Lainie Kazan

A struggling artist who feels imprisoned by her toxic relationship is enthralled by her journey of sexual liberation in a bid to find substance in her unfulfilled life.

This comedy flick features Zohan Dvir (Adam Sandler) who is a disgruntled Mossad agent wanting to make it big as a hairdresser. He fakes his death and lands in New York. He later works in a salon for a Palestinian (Emanuelle Chriqui). But when the salon business booms, they meet with resistance from a local rival, who uses unfair means to thwart the competition. How Zohan uses the help of local Palestinians and Israelis, who unite together, makes for interesting viewing. Also featuring is comic Rob Schneider as a Palestinian cab driver.

Melvin Smiley (Mark Wahlberg) has a good life thanks to his talents as a contract-killer but has a very working-class mentality going about his life, in combination with his constant struggles to maintain two romantic relationships. One is with the demanding and demeaning Chantel (Lela Rochon), who does not accept his work, and the other with Pam (Christina Applegate), who knows nothing of his job. Melvin is somewhat of a pushover, trying to appease all of Chantel's demands, even her most expensive wishes (like paying the next installment of $25K on her mortgage), as well as rolling over whenever one of his co-workers takes credit for his achievements. Chantel is cheating on Melvin and knows that he is engaged to Pam on the side. Pam has also taken $50K out of their savings account to loan to her parents, who are unable to get a loan to start a business due to their bad credit history in the past. Melvin carries out entire heists by himself (taking all the risks), while his co-workers wait for him outside to finish the job. But in front of the boss, they push Melvin behind to take all the credit. Perhaps as a result of his helplessness in asserting himself, throughout the early scenes, Melvin is often seen drinking Maalox to relieve a developing stress-induced ulcer. Feeling underpaid for their work for mob boss Paris (Avery Brooks), the assassin team of Melvin, Cisco (Lou Diamond Phillips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.) and Gump (Robin Dunne) take an independent job, kidnapping Keiko Nishi (China Chow), the teenage daughter of local electronics magnate Jiro Nishi (Sab Shimono), for a hefty ransom. Melvin poses as her limo driver and picks her up from school. Her boyfriend Lance tries to sexually assault Keiko in the back of the limo and Melvin shoots him. Despite the kidnapping, Keiko is not afraid and instead makes fun of the fact that the kidnappers look amateurs. Unfortunately, the team does not realize that Nishi has recently gone bankrupt over his failed foray into films and furthermore, their boss Paris is the girl's godfather. Enlisted by the group to hold Keiko, Melvin has to hide the bound and gagged schoolgirl on his property. At first, Melvin hides Keiko at Chantel's place, but she kicks her out when she finds that Melvin has been unable to come up with the money for the mortgage like he had promised. Now Melvin has no option but to hide Keiko at Pam's. Attempting to keep her presence hidden from Pam and her parents (Jeanne (Lainie Kazan) & Morotn (Elliott Gould)), who are staying over at Pam's for the weekend. Pam takes her parents to the Jewish temple for their daily prayers. That allows Melvin a little breather to bring things under control. Melvin feels sorry for Keiko and relieves her from her bondage. In the ensuing hours they build up a rapport preparing dinner together, an act which leads into a love scene reminiscent of the pottery scene from Ghost, but which is cut short when Keiko attempts to escape. Melvin captures Keiko and puts her in the boot of his car. Ordered by Paris to discover the kidnappers of his goddaughter, a panicked Cisco kills Gump. While Cisco was with Paris, Gump makes the ransom call to Jiro at the appointed time. By this time Jiro had set up all the trace equipment needed to track and locate the caller. Gump gives the location of the money drop to Jiro, but Jiro stalls enough for the trace to be completed. So, Cisco rushes out (with the rest of Paris's goons) to get to Gump and kill him, because he will spill the beans to Paris. Cisco hits Gump in the midriff into implicating Melvin for the kidnapping, by saying that Keiko is with Melvin. Then Cisco kills Gump. A team of assassins crash Melvin's dinner with Pam's family, leading to a shootout during which Melvin realizes Pam was going to break up with him over pressure from her mother, a hardcore Jew who is severely against her being with Melvin, a Gentile. Melvin and Keiko's growing feelings for each other lead them to forming an awkward romance, and she and Melvin attempt to escape from the fiasco, pursued by Cisco. In the chaos, Melvin happens to run into Chantel (who was running away with her boyfriend and Melvin's money) and finally takes the opportunity to stand up to her and end their relationship. A fight ensues between Cisco and Melvin, culminating at a video store where the ever-honest Melvin stops to return an overdue tape of King Kong Lives. Melvin kills Cisco by stabbing him in the chest, but not before Cisco arms an explosive device. Melvin leaves the building and is confronted by Keiko, her father and Paris. He re-enters the building, which explodes. Paris and Nishi, believing Melvin to be dead, call off the manhunt. Soon Melvin is revealed to have survived, sheltered from the blast by an enormous solid gold film stand-up made for the flop that destroyed Nishi's career. Melvin and Keiko are reunited and ride off together, while Nishi recoups his losses by making a film out of the story of his daughter's kidnapping.

