Crumb (1994), Zodiac (2007), Secondhand Lions (2003), Delhi Belly (2011), American Splendor (2003), The Stranger Beside Me (2003), The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996), Comic Book Confidential (1988) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Cartoonist movies.
Storyline: This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind. As stream-of-consciousness images incessantly flow forth from the tip of his pen, biting social satire is revealed, often along with a disturbing and haunting vision of Crumb's own betes noires and inadequacies. As his acid-trip induced images flicker across our own retinas, we gain a little insight into this complex and highly creative individual.—Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Plot Keywords: cartoonist, counter culture, cult figure, dysfunctional family, father son relationship, medication, mental illness ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. We follow the investigators and reporters in this lightly fictionalized account of the true 1970's case as they search for the murderer, becoming obsessed with the case. Based on Robert Graysmith's book, the movie's focus is the lives and careers of the detectives and newspaper people.
Plot Keywords: serial killer, year 1970, year 1969, investigation, reporter, female stockinged feet, female stockinged legs ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: A boy named Walter is dropped by his mother Mae at his great-uncles' house. Later, Walter will find out his great-uncles' big secret, and rumors say that Hub and Garth, Walter's great-uncles, have stolen a lot of gold and money. (some say they stole it from Al Capone) Did they really steal that money or not?
Plot Keywords: yacht, telephone booth, sword fight, switchblade, suicidal, storytelling, skeet shooting ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Delhi-based Sonia agrees to deliver a package for Vladimir Dragunsky and asks her rather unkempt and debt-ridden fiancé, Tashi Malhotra, to do it for her. Tashi, in turn, asks one of two of his room-mates, Nitin. But Nitin forgets to do so due to an upset stomach ailment commonly known as 'Delhi Belly' as well as his plan to blackmail their landlord, Manish and asks the third roommate Arup to deliver the package. A gangster, Somayajulu, who was the recipient of this package, starts by brutally questioning Vladimir, and finds out that the package may be in the possession of the trio. While Tashi must deal with his attraction for Journalist Menaka and incur the wrath of her husband, Rajiv, he still has to fully come to terms whether or not he wants to marry Sonia. And the entry of ruthless Somayajulu and his gang seriously jeopardizes any plans Tashi and his friends may have for the future.
Plot Keywords: city name in title, car, hit by a car, car driving, car damage, photojournalist, photographer ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Harvey Pekar is file clerk at the local VA hospital. His interactions with his co-workers offer some relief from the monotony, and their discussions encompass everything from music to the decline of American culture to new flavors of jellybeans and life itself. At home, Harvey fills his days with reading, writing and listening to jazz. His apartment is filled with thousands of books and LPs, and he regularly scours Cleveland's thrift stores and garage sales for more, savoring the rare joy of a 25-cent find. It is at one of these junk sales that Harvey meets Robert Crumb, a greeting card artist and music enthusiast. When, years later, Crumb finds international success for his underground comics, the idea that comic books can be a valid art form for adults inspires Harvey to write his own brand of comic book. An admirer of naturalist writers like Theodore Dreiser, Harvey makes his American Splendor a truthful, unsentimental record of his working-class life, a warts-and-all self portrait...
Plot Keywords: comic book, movie reality crossover, based on comic book, cult figure, husband wife relationship, dark horse comics, 1980s ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Sting's wife Trudie Styler documents the turbulent bureaucracy both Sting and the filmmakers went through in order to complete The Emperor's New Groove (2000), a Disney film that underwent extensive storyline changes from start to finish.
Plot Keywords: title co directed by female, replacement, fired, disappointment, cartoonist, artist, south america ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: The childhood, adolescence, and incredible adult years of Al Hirshfeld, celebrated creator of thousands of line drawings of famous people - many in the entertainment industry - over a span of more than sixty years. He is still drawing in his nineties. His interesting domestic life, political, and cultural views are highlights. In addition, he talks about himself a bit - seriously and lightly.(At one point he he claims that his only form of exercise has been to live in his Manhattan townhouse: stairs). He drives his car around Manhattan - an adventure in itself. Brief interviews with, and reminiscences of many friends and associates.—Eileen Berdon <eberdon@aol.com>
Plot Keywords: 1980s, independent film, 1900s, theater, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In the 20th century, no artistic medium in North America with so much potential for creative expression has had a more turbulent history plagued with less respect than comic books. Through animated montages, readings and interviews, this film guides us through the history of the medium from the late 1930s and 1940s with the first explosion of popularity with the superheroes created by great talents like Jack Kirby and hitting its first artistic zenith with Will Eisner's "Spirit". It then shifts to the post war comics world with the rising popularity of crime and horror comics, especially those published by EC Comics under the editorship of William B. Gaines until it came crashing down the rise of censorship with the imposition of the Comics Code. In its wake of the devastation of the medium's creative freedom, we also explore EC's defiant survival with the creation of the singular "Mad Magazine" by Harvey Kurtzman. We then move to the resurgence of the superheroes in the late 1950's and 1960's typified with the rise of the dramatically innovative Marvel Comics edited by Stan Lee. Still more important is the rise of the the gleefully uninhibited underground comics created by eccentric talents like Robert Crumb and Dan O'Neill. These leads to profiles of creators like Harvey Pekar who take the medium into new directions of expression. In the late 1970s and '80s we see the rise of alternative comics with such bold talents like Jaime Hernández for "Love and Rockets, Sue Coe for How to Commit Suicide in South Africa and especially for Art Spiegelman for his searing Pulitizer Prize winning Holocaust account, Maus. Finally, we learn of the medium's superhero mythos' revitalizing moment with the creation of Frank Miller's ferocious min-series "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns". Taken together, the film makes its argument that the medium is far more than the stereotype of juvenile trash but rather it is an art-form with a wild history and an exciting future.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Plot Keywords: comic book, cartoonist, based on comic, marvel comics, art, censorship, independent film ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Life is not always like the movies. Love isn't always at first sight. Very often, a relationship develops slowly and it takes many years between "boy meets girl" and "boy gets girl". Hum Tum is a refreshing look at the eternal battle of the sexes as it follows the lives of Karan (Saif Ali Khan) and Rhea (Rani Mukerji). Karan is a cartoonist and his character "Hum" and "Tum" reflect his perspective on the strange love-hate relationship between men and women. Rhea is sensitive, well bred and self-confident. She can give as good as she gets and is not afraid of standing up to men. Initially, the two have very little in common. But, as life would have it, their paths keep crossing and, over the course of a decade, their relationship evolves, from hate to mutual respect, friendship and finally - In a cinematic universe that offers simplistic scenarios to the complex relationship between men and women. Hum Tum is a novel look at the trials and tribulations of "every man" and "every woman" ...
