Llewella Gideon Movies
The politics of slavery and the follies of nation-building highlight Danish director Lars von Trier's thought-provoking follow-up to the director's 2003 drama Dogville, featuring The Village's Bryce Dallas Howard in the role originally played by Nicole Kidman, and shot in the same stage-bound style as its predecessor. Shortly after leaving Dogville, Grace (Howard) and her father (Willem Dafoe) wander into a gated Alabama community still operating under the tenets of slavery. Appalled to stumble across a brutal scene in which a white master is viciously lashing his slave (Isaach de Bankolé), Grace hastily intercedes and pleads with the abusive man to treat his workers with respect and dignity. When merciless matriarchal plantation owner Mam (Lauren Bacall) dies shortly thereafter, the remaining slaves, who have never tasted freedom and only known life under "Mam's Law," implore the sympathetic Grace to help ease their turbulent transition toward democratic rule, with disastrous results. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach de Bankolé, (more)
Bob Spiers (director of TV's Absolutely Fabulous) directed this feature-film debut of the five Spice Girls -- Posh Spice, Sporty Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice, and Baby Spice -- as the quintet challenges the London pop scene during five days before their first live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Photojournalists follow as they travel from press conferences to practice sessions to photo ops, passing London landmarks in the comfort of their cavernous Spicebus and emerging in a musical cascade of color, trendy clothes, and blinding flashbulbs. Shot in 43 days, the film features cameos by everyone from Elton John and Elvis Costello, to Stephen Fry and Bob Hoskins. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Spice Girls, Melanie Brown, (more)
- 1994
While Saffy Monsoon (Julia Sawalha) mourns the death of her grandfather, her mother, Edina (Jennifer Saunders), is too busy mourning the failure of her latest weight-loss program: a bizarre scheme in which she is slathered in mud and then mummified for several hours. Gran (June Whitfield) handles her husband's death with typical aplomb, but Eddy goes way over the edge as soon as she has time to ponder her own mortality. Filled with self-centered dread, she goes on an art shopping spree at a snooty gallery and then bristles as the guests at her father's wake mistake an expensive mobile for what it is: a set of coat hangers. Ex-husband Marshall (Christopher Ryan) and his new grief-counselor girlfriend, Sondra (Gwen Humble), try to cheer the family up, but when Sondra realizes there's a corpse in the house she completely freaks out. Eddy and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) freak out, too, getting rip-roaringly drunk as the rest of the funeral party proceeds to the cemetary. Waxing sentimental, Patsy begs Eddy to give her the house when she's gone, and Eddy agrees -- as long as Pats will accompany her to the graveyard. Unfortunately, neither woman is in any shape to navigate the rough boneyard terrain, and Mr. Monsoon's funeral ends much like any other family event: grotesquely. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on February 3, 1994, Absolutely Fabulous: Death marked series two, episode two of this popular Brit-com. Llewella Gideon reprises her role as the wise-cracking West Indian nurse who originally appeared in the previous episode, Absolutely Fabulous: Hospital. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- 1994
After a dalliance with a government official, Patsy (Joanna Lumley) becomes embroiled in a tabloid sex scandal and is irate to see her true age reported nationally. "Borrowing" the Monsoon house for an interview with Hello magazine, she is disappointed to learn that photos for the spread won't be shot until the following week. However, when Edina (Jennifer Saunders) stubs her toe and enters the hospital for minor surgery, Pats takes the opportunity to accompany her and undergo a quick face peel. Finding the accommodations less than deluxe and ridiculed by a pair of wise-cracking nurses (Llewella Gideon and Orla Brady), Edina pops painkillers like candy and falls into a disturbing fugue in which her friends and family appear to her in the guise of British celebrities, from Helena Bonham-Carter to Germaine Greer -- both of whom have been the subject of ridicule on previous episodes. Awakening from her dreams to find that her surgery has already been completed, Eddy learns that her injuries were even more minor than they appeared; Patsy's face peel, however, doesn't generate quite such a happy outcome, nor does her debut in the pages of Hello. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on January 27, 1994, Absolutely Fabulous: Hospital marked series two, episode one of this popular Brit-com. Suzi Quatro, Mandy Rice-Davies, Richard E. Grant, and Sylvia Anderson joined Bonham-Carter and Greer in the cast of cameo stars. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
