Best movies like The Real Howard Spitz

An elevator operator and a janitor team up to solve two murders that may be connected to an illegal gambling operation. Monogram.

A strange and tragic tale of a young boy who is able to predict race winners at the horse track by riding his own rocking horse to aid his parents out of their endless round of debts.

Joan Wilder is thrust back into a world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of course, he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton and his sidekick Ralph show up to help our intrepid heroine save the day.

Tom Collier has had a great relationship with Daisy, but when he decides to marry, it is not Daisy whom he asks, it is Cecelia. After the marriage, Tom is bored with the social scene and the obligations of his life. He publishes books that will sell, not books that he wants to write. Even worse, he has his old friend working as a butler and Cecelia wants him fired. When Tom tries to get back together with Daisy to renew the feelings that he once felt, Daisy turns the tables on him and leaves to protect both of them.

Verona and Burt have moved to Colorado to be close to Burt's parents but, with Veronica expecting their first child, Burt's parents decide to move to Belgium, now leaving them in a place they hate and without a support structure in place. They set off on a whirlwind tour of of disparate locations where they have friends or relatives, sampling not only different cities and climates but also different families. Along the way they realize that the journey is less about discovering where they want to live and more about figuring out what type of parents they want to be.

Gabrielle is writing an illustrated guide book on sex called 'How To Do It.' At a book signing she meets Saul, an established male writer who is straight. She both loves and hates his work which has seeped into her secular Jewish life from childhood. The more Gabrielle tells him about her book the more he wants to know about her life; the relationship with her younger girlfriend Olivia and her determination to "stop using my penis in sex". As her book takes form, is Saul jealous or desirous? Their friendship is tested as is Gabrielle's relationship with Olivia. The film muses on how we write, how we draw. And the nature of "story" and what it makes us do.

A novelist moves to a small town to write her next novel. She seeks inspiration and as time goes by she gathers information about her neighbor, a young, wealthy man whom she observes, as well as photographs, from her window. She soon finds herself a suspect in a murder investigation due to suspicious circumstances involving her odd behavior and reclusive lifestyle. She must fight to demonstrate her innocence.

"Prosecuting Casey Anthony" reveals Florida prosecutor, Jeff Ashton’s inside story of the true crime drama that captivated and then shocked the nation when Caylee Anthony’s mother, Casey, was acquitted of killing her daughter, despite what many thought to be overwhelming evidence of guilt. The movie is seen from Ashton’s (Lowe) perspective and it takes viewers behind-the-scenes of both the investigation into Caylee’s tragic death and the ensuing trial, shedding new light on the many questions of what happened to the two year-old girl, how Ashton and his fellow prosecutors built their case and why a woman so shrouded in suspicion was proclaimed innocent. With in-depth information about the case and the accused, "Prosecuting Casey Anthony" examines what the prosecution got right, what they got wrong and why Ashton remains convinced of Casey Anthony’s guilt...

In the future, a strange fungus has changed nearly everyone into a thoughtless, flesh-eating monster. When a scientist and a teacher find a girl who seems to be immune to the fungus, they all begin a journey to save humanity.

After starting their own detective agency, Nick and Audrey Spitz land a career-making case when their billionaire pal is kidnapped from his wedding.

Erich Kästner’s beloved novel has been adapted for film or television six times since its publication in 1929; this 1935 British version was the first in English. Believed lost for decades, it was recently rediscovered by the BFI and has now been restored. The film moves the action from Berlin to London, where Emil goes to stay with his grandmother and cousin. Thereafter, the tale of Emil’s adventures with a gang of streetwise London children faithfully follows the original plot.

Aspiring young novelist Tony Zonis (Alexis Denisof) wants to write the next great suspense thriller, so he decides to study the work of master crime writer, Willard Hope (Christopher Lee). Together, they pick through random newspaper stories, looking for the unusual event that will make a good thriller. What they find is murder. A government cover-up... an international scandal... and the bodies are just beginning to fall into place. Now Tony isn't just writing the next best-seller... he's writing his own obituary.

Anger rages in Philip as he awaits the publication of his second novel. He feels pushed out of his adopted home city by the constant crowds and noise, a deteriorating relationship with his photographer girlfriend Ashley, and his own indifference to promoting the novel. When Philip's idol Ike Zimmerman offers his isolated summer home as a refuge, he finally gets the peace and quiet to focus on his favorite subject: himself.

Former FBI agent, now single mother Lisa Brennan, takes a holiday to escape an unhappy love affair and painful family memories. But in a heartbeat, she is not only faced with a daughter kidnapped by human traffickers, but also faces murder charges and must keep one step ahead of the foreign police.

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.

Vampire hunter Edgar Frog is destitute and nearly friendless, when the beautiful novelist Gwen Lieber offers him a small fortune to go on a hunt to save her brother from vampires using a new drug called the Thirst, which is a mixture of Ecstasy and infected blood. Realising he can't do this alone, Edgar turns to his brother, Alan Frog, to help him save Gwen's brother.

Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.

Grieving after the death of her young son Joseph, novelist Betty Fisher enters a dark depression. Hoping to bring her out of it, her mother Margot arranges to kidnap another child, Jose, to replace the son Betty lost. Although she knows it's wrong, Betty accepts Jose as her new son. Meanwhile, Jose's mother Carole is looking for her son with the help of her boyfriend Francois and some of his criminal cohorts.

