Big Time (1988)

Director
Chris Blum

Main cast
Tom Waits

Genres
Documentary, Drama, Music, Romance

Description
Bringing his unique sense of humor to this bizarre and original piece of moviemaking, Tom Waits takes the audience through a musical journey with his jazzy, quirky, bluesy tunes presented as you would never, ever, ever expect.


Similar movies

A musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel about life in late 1950s London. Nineteen-year-old photographer Colin is hopelessly in love with model Crepe Suzette, but her relationships are strictly connected with her progress in the fashion world. So Colin gets involved with a pop promoter and tries to crack the big time. Meanwhile, racial tension is brewing in Colin's Notting Hill housing estate...
Set during WW I, Palmer and Hayden team up as vaudeville artists. Harry Palmer deliberately injures his hand to avoid being drafted to the army. Later, he makes up for this. WW I patriotism for a WW II audience, very sentimental, great musical episodes and songs.
When reporter Jean Craddock interviews Bad Blake -- an alcoholic, seen-better-days country music legend -- they connect, and the hard-living crooner sees a possible saving grace in a life with Jean and her young son. But can he leave behind an existence playing in the shadow of Tommy, the upstart kid he once mentored?
Young Cole Carter dreams of hitting the big time as a Hollywood disc jockey, spending his days and nights hanging with buddies and working on the one track that will set the world on fire. Opportunity comes knocking when he meets James Reed, a charismatic DJ who takes the 23-year-old under his wing. Soon, his seemingly clear path to success gets complicated when he starts falling for his mentor's girlfriend, jeopardizing his new friendship and the future he seems destined to fulfill.
Gangotri (Telugu:గంగోత్రి) is a Telugu film which released on March 28, 2003 and was directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. Allu Arjun and Aditi Agarwal played the lead roles. This was Allu Arjun's first film as an actor and K. Raghavendra Rao's 100th film as director. Allu Aravind and C. Ashwini Dutt, both who are big-time producers, produced the film. This film was later dubbed into malayalam under the name "Simhakutty".But this film story lines nearly equals to Victory Venkatesh previous film Chanti.
Lovelife is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Jon Harmon Feldman. The ensemble cast includes Matt Letscher, Sherilyn Fenn, Saffron Burrows, Carla Gugino, Bruce Davison, Jon Tenney and Peter Krause. Lovelife was nominated for a Feature Film Award at the 1997 Austin Film Festival, and won an Audience Award at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. The film was winner of the screenplay award at the L.A. Indie fest.
An all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier meets an eager young lady of the evening. Later he has an affair with a young lady, who becomes a maid and does similarly with the young man of the house. The young man seduces a married woman. On and on, spinning on the gay carousel of life.
Raymond Lembecke (Vincent Gallo) is a con just out of prison after serving time for selling drugs for his mob boss Tony Vago (Rod Steiger). (Lembecke was innocent and took the rap for Vago.) Lembecke thinks Vago owes him big time so, when his former boss gets him a measly job in a warehouse, he decides on revenge and plans to steal a million dollars worth of drugs from him.
Publishing assistant Brett Eisenberg wants to be a big-time editor. However, she lacks self-confidence, a problem that isn't helped by her new, overbearing boss. Brett soon enters into a relationship with Archie, an older man who has plenty of his own issues, including alcoholism, diabetes and a difficult relationship with his daughter. Intent on helping Archie get past his problems, she turns to her dying father for advice.
Apathy, technology, paranoia, disease and medication. Meet Arin. Arin is a shy videographer who finds it too much to handle to go out and meet girls, so he sets up an account on meester.net. The flood of responses never comes, save for one email from Susan, a struggling artist who finds her job as a waitress stifling her creativity. Susan is also on the shy side and is seeking an alternative to the classic dating situation. When Arin and Susan finally meet, that alternative dating situation comes to life as the two refuse to communicate verbally with each other, wanting to avoid bs small talk.
An edgy indie-psychological drama about an alluring but mixed-up L.A. Girl who flip-flops between facing life's uncertainty under her own direction or "the good life" provided by a wealthy, disturbing middle-aged benefactor.
Josh's life is pretty much in the toilet. He's a failed NYC indie rocker, and a failing booking agent. But he finds the potential of a small victory in a really bad idea. He decides to purchase a 1985 Lazy Boy on eBay, just like the one his dad had when Josh was a kid. He'll drive cross-country for the chair, staying with Emily at his brother's house on the way, and deliver it to his father as a surprise birthday gift. But when Rhett ends up coming along for the ride, it's three people and a giant purple puffy chair in a too-small van... and one of them has to go before the trip's end.
