Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails called 'pins' and had hollows or pockets which scored points if the ball came to rest in them. Today, pinball is most commonly an arcade game in which the ball is fired into a specially designed cabinet known as a pinball machine, hitting various lights, bumpers, ramps, and other targets depending on its design.
Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. He first achieved recognition for his short story collection, Night in Tunisia, which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. After a stint working at RTÉ, he made his directorial debut with the 1982 film Angel.
Charles Edward Durning was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies, television shows and plays. Durning's best-known films include The Sting (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), The Muppet Movie (1979), True Confessions (1981), Tootsie (1982), Dick Tracy (1990), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for both The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and To Be or Not to Be (1983). Prior to his acting career, Durning served in World War II and was decorated for valor in combat.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is a 1974 Canadian comedy drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff, and adapted by Mordechai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd from Richler’s 1959 novel. It stars Richard Dreyfuss as the title character, a brash young Jewish Montrealer who embarks on a string of get-rich-quick schemes in a bid to gain respect. The cast also features Micheline Lanctôt, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Joe Silver and Jack Warden.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro portraying Frankenstein's monster, and co-stars Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Richard Briers and Aidan Quinn. Considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel in some respects, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, despite several differences and additions in plot from the novel, the film follows a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates new life in the form of a monster composed of various corpses' body parts.
Colleen Celeste Camp is an American character actress and producer. After appearing in several bit parts, she had a lead role in the comedy The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), followed by roles in two installments of the Police Academy series. Camp had supporting roles in Lady of the House (1978), Apocalypse Now (1979), and The Seduction (1982), after which she played Julie’s mother in Valley Girl and Yvette the Maid in the 1985 comedy Clue.
Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 martial arts action comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Stephen Chow, who also stars in the leading role, alongside Huang Shengyi, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Danny Chan Kwok-kwan and Leung Siu-lung in prominent roles. The story revolves around a murderous neighbourhood gang, a poor village with unlikely heroes and an aspiring gangster's fierce journey to find his true self. The martial arts choreography is supervised by Yuen Woo-ping.
Psycho Pinball is a 1994 pinball video game published and developed by Codemasters, released for Mega Drive in the United Kingdom and MS-DOS in the United States and Europe.
When a Stranger Calls is a 1979 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Fred Walton, co-written by Steve Feke, and starring Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst and Tony Beckley. Its plot follows Jill Johnson, a young woman being terrorized by a psychopathic killer while babysitting, the killer's stalking of another woman, his returning to torment Jill years later, and a detective's trying to find him. Rachel Roberts, Ron O'Neal, Carmen Argenziano, and Rutanya Alda appear in supporting roles. The film derives its story from the folk legend of "the babysitter and the man upstairs".
Full Tilt! Pinball, known as Pinball 95 in Europe, is a pinball video game developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis in 1995. It features pre-rendered 3D graphics and three tables: Space Cadet, Skulduggery, and Dragon's Keep. On each table, side display show the player score, ball number, player number, various other information, and a table-specific image. A sequel called Full Tilt! Pinball 2 was released in 1996.
The Last Horror Film is a 1982 American horror comedy film produced by Judd Hamilton directed by David Winters and starring Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro. Its plot follows a delusional middle-aged New York City taxi driver who, fixated on the idea of being a film director, visits the Cannes Film Festival where he begins stalking an actress he is obsessed with.
Donald Joseph Qualls is an American actor. He is best known for his work in films including Road Trip (2000), The New Guy, (2002) and The Core (2003), and for appearances on television series such as Breaking Bad, Supernatural, Scrubs, Lost, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He co-starred in the FX comedy series Legit, the Syfy horror series Z Nation and the Amazon Studios show The Man in the High Castle.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a widebody pinball game, designed by Steve Ritchie and released in November 1993 by Williams Electronics. It was part of WMS' SuperPin series, and was based on the TV series. It is the only pinball machine that features three separate highscore-lists. Apart from the regular highscore-list and the buy-in-list, it also features a reminiscence to The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot billionaires club. It is also the third pinball game overall based on the Star Trek franchise, following the 1979 pinball game by Bally, and the 1991 game by Data East, and preceding the 2013 pinball game by Stern.
Cop is a 1988 American neo-noir crime suspense film written and directed by James B. Harris, starring James Woods, Lesley Ann Warren and Charles Durning. It is based on the 1984 book Blood on the Moon, by James Ellroy. Harris and Woods co-produced the film, a first for their careers.
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 American musical comedy film co-written, produced and directed by Colin Higgins. An adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical of the same name, the film stars Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Jim Nabors, Charles Durning and Dom DeLuise.
Bernard Joseph Durning was an American silent film director and actor who worked primarily with Lon Chaney, Dustin Farnum, and Buck Jones.
An Enemy of the People is a 1978 American drama film directed by George Schaefer and based on Arthur Miller's 1950 adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1882 play. The film stars Steve McQueen in the lead role of scientist Thomas Stockmann, Charles Durning as his brother Peter, and Bibi Andersson as his wife Catherine.
Representations of the shark are common in popular culture in the Western world, with a range of media generally portraying them of eating machines and threats. In some media, however, comedy is drawn from portrayals of sharks running counter to their popular image, with shark characters being portrayed as unexpectedly friendly or otherwise comical. The lists below give an approximate sample of the many forms of representation of the shark in popular culture.
Pinball FX 3 is a pinball simulator video game developed and published by Zen Studios and is the sequel to Pinball FX 2. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 in September 2017 and then released for the Nintendo Switch in December 2017. A followup called Pinball FX was released in February 16, 2023.
Hustle is a 2022 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters, and co-produced by and starring Adam Sandler as a down-on-his-luck National Basketball Association (NBA) scout who discovers a raw but talented basketball player in Spain and tries to prepare him for the NBA draft. The film also stars Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall, Heidi Gardner, and current NBA player Anthony Edwards. LeBron James produced the film through his SpringHill Company banner.
