Bobby Slayton Movies
With his gravelly voice and in-your-face style, it's no wonder that stand-up comedian cum actor Bobby Slayton quickly earned the nickname "The Pitbull of Comedy."After working tirelessly on the stand-up circuit for a number of years and frequently appearing on numerous popular stand-up comedy shows, Slayton made his feature debut in the Randy Quaid comedy Martians Go Home -- as the stand-up Martian of course. Soon appearing frequently on television and in film, Slayton would turn up in Ed Wood (1994), Get Shorty (1995), and take on the role of Joey Bishop in the made-for-television The Rat Pack (1998). A few years later Slayton would find himself cast in the HBO original series The Mind of a Married Man. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2010
This stand-up concert showcases all the reasons why Bobby Slayton's gruff and occasionally intimidating stage persona, as well as his uncompromising material, has earned him the nickname "The Pitbull of Comedy." ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
Tony Todd Tiffany Shepis, Daniel Roebuck, and George Wendt star in this thriller inspired by the true story of a well-known Arizona cult. Small town therapist Jonathan has recently formed a strange fixation on a local cult that worships a mythological figure who was brutally murdered. With every step that Jonathan takes towards understanding the true inner-workings of the dangerous cult, his chances of escaping with his belief system intact diminishes. Perhaps Jonathan was destined to become yet another covert to this warped belief system from the very beginning. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Todd, George Wendt, (more)
"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered together a hundred people to tell a hundred different renditions of the bit. Among those presenting their personal take on The Aristocrats in this film of the same name are Jason Alexander, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried, Jon Stewart, Emo Philips, and Chris Rock. The Aristocrats premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Director Barry Levinson follows up the low-budget An Everlasting Piece (2000) with another comedy, this one of the homegrown variety from former Twin Peaks (1990) TV series writer Harley Peyton. Bruce Willis stars as suave bank robber Joe, who has escaped from prison with his hypochondriac buddy Terry (Billy Bob Thornton). Together, the two men have devised a clever scheme to take a bank officer hostage the night before a heist, then simply escort the executive to work early the next morning when they clean out the vault. Their ingenious methods have led to the men becoming media darlings dubbed "the Sleepover Bandits," but all Joe and Terry want is to make a nice pile of money before crossing the Mexican border to a life of freedom and legitimacy. Their quest gets more complicated when Terry is struck by a car driven by Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), a bored housewife who's then forced to join their crime spree. Soon both Joe and Terry are in love with Kate and she with them, realizing that the two friends put together pretty much equal the perfect man. Bandits co-stars Troy Garity, son of actress Jane Fonda. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, (more)
- 2000
- PG13
- Add Loser to Queue Add Loser to top of Queue
After making Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Clueless (1995), two of the definitive films about the joys and terrors of American high school, writer/director Amy Heckerling moves on to college with this bittersweet romantic comedy. Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs) is a bright but socially inept college freshman who has just arrived at NYU from the Midwest. Frumpy and studious, Paul has trouble meeting people, doesn't get along with his roommates, and most of his fellow students hardly acknowledge his existence. But Paul finds a soul mate in Dora Diamond (Mena Suvari), who has even more problems than he does: she's out of money, has nowhere to live, works a humiliating job as a waitress at a strip club, and has become involved with one of her professors, Edward Alcott (Greg Kinnear), whose callous treatment hardly boosts her shaky self-esteem. Dora gives Paul some advice on how to fit in with his roommates, and Paul lets her stay with him while she looks for work; when he becomes infatuated with her, he has to figure out how to win her away from Edward. Loser marked a reunion for Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari, who starred together in the hit teen comedy American Pie. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, (more)