Celeste Talbert is the star of the long-running soap opera "The Sun Also Sets." With the show's ratings down, Celeste's ruthlessly ambitious co-star, Montana Moorehead, and the show's arrogant producer, David Seton Barnes, plot to aggravate her into leaving the show by bringing back her old flame, Jeffrey Anderson, and hiring her beautiful young niece, Lori Craven.
Rachel Cartwright and Mitchell Little both grow up in the small town of Providence, Tennessee. Their paths keep intersecting and at one point it looks like they'll finally get together. But the opportunity slips away and they go their separate ways. It takes a tragedy many years later before they're reunited. This time will they let the moment pass or will they finally overcome their insecurities and connect with their soulmate? This beautiful romance is told silent cinema style, using only dramatic action and a soundtrack of eclectic indie music to portray this emotional journey of love.
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem. The story follows the people that visited the club, those that ran it, and is peppered with the Jazz music that made it so famous
Patti Petalson is a promising writer, but her marriage and conventional job keep her from her dream. She longs to return to her writing, especially after running into her first love Brian Callahan, a successful crime novelist. Kate is Patti's best friend since college; she's a tough-talking schoolteacher who plays therapist to all Patti's problems, while she's got a few of her own.
Year 1977, a September morning in Ankara... Yilmaz tries to rush his pregnant wife Neriman to the hospital and he crashes into Omer's car. The causes Omer's pregnant wife Inci, who was in the back seat, to have a pre-term labor. The babies are born on the same day. They see each other for the first time... This accident is the threshold of the coincidences that bring Ozgur and Deniz together. They come across each other in Ankara several times during their childhood and youth. Each intersection has a butterfly effect, resulting in drastic changes in their lives. They sometimes cause disasters, sometimes miracles. However, they can never be together. Whatever it is that brings them together, manages to build a transparent wall between them. Until they come across each other again in Istanbul, 25 years later... --Anonymous (imdb)
Ryuji tries quitting the yakuza to actively support his wife and daughter; as he's used to easy money, it's a difficult transition.
Carnival dancer Lane Bellamy finds herself stranded in a southern town ruled by corrupt political boss Sheriff Titus Semple. Lane becomes romantically involved with Deputy Sheriff Fielding Carlisle, a weakling whose career is being driven by Titus. Seeing Lane as a liability to his own political ambitions, Titus mounts a campaign to get her driven out of town. She finds she can't get a job and even gets arrested on a trumped-up morals charge. Released from jail, Lane finds work as a "hostess" at Lutie-Mae's road house, where she meets Dan Reynolds, another member of the town's political machine. They marry and move to a home on Flamingo Road, the town's social pinnacle. Their marriage is soon marked by scandal when a drunken Carlisle visits Lane at home one evening and shoots himself.
This American Indie drama follows several endearing characters as they wade through life seeking happiness, peace and ultimately, love. Will (Ronnie Kerr, Vampire Boys 2, Shut Up and Kiss Me) leaves the Navy after many years, soon reunites old friends and begins to start his new civilian life. His friend Rich (Bruce L Hart) tries to set him up with ruggedly handsome Josh (Ian Roberts-a former Australian professional rugby player, actor and model-Cedar Boys, Superman Returns, Little Fish). While there is immense chemistry between the two, timing and certain ideals never seem to align. When a shocking tragedy happens the two are paired up to pick up the pieces and sort through the after effects. Saltwater is a story about men of all ages, finding love, losing friends, navigating their way through life and knowing it's the journey rather then the destination that's important.
Lindsay is faced with a life-altering decision as Christmas approaches: Stay in her tiny hometown and marry boyfriend Jason or accept a coveted post teaching at an Ivy League college on the other side of the country. What to do? Fortunately for Lindsay, she has some big-time help in the form of a magical messenger who is able to transport her three years into the future to see how it would all turn out.
Filipino indie film directed by G.A. Villafuerte.
This feature documentary chronicles the last days of Dispatch, quite possibly the biggest band that never signed with a record label. In a time of upheaval in the music industry, their do-it-yourself style started a grassroots fan phenomenon that is changing the way indie bands (and record labels) do business. The band's final concert, "The Last Dispatch" drew 110,000 fans from every U.S. state and 20 foreign countries for one last free show in Boston in July of 2004.
Alison Ellwood’s intimate, meticulously crafted patchwork of rare archival material, concert footage, and unseen home movies explores the evolution and enduring popularity of one of America’s truly defining bands.