Struggling to forge a financial career in white male dominated wall street society, taken for granted Laurel Ayers a black woman decided to change the playing field. Quickly realizing that only white males would ever achieve greatness she invents an elusive,Howard Hugh's like character Robert Cutty. Pretending to be Mr. Robert Cutty, Laural Ayers establishes a wealthy investment firm until events force Mr. Cutty to psychically materialize; as of this point he is never seen. Enlisting the help of her drag queen friend and her associate, Sally Dugan she is able to create a physical prosthetic entity. A chain of events mostly due to Laural Ayers adversaries force her to abandon her fictional character and deal her out once again. Down and out didn't necessary leave her out of the game. Laural Ayers is smart and proves she can have the upper hand. Striking back, she reveals who Robert Cutty really is to a group of her colleagues, proving it isn't who you are on the outside but who you are in the inside Check out my review at: www.dereksheldon.blogpsot.com

The Henderson family adopt a friendly Sasquatch but have a hard time trying to keep the legend of 'Bigfoot' a secret. Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits something in the road. At first, they fear it was a man, but when they examine his "body", they find he's a "bigfoot". They think he's dead, so they decide to take him home. As you guessed, he isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear him to be, he's a friendly giant. In their attempts to keep him a secret, they have to hide him from the authorities and a man who has made his goal in life to catch a "bigfoot". —Rob Hartill While returning from a hunting trip in the woods, George Henderson and his family run into something with their car that turns out to be a Sasquatch. Thinking he is dead, they take him home, but he soon awakens. Despite their initial fears, he is a kind and sensitive being, and they become very fond of him. However, it is difficult to keep him a secret, and they soon begin to fear for his safety. —Jwelch5742

