Annie Jones Movies

A female detective discovers the dark side of the world of contemporary literature in this unusual thriller from Australia. Mickey (Abbie Cornish) is a brash young female poet who is gaining a potent reputation for her powerful verse about love and sex. When she suddenly disappears, private detective Jill Fitzpatrick (Susie Porter) is hired to help find her. Jill doesn't know much about poetry, so she starts her investigation by tracking down Mickey's teacher and mentor, Diana (Kelly McGillis), to learn more about Mickey and the circles in which she traveled. Jill is a lesbian, and quickly finds herself strongly attracted to Diana; though Diana is married to Nick (Marton Csokas), she finds herself equally infatuated with Jill, and the two are soon having an affair. When Mickey is found murdered, her parents ask Jill to step up the investigation, and Jill digs deeper into the facts of Mickey's life -- learning the young woman was willing to sleep with nearly anyone who could advance her career. She also discovers that the two older male poets with whom Mickey had become involved are not at all eager to answer questions about her disappearance. The Monkey's Mask is based on a mystery novel written in verse form by Dorothy Porter; the novel became an international bestseller and the biggest-selling book of poetry published in Australia since World War II . ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Outwardly respectable Australian wife and mother Carmen Duncan harbors a secret past. A former German terrorist, Duncan is sought by both the authorities and her former associates. One of these, IRA assassin Michael Aitkens, insists that Duncan share some of the loot she's squirreled away. She escapes Aitken's clutches, with both the money and her 15-year-old daughter Annie Jones in tow. Thus do the two female leads become the "moving targets" of the title--though unlike other targets, Duncan has the will and the wherewithal to fight back, and fight back hard. This tight little Australian chase thriller, which boasts a to-die-for rock music score, was based on When We Ran, a novel by Keith Leopold. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Another effort from the prolific Australian firm of Crawford Productions, this weekly comedy-drama series focused on young Tam and Steve Henderson (Nadine Garner, Paul Smith) who (briefly) lived with their peripatetic foster father Walter Mullins (Michael Aitkens) in the town of Haven Bay. As Walter sought out a lucrative business in which to invest, the kids were left to their own devices, and their own circle of friends (and enemies). During the series' third season, the title was changed to The Henderson Kids II; having spent two years traveling all over Australia, the family again settled down, this time in the harbor town of Westport. Henderson Kids debuted in 1985, while Henderson Kids II first aired in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

An ordinary woman is unwittingly led into California's criminal underbelly in this drama. Betty Parrish (Debra Winger) is a bank teller who is involved in a rather sporadic relationship with Mike (Mark Keyloun), a low-level tennis pro who supplements his income by dealing cocaine on the side. One night, Betty finds herself stood up by Mike and discovers that there's a good reason why he hasn't shown up -- he's been killed. It seems that Mike and his friend Pete (Darrell Larson) were acting as middlemen in a deal for one of the city's major drug suppliers. Mike and Pete made the mistake of siphoning off some of the cocaine for their own purposes (Mike wanted product to sell to his customers, while Pete needed to satisfy his growing addiction to coke), and the dealer's thugs had Mike eliminated rather than allowing him to steal from their boss. Betty and Pete want to find out the truth about how and why Mike was murdered, and their journey leads them into the darkest regions of the Los Angeles underworld. Mike's Murder went through extensive revisions between its first previews and its final release; pop singer and songwriter Joe Jackson, then at the height of his popularity, composed a score for the film, and a soundtrack album of his music appeared in stores several months before the film's belated release. However, by that time much of Jackson's music had been replaced with a new score by John Berry. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi