Tony Shalhoub Movies
A uniquely gifted and versatile actor possessing the distinct ability to immerse himself in a role so convincingly that he becomes almost unrecognizable -- from a quality obsessed restaurateur (Big Night, 1996) to a master criminal bent on world domination (Spy Kids, 2001) -- one can always count on Tony Shalhoub to deliver a memorable performance no matter how small his role may be.Well-known to television audiences for his extended stint as a self-deprecating cabbie on the long-running series Wings, Shalhoub made the often-painful transition from television to film with a grace seldom seen. Born in Green Bay, WI, Shalhoub developed his passion for theater at the youthful age of six when he volunteered via his sister to play an extra in a high-school production of The King and I. Shalhoub was hooked. After earning his master's degree from the Yale Drama School and spending four seasons at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, Shalhoub packed his bags for New York where he began a luminous career on Broadway. Broadway brought Shalhoub success not only in his career, but in his personal life as well: he was nominated for a Tony for his role in Conversations With My Father and he met his future wife, actress Brooke Adams, while acting in The Heidi Chronicles. It was not long after his Broadway success that Shalhoub made his feature debut, as a doctor in the 1990 AIDS drama Longtime Companion.
Shalhoub's film career has been a testament to his range and a compliment to his abilities. Though prone to comedy, his dramatic roles have gained him just as much, if not more, recognition than his comedic roles. Winning the Best Supporting Actor award from the National Society of Film Critics for his well-researched role in Big Night (1996), Shalhoub expanded his dramatic film repertoire with roles in A Civil Action and The Siege (both 1998), while always maintaining his knack for humor (1997's Men in Black). Shalhoub's role as the ultra-mellow "anti-Scottie" in the Star Trek send-up Galaxy Quest (1999) proved that his comic persona was indeed still as sharp as ever. Sticking in the sci-fi/fantasy mold for his roles in Imposter and Spy Kids (both 2001), Shalhoub once again proved that he could do 180-degree character turnarounds with ease. Though Shalhoub would stay in sci-fi mode for his role in Men in Black 2, he would return to solid ground with his role as an obsessive-compulsive detective in the well-received television pilot Monk (2002). Directed by Galaxy Quest helmer Dean Parisot, the pilot for Monk successfully paved the way for the curiously innovative USA series to follow and found the actor warmly re-embracing the medium that had propelled him to stardom. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Directed by onetime Rookies co-star Georg Stanford Brown, Alone in the Neon Jungle has all the earmarks of a TV pilot film-albeit a better-than-usual example of the genre. Suzanne Pleshette plays a no-nonsense police captain, assigned to the town's most corrupt police district. In attempting to clean things up, She is handicapped by the fact that she can't tell her friends from her enemies. Director Brown costars as a police sergeant who turns out to be a valuable ally to the new captain. Filmed in Pittsburgh, Alone in the Neon Jungle was first telecast January 17, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Bill Murray co-directed (along with Howard Franklin) this mixture of The Out-of-Towners and After Hours, concerning Grimm (Bill Murray), a frustrated city planner who is fed up with the corruption and venality of New York City. Getting together a couple of accomplices -- Phyllis (Geena Davis), who admires Grimm for his audacity, and Loomis (Randy Quaid), a follower to Grimm's leader since grade school -- Grimm decides to rob a bank, pocket the money, get out of town and take off to tropical splendor. Dressing in a clown suit, Grimm devises a unique way to rob a bank -- taking a group of hostages at the bank and inviting the police to surround the bank. Amazingly, although pursued by a police chief (Jason Robards), the trio manage to pull off the robbery. However, the problems really start when they try to get from the bank to the airport -- which proves to be more difficult than the robbery. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Geena Davis, (more)