Indie director Jim Jarmusch lenses a low-tech tribute to protean rocker Neil Young and his long-standing band, Crazy Horse. Stitched together from archival material shot in 1976 and 1986 along with candid scenes of Young and the band kicking back between shows, this rockumentary is as ragged as it is direct. Concert performances include renditions of hits such as "Sedan Delivery" and "Like a Hurricane."
Journey into the creative process of Brooklyn indie rock band the National with this unique documentary. Filmmaker Vincent Moon's cameras follow the band as they make their fourth album, "Boxer," and work to diversify their sound. More than just a technical examination of the recording process, the film uncovers the mental and emotional challenges, collaborative highs and lows, and quest for fresh ideas that drive this -- or indeed any -- band.
In almost fifteen years, Low became an institution on the indie and alternative scenes. Famous for their quiet, beautiful slow songs, and fascinating harmonies, as well as their religious background (core members Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker are Mormons). For this documentary, a film crew followed Alan and Mimi on tour, at home in Duluth, MN, in their church community, and as parents. It's more than an on-the-road or behind-the-scenes video. It shows Sparhawk as the ambivalent main character in an intriguing movie about religion, violence, conscience, and madness. It can also be seen as a touching love story.
Mocca are Arina (vocal), Riko (guitar), Toma (bass) and Indra (drum). Mocca plays indie pop folk jazz swing bossanova music. They established in 1999, in Bandung, Indonesia. In 2011, the band has to take a break because Arina has to go to the USA to get married. This documentary tells the story of the band members during these 12 years.
Indie folk heroes Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Tennessee’s Old Crow Medicine Show, and Britain’s acclaimed Mumford & Sons, climbed aboard a beautiful vintage train in California, setting out for New Orleans, Louisiana on a “tour of dreams”. The resulting film from this journey is nothing short of magical. Part road movie and part concert film, BIG EASY EXPRESS bears witness to the birth of a new musical era. With poignancy and beauty, Malloy documents these incredible musicians as they ride the rails and wow the crowds, from Oakland… to New Orleans.
The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.
Prey for Rock & Roll is set in the Los Angeles club scene of the late 1980s and follows the story of Jacki (Gershon) and her all-girl punk rock band, Clam Dandy. On the verge of turning 40, Jacki decides that if the band's one last shot at the big time is unsuccessful, she will give up her dreams of stardom. Along the way, the women are rocked by personal tragedies that threaten to break up the band before they can get their last shot at success.
The East High Wildcats are ready to have the time of their lives. Troy (Zac Efron) is thrilled when he’s offered a job in a country club, but it’s all part of Sharpay’s (Ashley Tisdale) plot to lure him away from Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens). How will it all turn out? All questions are answered on the night of the club’s Talent Show.
The film, Play, tells the story of how three young men met in chance encounters, formed a band and got discovered. It chronicles the creative struggles, relational vicissitudes and professional mis-steps the band goes through while under the pressure of trying to attract a label to sign them. Just at the moment when all seems lost, the boys are offered a chance to busk in the lobby where fans are waiting to see the indie folk rock band, The Swell Season. Glen Hansard, its guitarist and singer, catches their performance and invites them to join him on stage. Upon learning that the band has not chosen a name, he introduces them as his mates. Thus, the band, Mate, is named.
Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decide to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wants to make a comeback and replace Patsy both professionally and as Mickey's girl.
Year 1977. Punk and new wave rock´n roll has arrived to remote Finland and a bleak small town Oulu where increasingly odd-looking youths began to appear in the street with a message. Their rebellion speaks to Välde (17). Välde dreams of joining a rock band and becoming famous. He wants to get drunk for the first time, and to win the love of Pike, the most beautiful girl in the class. When Pike wins the Miss Blue Jeans contest organised by the country´s leading (and only) pop music magazine Suosikki and takes as her boyfriend the bourgeois Henri Hakala, Välde puts all his eggs in one basket. He abandons his former self and begins purposefully constructing a new persona for himself. But everything doesn’t go as Välde wanted … The film is based on a novel by Kauko Röyhkä, an author and indie rock musician.
At the heart of "Dreaming in America" is Lucero's story about that amazing thing, too often overlooked: a blue-collar rock group's struggle to survive. As the music industry has exploded over the past few decades and the ability to "move units" has become the defining calculus of the business, it's an incredibly emotional experience to see a band who does it because they have to, because their lives depend on it, and because they love it. There are hundreds of such bands criss-crossing the country at any given moment. This is a film about one of them-a band on the edge of greatness, working to break through. In a happy bit of rock kismet, "Dreaming in America's" cameras started rolling just as Lucero was breaking from its indie rock past and considering the treacherous leap to a major label deal unlike anything seen by the industry before. At that point, the band was between labels and, though it had sold north of 20,000 records.