Young Mary Rainey takes the reins of her deceased father's failing circus. With the help of the Inimitable Smiley Johnson, she hopes to bring fortune back to her ragtag band of ragged shoeleather performers.

Charles Lattimore, an author of a book about a famous murder trial, arranges to meet with one of his students one night. When the student is found murdered and Lattimore has no alibi, he suspects he is being framed by the subject of his book.

A crime reporter writes book to expose names and methods of the criminal leaders. He is held on a charge after refusing to explain how he got his information, but is released and helps to expose the syndicate.

A famous crime novelist's protigie disappears before the release of author's first new book in years. Is the seeming crime an elaborate publicity stunt, or was this author so desperate for material that he created his own sinister inspiration? Despite his cunning defense on trial (the trial that made his book a best seller), Detective Cooper suspects the latter. She's determined to separate fiction from reality, but the deeper she gets in the story, the more twisted the plot becomes.

Despite allegations of child sexual abuse against Jody's ex-husband Marcus, the court orders joint custody of their daughter Samantha. Jody faces a choice of turning Samantha over to Marcus, or taking her on the run and risk kidnapping charges. Pursued by both the FBI and a private detective, Jody and Samantha are hunted, fleeing from town to town with the help of an underground network set up to help women and children escape from abuse. Based on a true story. 

Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock their pasts — and hearts?

Author Nell Phillips’ first book has become a surprise best-seller of the Christmas season. Nell’s last stop on a nationwide book tour takes her to the town of Springdale, the hometown of Emmett Turner, a young man she met over five years ago while both were junior copy editors at a New York publishing company. Nell was hurt when Emmett stood her up for a dinner date and then disappeared from New York without any explanation. As Nell is quick to admit, Emmett’s colorful, nostalgic anecdotes about Springdale inspired her to write this book that is shaping her life and especially this holiday season.

ChickLit is a comedy drama about four guys trying to save their local pub from closing down. They group write a chick lit, or more specifically a 'mummy porn' novel in the style of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and it gets snapped up. The only snag is that the publisher insists that the young woman 'author' does press and publicity. The guys have to keep their involvement a secret and so engage an out of work actress to 'role play' the part of the author. This leads to her becoming the star in the film of the book, the tables are turned on the guys and she is in control - leaving them with the awful prospect of having to secretly churn out sex novels for the foreseeable future.

Mikaela is a successful romance novelist who has had bad luck in love, visits a quaint bed and breakfast for a Christmas writer's retreat near a snowy lake town each year. Upon arriving, she meets dashing writer Levi, who soon convinces Mikaela that she shouldn't be writing about love, if she doesn't allow herself to get out and actually experience it.

Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain – exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears' dog Wellington, he records each fact about the event in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of the murder. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

A 20 year old man takes a bus full of young children hostage in exchange for money to help his sick mother. Meanwhile a detective must over come doubt from family and co-workers while she tries to negotiate with the hostage taker.

A Mystery writer is not thrilled when she's assigned to write a children's book, "An Easter Bunny Puppy." Out of ideas, she asks her daughter for help. Meanwhile, her dog, RUSS, the narrator of the story, digs up a priceless Faberge egg buried in the woods and takes it home with him, unaware that he's trailing a thief who stole the egg.

Tipsy Canoe (Actually Huizenga) was once an innocent child of the 90's. But after a gory initiation by immortal gang leader Bop (Ryan Linkof), she has developed not only a twisted blood-lust, but a desperate addiction to fame and youth. She needs to be loved in order to live. And now, in the year 2205, after marauding the streets with her gang of Warlords for over 200 years, Tipsy must find new ways to be adored. Her life is a dizzying tale of excess and depravity. If she can persuade top Hollywoodite, RIsha (Elisha Drons), to write a book about it, will her sick desires be fulfilled?

When the executives at Heartstrings Press wants to drop Michael Rothchild’s next romance book, junior editor, Dori Shephard, argues her way into working as the lead editor. But Dori’s dream job becomes her nightmare as she realizes Michael isn’t everything she imagined. Dori breaks the news to Michael that the executives think he’s an ill-mannered, washed up novelist and want to terminate his contract. Not wanting to be dropped from Heartstrings Press, Michael agrees to work with Dori for 30 days. While Dori wrestles with Michael’s languorous behavior she’s also in the midst of planning her wedding to her fiancé, Philip. However, things go awry for Dori when work becomes an obstacle in her relationship. Dori must learn what true love really means before it’s too late.

Philo Vance is hired to write a true-crime mystery... but when the facts about an unsolved crime are about to be brought out into the open a murder takes place.

A wealthy old man is murdered after deciding to write his nephew out of his will. Fearing that he will be accused of the murder his nephew takes flight but, with the help of a young woman whose life he saves, he has to try and track down the real murderer.

Mallory Dearborn is one of the best-selling mystery writers in the market. Against the wishes of her manager Michael, she's decided to end her long-running detective franchise and focus on more personal matters. Desperate for a big payday, Michael takes her prisoner and, convincing the world she's passed away, forces her to write a new, posthumous novel. Now, Mallory will spend the holidays writing her most thrilling story yet: her own escape."