At the time of Longtime Companion's release in 1990, the devastating disease of AIDS was seen as a mysterious and deadly scourge, replete with rumors, lies, and panic. As the first narrative film to examine the AIDS epidemic, screenwriter Craig Lucas and director Norman René place the disease in an historical context, dramatizing the impact of the disease through time in a series of vignettes involving seven gay men. AIDS first made its presence felt surreptitiously, as an article in The New York Times reported on a rare cancer attacking gay men called Karposi's syndrome. Then the Village Voice began a series of in-depth articles concerning a "gay plague" which later became known as AIDS. The film follows the AIDS crisis through the lives of the seven main characters so that they are only aware of AIDS in the historical framework of each episode. The characters include former gay couple Willy (Campbell Scott) and John (Dermot Mulroney), first seen partying at a Fire Island club, who don't pay much attention to the mysterious article in The New York Times but become intimately effected by the disease. There is also Sean (Mark Lamos), a soap opera writer whose mind is slowly deteriorating because of the disease, and his supportive friend David (Bruce Davidson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, (more)
The title character, played by John Turturro, is a Broadway playwright, based on Clifford Odets, lured to Hollywood with the promise of untold riches by a boorish studio chieftain (played by Michael Lerner as a combination of Louis B. Mayer and Harry Cohn). Despising the film capital and everything it stands for, Barton Fink comes down with an acute case of writer's block. He is looked after by a secretary (Judy Davis) who has been acting as a ghost writer for an alcoholic screenwriter (John Mahoney, playing a character based on William Faulkner). Also keeping tabs on Fink is a garrulous traveling salesman (John Goodman), the most likeable, stable character in the picture. And then comes the plot twist to end all plot twists, plunging Barton Fink into a surreal nightmare that would make Hieronymus Bosch look like a house painter. Once more, Ethan and Joel Coen serve up a smorgasbord of quirkiness and kinkiness, where nothing is what it seems and nothing turns out as planned. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Turturro, John Goodman, (more)
- 1991
As their romance escalates, Joe (Tim Daly) and Helen (Crystal Bernard) intend to celebrate Valentine's Day by revisiting "that special place." Trouble is, they can't agree on where exactly that "special place" is. In other affairs of the heart, Roy (David Schramm) prepares to pay a terrible price for lying in a classified ad while seeking out a date. Tony Shalhoub makes his first series appearance in the role of moonstruck Italian cab driver Antonio Scarpacci. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Tyne Daly, the sister of series star Tim Daly, guests in this episode as a millionairess with the whimsical moniker of Mimsy Borogroves. The arrival of Mimsy on the isle of Nantucket has Helen (Crystal Bernard), Roy (David Schramm), and Fay (Rebecca Schull) falling over themselves trying to curry favor with the woman in hopes that she will bankroll their individual pet projects. But as things develop, it is Joe (Tim Daly) and Brian (Steven Weber) who are most profoundly affected by Mimsy's presence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Joe (Tim Daly) insists that he does not want the gang to throw him a birthday party. Evidently everyone takes this insistence as gospel, but Joe still suspects that they intend to spring a surprise on him. When Fay (Rebecca Schull) asks him to remain in the terminal after hours to await a crated shipment of airplane seats, Joe convinces himself that everyone intends to jump out of that selfsame crate and shower him with presents. As it turns out, a surprise has indeed been planned -- albeit for the wrong night! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The marriage between the usually laid-back Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) and his bride Bunny (a pre-ER Laura Innes) is imperiled by Lowell's jealousy. Assuming that Lowell's suspicions are unfounded and irrational, Brian (Steven Weber) generously offers to act as mediator and discuss the situation with Bunny. Imagine Brian's surprise when Bunny suddenly comes on to both him and his brother Joe (Tim Daly)...and imagine further the fireworks when Lowell finds out! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
The business rivalry between Joe (Tim Daly) and Roy (David Schramm) spills over into the political arena when both men compete for the same town-council seat. The situation gets even stickier when the local newspaper refuses to endorse either Joe or Roy, choosing instead to back Joe's campaign manager Fay (Rebecca Schull). As it turns out, the newspaper's editorial staff has been "bought off" by a surfeit of home-baked goodies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Outraged over her discovery of the romance between Joe (Tim Daly) and Gail (Gretchen German), Helen (Crystal Bernard) has vented her wrath by driving her jeep into Joe's office, thoroughly smashing up the place. When she refuses to pay for the damages, Joe takes Helen to small claims court. Unfortunately, Joe can't find anyone willing to take his side in the matter -- nor even deliver the subpoena to Helen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
While the gang sympathizes with Helen's anger over her breakup with Joe (Tim Daly), they are worried that she'll never overcome her wrath, and that could be injurious to her mental health. At the urging of her friends, Helen (Crystal Bernard) agrees to undergo group therapy. No one is happier over this turn of events than Joe's brother Brian (Steven Weber), who is willing to provide "testimony" against his brother. The situation comes to a head when Helen finds herself commiserating with a group of senior citizens. And on a less uplifting note, Helen's jeep strikes again! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Joe (Tim Daly) makes a valiant effort to end the bickering between his former girlfriend Helen (Crystal Bernard) and his present sweetie Gail (Gretchen German, making her final series appearance) by suggesting that the two ladies "do lunch." Contrary to their expectations, Helen and Gail hit if off quite well, and pretty soon both are exchanging war stories about their relationships with Joe -- and he's none too pleased about it. Elsewhere, Fay (Rebecca Schull) draws up plans for a close encounter with First Lady Barbara Bush. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
With the activities at the terminal temporarily curtailed by a heavy fog, the gang agrees to participate in a full slate of fun-and-games devised by Fay (Rebecca Schull). At one point, Brian (Steven Weber) performs his celebrated hypnosis act, unexpectedly extracting the "deepest, darkest secret" from the subconscious of rival airline owner Roy (David Schramm). Before long, everyone is scrambling to recover a buried cache of 250,000 dollars in stolen money. The title of this episode derives from its original premise, in which one of the characters was to have confessed to a murder! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Under pressure, Roy (David Schramm) confesses that his "late" wife Sylvia (Concetta Tomei) is not late after all. The bitter truth is that Sylvia walked out on Roy 16 years ago, and is now living in Boston. Now determined to relocate his estranged bride, Roy coerces Brian (Steven Weber) into flying him to the mainland for what he hopes will be a tender reunion -- and never mind that Sylvia is now married to a very wealthy surgeon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Brian (Steven Weber) tricks Joe (Tim Daly) into joining him for a golf weekend which is actually part of a advertising pitch to sell condos. Unaware of Brian's deception, Roy (David Schramm) insists upon coming along for the ride. The threesome ends up bunking with Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) in a single room, while being mercilessly bombarded with the "advantages" of the time-share plan -- and worst of all, no one can venture outside because of the miserable weather! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Created by the same production team responsible for the hugely popular series Cheers, Wings has a similarly homey, familiar feel. Replacing the Boston bar is a small airport on Nantucket Island. The denizens of the bar are replaced with pilots and airport personnel. What the viewers are left with is a delightful show revolving around Sandpiper Air Service, a tiny charter airline co-owned by two handsome, charming brothers, a rival airline, Aeromass, and a lunch counter run the brothers' life-long friend, Helen.
- Starring:
- Tim Daly, Steven Weber, (more)
Wings is still flying high in its fourth season (1992-93), with the Hackett brothers of Sandpiper Air and their friends and co-workers at Tom Nevers Field. From the moment the gang is rescued from a plane crash (seen in the cliffhanger ending of Season 3) to the introduction of Alex Lambert (Farrah Forke), the sexy new love interest for Joe (Tim Daly) and Brian (Steven Weber), life on Nantucket has never been funnier. Is neurotic Joe or screw-up Brian going to land Alex? And will Helen (Crystal Bernard) finally see her career take off? This season, Roy Biggins (David Schramm) expresses his musical side; cabdriver Antonio (Tony Shalhoub) expresses his sensitive side; and Fay (Rebecca Schull) lands a big part in a local production dubbed "Phantom of the Oprah." Plus, dim-witted Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) ends up living with Joe and Brian...and even dates Helen! This four-disc set includes all 22 episodes of Season 4.