Plot Keywords: airplane, friendship, grief, marital reconciliation, marital separation, mother daughter relationship, mother son relationship ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In mid-1970s Savannah, two bright but rebellious boys, Francis Doyle and Tim Sullivan, fight boredom, hormones and harsh teachers as they struggle to find something meaningful beyond the walls of their parish school. Francis, an exceptional artist whose imaginative forays into a fictional universe of good and evil fill his notebooks with comic-book imagery, creates a netherworld of superhero alter egos for the two boys. When the ultra-strict Sister Assumpta seizes their artwork one day, the boys embark upon an obsessed trail of revenge that ultimately changes their lives.
Plot Keywords: hanged woman, poem, praying, premarital sex, punched in the face, punishment, raised middle finger ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: After Portland slacker John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix) nearly loses his life in a car accident, the last thing he intends to do is give up drinking. But when he reluctantly enters treatment - with encouragement from his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and a charismatic sponsor (Jonah Hill) - Callahan discovers a gift for drawing edgy, irreverent newspaper cartoons that develop a national following and grant him a new lease on life. Based on a true story, this poignant, insightful and often funny drama about the healing power of art is adapted from Callahan's autobiography and directed by two-time Oscar® nominee Gus Van Sant. Jack Black, Carrie Brownstein, Beth Ditto and Kim Gordon also star.
Plot Keywords: disability, therapy, alcoholism, wheelchair, drawing, hospital, caretaker ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: This is the true story of Ritchie Valens, a young rock and roll singer who tragically died in a plane crash at age 17. The film follows Ritchie from his days in Pacoima, California where he and his family make a meager living working on farms to his rise as a star. The film also focuses on Ritchie's friendship and rivalry with his older brother Bob Morales and his relationship with Donna Ludwig, his girlfriend.
Plot Keywords: interracial romance, hispanic, racism, interracial relationship, rags to riches, pregnancy, music industry ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: In Wellington, wallflower Lily is inexplicably attracted to loser Jarrod. She's out of a job; he's nursing a decade-long grudge against someone who teased him in high school. When she accompanies him to his seacoast hometown where he intends to take on his nemesis, she meets his father, his daughter from a one-night stand, and other family members--plus the memory of his talented, dead brother. Jarrod treats Lily badly, invents a relationship with his dead brother's fiancée, and gears up for his fight. Will she finally have enough and go home?
Plot Keywords: cat, singer, costume, mirror, talking to oneself in a mirror, talking to the camera, tears ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Slip (Leo Gorcey) narrates that he and Sach (Huntz Hall) were copy boys on the 'Daily Chronicle" when their police-detective friend, Gabe Moreno ('Gabriel Dell(I)')was shot during a holdup by The Loop Gang, and another officer killed. During their investigation, Slip accidentally wins the respect of gangster "Angles" (Mickey Knox) when he gets out of a prearranged police pickup. The Loop Gang pull another robbery and mobster Bertie Spangler (Pepe Hern) for bungling a job. Slip then realizes that "Angles" and his mob are responsible for the crime wave. Through "Angles" and "Miami" ('Richard Benedict'), Slip and Sach meet Carver (Edward Ryan), real leader of the gang, and his vampish girl friend Vickie ('Jean Dean')who immediately "goes for" Slip. His pals Butch (Benny Bartlett), Chuck (David Gorcey and "Whitey (William 'Billy' Benedict) dress like gangsters and convince Carver they are mobsters, and malt-shop owner Louie Bernard Gorcey)pretends he is their contact man. The Bowery Boys then set out to bring the gang to justice.—Les ASdams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
Plot Keywords: independent film, beating, editor, newspaper, bullet wound, new york city, pool hall ...
Movie Details Click Here!Storyline: Jim's father wants to marry Eugenia, but her sister Netta refuses to allow it. When Jim sees Ann at a club, he falls for her even though she is with Lord Priory. He meets her the next day at the riding path, but she quickly loses him. He searches all over for her, not knowing that his father's fiancée is her Aunt. As his caricature work suffers as he searches, he is fired from his paper. But he makes a comeback with the comics 'Rags to Riches,' which is based upon the aunt's family. This upsets them so much that they go back to New York, and he follows, being careful not to let them know that he is the one who draws the strip that parodies them.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Plot Keywords: screwball comedy, ship, deception, london england, nobility, remake, new york city ...
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