Julian Spencer Movies
Based on the famously missing chapter in Colin Clark's memoir The Prince, the Showgirl and Me, My Week With Marilyn reveals the enchanted week that the then-lowly production assistant spent with the most famous celebrity of the era during the production of the classic 1957 comedy romance The Prince and the Showgirl. The year was 1956. Colin Clark was an ambitious 23-year-old determined to make a name for himself in film. As summer gets underway, Clark manages to land a position as a production assistant on the film The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams) and Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). Monroe had just gotten married to playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), and the newlyweds were on their honeymoon as production got underway. Later, when Miller leaves, young Clark seizes the opportunity to befriend the platinum blonde beauty, and give her a taste of everyday life in England -- far away from the bright lights of Hollywood and the suffocating pressures of fame. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michelle Williams, Eddie Redmayne, (more)
- 2011
- PG13
- Add The Iron Lady to Queue
Two-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep steps into the role of English prime minister Margaret Thatcher in this biopic from director Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!), and screenwriter Abi Morgan (Tsunami: The Aftermath, Brick Lane). Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant, and Anthony Head co-star. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Harry Lloyd
In this gritty spy thriller, Helen Mirren plays a retired Mossad agent named Rachel. Once upon a time, Rachel was part of a celebrated trio of secret agents who tracked down a Nazi war criminal in East Berlin in 1966 -- an incident so applauded in history, that now, three decades later, her own daughter has just published a book about the exploits. But one of Rachel's former partners in espionage, David (Ciarán Hinds), seems less than reverent about his memory of the time, and he proves his feelings with a decision that sends Rachel and her other former partner, Stephan (Tom Wilkinson), on a forced revisit through time. For 30 years, Rachel has been living one truth, but now, as the past collides with the present, a new and deadly story begins to emerge. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington, (more)
The notorious life of the U.K.'s "most violent prisoner" serves as the subject of Pusher Trilogy director Nicolas Winding Refn's brutal biopic. Born Michael Peterson but later renamed by his fight promoter, Charles Bronson's sole ambition in life was to become famous. Surmising that the fastest means of accomplishing his goal with such limited opportunities was to cultivate a stylized persona as a hardened criminal, the ambitious do-badder embraced a desperate existence of extreme savagery. But who is the real man behind the warped persona? Seeing as how 28 of Bronson's 34 years behind bars were spent in solitary confinement, that's a difficult question to answer. The terror of the legend comes to vivid life, however, as director Refn explores the twisted alternate reality created by Bronson, and highlights precisely how the controversial criminal staged himself within that anarchistic world. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
As the sun begins to dim along with humankind's hope for the future, it's up to a desperate crew of eight astronauts to reach the dying star and reignite the fire that will bring life back to planet Earth in this tense psychological sci-fi thriller that re-teams 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle with writer Alex Garland and producer Andrew Macdonald. The skies are darkening, and the outlook for planet Earth is grim. Though the encroaching darkness at first seems unstoppable, scientists have concocted one desperate last-ditch plan to buy the human race a temporary reprieve from the grim future that looms just past the horizon. A crew of eight men and women has been given a nuclear device designed to literally reignite the sun and sent hurtling through infinity on the most crucial space mission ever attempted. Suddenly, as the crew loses radio contact with mission control, everything begins to fall apart. Now, in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, the men and women who may hold the key to ultimate survival find themselves not only struggling for their lives, but their sanity as well. Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Michelle Yeoh star in a film that asks audiences just what would become of humankind if the sky suddenly went black. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, (more)
Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Vincent Cassel star in this David Cronenberg's thriller concerning a London midwife who unwittingly stumbles into a clandestine Russian sex trafficking ring. An unidentified Russian teen has been rushed to a London hospital after going into labor. Though midwife Anna Khitrova (Watts) does manage to deliver a healthy baby girl, the newborn's mother dies tragically during delivery. But the deceased mother's secrets did not die with her, because she has left behind a diary. Determined to ensure the newborn is placed with her rightful family, Anna attempts to read the diary and discovers a business card for a local restaurant therein. Upon visiting the restaurant Anna is greeted by kindly owner Semyon (Mueller-Stahl), who generously offers to translate it for her. But Semyon is not what he appears to be, and before long Anna begins to fear that the child could be in great danger. Semyon admits to Anna that the diary contains information about his son Kirill (Cassell) that could land the volatile offspring in jail despite the fact that Kirill is at heart a good person. As the truth begins to unfold and Anna begins to believe that Kirill and his driver Nikolai (Mortensen) - an ambitious driver seeking to ascent the ranks of the notorious Russian mafia - mean the baby harm, an underworld storm begins to brew that could consume all involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, (more)
Directed by Jonathan Frakes and based on the '60s British television series of the same name, Thunderbirds chronicles the intergalactic exploits of the Tracy family. Set in 2010, the world looks toward the mysterious Tracy Island when mere international security is not enough; the remote South Pacific island not only houses former astronaut and lifelong entrepreneur Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) and his five sons, but also serves as headquarters for the top-secret International Rescue organization. The unthinkable happens, however, when an insidious criminal mastermind known only as "The Hood" (Ben Kingsley) manages to get past the island's innumerable security measures and attempts to take over International Rescue. His goal: stealing the organization's five most advanced rescue vehicles, each of which was designed to accomplish a specific task, and using them for his own agenda. With Jeff and his four eldest sons deployed on a mission, there's only one person with any hope of stopping the takeover -- Jeff's youngest son, Alan (Brady Corbet), who vows to save his family and keep the Thunderbirds alive. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bill Paxton, Anthony Edwards, (more)