- Starring:
- Tim Daly, Steven Weber, (more)
After making a deathbed promise to his mother that he would never marry, Jack Singer (Nicolas Cage) finds that resolve challenged when his girlfriend, Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker), begins making noise about wanting to start a family. Worried he might lose her, Jack makes the rash decision that they should fly to Las Vegas that weekend to tie the knot. Feet still cold, Jack spurns Betsy's idea to get married the moment they step off the plane, preferring to procrastinate for a few hours over a game of poker arranged by notorious gambler Tommy Korman (James Caan). Peddling the game as a get-to-know-you thrown by the hotel, Korman steadily raises the stakes on Jack until the novice is in for 65,000 dollars of the house's money on a hand he's sure he'll win -- a straight flush to the jack. When he loses the fixed hand, the flabbergasted Jack has a major problem on his hands. Korman offers an unusual solution: If Betsy, whom Korman spotted in the lobby because of her resemblance to his late wife, will spend the weekend with him, Jack's debt will be forgiven. Betsy initially refuses, considering it a ploy by Jack to postpone the wedding, but soon agrees to fly to Hawaii with Korman, in part because it will teach Jack a lesson. When she finds herself charmed by Korman's smooth and sensitive shtick, her desperate fiancé goes to incredible lengths to win her back, including jumping from a plane with a troop of skydiving Elvises. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Caan, Nicolas Cage, (more)
The ghoulish cartoon family created by Charles Addams returns for a second big-screen outing darker and nastier than the first. When Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) gives birth to new baby boy Pubert, the other Addams children, Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and Wednesday (Christina Ricci), devise any number of ways to kill off their new sibling. This leads Morticia and her husband, Gomez Raul Julia, to hire a nanny (Joan Cusack) to oversee all three children. But the nanny has an agenda of her own, packing the Addams children off to a horrid parody of summer camp and setting out to seduce Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), all with the goal of getting her hands on the Addams family fortune. Of course, the Addams eventually triumph, with this blacker-than-most satire extolling the virtues of eccentricity and non-conformity above all. It was followed by 1999's direct-to-video Addams Family Reunion, with Darryl Hannah and Tim Curry replacing Huston and the late Julia. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, (more)
Based on a Broadway play and featuring the Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim score, this is a remake of the 1962 movie which was based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a stripper, depicting her life growing up in "show biz." ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bette Midler, Cynthia Gibb, (more)
Searching for Bobby Fischer was inspired by the life of chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin, as written by his father Fred Waitzkin. Josh (Max Pomeranc) is a "regular kid" who begins evincing signs of being a genius at chess. His father (Joe Mantegna) encourages this, hoping that it won't fundamentally change his son's healthy outlook on life. But Josh is taken under the wing of cold-blooded chess instructor Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley), who indoctrinates the boy in the "Bobby Fischer" strategy. Unfortunately, Pandolfini emphasizes all of Fischer's negative traits, especially his contempt for his opponents. Josh is in danger throughout the film of sacrificing his essential decency, but in a rousing conclusion, the boy is able to successfully blend ruthless competition with good sportsmanship. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joe Mantegna, Max Pomeranc, (more)
Legendary scientist Albert Einstein (played here by Walter Matthau) takes a break from theoretical physics to try to set up his intellectual niece with a handsome auto mechanic in this romantic comedy. The movie's central conceit is that Einstein's brilliance extends to matters of the heart, allowing him to immediately sense that Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a bright, lower-class mechanic obsessed with Popular Science Magazine, would be perfect for his niece Catherine (Meg Ryan). Unfortunately, Catherine is already engaged to a stiff Princeton man. In order to defeat Catherine's resistance, Uncle Albert decides to help Ed pretend to be a revolutionary scientist, a charade that inevitably leads to much farcical confusion. Einstein's scientist pals are portrayed as a Greek chorus of Catskills-style kibitzers, featuring such notable perfomers as Lou Jacobi as Kurt Godel and director Gene Saks as Boris Podolsky. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan, (more)
In this season of Wings, Sandpiper Air owner Joe Hackett (Tim Daly) finally wins over lunch counter operator Helen Chappel (Crystal Bernard), as they become engaged and plan their wedding. And not a moment too soon, as Helen's competitive older sister, Casey (Amy Yasbeck), arrives to shake things up, catching the eye of cabdriver Antonio (Tony Shalhoub) and evoking the ire of Joe's newly single brother, Brian (Steven Weber). Plus, batty Fay (Rebecca Schull) quits her job then regrets it, dimwitted Lowell (Thomas Haden Church) turns budding artist (and tries vegetarianism), and surly Roy Biggins (David Schramm) welcomes a mail-order bride! This set contains all 26 episodes from the 1994-95 season.
- Starring:
- Tim Daly, Steven Weber, (more)
The outrageous sitcom Wings is back for Season 7 (1995-96), with brothers Joe (Tim Daly) and Brian Hackett (Steven Weber) of Sandpiper Air and their friends and co-workers of Tom Nevers Field. This season, Joe and Helen (Crystal Bernard) enjoy wedded bliss, but not for long, as Brian and Casey (Amy Yasbeck) burn down Helen's house, and the two couples have to live together. Plus, Roy (David Schramm) meets his son's new boyfriend; Fay (Rebecca Schull) announces she's getting hitched; and cabdriver Antonio (Tony Shalhoub) looks for love in all the wrong places when he unknowingly dates a hooker. This four-disc set includes all 26 Season 7 episodes that originally aired on NBC.
- Starring:
- Tim Daly, Steven Weber, (more)
