John Travers Movies
- 2008
The harrowing drama Peacefire unfurls against the backdrop of the IRA-Loyalist conflict that rocked Northern Ireland for years. The bulk of the narrative concerns young Colin, an orphan whose father died a nasty and violent death in the Troubles. With little stability at home, Colin pines for a sense of belonging and takes up with a bunch of hooligans who get their kicks joyriding in stolen cars. Eventually, Colin is arrested - which practically forces him to play the role of IRA informant and racks him with guilt over a sense of betraying his late father. It could also easily spell death for him if the IRA discovers what he's done. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travers, Gerry Doherty, (more)
Sixty-five years after making his screen debut as a young stoker in co-directors Noël Coward and David Lean's World War II drama In Which We Serve, Richard Attenborough perfects the balance between epic story and intimate tale with this drama starring Shirley MacLaine and Neve Campbell as a mother and daughter who find a relic from the past sparking an incendiary series of events. The year is 1991, and as a small American town mourns the passing of beloved World War II veteran Chuck Harris, his wife Ethel (MacLaine) numbs herself with alcohol to the point where she completely neglects her grieving daughter Marie (Campbell). Later, after Marie receives a telephone call from a boy in Northern Ireland who claims to have recently discovered a ring belonging to Ethel, a mystery nearly five decades in the making comes slowly into focus as the story drifts back into Chuck's wartime past and the days when he and Ethel first formed their powerful bond. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, (more)
- 2003
A teacher takes on the corrupt leadership of an Irish reform school in this drama based on a true story. William Franklin (Aidan Quinn) is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a school for wayward boys run by Brother John Iain Glen, who is a firm believer in strong discipline. But Franklin comes to believe the students are being treated with excessive force, with many of the children severely punished for trivial violations of the rules, and some treated as delinquents for the crime of not having parents. As Franklin campaigns for more humane treatment of his charges, he makes a powerful enemy in Brother John, who responds to Franklin's reform efforts with greater vehemence against the students, in particular Mercier (John Travers), an inquisitive child who has become a favorite of Franklin. Franklin's distrust of Brother John's regime reaches a high point when a new student informs him that he was sexually assaulted by one of the clerics. Song for a Raggy Boy was adapted from the memoir by Patrick Galvin, who also helped adapt his story for the screen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, Iain Glen, (more)
- 1999
Stacy Dean is a hard-shelled denizen of Hollywood's seamy underside whose brassy good looks and amusingly no-nonsense demeanor hides a soft and insecure center, not to mention a not always well kept secret -- Stacy is actually a man. Creature (Stacy's nickname since childhood, when she was also known as Kyle) was directed by Parris Patton, who first encountered her/him in a stretch of Hollywood known as a hangout for transvestite prostitutes; in this film, Patton examines Stacy's life in California, shares her/his stories of growing up in North Carolina, and follows Stacy as she/he goes home for a reunion with an understandably puzzled mother and father. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stacey "Hollywood" Dean, Butch Dean, (more)
- 1994
- R
A homeless teenager in Los Angeles manages to wind up sharing an apartment in a ritzy complex. One night he sees a beautiful neighbor swimming nude in the pool, when she is suddenly attacked by her crazed, insanely jealous husband. As he is drawn into his neighbor's life, what he doesn't realize is that he is being set up. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide
The third in director Sam Raimi's stylish, comic book-like horror trilogy that began with The Evil Dead (1982), this tongue-in-cheek sequel offers equal parts sword-and-sorcery-style action, gore, and comedy. Bruce Campbell returns as the one-armed Ash, now a supermarket employee ("Shop Smart...Shop S-Mart") who is transported by the powers of a mysterious book back in time with his Oldsmobile '88 to the 14th century medieval era. Armed only with a shotgun, his high school chemistry textbook, and a chainsaw that mounts where his missing appendage once resided, the square-jawed, brutally competent Ash quickly establishes himself as a besieged kingdom's best hope against an "army of darkness" currently plaguing the land. Since the skeleton warriors have been resurrected with the aid of the Necronomicon (the same tome that can send Ash back to his own time) he agrees to face the enemy in battle. Ash also finds romance of a sort along the way with a beautiful damsel in distress, Sheila (Embeth Davidtz), and contends with his own doppelganger after mangling an important incantation. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, (more)
- 1987
Moronic teens vacationing in Demonwood Forest are terrorized by a shambling Neanderthal -- not the director, but a big goon in a fuzzy ape suit who attacks George Kennedy and hauls his daughter off into the woods to a fate worse than death... perhaps to a screening of this movie. As it turns out, the rampaging beastie (which looks like a soiled feather-duster on legs) is not the local monster of mountain legend but merely a front for the subterranean activities of a cult of devil-worshipping aliens (they could have just called the tabloids if they needed better PR), who pass the time turning the locals into zombies... not a difficult task, especially with this brain-dead bunch. Cheap sets, dime-store costumes and Dinner Theater thesping lend a certain chintzy Ed Wood charm to the proceedings, but even this level of absurdity can't cover up the fact that the film's investors -- to say nothing of the audience -- probably felt profoundly rooked. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Kennedy, David Michael O'Neill, (more)
- 1927
This British action melodrama had the novelty value of a real-life Flight Commander in the leading role. That worthy was Sir Alan Cobhan, who early in 1927 made headlines with his round-the-world flight. Though a fearless aviator, Cobhan was no actor, thus the dramatic weight of the film fell upon the shoulders of its supporting players Estelle Brody, John Stuart and Humberston Wright. The hokey plotline concerns a Native uprising in the Far East, fomented by a gang of communist agitators. When hero Stuart and heroine Wright find themselves surrounded by hostile tribesmen, it looks like curtains, but Sir Alan Cobhan swoops down in the nick of time to lob a few bombs and make the world safe for British Supremacy once more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Cobham, Estelle Brody, (more)
