The Windsor Model
Comedy/Crime Drama, US, Rated R
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Written and Directed By: The Coen Brothers
Starring: John Cusack as David Mandebaum, owner of the Heavenly Veil Funeral home, desperate schemer who's not as clever as he thinks he is.
John Turturro as Benny Mandebaum, brother of David, Co-owner of heavenly veil Funeral Home, Head mortician, neurotic, overly anxious, slowly cracking under the pressure of David's schemes.
Ralph Fiennes as Jake Wiley, mysterious detective who's hounding David. It's clear he knows what's going on, but his allegiance and motives are murky.
Brendan Gleeson as Big George Halloran, The biggest mob boss in Chicago. Power mad and paranoid. Takes David into his confidence.
Co-Starring: George Clooney as Handsome Sal Viscenzo, George's chief rival for control of the city. Suspicious of David, yet easily played.
Parker Posey as Patricia Halloran, George's daughter, becomes smitten with David, feisty hard drinking woman.
Jason Statham as Police Chief Caley O'Hare, paid off by George. Suspicious and jealous of David.
Vinnie Jones as Bodybags Brennan, George's top enforcer. Most feared hitman on the East Coast.
Sam Rockwell as Fingers Mancini, Sal's second in command, pickpocket and gambler
John Polito as Giuseppe DeLuca, Sal's Consigliere, A nervous little man with bad vision
and Johnny Knoxville as The Preacher, holds services for the Heavenly Veil's funerals, tends to ramble incoherently on occasion, may be completely insane.
Summary: The Heavenly Veil Funeral Home has fallen on hard times. The depression and the failed business schemes of owner David Mandebaum (John Cusack) have combined to put the family business in danger of bankruptcy and David and his brother Benny (john Turturro) in danger of being out on the street. Enter Chicago's biggest Mob Boss, Big George Halloran (Brendan Gleeson). George breezes into the Heavenly Veil and saves the family business with an expensive wake for his recently gunned down brother, including the purchase of the previously unsellable top notch casket, The Windsor Model. During the wake, two important things change David's life. One is that George is so impressed by the Heavenly Veil's services, he takes a liking to David. The second is that David finds that drunken Irish mobsters discuss their plans loudly at wakes. It is then that David decides to pursue a dangerous money making scheme. Sell these over heard plans to George's rival mob boss, Sal Viscenzo (George Clooney). When Sal uses the Heavenly Veil for his own man's funeral and David once again over hears plans of a retaliation hit, David decides to up the ante by playing both sides against the middle, further lining his own pockets as each death in the mob war means business for him. Things become increasingly dangerous as the bodies begin to pile up and both sides become determined to find the obvious mole in their organization. Matters are further complicated by David's reluctant romance with George's daughter (Parker Posey), Benny's slow meltdown and the sudden appearance of a mysterious Detective (Ralph Fiennes) with questionable motivations who dog's David's every step. How long can David keep his secrets, keep one step ahead and keep himself alive?
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Inconvenienced
Crime Drama/Black Comedy, US, Rated R
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Directed By: Spike Lee
Starring: Zach Braff as Jay Love, dreams of being a professional rapper, smarter than he acts
Mos Def as Maalik Macalope, one year away from earning his PhD, blames the white man for every thing
Jason Schwartzman as RJ Skrilla, angry, reactionary, claims to love black culture but is deeply racist and in denial
Andre Benjamin as Jerome Williams, political science major, has no idea how he got here
Co-Starring: Parminder Nagra as Inu Gundamaraju, daughter of store owner, surviving clerk, increasingly aggravated and vocal as racial invectives fly
Forrest Whitaker as Sgt James Jones, commanding officer on scene, only one involved with rational thought capacities
James Gandolfini as Lt Nick DiLocca, James' partner, his own racial feelings come to light as the night progresses
Angela Bettis as Mathilda Collins, single mother who ends up a hostage while buying milk, hates everyone
Maggie Gylenhaal as Jenna Morgandale, first reporter on scene, willing to make a name for herself at any expense
Summary: Two poor, uneducated and heroin addicted white boys ( Zach Braff & Jason Schwartzman) who have immersed themselves in hip hop culture, decide to solve their money problems and simultaneously live out their gangster fantasies by robbing a convenience store. Meanwhile, at the same time, two upper class, Ivy league educated black men (Mos Def & Andre Benjamin) who can't pay their tuition due to affirmative action cuts decide to rob a convenience store after an all night drinking binge. Unfortunately, both pairs decide to rob the same exact store at the same exact time. A tense gun waving stand off results in one of the convenience store clerks getting killed and before they know it, the store is surrounded by police. The four find themselves trapped, forced to deal with one another and left with hostages that they didn't mean to take in the first place. As the night goes on, things go from bonding to increasingly hard feelings as the four men begin to discuss racial issues and just what constitutes black and white in modern society. Can these four band together long enough to survive the night and the police, or will they end up killing each other? Spike Lee once again shines a glaring spotlight on the subject of race in America, sparing no one in the process.
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