam Lombardo is accused of raping the popular student Kelly Van Ryan, his carefully structured life is ruined. But as the case heads to trial, an outcast school girl Suzie, may have information to free Sam. But the investigating Detective Ray, thinks that a more devious plan is at work that involves Sam, Kelly, and Suzie. As Ray digs deeper into the case, he uncovers a scheme that has very high stakes and where nothing is as it seems.
Actors
Sam LombardoMatt Dillon
Sgt. Ray DuquetteKevin Bacon
Suzie Marie TollerNeve Campbell

Young Guns II

IMDB Rating: 5.80
6688 votes

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Storyline
The movie begins with the aging Brushy Bill Roberts narrating his story to a young historian. His claim? He claims that he is the famous outlaw William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, who was supposedly shot and killed by Patrick Floyd Garrett in 1881. The old man gives a very convincing story on how he and Garrett, along with Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh, Chavez y Chavez, Doc Skurlock, and a few others led the outlaw life and avoided the law, as they were wanted men. Garrett, a friend of Billy's, was paid by John Chisum, a cattle king, to eliminate Billy the Kid. So, Garrett and Ashmun Upson set out on a journey to find Billy the Kid.
Actors
William H. 'Billy the Kid' BonneyEmilio Estevez
Josiah Gordon 'Doc' ScurlockKiefer Sutherland
'Jose' Chavez y ChavezLou Diamond Phillips

Back to the Future Part III

IMDB Rating: 6.70
29109 votes

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Storyline
The movie continues where the last one with Marty stuck in 1955. But Doc Brown sent him a letter from 1855 through Western Union, that told him that after the Delorean was struck by lightning he was sent to 1855 and was unable to repair it, but has managed to bury it somewhere, where Marty can get to it in 1955 and hopefully the younger version of himself can repair it so he can drive it back to 1985 and then destroy it. But after finding it, Marty discovers that shortly after sending the letter Doc would be shot by an outlaw, Mad Dog Tannen. Marty then goes back to 1885 to save him and meets his ancestors. After finding the Doc, they were about to leave when Marty told the Doc that upon arriving the Delorean's gas tank was punctured, so they don't have any gasoline to run the car, which means they have to find some way to get the car to 88 mph. They decide to try pushing it with a locomotive. And things are fine except for the fact that Tannen, who had it in for Doc, now has it for Marty and has challenged him to gunfight on the day that they are going to leave, and Doc is smitten with Clara Clayton, the new school teacher.
Actors
Richard Dysart
ZZ Top
Marty McFly/Seamus McFlyMichael J. Fox