Shot in 33 days, this $9.6 million biographical drama of behind-the-scenes interactions within the Rat Pack group of Frank Sinatra (Ray Liotta), Dean Martin (Joe Mantegna), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Don Cheadle) is set against the political backdrop of the '60s, establishing links of singers, gangsters, actors, and politicans (sometimes brushing shoulders in the same rooms). The film also explores Sinatra's relationship with John F. Kennedy (William Peterson). Deciding to support Kennedy, Sinatra patches up his feud with Peter Lawford (Angus Macfadyen), since Lawford's wife, Pat (Phyllis Lyons) is JFK's sister -- and a Sinatra-Kennedy friendship soon follows. However, when Joe Kennedy (Dan O'Herlihy) decides Sinatra's nightclub, mob and commie connections are a no-no for JFK, the patriarch's interference angers Sinatra. Meanwhile, Sammy Davis Jr. enters into an interracial liaison with May Britt (Megan Dodds), and the dynamics of the situation are visualized in an imaginative musical fantasy sequence in which Davis sees himself singing and dancing for an unresponsive line of white supremacists. Broadway's Savion Glover stepped in with the film's choreography. Substitute singers featured the voice of Michael Dees for Sinatra and Mantegna duplicating Dino. Also covered here are the events that led to the filming of Ocean's Eleven (1960). For an actual Rat Pack stage performance, see The Rat Pack Captured (1965). Filmed in LA, the TV movie premiered August 22, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Liotta, Joe Mantegna, (more)
A gangster is looking to get away from crooked deals and double-crossing people but ends up in the movie business anyway in this comic crime story. Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a Miami-based loan collector for the mob trying to collect a gambling debt. His assignment takes him to Hollywood to collect money from Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a mildly sleazy producer of low-budget horror movies. Although Chili intends to hurt Harry if necessary, he takes a certain liking to him and an even keener interest in Karen (Rene Russo), Harry's girlfriend, whom Chili recognizes from Harry's grade-B monster epics. It seems Harry has a script that he feels is Academy Award material, and he could get the project off the ground if he could get the right actor for the lead -- say, the well-respected but egocentric (and diminutive) Martin Weir (Danny DeVito). Chili thinks he has a feel for the movie business and decides to see what he can do to persuade Weir to get behind the project. Chili soon finds himself hip deep in the film industry, which at least puts him in contact with a higher grade of scumbags than he's used to. But Chili isn't the only criminal Harry's been dealing with; he's been obtaining financing from Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), a drug dealer with a highly uncertain temperament. An intelligently constructed crime story and a hilarious look at the absurdities of the film business, Get Shorty was based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard; Leonard based Chili on a real-life former gangster of his acquaintance, though Chili's model never worked in Hollywood. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Gene Hackman, (more)
Hollywood visionary Tim Burton pays homage to another Hollywood visionary, albeit a less successful one, in this unusual fictionalized biography. The film follows Wood (Johnny Depp) in his quest for film greatness as he writes and directs turkey after turkey, cross-dresses, and surrounds himself with a motley crew of Hollywood misfits, outcasts, has-beens, and never-weres. The real story, however, is his friendship with aging, morphine-addicted Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), whom he tries to help stage a comeback. Landau's unforgettable Oscar-winning performance must be seen to be believed, as must Rick Baker's Oscar-winning makeup. While it would have been easy to make a film simply ridiculing the bumbling director, Burton instead focuses on his driving passion for filmmaking and his unwavering persistence in the face of ridicule and failure. Possibly the most surprising aspect of the film is the genuine sentiment with which Burton treats the relationship between Wood and Lugosi; his devotion to Lugosi is touching, as is Lugosi's final soliloquy -- an inane bit of dialogue from the hilariously bad Bride of the Monster that grows into a poignant metaphor for the actor's life and ultimate triumph of his spirit. Even the look of the film is right; it manages to preserve the air of one of Wood's own films while retaining a sense of artistry in much of the composition on screen (note the scene at the drug rehab where Lugosi endures a horrifying night of detox). In all, Ed Wood is a unique film -- at times side-splittingly funny; at others, tragic or even frightening -- and a heartfelt tribute to the love of movies, good and bad alike. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, (more)
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