Live performance by English indie band Foals. Filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the band perform a selection of tracks from throughout their career including 'Spanish Sahara', 'Inhaler', 'My Number' and 'Late Night'.
Indie Game: The Movie is a feature documentary about video games, their creators and the craft. The film follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. The film tells the emotional story of friends Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes, as they craft their first Xbox game: "Super Meat Boy". It follows Phil Fish, the creator of the highly-anticipated game: "FEZ". After 4 years of working in near solitude, Phil reveals his opus to the public for the first time. And, the film tells the surprising story of one of the highest-rated video games of all time:"Braid". The film is about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work. In short: Making fun and games is anything but fun and games.
Feature documentary about the great West Indies cricket team of the 1970's/80's. Fire In Babylon is the breathtaking story of how the West Indies triumphed over its colonial masters through the achievements of one of the most gifted teams in sporting history. In a turbulent era of apartheid in South Africa; race riots in England and civil unrest in the Caribbean, the West Indian cricketers, led by the enigmatic Viv Richards, struck a defiant blow at the forces of white prejudice worldwide. Their undisputed skill, combined with a fearless spirit, allowed them to dominate the genteel game at the highest level, replaying it on their own terms. This is their story, told in their own words.
Guerilla filmmaker Brendan Toller unleashes I NEED THAT RECORD! THE DEATH (OR POSSIBLE SURVIVAL) OF THE INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE, "an elegy for a vanishing subculture...a lively, bittersweet film that examines - with caustic humor, brutal candor, and, ultimately, great affection - why roughly 3,000 indie record stores have closed across the nation over the past decade," (Johnathan Perry, Boston Globe). A tour-de-force tale of greed, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, downloading, and technological shifts in the music industry told through candid interviews, crestfallen record store owners, startling statistics, and eye-popping animation. Fat cats or our favorite record stores? You decide. Featuring- IAN MACKAYE, NOAM CHOMSKY, MIKE WATT, THURSTON MOORE, LENNY KAYE (Patti Smith), CHRIS FRANTZ (Talking Heads), GLENN BRANCA, PATTERSON HOOD (Drive By Truckers), PAT CARNEY (Black Keys) , LEGS MCNEIL, BOB GRUEN, BP HELIUM, and many indie record stores across the U.S.
It's been said that the first 21 years defines the career of an artist. Few directors have single-handedly shaken up the film establishment like the godfather of indie, Richard Linklater. From the groundbreaking SLACKER to his innovative BOYHOOD, Linklater has just reached the 21-year mark and has unapologetically carved his signature into American pop culture. This compelling documentary takes you on a behind the scenes tour into Linklater's style, skills, and motivation via his friends, actors, and other directors. Get a raw and honest perspective on Richard through candid conversations with Ethan Hawke, Jack Black, Keanu Reeves, Billy Bob Thornton, Matthew McConaughey, Jason Reitman, Julie Delpy and others, and see their stories brought to life through hilarious animated sequences.
Dragonslayer documents the transgressions of a lost skate punk falling in love in the stagnant suburbs of Fullerton, California in the aftermath of America's economic collapse. Taking the viewer through a golden SoCal haze of broken homes, abandoned swimming pools and stray glimpses of unusual beauty, Dragonslayer captures the life and times of Josh 'Skreech' Sandoval, a local skate legend and new father, as his endless summer finally collides with the future. Set to the alternately roaring and dreamy soundtrack of bands from the indie labels Mexican Summer and Kemado Records including Best Coast, Bipolar Bear, Children, Dungen, Eddy Current and the Suppression Ring, Golden Triangle, Jacuzzi Boys, Little Girls, Real Estate, The Soft Pack, Saviours, as well as DEATH and Thee Oh Sees. Dragonslayer is a punk-rock manifesto to youth, love and learning to survive after the decline of western civilization.
A chronological look at films by, for, or about (or "by, for, and about") gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain." Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advancing timeline and with clips from two dozen films. The narrative groups the pictures around various firsts, movements, and triumphs: experimental films, indie films, sex on screen, outlaw culture and bad guys, lesbian lovers, films about AIDS and dying, emergence of romantic comedy, transgender films, films about diversity and various cultures, and then mainstream Hollywood drama. What might come next?
Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in -- Portland, New York City, Los Angeles -- Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer's prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.
A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a revival underway in America that requires Christian youth to assume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their religious movement. Jesus Camp follows children at a Christian summer camp as they hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ." The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.
