Mark Day Movies

The final adventure in the Harry Potter film series follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) as they prepare for a final battle with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), who is determined to destroy Harry once and for all. In order to defeat the powerful wizard, they must find and destroy Voldemort's last and most elusive Horcrux -- that is, the enchanted piece of soul allowing him to remain immortal -- before his nefarious plans come to fruition. David Yates directs. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Adolescent wizard-in-training Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for another year of schooling and learns more about the dark past of the boy who grew up to become Lord Voldemort in this, the sixth installment of the film series that originated from the writings of author J.K. Rowling. There was a time when Hogwarts was thought of as a safe haven, but thanks to Voldemort's tightening grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, that simply isn't the case anymore. Suspecting that the castle may even harbor an outright threat, Harry finds his investigation into the matter sidelined by Dumbledore's attempts to prepare him for the monumental battle looming ever closer on the horizon. In order to discover the key to Voldemort's defenses, Dumbledore enlists the aid of resourceful yet unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, who may have a clue as to their enemy's Achilles' heel. Meanwhile, teenage hormones cause the students at Hogwarts to lose focus on their true mission. As Harry and Dean Thomas clash for the affections of the lovely Ginny, Romilda Vane attempts to woo Ron away from Lavender Brown with some particularly tasty chocolates. Even Hermione isn't immune from the love bug, though she tries her hardest to suppress her growing jealousy and keep her emotions bottled up. But there is one student who remains completely aloof from the romance blossoming all around, and he intends to leave a dark impression on his classmates. With tragedy looming ever closer, it begins to appear as if peace will prove elusive in Hogwarts for some time to come. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Produced for HBO, the Capraesque romantic comedy The Girl in the Café stars Bill Nighy as Lawrence, a mild and unprepossessing British civil servant assigned to his country's delegation at the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Although he'd resigned himself to a life of lonely bachelorhood, Lawrence finds himself drawn to Gina (Kelly MacDonald), a odd, outspoken young woman whom he has met in a café. On a whim, the shy Lawrence invites the decidedly un-shy Gina to accompany him to Reykjavik. The burgeoning relationship between these two seemingly mismatched souls is counterpointed by the political jockeying at the conference, where the avowed purpose of G8 -- to adopt the all-important Millennium Development Goals as a means of reducing world poverty -- is obscured by egomania, xenophobia, and foot-dragging. Ultimately, the time comes when both Lawrence and Gina must make crucial decisions, with not only their own future but also the future of humankind in the balance. Written by Richard Curtis of Four Weddings and a Funeral fame, The Girl in the Café first aired on June 25, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This made-for-TV British comedy begins at the turn of the century, as bumbling ironmonger Alfred Salteena (Jim Broadbent) meets a pretty girl named Ethel Monticue (Lyndsey Marshal) on a train and invites her to his London flat. Hoping to impress the girl, Alfred brags about all the "important" people he knows; swallowing the line whole, the covetous Ethel insists upon meeting Alfred's illustrious acquaintance. Enter Lord Bernard Clark (Hugh Laurie), a seedy nobleman who offers to train Alfred to be a social lion so that he'll be more acceptable to Ethel; what Lord Bernard doesn't tell Alfred is that he intends to keep Ethel for himself. Much of the humor arises from Alfred's experiences at a high-society "boot camp" run by an indigent aristocrat, the Earl of Clincham (Bill Nighy). The Young Visiters was written in 1890 by Daisy Ashford -- who was all of nine years old at the time! The book remained on the shelf until it was published, misspellings and all, in 1919, with a preface by James M. Barrie (whom many reviewers suspected of being the novel's true author). First telecast in the U.K. on December 26, 2003, the film won a BAFTA award for best original music. The Young Visiters premiered in the United States courtesy of the BBC America digital-cable service on November 2, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It's said that you can't take on City Hall, but one man takes a game stab at the bus company in this comedy-drama from the U.K. Donovan (Colin Firth) is a genial eccentric who arrives in the small Scottish town of Port Clyde and rents a room in the home of a woman named Lucy (Katy Murphy). Life has not been kind to Lucy; after the death of her mother, Lucy was left to care for her bother Sandy (David Brown), who is mentally retarded, and her grandmother (Liz Smith), who is slipping into senility. These days, Lucy finds solace in drinking and an affair with a married man, Clive (David O'Hara), who has an alcohol problem of his own but dreams of leaving his wife and his job for better things. Sandy attends a special school for the challenged, but when the local bus service decides to do away with the route he takes to class, Lucy has no idea of what to do for him. Donovan, however, sees an opportunity in this problem; he buys a bus and starts a one-vehicle transportation service of his own, asking his passengers to only pay what they can afford and hiring Sandy as his fare collector when he isn't busy at school. The people of Port Clyde take to Donovan's new bus service, but the local transit authorities aren't at all happy to have competition, and Donovan finds his new business in hot water. Donovan Quick was the first theatrical feature from director David Blair, who previously made a name for himself in British television productions. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

