ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Frank Quinlan and Huey Driscoll, two reporters from a Chicago-based tabloid, along with Dorothy Winters, an "angel expert," are asked to travel to rural Iowa to investigate a claim from an old woman that she shares her house with a real, live archangel named Michael. Upon arrival, they see that her claims are true -- but Michael is not what they expected: he smokes, drinks beer, has a very active libido and has a rather colourful vocabulary. In fact, they would never believe it were it not for the two feathery wings protruding from his back. Michael agrees to travel to Chicago with the threesome, but what they don't realise is that the journey they are about to undertake will change their lives forever.

[memento]

From The NY Times: The teen drama A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon is directed by William Richert, who adapted the screenplay from his own semi-autobiographical novel Aren't You Even Going to Kiss Me Goodbye? Set in a wealthy Chicago suburb during the 1960s, middle-class Jimmy Reardon (River Phoenix) hangs out with his upper-class best friend, Fred Roberts (Matthew Perry), and sleeps with Fred's snobby girlfriend, Denise Hunter (Ione Skye). He spends his time writing poetry and drinking coffee while he decides what to do after high school. His parents won't help him pay for tuition unless he attends the same business college as his father did, but Jimmy doesn't want to follow that path. Instead, he focuses on coming up with enough money for a plane ticket to go to Hawaii with his wealthy yet chaste girlfriend, Lisa Bentwright (Meredith Salenger). On the night of a big party, Jimmy is given the task of driving home his mother's divorced friend, Joyce Fickett (Ann Magnuson), who conveniently seduces him. Since he is late picking up Lisa, she goes to the dance with the rich Matthew Hollander (Jason Court) instead. Jimmy then crashes the family car and shares an intimate rapprochement with his father (Paul Koslo).

[Lynne]

Opportunity Knocks is a 1990 comedy film, starring Dana Carvey as a Chicago con man who assumes the identity of the friend of a wealthy businessman who is on vacation, and ends up falling in love with the man's sister.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  In Chicago during the Depression, sheet-music salesman Arthur Parker is trying to sell his products, but it's not easy to convince unwilling music-store owners to buy them. Although he's already married to the somewhat drab Joan, when he meets school teacher Eileen in a music store, he falls in love with her.

[southendmd]

AKA Chicago, Chicago.

Plot:  To escape sinful impulses, Ben Harvey, a callow youth, leaves his small town for Chicago in 1910. A pickpocket promptly relieves him of his money, and he nearly starves before Queen Lil takes him under her wing, gives him a room in her high-class bordello, and gets him a job at a newspaper. He's so sweet and dumb, he thinks Lil's is a boarding house. He's soon caught up in an electoral struggle between a secretly corrupt reformer and an openly corrupt councilman. Can Ben expose corruption or will he be caught up in allure of power? An alcoholic investigative reporter and the bordello's ingénue try to help him grow up.

First feature film for Beau Bridges and Margot Kidder.

[memento]

From IMDB: 12-year-old Henry Rowengartner, whose late father was a minor league baseball player, grew up dreaming of playing baseball, despite his physical shortcomings. Although he's close to his mother Mary, Henry hates Mary's latest boyfriend, Jack Bradfield. After Henry's arm is broken during a little league game, the tendon in that arm heals too tightly, allowing Henry to throw pitches that are as fast as 103 mph. Henry is spotted at nearby Wrigley Field by Larry "Fish" Fisher, the general manager of the struggling Chicago Cubs, after Henry throws an opponent's homerun ball all the way from the outfield bleachers back to the catcher, and it seems that Henry may be the pitcher that team owner Bob Carson has been praying for. At first, Cubs manager Sal Martinella doesn't like Henry being on the team, but despite the rawness of his talent, Henry revives everyone's team spirit and reignites the enthusiasm of the fans. While money hungry Jack pulls strings behind the scenes to line his own pockets, Mary starts to fall for veteran pitcher Chet "Rocket" Steadman, whose injuries are curtailing a once sparkling career. While Henry bonds with Chet, Henry's friends resent Henry's star status when he arrives late to help them work on an old boat. As the Cubs head for the National League Championship series, Jack agrees to hand over Henry's contract to the New York Yankees for 25 million dollars. Mary doesn't like that, so when Jack angers Mary even more by stupidly saying that Henry is half his, Mary literally punches Jack out the door, with Henry cheering her on. Thinking about the idea of retiring, both Henry and Chet start performing badly, but they set out to redeem themselves at the National League championship series.

[Fran]

From IMDb:

Eighteen-year-old Ian Lafferty sets out on a cross-country drive with his best friends Lance and Felicia in order to lose his virginity to a red-hot babe he met on the Internet. But the journey, filled with hilarious misadventures and raunchy escapades, teaches all three more than they expected about life and love. Randy, raucous and unexpectedly romantic, "Sex Drive" follows three friends on the road trip of a lifetime!

Ian Lafferty (Josh Zuckerman) can't seem to catch a break. He's taunted by his cocksure older brother Rex (James Marsden), shown up in the romance department by his 14-year-old younger brother, and humiliated by his job at a mall donut shop. But Ian's biggest problem is that he's about to start college as a virgin!

Getting nowhere with the girl of his dreams and longtime best friend Felicia (Amanda Crew), Ian resorts to the Internet for dates. He soon hooks up with Ms. Tasty, a flaming hot blonde who can't wait to get busy. The only catch: Ian has to drive 500 miles from Chicago to Knoxville to consummate the deal.

[southendmd]

In preproduction, with Ben Stiller directing a script by Aaron Sorkin.

[memento]

From IMDB: The Undercover Man starts out in the detail-cluttered, reverential way of so many of these para-patriotic films, but about halfway through Lewis finds his stride and eschews hagiography for moviemaking. A tense and violent sequence among the street stalls of Chicago's Italian neighborhood, where a turncoat gangster is chased and killed in front of his little daughter, delivers a welcome jolt after all the handwriting experts and accountants' ledgers. But the movie always slinks back to Ford, suffering valiantly - he's such an irresistible target it's no wonder Kelley can't help needling him. And it's Kelley's sly, smug performance that lends The Undercover Man the subversive grit that, in the absence of Cummins (or any of her sisters), it sorely needs.

[Fran]

Also known as:  Vera storia di Frank Mannata, La (Italy)



From IMDb:

Director: Writers: Genre: Plot Keywords:

Javier Setó Luigi Mondello (story) Javier Setó (writer) Crime Gangster | Chicago, Illinois