Like a warped fun-house mirror, the song-poem industry has run parallel to the mainstream music business for close to a century; it's estimated that over 200,000 song-poems have been recorded since 1900. The genre's durability can be traced to three of our deepest American desires - to be in show business, to get rich quick, and to share and express our deepest feelings. We meet several of the "songwriters" - from an elderly woman to a young African-American man to a small-town Iowan with big-time dreams - each of whom has been in the "business" for awhile, churning out odd compositions that cover the waterfront of American obsessions, from Jesus to genitalia, from politics to Elvis. We also meet the producers (often known as song-sharks) who hold out the tantalizing promise of fame to their eager customers, and the has-been musicians who sit in studios, day after day and year after year...
Makers Our Story is a feature length documentary about the UK independent film industry directed and produced by independent filmmakers. It is an inspirational documentary featuring an array of talent from the UK filmmaking community with interviews from award-winning filmmakers and film industry experts. The documentary gives a rare insight into the work of the indie filmmakers who exist outside of the Hollywood studios and shows the passion and commitment of a generation of filmmakers who share their experiences working in a challenging industry.
The story of the rise to glory of boxer Joe Calzaghe.
Former indie film "guru" John Pierson takes his family to Fiji for one year to run the world's most remote movie theater.
To promote their book Bosnian Flat Dog, Swedish comics creators Max Andersson and Lars Sjunnesson tour the countries of former Yugoslavia with a mummified Marshal Tito in a refrigerator. They encounter a number of artists, musicians, publishers and other characters populating the post-Yugoslav indie cultural scene. As the journey continues through increasingly improbable surroundings, the protagonists begin to question themselves and the reality they find themselves in. Watching border controls turn into improvised snapshot sessions, admiring mutant iron-curtain Disney toys, buying souvenir grenade shell handicrafts and discovering sniper art in blown-out apartments, they find that truth may indeed be stranger than fiction.
Explores a year in the world of long-form improvisation in L.A. through the eyes of three theaters; the top of the chain Upright Citizens Brigade, the grassroots Improv Space and the vast and quickly growing underground, indie improv movement.
An in depth look at a little known recording artist named Weird Paul. After releasing several homemade cassette albums in the late 80's, Paul finally became noticed and got a record deal with Homestead Records, one of the best indie labels at the time. See interviews with Paul, his family, friends, band-mates, musicians and label executives.
Chronicles the six-decade career of the U.S. film industry's most diverse, dogged and resourceful low-budget producer-director-entrepeneur, painting the soft-spoken Roger Corman as an indie cinema trailbrazer as well as an extraordinary conduit for new talent.
A married, indie band duo regretfully takes a job on a children's show ("Rumperbutts"). Despite the money & success, they are miserable. However, on one magical evening, a mysterious man appears & gives them a second chance.
A small town band makes it big, but loses track of their roots, as they get caught up into the big-time machinations of the music biz. Now, they must thwart a plot to destroy their home town. Built around the music of the beatles, this musical uses some big name groups like Peter Frampton and Aerosmith.
A theatrical producer puts aside his own success to boost the career of a talented singer.
A bandleader falls in love and marries a small town girl.
While the studio recordings of Chicago's Jesus Lizard are part of the canon of 90s indie rock, anyone who saw them knows their reputation as thee live band of that era is completely accurate. This film captures the original quartet in 1994 playing to a packed and frenzied crowd at the Rat in Boston. The band's workman like approach to their taunt, pummeling sound is contrasted by frontman David Yow's Dionysian revelry as he whips himself and the crowd into an ecstatic mess. This 2 camera shoot catches all the blood, spit and sweat of a truly killer live band at their peak.
Fountains Of Wayne breeze into the Windy City with their warm, feel-good vibe, unleashing the hooks and humor that have made them champions of power pop. For the band's first-ever live DVD, fans are treated to a career-defining set with punchy performances of their hits including "Stacy's Mom," "Sink To The Bottom" and "Radiation Vibe." Having perfected the sounds of summer buzz with tight rhythms, carefree melodies and humor-laced lyrics, the indie pop quartet takes the stage in prime form, knocking out favorite after favorite. This concert was shot in a widescreen format and recorded in 5.1 Surround to provide an electrifying home viewing experience. Next to actually attending a Fountains show, as any fan will tell you, there's No Better Place to see them. Bonus features: all-new, never-before-seen acoustic performances of songs from their 2007 album, Traffic and Weather, and more.
Follow that bird Big Bird, of course for an imaginative, magical treat starring the cast of TVs Sesame Street in their first movie.

© Valossa 2015–2024