John Schlesinger directed this razor-sharp retelling of the familiar Demon Barber legend, previously a Victorian penny-dreadful by Christopher Bond (The Story of Pearls), a stage play by George Dibdin-Pitt, a Tod Slaughter film (the 1936 Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street), and the 1979 Stephen Sondheim stage musical (Sweeney Todd). Sondheim's musical has been televised in a production with George Hearn and Angela Lansbury heading the cast. This John Schlesinger drama, scripted by executive producer Peter Shaw, is set in turn-of-the-century London where bald barber Sweeney Todd (Ben Kingsley) runs a cutting-edge business with an affluent clientele. He also has several sidelines, including the sale of his murder victims' jewelry, plus a profitable agreement with Mrs. Lovett (Joanna Lumley), who uses an industrial-size meat grinder to prepare her tasty "meat pies" for her unsuspecting customers. American insurance investigator Ben Carlyle (Campbell Scott), tracking $50,000 worth of missing diamonds, encounters corruption throughout the city as he attempts to solve the case. Victorian London locales seen here were actually filmed in Dublin. Shown April 19, 1998 on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Based on the novel by Catherine Cookson, this made-for-TV drama, set in England shortly before the outbreak of World War I, concerns Agnes Conway (Claire Skinner), a beautiful young woman who works in her family's confectioner's shop. Agnes' natural beauty and spirited nature lead her into romantic entanglements with two men from a prominent family -- first Charles Farrier (Edward Atterton), then his brother Reginald (Julian Wadham) -- and later into a friendship with the Felton family, decent folks from a notoriously rough part of England, when her sister Jessie (Michelle Charles) falls in love with one of the Felton men. Produced for British television, The Wingless Bird was first shown on American television as part of the acclaimed PBS anthology series Masterpiece Theater. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Stella Gibbons' popular novel was published in 1932, and it has been adapted twice for British television, first as a miniseries in 1971, then by director John Schlesinger in 1995. That version proved so popular that it was released to theaters in the U.S. The heroine of Gibbons' story, Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale), is an aspiring young writer with two needs: material for her first novel, and a cheap place to live and work. A wealthy friend encourages her to take advantage of her country cousins and impose upon them for lodgings. Flora finds Cold Comfort Farm to be a ramshackle affair populated by eccentrics including the imperious Ada Doom (Sheila Burrell), her daughter Judith (Eileen Atkins), Judith's rough but handsome son Seth (Rufus Sewell), and Amos (Ian McKellen), an amateur preacher whose sermonizing seems to release some kind of demons within him. Undaunted by this menagerie, Flora gets to work organizing the household, and she comes to realize that the material for her book is right in front of her. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Based on a novel by Muriel Spark (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), the British TV drama Memento Mori boasts an impressive cast of veterans, including Maurice Denham, Cyril Cusack, Sir Michael Hordern, Renee Ashershon, and Maggie Smith. The story concerns an eccentric group of senior citizens who are being plagued by a cryptic phone caller. The mystery man (or woman) says only "Remember, you must die!" before hanging up. For a while, it seems as though the domineering Ms. Smith is the instigator of the crank calls, but don't be too sure. Memento Muri premiered in the US as a two-part installment of Masterpiece Theatre, telecast October 25 and November 1, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Until not so very long ago, European-ruled islands in the Caribbean had a very distinct class structure, with European-born whites at the top, followed by the local variety, mulattos of every kind in the middle, and fully ethnic people of color at the bottom. Despite that, in this film set in 1946, one of the more liberal British-born whites has allowed his twelve-year-old son Alan to become friends with two kids from the bottom of the social ladder. This gains the boy some brickbats from his schoolmates but otherwise seems not to be a problem. Jailin is a girl whom Alan is almost in love with. Kaiser is her older brother, and Alan's relationship with him is considerably edgier but still friendly. However, on the island around him, nonwhites are being given the vote for the first time, and interracial tensions are growing more dangerous. Outside events may dictate an early end to Alan's unusual friendships. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi