Bob Roberts (1992)
Director
Tim Robbins
Main cast
Tim Robbins; Giancarlo Esposito; Alan Rickman; David Strathairn; James Spader
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Description
Mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate written and directed by actor Tim Robbins. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media.
Tim Robbins
Main cast
Tim Robbins; Giancarlo Esposito; Alan Rickman; David Strathairn; James Spader
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Description
Mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate written and directed by actor Tim Robbins. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the filmmakers follow his campaign, Robbins gives needle-sharp insight into the way candidates manipulate the media.
Similar movies
Bill McKay is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from California. He has no hope of winning, so he is willing to tweak the establishment.
The irreverent host of a political satire talk show decides to run for president. But his stunt to expose Washington corruption goes further than he expects when he actually wins the election. Meanwhile, a software engineer suspects that a computer glitch is responsible for his surprising victory
but will she speak up?
The chief spokesperson and lobbyist Nick Naylor is the Vice-President of the Academy of Tobacco Studies. He is talented in speaking and spins argument to defend the cigarette industry in the most difficult situations. His best friends are Polly Bailey that works in the Moderation Council in alcohol business, and Bobby Jay Bliss of the gun business own advisory group SAFETY. They frequently meet each other in a bar and they self-entitle the Mod Squad a.k.a. Merchants of Death, disputing which industry has killed more people. Nick's greatest enemy is Vermont's Senator Ortolan Finistirre, who defends in the Senate the use a skull and crossed bones in the cigarette packs. Nick's son Joey Naylor lives with his mother, and has the chance to know his father in a business trip. When the ambitious reporter Heather Holloway betrays Nick disclosing confidences he had in bed with her, his life turns upside-down. But Nick is good in what he does for the mortgage.
BLUE STATE is a romantic comedy about a disgruntled Democrat who actually follows through on a drunken campaign promise to move to Canada if George "Dubya" Bush gets re-elected.
During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President's adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.
A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by affecting the rhythms and speech of hip-hop music and culture.
Biting political satire starring Robert Lindsay as a beleaguered Tony Blair, who stubbornly refuses to see the danger he faces from a Special Tribunal on Iraq that has been set up to investigate war crimes
Through the eyes of a British "documentary", this film takes a satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.
A man (Richard Roxburgh) the Australian government blames for 1990s political woes blames his mother (Judy Davis), a communist Stalin seduced in 1951.
The story of Ivan and Josh, two dim witted ex-security guards who love music videos. Out of work, with no job prospects, they form a music video production company. They soon learn the in's and out's of the business in LA and with some help from Mo Fuzz, they soon become hot property. But not all goes smoothly when they try to resurrect the career of their favorite R&B duo, the Swanky Modes.
14 months after loosing his partner while making a UNICEF documentary in Afghanistan, Dutch photographer Bob Griffioen's benefactor Federico Federici has landed him a National Geographic assignment on the Wadden island Texel. Shooting wildlife there, Bob meets hedonistic waitress-student Kathleen, who practices nudism on the beach. Alas, her boss and sugar-daddy 'the Mummy' is involved in major drug trade. Both lovers are soon dragged into it, without knowing if they even can trust each-other.
A guy who moves back to Portland, Oregon becomes involved in the mystery of his ex-girlfriend's disappearance.
Film adaptation of the George Abbott Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact with the Devil to help his baseball team win the league pennant.
Four 1950's cultural icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) who conceivably could have met and probably didn't, fictionally do in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flash-backs and flash-forwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future.
With the help of a hot, slightly older new acquaintance (Noseworthy), the closeted son (Newton) of a conservative U.S. Senator (Lerner) puts a shocking spin on his dad's re-election campaign.
Russian political elite hires American consultants to help with President Yeltsin's re-election campaign when his approval rating is down to single digits.
Bettie Page grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie's legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day.
Eun-bi, an orphaned girl who works as a prostitute, is moved to action when her prostitute friend is brutally gang raped and the police do nothing because her friend was a prostitute. Deciding to run for Korea's parliament, she runs into mob coercion and deception along with way. This movie is a funny but insightful satire of the corruption of Korean elections.
In the late 1960s, Cest Si Bon is the music bar where every acoustic bands dream lies. There Geun-tae, a naïve country boy, meets the young musical prodigies Hyung-joo and Chang-sik, and forms the band named after it -- the Cest Si Bon Trio. As the three young artists bicker over their music, beautiful socialite Ja-young enters the picture and becomes their muse, and a series of moving love songs come from it. Geun-taes pure-heartedness wins Ja-young over but when she accepts a once-in-lifetime opportunity for a shot at an acting career, they part ways. After 20 years, the untold story of their love, song, and youth at Cest Si Bon is finally brought to light.
The other party is in disarray. Five men vie for the party nomination for president. No one has a majority as the first ballot closes and the front-runners begin to decide how badly they want the job.
Natha a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid bank loan. A quick fix to the problem is the a government program that aids the families of indebted farmers who have committed suicide. As a means of survival Farmer Natha can choose to die. His brother is happy to push him towards this unique 'honour' but Natha is reluctant. Local elections are around the corner and what might have been another unnoticed event turns into a 'cause celebre' with everyone wanting a piece of the action. Political bigwigs, high-ranking bureaucrats, local henchmen and the ever-zealous media descend upon sleepy Peepli to stake their claim. The question on everyone's lips - "Will he or Won't he?" As the mania escalates, nobody seems to care how Natha really feels.
Eve is a catastrophelow on self-esteem but high on fantasy, especially when it comes to music. Over the course of one Glasgow summer, she meets two similarly rootless souls: posh Cass and fastidious James, and together they form a group.
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. In the mid-1970's, a homely, friendless Australian girl of 8 picks a name out of a Manhattan phone book and writes to him; she includes a chocolate bar. She's Mary Dinkle, the only child of an alcoholic mother and a distracted father. He's Max Horowitz, living alone in New York, overweight, subject to anxiety attacks. He writes back, with chocolate. Thus begins a 20-year correspondence, interrupted by a stay in an asylum and a few misunderstandings. Mary falls in love with a neighbor, saves money to have a birthmark removed and deals with loss. Max has a friendship with a neighbor, tries to control his weight, and finally gets the dream job. Will the two ever meet face to face?
A feature film based on the documentary "Our Brand Is Crisis", which focuses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America.
I'm Still Here is a portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, the documentary follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. The film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads and explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.
An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels.
Film producer Sy Lerner makes a bet with a fellow film executive that he can turn any nobody into a star at the Cannes Film Festival. A New York cab driver who is visiting the festival is chosen as the test subject to settle the bet and Sy uses his skills of hype and manipulation to try and turn the cab driver named Frank into the talk of the town. Many celebrities make cameos throughout the film.
Bruce Macdonald follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling to the surface.
Young Jenny heads to the South of England to start a new career as a school teacher. Even before she has had a chance to settle in she meets Patrick, one of the local "lads". Within a short time she has her hands full when a number of the local boys take a liking to her. But who will be the lucky one who wins her affections?
A fake documentary about the sex lives of teenage girls.
Blake Washburn blames manufacturer MacFarland for his defeat in the race for re-election to the state legislature. He takes over his uncle's newspaper to take on big business as an enemy of the people. Miss Martin works in the "Herald" newspaper office. When tragedy strikes, Blake must re-examine his views.
A country-western singer is recruited to run for the U.S. Senate, and soon clashes with his unscrupulous campaign manager on the tactics to run his political campaign.
The story about Jimmy the Dingy, a young vagabond who works as a seasonal worker. Having been sacked from the job, his dreams are to become a singer. As most of the things in the Balkans happen, he is destined to failure.
The setting is the east shore of the Caspian Sea (today's Turkmenistan) where the Red Army soldier Fyodor Sukhov has been fighting the Civil War in Russian Asia for a number of years. After being hospitalised and then demobbed, he sets off home to join his wife, only to be caught up in a desert fight between a Red Army cavalry unit and Basmachi guerrillas. The cavalry unit commander, Rahimov, "convinces" Sukhov to help, temporarily, with the protection of abandoned women of the Basmachi guerrilla leader Abdullah's harem. Leaving a young Red Army soldier, Petrukha, to assist Sukhov with the task, Rahimov and his cavalry unit set out to pursue fleeing Abdullah.Sukhov and women from Abdullah's harem return to a nearby shore town. Soon, looking for a seaway across the border, Abdullah and his gang come to the same town...
Susan wants to work in television and will therefore do anything it takes, even if it means killing her husband. A very dark comedy from independent director Gus Van Sant with a brilliant Nicole Kidman in the leading role.
As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.
An Honest and hilarious look at the music industry through the eyes of an all girl rock band.
Cafe Tales is the story of five Israeli men and their efforts to save a local cafe from demolition.
Romeo, A.K.A. Kosuke Matsuyama (Shun Shioya), is a second-year high school student. A nice, normal, nonviolent type, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a rampaging crowd of Korean boys, outraged by insults perpetrated by several of his idiotic class-mates on two Korean girls. He makes a narrow escape, but soon after, he and his best bud Yoshio (Keisuke Koide) are sent by their home-room teacher to invite the Korean students to a friendly soccer game as a way of restoring the peace.
Semi-biographical film based on the experiences of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
A governor running for President gets revealed to be a serial philanderer.
Ben Singer (Matthew Broderick) is a failed childrens folk singer, a career proofreader, a less-than-extraordinary weekend dad, and perhaps the most negative man alive. Floundering in all aspects of his life, Ben's only comfort comes from regular chess games and friendly debates on game theory with his Senegalese roommate Ibou (Michael Kenneth Williams). When Ibou is suddenly struck ill, Ben's pessimistic worldview seems unequivocally confirmed. It takes an extended visit from Ibou's sister Khadi (Sanaa Lathan) for Ben to realize that cynicism may be all a matter of perspective.
A water balloon suddenly dropping from the sky exploding on a mothers head in the frantic first moments of this striking debut feature, announces its director, Alonso Ruiz Palacios, as a bold new voice of Mexican cinema. Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale finds two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an aging legendary musician. Shot in beautiful black-and-white, Gueros brims with youthful exuberance. In Spanish with subtitles.
