L'affaire Farewell (2009)

Actors: Philippe Magnan (actor), Claes Olsson (actor), Mats Långbacka (actor), Niels Arestrup (actor), Aleksey Gorbunov (actor), Miglen Mirtchev (actor), Emir Kusturica (actor), Gary Lewis (actor), Willem Dafoe (actor), Guillaume Canet (actor), Marc Berman (actor), Benno Fürmann (actor), Joonas Makkonen (actor), Vsevolod Shilovsky (actor), Lee Marvin (actor),

Plot: In 1985, Sergei Gregoriev, a Soviet colonel, wants to force his nation to reform, so he leaks secret information to the West. He picks an unlikely contact, a Pierre Froment, French nebbish in the diplomatic corps. Gregoriev keeps a lot of balls in the air - a marriage, a teen son he's trying to bond with, a mistress who's a colleague at work; his tradecraft is equally reckless. Meanwhile, Froment keeps his spy work secret from his German wife, and Mitterrand uses Gregoriev's information to make France indispensable to Reagan and his government. When Gregoriev leaks a list of key Soviet moles and spies, Gorbachev is left without secret intelligence. Will Gregoriev get what he wants?

Keywords: based-on-true-story, border, cold-war, double-agent, espionage, father-son-relationship, france, freddie-mercury, french, iron-curtain
Genres: Drama, Thriller, Thriller,
Taglines: Secrets have the power to change the course of history.

12 (2007)

Actors: Eduard Artemev (composer), Nikita Mikhalkov (writer), Nikita Mikhalkov (actor), Aleksey Petrenko (actor), Mikhail Efremov (actor), Sergey Gazarov (actor), Nikita Mikhalkov (producer), Aleksandr Adabashyan (actor), Valentin Gaft (actor), Aleksey Gorbunov (actor), Sergey Garmash (actor), Sergey Makovetskiy (actor), Roman Madyanov (actor), Enzo Meniconi (editor), Nikita Mikhalkov (director),

Plot: A loose remake of _12 Angry Men (1957)_ (qv), set in a Russian school. 12 jurors are struggling to decide the fate of a Chechen teenager who allegedly killed his Russian stepfather who took the teenager to live with him in Moscow during the Chechen War in which teenager lost his parents. The jurors: a racist taxi-driver, a suspicious doctor, a vacillating TV producer, a Holocaust survivor, a flamboyant musician, a cemetery manager, and others represent the fragmented society of modern day Russia. A stray bird (a touch of New Age cinema) is flying above the jurors' heads, alluding to tolerance.

Keywords: adoption, based-on-film, bird, bra, caucasus, chechen-war, chechnya, dead-body, digit-in-title, experiment
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller, War,

V toy oblasti nebes (1992)

Actors: Vladimir Menshov (actor), Svetlana Kryuchkova (actress), Givi Tokhadze (actor), Anatoly Vedyonkin (actor), Vladimir Volkov (actor), Larisa Guzeeva (actress), Aleksandr Peskov (actor), Igor Chernitskiy (director), Igor Chernitskiy (writer), Igor Chernitskiy (actor), Elena Korolyova (actress), Boris Vasilev (writer), Yuriy Mazhuga (actor), Kira Kreylis-Petrova (actress), Valeriy Legin (actor),

Genres: Drama,

UHF (1989)

Actors: Gedde Watanabe (actor), Fran Drescher (actress), Kevin McCarthy (actor), Gary Sievers (actor), Robert K. Weiss (actor), 'Weird Al' Yankovic (actor), David Bowe (actor), Grant James (actor), Anthony Geary (actor), George Fisher (actor), Billy Barty (actor), Michael Richards (actor), David Proval (actor), John W. Hyde (producer), Victoria Jackson (actress),

Plot: George Newman (Yankovic) is a normal man. Problem is, he's also a daydreamer, who can't keep hold of a steady job. His uncle decides George will be the perfect man to manage Channel 62, a station which is losing money and viewers fast. George's imagination is put to good use and he starts thinking up bizarre shows such as "Wheels of Fish" and "Raul's Wild Kingdom". The ratings start to soar again, but not everyone is happy.

Keywords: 1980s, absurd-humor, acronym-in-title, adolescent-humor, alien, broken-camera, bug, camera, crazy-humor, cult-film
Genres: Comedy,
Taglines: Don't touch that dial! It's crazy. It's outrageous. It's the T.V station run by a lunatic! TV the way it was meant to be seen. In a movie theater. A lot of TV stations have forgotten what "quality" means. But not Channel 62. They NEVER knew what it meant. It's crazy. It's zany. It's hysterical. It's TV according to "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Quotes:

George Newman: I need a drink.::Bob: You don't drink.::George Newman: Yeah, but I've been meaning to start.

[watching a cartoon when Bob tells George whether to finish the show since Teri won't talk to him]::Stanley Spadowski: Watch out, Mr. Coyote! [sound effect on TV] Aww, it's terrible.

Crazy Ernie: If nobody comes down here and buys a car in the next hour, I'm gonna club this baby seal. That's right! I'm gonna club this seal to make a better deal. You know I'll do it, too, cause I'm crazy.

