The Writer’s Watch

Last month, we asked American NonFiction fans to write an entire story. In honor of their dedication to the our favorite craft, we offer three movie suggestions about people who place words on page or, as we like to call them, writers. A good portion of stories have main character who write, as the person who wrote the manuscript was a writer. However the cream rises to the top and we have culled the celluloid to recommend the best and brightest of the bunch.

The Basketball Diaries

BasketBall Diaries

Leonardo DiCaprio is good at what he does. No movie better proves his acting ability than Basketball Diaries, the story of Jim Carroll’s free fall into the depths of drug addiction. After “This Boy’s Life”, DiCaprio slam dunks his cinematic crisis played out on the gritty streets of New York City. Young Jim Carol is a basketball player and dreams of Pro stardom but finds a hard road to the get there. Strapped with the death of his best friend, the over friendly hands of his coach, and a growing addiction to Heroin, Jim lands far from the action of basketball courts. Will Jim be able to pick himself back up and who is left to help the helpless? Rent a copy of Basketball Diaries and find out.

Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys

If the names Michael Douglass, Robert Downey, Jr., and Tobey Maguire appear in the cast credits, the result is going to be worth the watch. But when you have them on the set of “Wonder Boys”, you have something truly magical. Based on the novel written by Michael Chabon, “ Wonder Boys” is the tale of a burnout novelist turned college professor Grady Tripp, who find himself in a creative class, he laments, and in the middle of his follow up novel, which has spun out of his control. Fresh from a recent divorce from his 3rd wife, Tripp consoles himself by sleeping with his boss’ wife and smoking the devil’s weed. Things get complicated when Terry Crabtree, Tripp’s editor, pulls into town, with a tranny on his arm, and fall in lust for Tripp’s mysterious student, James Leer, who has a problem with stealing and lying, both of which he is quite good at. Can this dysfunctional group of malcontents make it through “WordFest” with their credibility still intact? Rent “The Wonder Boys” and find out.

Finding Forester

Finding Forester

What more can you say about a movie that gave the internet the catch phrase “You’re the Man now, dog.”? There are many diffrent angles covered in the story of Jamal Wallace’s life in the inner city. As an under achieving intelligent student, Jamal tests well and gains acceptance to a well respected private school. On the baseketball court, Jamal is dared to enter the apartment building of a recluse that watches their games from his apartment window. Spooked by fear, Jamal leaves behind his personal notebook. When he goes back, he finds his notebook had been corrected by none other than William Forrester, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Avalon Landing. Forester agrees to help Jamal with his writing in exchange for his silence. But when Jamal enters an essay, written in Forester’s apartment, his teacher calls for plagiarism and Forester calls for an end to their friendship. What will become of Jamal and Forester? Rent “Finding Forester” to find out.