Operation Eagle Claw, in Apr 1980, is the American operation to rescue American hostages being held at the U.S. embassy to Tehran. The operation is being aborted after a fatal helicopter crash, with the U.S. Delta Force evacuating to their C-130 transports. Among them is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who, against orders, rescues his wounded comrade Pete Peterson (William Wallace) from the burning helicopter before the team finally evacuates. Peterson was trapped under the burning debris of a jeep. McCoy put his own life and limb on the line to lift the jeep, extract Peterson and carry him to the C-130 transport all by himself. Colonel Nick was worried about the entire squadron and wanted to lift off but holds the transport long enough for McCoy to bring Peterson back. McCoy expresses his disgust for the politicians and military hierarchy that forced the mission to launch despite the risks, and announces he is resigning his commission. McCoy says that for 5 years he saw people planning missions in Vietnam and soldiers dying on the ground as a result of it. Overall, 8 members of the special forces were killed and 13 wounded in the disastrous operation. Five years later, a group of Lebanese terrorists armed with a Colt M1911, PM-63 machine pistol and AK-47s hijack American Travelways Boeing 707 (ATW) Flight 282 that is on a flight from Cairo, Egypt to Athens, Greece to Rome, Italy and then to New York City. The flight is currently in Athens and going to Rome. The flight has couples Harry Goldman (Joey Bishop) and Sylvia (Lainie Kazan), Ben Kaplan (Martin Balsam) and Edie, and Robert Levine (Jerry Lazarus) and Debra (Susan Strasberg). Debra is travelling with her daughter Ellen (Natalie Roth). A flight mechanic had stowed the weapons on-board before the flight departed and the hijackers retrieved them after the flight took off from Athens. Taking all passengers and crew hostage, the group, the pro-Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, led by Abdul Rifai (Robert Forster) and Mustafa (David Menachem), forces Captain Roger Campbell (Bo Svenson) and his crew to fly the plane to Beirut (they force the cockpit to be opened by threatening to blow up the plane with a grenade), Lebanon, where they make demands to the United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of the hostages. During the flight, the hijackers realize that the passengers include Hebrews from Israel on board. They collect everyone's passports and also find that the flight has 3 Marine Divers on board. Abdul separates the Marines in first class cabin and binds their hands and legs. At the hijack, the captain switched on the emergency beacon, indicating to Athen's ground control that the flight has been hijacked. The news soon reaches the Pentagon. General Woodbridge (Robert Vaughn) US general, Army Chief of Staff is in charge of the US operation. Woodbridge and the President authorize a Delta Force unit to neutralize the terrorists. The plane has over 100 Americans on board. During the crisis, the terrorists segregate the Hebrew passengers from the Americans by forcing a reluctant flight purser of German heritage named Ingrid Harding (Hanna Schygulla) to identify them. Another passenger, Catholic priest William O'Malley (George Kennedy), joins the Hebrews in solidarity. Unbeknownst to the authorities, once the plane lands in Beirut, the Hebrew hostages and O'Malley are then taken off the plane and transported to a militant-controlled area of Beirut, while a dozen additional henchmen (Jaffar (Avi Loziah), Jamil Rafai (Uri Gavriel), Salim (Adiv Gahshan)) are brought on board. The flight departs for Algiers, where the terrorists release the female hostages and children. Meanwhile Delta Force, led by Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is deployed to resolve the crisis. McCoy joins the task-force when he hears the news on TV. The Delta force believes that there are only 2 terrorists on board. Once the female hostages are evacuated in Algiers, they launch their assault, only to discover too late that there are additional hijackers and inadvertently alert the terrorists. Abdul kills one hostage, a US Navy diver named Tom, taking the other two US divers with them as well as dozens of male Hebrew passengers on board to Beirut. Delta Force gives chase to rescue the remaining hostages. Upon landing in Beirut, the terrorists gather their hostages and transport them to a militant-controlled area of Beirut. The pilots and two male flight attendants remain in the 707. Using a sympathetic Greek Orthodox priest Father Nicholas (Shaike Ophir), Israeli Army Intelligence prepares an operation to free the hostages. McCoy and Peterson are able to enter into Lebanon disguised as a Canadian television crew. In a prolonged campaign against the terrorists, the Delta Force bide their time to identify the terrorist leaders and locate the hostages. Once their location is discovered, Delta Force assaults the terrorist holdout, freeing the hostages and evacuating them to the airport. During the battle, McCoy, Peterson, and their team hunts down Abdul and his men, killing most of the militants before Abdul shoots Peterson, gravely injuring him. McCoy chases Abdul and tracks him down to an abandoned home. He then engages him into a vicious hand-to-hand fight, breaking Abdul's arm. As the terrorist leader prepares to shoot McCoy, he is killed after McCoy launches a rocket into his car. With the hostages and rescue teams secured, the team seizes Flight 282 by secretly infiltrating the airfield through a cotton field. Using silenced weapons, Alexander and the Delta team assassinates the terrorist guards including the last hijacker and saves the crew, ordering them to fly to Israel. The team boards the plane with all of the hostages, taking off just as McCoy is the last one to board the plane after having destroyed several terrorist jeeps on the runway with his motorcycle armament. On board the team tends to the wounded passengers and Pete who is now dying. After having confirmed that the hostages are safe and on route home, Pete says his farewells to McCoy before succumbing to his wounds. In the main cabin the ex-hostages and Delta commandos join together in a rousing rendition of "America the Beautiful", not knowing about Pete's death. In Israel, the Boeing 707 lands safely and the hostages are greeted by their families, while Delta Force disembarks with Peterson's body in tow to their C-130. The team concludes their operation and departs for the United States in the middle of celebrations by the people.