James Anthony Pearson Movies
Prolific music-video helmer and award-winning photographer Anton Corbijn makes his feature directorial debut with this biographical drama concerning the late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. Based on the book Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis & Joy Division by the enigmatic singer's wife Deborah Curtis, Control documents the life of a legend who changed the face of modern music but never lived to witness the remarkable impact of his life's work. The time was the late 1970s, and the post-punk explosion was just gaining momentum in England. At the forefront of this movement was a band named Joy Division. Formed in 1976 and first calling themselves Warsaw, Joy Division favored mood and expression over the aggressive stance that had come to define punk rock. The band was championed by Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, and collaborated with producer Martin Hannett on the album that would become their undisputed masterpiece -- 1979's Unknown Pleasures. But despite the band's rising popularity, lead singer Curtis was not in good mental or physical health due a debilitating battle with epilepsy and an extramarital affair, and hanged himself in his Macclesfield home on the eve of the band's first U.S. tour. Newcomer Sam Riley stars opposite Samantha Morton in the film that sets out to tell the definitive story of a true rock & roll legend. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samantha Morton, Sam Riley, (more)
Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson's enduring 1886 adventure novel, receives its 11th film adaptation in this two-and-a-half-hour miniseries starring young British TV vet James Anthony Pearson as Davie Balfour, the naïve and hopeful 15-year-old, poised to receive a vast inheritance when he is lured onto a cargo ship, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by his malevolent uncle Ebenezer (Adrian Dunbar, Richard III), who devises a scheme to sell him into slavery. But Davie's unforeseen rescue at the hands of a Scottish rogue, Alan Breck (Iain Glen, Mountains of the Moon) sends Breck and Balfour racing across the Scottish moors, with English bounty hunters in hot pursuit. The film includes supporting performances by Paul McGann as Colonel MacNab and Kirstin Coulter Smithas Davie's paramour, Catriona. Co-produced by WGBH Boston and the BBC, and originally aired episodically on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre, the first 90-minute segment of Kidnapped debuted Sunday evening, October 30, 2005, and the miniseries concluded with an hour-long segment on Sunday evening, November 6, 2005. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Iain Glen, James Anthony Pearson, (more)