Stanley Spadowski: This is my new mop. George, my friend, he gave me this mop. This is a pretty good mop. It's not as good as my first mop. I miss my first mop, but this is still a good mop. Sometimes you just hafta take what life gives ya, 'cause life is like a mop and sometimes life gets full of dirt and crud and bugs and hairballs and stuff... you, you, you gotta clean it out. You, you, you gotta put it in here and rinse it off and start all over again and, and sometimes, sometimes life sticks to the floor so bad you know a mop, a mop, it's not good enough, it's not good enough. You, you gotta get down there, like, with a toothbrush, you know, and you gotta, you gotta really scrub 'cause you gotta get it off. You gotta really try to get it off. But if that doesn't work, that doesn't work, you can't give up. You gotta, you gotta stand right up. You, you gotta run to a window and say, "Hey! These floors are dirty as hell, and I'm not gonna take it any more!"

George Newman: Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs... all next week on Town Talk.

Pamela Finklestein: [into a phone to Fletcher] "Broads don't belong in broadcasting"? Is that the kind of professional courtesy you teach your news department?::R.J. Fletcher: [into the phone] Why, that's a terrible thing. I don't know how many time I've told those boys, never call chicks broads.

Stanley Spadowski: I'm thinkin' of something orange. Something orange. Give up? It's an orange. [laughs] Ok, now I'm thinkin' of something blue. Something bluuuuuue.

[George and Bob just got fired again]::Bob: How could you do this to me? I knew this was gonna happen.::George Newman: You're right, Bob. I'm sorry. What can I say? I-I'm a miserable worthless hunk of slime. Here, I want you to take this crowbar and... just bash my head right in! Go ahead. Really. Please! Just BASH it right in!::Bob: George, you know I can't do that. You still owe me five bucks.

Joe Earley: [afterlosing his thumb in a table saw] Can you believe this? Would you look at that? Just call me "Mr. Butterfingers." I think it's on the floor somewhere. Is my face red.

[On the game show, "Wheel of Fish", Phyllis Weaver has just spun the wheel and landed on a red snapper]::Kuni: Ahhh, a red snapper. Mmmmm, very tasty. Okay, Weaver, listen carefully. You can hold on to your red snapper...::[Hiro-San emerges, carrying a table with a box]::Kuni: ...or you can go for what's in the box that Hiro-San is bringing down the aisle right now! What's it gonna be?::[Phyllis Weaver has difficulty in choosing as the audience point to the box]::Phyllis Weaver: I'll take the box. The box!::[applause]::Kuni: You took the box? Let's see what's in the box!::[Hiro-san opens the box; the audience gasps. There is a silence]::Kuni: Nothing! Absolutely nothing! STUPID! You're so STU-PIIIIIIIIIIID!

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Actors: Nicholas Worth (actor), Robert K. Weiss (actor), Lawrence Tierney (actor), Curt Gowdy (actor), Leslie Nielsen (actor), O.J. Simpson (actor), Tim McCarver (actor), Joe Grifasi (actor), John Houseman (actor), Dick Enberg (actor), Ricardo Montalban (actor), George Kennedy (actor), Mel Allen (actor), Joyce Brothers (actress), 'Weird Al' Yankovic (actor),

Plot: A re-run of many of the gags from the original TV series 'Police Squad'. An Airplane type spoof, this time with the an incompetent lieutenant (Drebin) who always 'gets his man'. Visual gags come thick and fast, and it's impossible to catch them all with one viewing. The plot.. Queen Elizabeth II of England is coming to town, and Vincent Ludwig has plans to assassinate her using a brainwashed baseball player.

Keywords: 1980s, absurdism, airbag, anaheim-angels, aquarium, assassin, assassination-attempt, ballpark, baseball, baseball-game
Genres: Comedy, Crime,
Taglines: The Villain. Even Mother Teresa wanted him dead. You've read the ad, now see the movie!

Quotes:

Frank: It's true what they say: Cops and women don't mix. It's like eating a spoonful of Drano; sure, it'll clean you out, but it'll leave you hollow inside.

Jane: I've heard police work is dangerous.::Frank: It is. That's why I carry a big gun.::Jane: Aren't you afraid it might go off accidentally?::Frank: I used to have that problem.::Jane: What did you do about it?::Frank: I just think about baseball.

Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.::Jane: Goodyear?::Frank: No, the worst.

Frank: Just think; next time I shoot someone, I could be arrested.

Frank: It's fourth and fifteen and you're looking at a full-court press.

Mayor: Drebin, I don't want anymore trouble like you had last year on the South Side. Understand? That's my policy.::Frank: Yes. Well, when I see 5 weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards. That's *my* policy.::Mayor: That was a Shakespeare-In-The-Park production of "Julius Caesar", you moron! You killed 5 actors! Good ones.

Frank: I'm telling ya, the answer's up there in Ludwig's office. Call it what you will. A hunch, woman's intuition. That guy Ludwig knows a lot more than he's telling us.::Ed: A hunch won't stand up in court, Frank. Where are your hard facts?::Frank: Look. He's the only one outside of ourselves who knew that Nordberg was still alive. Next thing we know, some thug tries to knock Nordberg off in the hospital.::Ed: That may be, but breaking into Ludwig's office, you're takin' a big chance.::Frank: I know. You take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan.

Frank: Jane, since I've met you, I've noticed things that I never knew were there before... birds singing, dew glistening on a newly formed leaf, stoplights.

Frank: Wilma, I promise you; whatever scum did this, not one man on this force will rest one minute until he's behind bars. Now, let's grab a bite to eat.

Frank: Interesting... almost as interesting as the photographs I saw today.::Jane: I was young! I needed the work!