David Munro Movies
The youthful delusions of a wistful husband and father prompt him to seek out a childhood friend and embark on a soul-searching journey of self discovery to the one place where no adult demands will be made of him in director David Munro's surreal second coming-of-age comedy. Alby (Matt McGrath) is having an early midlife crisis. Convinced that the only way to overcome his current malaise is to seek out his childhood pal Elias (Judah Friedlander) and set out on the open road, Alby leaves behind his wife and son in hopes of recapturing the glory of his youth. Unfortunately for Alby, Elias is all grown up now, and isn't exactly overjoyed to see the "best friend" whose rosy vision of childhood largely came from the fact that he made Elias the unwitting butt of his every joke. When Alby learns that Elias is taking a group of disabled drama students on a trip to the local amusement park, Elias has no choice but to let his pushy pal come along for the ride. What follows is a pensively hilarious look life as seen through the eyes of a man who can't seem to move past his youth, and the effect that a student-clown bartender (Amy Sedaris), a disgruntled former amusement park employee (Alan Cumming), a retired water-park mermaid (Debbie Harry), and a whole host of colorful characters have in helping Alby to bridge the gap between the glory days of his past and an uncertain future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matt McGrath, Judah Friedlander, (more)
- 1994
Accusations of genocide fly in this disturbing and controversial British documentary by David Munro and John Pilger who had to film sequences in secret. According to them the Indonesian government has been systematically destroying the native population of East Timor, an island which they took over from the Portuguese in 1975. Since that time, one third of the population, approximately 200,000 Timorese have been slaughtered. The Timorese are not related to the Japanese. Just off shore from Timor are large underwater oil fields. The filmmakers make disturbing accusations regarding the complacency of the U.S., British, and Australian governments who purportedly knew about the killing and did nothing. Included in the film is footage of the 1991 massacre, and interviews. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
This silly Australian slasher film concerns a psychopath strangling students at an elite Catholic girls' school run by a strange married couple. Myles and Virginia Sheffield have sexual problems, and the viewer is led to believe that Myles is relieving his impotence by garotting the nubile students with barbed wire. There's also a nun, who disapproves of her girls getting friendly with the boys of the nearby Winchester school, and some hostile townies who are feuding with the prepsters. When a townie boy and a schoolgirl fall in love, the reactions from all quarters are such that there are suspects aplenty. Since the murders are all pretty much the same, at least the viewer can take interest in the mystery, right? Wrong. In fact, Alec Mills' direction is so clumsy and Robert Brennan's script so obvious that one is hard-pressed to find any reason at all to watch this film. At least Mills' follow-up -- the equally weak Dead Sleep -- had Linda Blair. This film has nothing!, but actually played theatrically in its home country to widespread apathy. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Leon Lissek, Christine Amor, (more)
- 1987
A naive real-estate agent is offered incredible wealth by an introverted millionaire, but only if he agrees to kill someone. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- John Doyle, Nicola Bartlett, (more)
- 1986
Geoffrey Stubbs has been ignoring his sensual wife Dorothy's sexual needs for some time now. He has a full-time job running his butcher shop and has ambitions as a right-wing politician. Meanwhile, Dorothy has met a real hunk, a rock musician named Todd, who was at a demonstration of sexual appliances that she attended. Ever since then, he has loomed large in her erotic fantasies. The determined housewife eventually gets to bed the man of her dreams, but the experience leaves her unsatisfied. She's still friendly with him though, and he consents to entertain her guests at a big shindig held at her house. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Noni Hazelhurst, Graeme Blundell, (more)
- 1975
- R
Peter Sellers stays busy in this comedy playing Hitler, Prince Kyoto, and four others in this tale of an anti-Nazi French whorehouse which supports the Allied war effort by exterminating the most dangerous of its patrons in the bedroom. Highlights include Lila Kedrova as the madame who becomes a general in the resistance, and Curt Jurgens as Gen. Von. Grotjahn, Sellers' nemesis. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lila Kedrova, Curd Jürgens, (more)
- 1975
Actors from the British Actors Company arrive in a town to prepare for a performance. Their rehearsals for the spectacle they are preparing touch deeply on the emotional and psychological hang-ups the players have had, and one by one, these are unraveled. The events of the film are based on a book by the "anti-psychiatrist" R.D. Laing (who appears briefly), and the way they are worked out reveals something of his theories. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1974
- PG
In this historical drama based on actual events, Sweden's Queen Christina (Liv Ullmann) decides in 1654 to give up her throne in order to embrace Catholicism. However, as she studies the faith, she falls in love with Cardinal Azzolino (Peter Finch), a cleric being considered for the papacy. Greta Garbo previously played the same abdicating monarch in the film Queen Christina. Michael Dunn, who plays the dwarf in The Abdication, died during production, and several of his scenes had to be shot with another actor doubling for him. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liv Ullmann, Peter Finch, (more)
Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's three upper-class Prozorov sisters -- Masha, Olga, and Irina -- come no closer to their dream of returning to Moscow in director Laurence Olivier's 1970 film version of Three Sisters than they did in Chekhov's original 1900 play. This melancholy classic about shattered dreams, self-delusion, and compromise was directed by Olivier for Britain's National Theatre in 1967. The film, a literal record of Olivier's stage version, was produced in order to raise money for the ever-imperiled National. Olivier, who'd just recovered from a serious illness, plays the mischievous army doctor Chebutikin, while Olivier's wife, Joan Plowright, essays the major role of Masha, the snobbish general's daughter who tries to escape the stultifying banality of her provincial marriage by having an affair. Three Sisters was released in the U.S. in 1974 as part of the American Film Theatre series. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeanne Watts, Joan Plowright, (more)
