James Todd Spader is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action science fiction film Stargate (1994), the controversial psychological thriller Crash (1996), the erotic romance Secretary (2002) and Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012). He also voiced and performed motion-capture of the titular character of Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
Ridicule is a 1996 French period drama film directed by Patrice Leconte and starring Charles Berling, Jean Rochefort, Fanny Ardant and Judith Godrèche. Set in the 18th century at the decadent court of Versailles, where social status can rise and fall based on one's ability to mete out witty insults and avoid ridicule oneself, the film's plot examines the social injustices of late 18th-century France, in showing the corruption and callousness of the aristocrats.
Maverick is a 1994 American Western comedy film directed by Richard Donner, written by William Goldman, and starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner. Based on the 1957–1962 television series of the same name created by Roy Huggins and originally starring James Garner, the film stars Gibson as Bret Maverick, a card player and con artist who collects money in order to enter a high-stakes poker game. He is joined in his adventure by Annabelle Bransford (Foster), another con artist, and Marshal Zane Cooper (Garner), a lawman. The supporting cast features Graham Greene, James Coburn, Alfred Molina and many cameo appearances by Western film actors, country music stars and other actors.
Do Bigha Zamin is a 1953 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Bimal Roy. Based on Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali poem "Dui Bigha Jomi", the film stars Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy in lead roles. Known for its socialist theme, it is considered an important film in the early parallel cinema of India, and a trend setter.
The Music of Chance (1990) is an absurdist novel by Paul Auster. It was a 1991 finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was later made into a film in 1993; Mandy Patinkin played Nashe and James Spader played Pozzi.
Rounders is a 1998 American drama film about the underground world of high-stakes poker, directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. The story follows two friends who need to win at high-stakes poker to quickly pay off a large debt. The term rounder refers to a person traveling around from city to city seeking high-stakes card games.
As Tears Go By is a 1988 Hong Kong action crime drama film starring Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung and Jacky Cheung. The film was the directorial debut of Wong Kar-wai, and was inspired by Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets. The central plot revolves around a small-time triad member trying to keep his friend out of trouble. The film was screened at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, during International Critics' Week.
Broken Flowers is a 2005 French-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter stating that he has a son. The film stars Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Chloë Sevigny, Christopher McDonald, and Alexis Dziena.
The Cincinnati Kid is a 1965 American drama film directed by Norman Jewison. It tells the story of Eric "The Kid" Stoner, a young Depression-era poker player, as he seeks to establish his reputation as the best. This quest leads him to challenge Lancey "The Man" Howard, an older player widely considered to be the best, culminating in a climactic final poker hand between the two.
Flowers of Shanghai is a 1998 Taiwanese drama film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien starring Tony Leung as a wealthy patron and Hada Michiko, Annie Shizuka Inoh, Shuan Fang, Jack Kao, Carina Lau, Rebecca Pan, Michelle Reis, and Vicky Wei as "flower girls" in four high-end Shanghai brothels. The film is based on the 1892 novel The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai by Han Bangqing. It was voted the third best film of the 1990s in the 1999 Village Voice Film Poll. The film was selected as the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
"The Happy Wanderer" is the 19th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the sixth of the show's second season. It was written by Frank Renzulli, directed by John Patterson, and originally aired on February 20, 2000.
A River Runs Through It is a 1992 American drama film directed by Robert Redford and starring Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, Tom Skerritt, Brenda Blethyn, and Emily Lloyd. It is based on the 1976 semi-autobiographical novella A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, adapted for the screen by Richard Friedenberg. Set in and around Missoula, Montana, the story follows two sons of a Presbyterian minister, one studious and the other rebellious, as they grow up and come of age in the Rocky Mountain region during a span of time from roughly World War I to the early days of the Great Depression, including part of the Prohibition era.
Raining Stones is a 1993 film directed by Ken Loach and starring Bruce Jones, Julie Brown, Ricky Tomlinson, Tom Hickey and Gemma Phoenix. It tells the story of a man who cannot afford to buy his daughter a First Communion dress, and makes disastrous choices in trying to raise the money. The film won the Jury Prize at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.
The Consequences of Love is a 2004 Italian psychological thriller film directed by Paolo Sorrentino. It tells the story of a lonely and secretive Italian businessman living in a Swiss hotel. The film competed at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It won five David di Donatello awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. It was also the first film to achieve widespread critical acclaim for Sorrentino.
Tormented is a 2009 British comedy horror slasher film directed by Jon Wright, written by Stephen Prentice, and starring Alex Pettyfer, April Pearson, Dimitri Leonidas, Calvin Dean and Tuppence Middleton. The plot centres on a group of students being stalked and murdered by the ghost of a bullied teenager. The film was released on 22 May 2009 in the United Kingdom by Pathé and was produced by BBC Films, Pathé, Slingshot Studios, Forward Films, and Screen West Midlands. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with many praising the humour and cast, but criticising the formulaic plot. The film earned £284,757 on a £700,000 budget.
Kinatay is a 2009 thriller film directed by Brillante Mendoza and written by Armando Lao. The story is centered on a criminology student who accidentally joins a syndicate to make enough money for his family, and gets involved in murder and dismembering of an erring drug dealer.
Inside Llewyn Davis is a 2013 period black comedy musical drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1961, the film follows one week in the life of Llewyn Davis, played by Oscar Isaac in his breakthrough role, a folk singer struggling to achieve musical success while keeping his life in order. The supporting cast includes Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver.
Mississippi Grind is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. It stars Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn, Sienna Miller, Lio Tipton, Robin Weigert, and Alfre Woodard. The film was released by A24 on September 25, 2015.
Happy End is a 2017 drama film written and directed by Michael Haneke, and starring Isabelle Huppert and Jean-Louis Trintignant, who had also played daughter and father in Haneke's 2012 film Amour.
Elton Tsang Ka-wai is a Chinese Canadian poker player currently residing in Hong Kong. Considered as one of the five best Asian poker players, Tsang has achieved icon status in the international poker scene with his involvement in several historic achievements including:
- his role in founding and organising the first ever live poker tournament in Macau, China,
- his winning the 3rd highest prize in poker tournament history (€11,111,111),
- his part in the biggest pot in TV poker history (€2,090,000).