A "mockumentary" about Elvis's real-life trip to the White House to become a federal marshal under the DEA
A mockumentary of Jackie Washington, a fictonal star of music, stage and screen played by Jenifer Lewis. The movie now follows Jackie as she tells her story to stardom and fall from grace as she prepares for her own comeback. Full of cameo apperances and funny interviews from stars like Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler, Chris Rock, Sean Hayes, Ricki Lake, Rosie O'Donnell, David Hyde Pierce, Melissa Etheridge and many others.
Pierre Hunter (Anton Yelchin), a bartender with unyielding optimism, returns to his tiny hometown after his parents' death. When he falls for the enigmatic Stella (Zooey Deschanel), Pierre is unknowingly pulled into a cat-and-mouse game that involves a duffel bag full of cash, a haphazard yet determined criminal (John Hawkes), and a mystery that will determine all of their fates. With Alia Shawkat, Frank Langella, Aubrey Plaza, and Ciarán Hinds. Zachary Sluser's film, based on the novel by Tom Drury, is a contemporary fable about the ways we struggle to control time and fate in a possibly predetermined universe.
The discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician's campaign for governor of Colorado.
Fed up with the cruelty and stupidity of American culture, an unlikely duo goes on a killing spree, killing reality TV stars, bigots and others they find repugnant in this black comedy.
Political double-talk, dirty tricks, hidden microphones, spy satellites, bugging the Oval Office and a nuclear bomb for sale are all ingredients in this swift, funny and frightening look at the possibilities in today's political arenas. Sean Connery stars as TV Newsman Patrick Hal on an international chase to track two suitcase sized nuclear weapons and to uncover the twisting maze of apparent involvement of US Government agencies.
Setsuko Hara plays Fumiko, whose unsuccessful marriage has made her become more and more cynical. When her niece, Ayako visits and complains about her own marriage, she is unsurprised. Meanwhile, a new couple, whose marriage is similarly unblissful, moves in next door. The two couples create a very awkward bond that could ruin both marriages, but everyone seems to be aware and nobody cares either way. [Cinema Talk Blog]
It's not easy being the most popular couple in high school. Adam and Amber are the golden pair of Gaitlin High and are very busy being cool. Yet somehow Adam finds time for extracurricular activities, like making-it with Gynger, a sophomore, in the bathroom of a local restaurant. Soon, Adam's tidy world starts to fall apart when he finds out Gynger is pregnant. An ambitious Assistant District Attorney decides to file charges against Adam. Trying to help, Adam's parents hire a third-rate attorney whose every move just makes matters worse! Jailbait is a wickedly funny look at how far some guys will go to score. Can Adam find a way to keep himself out of jail and his girlfriend by his side? Watch this hysterical teen comedy featuring a cool cast of young stars and a hip soundtrack. See what happens when hormones rage and you're under age!!!
A rock band writes a song called "Fish Story" based on a sentence from a badly translated novel by a quack translator. The song exceeds the boundaries of space and time and ties people and their stories together. Thirty-seven years go by, and the song strikes a comet and saves the Earth from total destruction.
Known as the best satire about communism, banned for over a decade in Hungary. 'The Witness' has become a cult classic, well received by critics and general audiences when it was finally released outside of Hungary. 'The Witness' takes place during the height of the Rákosi Era, which was closely modeled after the ruthless and brutal Stalin regime. The film follows the life of an ordinary dike keeper, József Pelikán, who has been caught for illegally slaughtering his pig, Dezsõ. Instead of doing hard time for his "heinous" crime, Pelikán is elevated into an important position, generally reserved for the communist elite. His new benefactor, the mysterious Comrade Virág, is reluctant to reveal the real reason behind Pelikán's preferential treatment. Thus, begins Pelikán's hilarious adventure deep within the "sophisticated" communist society... Until one day, when he gets called for to return the "favour" by falsely testifying against his long-time friend in a mock-up show trial.
A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.
A hypocritical swinging college student cat raises hell in a satiric vision of various elements on the 1960's.
Vox Populi is a black comedy about an experienced politician suffering from a midlife crisis. When he comes into contact with the common-man's logic of his new in-laws, this has a far-reaching effect on both his political and his personal life.
A love-lorn script writer grows increasingly desperate in his quest to adapt the book 'The Orchid Thief'.
Lopitos, who is horribly inefficient but quick-witted, is invited (because of the current ambassador's superstition about 13 sitting down to a meal) to a banquet attended by the ambassadors of both superpowers. After the news of a series of coups d'état in Los Cocos arrives throughout the meal, Lopitos becomes the official ambassador. At a summit of world leaders, the representatives of the two world superpowers court the allegiances of third-world diplomats to tilt the balance of global power in their favor. The last diplomat to remain unaligned, Lopitos instead harangues the superpowers for infringing on the rights of developing countries to self determination, talking to them with his point of view as a citizen not as ambassador because he arranged his demise as ambassador one day before his speech.
© Valossa 2015–2019