Jim Carter Movies

A young Argentine mathematician visiting the United Kingdom is drawn into a complex murder mystery when his landlady is brutally slain in director Alex de la Iglesia's tense and stylish thriller. John Hurt stars in a film scripted by longtime de la Iglesia collaborator Jorge Guerricaechevarría. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A thieving band of orphans who steal from the rich simply to survive encounter a supernatural merry-go-round with mysterious powers in this screen adaptation of award-winning author Cornelia Funke's popular series of children's books. Left in the care of their abusive aunt following the death of their mother, two young boys flee to Venice, Italy in hopes that life will be easier on their own. Times are tough in Venice though, and after meeting mysterious young thief Scipio the desperate runaways soon agree to join his band of pint-sized pickpockets. When a detective assigned the task of bringing the youngsters in becomes privy to their impoverished plight, he joins them in solving the mystery of a powerful merry-go-round that appears to have special powers. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

When a drifter named Simeon arrives in a small seaside town, it takes the locals some time to warm up to him. Eventually they do, but he carries a secret that could threaten everyone who comes into his path-including his new companions. Out of Season features Dennis Hopper and Gina Gershon. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

In the year 79 A.D., the ancient city of Pompeii was transformed from a thriving community to a wasteland in little more than a day when the massive volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted, raining billions of tons of lava, stone, and ash upon the nearby city. Pompeii: The Last Day is a docudrama which though state-of-the-art special effects recreates the destruction of Pompeii while depicting the human drama as the people of the city must either flee their homes or face certain death. Originally produced for broadcast by the BBC, Pompeii: The Last Day stars Jonathan Firth, Neji Nejah, Rachel Atkins and Jim Carter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on the children's books by author/illustrator James Gurney, the three-part, six-hour ABC miniseries Dinotopia got under way when a pair of teenaged half brothers, Karl and David Scott, took over the controls of their father Frank's (Stuart Wilson) private plane. Not surprisingly, the boys crashed the plane into the ocean, whereupon they were washed on the shore of an unchartered continent. While searching for their missing dad, Karl and David wandered into Waterfall City, the capitol of Dinotopia, a hidden civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexisted. In fact, some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic Stenonychosaurus named Zippo, possessed human intelligence and spoke perfect English. Among the many rules in Dinotopia was the edict that, once an outsider arrived, he or she was never allowed to leave. As Karl and David prepared to take their rightful places in their new surroundings, both boys developed a strong bond with young Marion (Katie Carr), who was on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of the Dinotopian society. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores, not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threatened to destroy Dinotopia and everyone living on the island. Decked out with special effects courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and the British FrameStore CFC, Dinotopia was designed as the pilot for a proposed weekly ABC adventure series. Co-produced by Disney Television and Hallmark Entertainment, the miniseries premiered as an episode of the Wonderful World of Disney anthology on May 12, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Nine-year-old Tony (Jerry Maguire's Jonathan Lipnicki) has just moved with his parents (Tommy Hinkley and Pamela Gidley) to a small town in the Scottish Highlands, where his father is overseeing the building of a golf course for old squire Lord McAshton (John Wood). Tony is picked on by his new classmates and starts dreaming about vampires at night, until one fine evening his dreams seem to summon Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), an aristocratic, wee vampire. Rudolph is among the vegetarian variety of vampires, but tells Tony that his diet has weakened his flying powers. After Tony guides Rudolph to some unsuspecting cows, on whose blood his new friend feasts, a friendship is born. Rudolph introduces Tony to his father (Richard E. Grant), mother (Alice Krige), and siblings, all of whom have been in hiding for three centuries as they wait for a comet to pass by that will make them human if they possess a magic amulet. Rudolph's dad, however, is missing part of the amulet, which turns out to have been stolen by Rudolph's uncle centuries ago and is now in the possession of none other than Lord McAshton. To further complicate matters, a vampire hunter (Jim Carter) is skulking around and causing no end of trouble. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast by the BBC in 1999, Trial by Fire served as the unofficial pilot film for the Helen West mystery series, based on the novels by Frances Fyfield. Moving from London to the supposed tranquility of the suburbs, prosecutor Helen West (Juliet Stevenson) and her police-chief boyfriend, Geoffrey Bailey (Jim Carter), don't find very much peace and quiet. In fact, things are almost as bad as in the big city, what with spousal abuse, kleptomania, and murder running amok. Much against her will, Helen is drawn into the intrigues of her new murder -- and by extension, so is Geoffrey, who totally disagrees with Helen's deductions. Trial by Fire aired in the U.S. as an episode of the PBS Mystery! anthology on February 24, 2000; in the subsequent Helen West series, the roles of Helen and Geoffrey were respectively played by Amanda Burton and Conor Mullen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This omnibus film is both a tribute to 1990s Cool Britannia and an opportunity for many of Britain's best actors to step behind the camera. Set in the London's underground (AKA the Tube), the film's nine shorts depict England's most hallowed form of public transportation in wildly divergent manners, from gritty to surreal. Jude Law's "A Bird in the Hand" is a quietly affecting tale about an ailing old man, while "Horny", by Stephen Hopkins is an extended sexual fantasy imagined by a sweaty commuter enduring both the dog days of summer and his obvious arousal. Ewan MacGregor's "Bone" is a fanciful tale about a trombonist and his imagined lover on their way home from a concert, while Bob Hoskins' "My Father the Liar" is an emotionally powerful tale about a child who witnesses a suicide. But perhaps the standout segment from this film is Armando Iannucci's uproarious "Mouth", featuring a beautiful, poised woman vomiting on her fellow commuters set to Bruckner's 9th Symphony. Frank Harper appears in a number of these short works as an overly officious subway staffer. This film premiered at the London Film Festival and was later showed on the UK's BSkyB cable channel. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by George Orwell, this satiric comedy concerns Gordon Comstock (Richard E. Grant), an advertising copywriter who fancies himself a poet. While Gordon has published a small volume of his verse that received faint words of praise in the press ("promising" was the most enthusiastic adjective used, in a review that turned out to be written by his publisher), he is convinced that literary greatness lurks deep within him. Deciding that he should begin living the bohemian lifestyle that is the mark of a true artist, Gordon quits his job, even though his friends think he's gone daft and even his publisher Ravelston (Julian Wadham) believes that he's being rash. Gordon's girlfriend Rosemary (Helena Bonham Carter) thinks he's being a bit silly but stands by him, even though Gordon's voluntary descent into poverty has a dire impact on their sex life; Gordon's new digs in a cheap boarding house offer little privacy, thanks to his prying landlady (Liz Smith), and Rosemary lacks Gordon's enthusiasm for love in the great outdoors. Desperate for money, Gordon takes a job in a used book shop (where he sees his own book marked down to three pence...with no takers), and he is forced to rethink his new lifestyle when he learns that one of his increasingly rare sexual assignations with Rosemary has left her pregnant. Originally titled Keep the Aspidistra Flying after Orwell's novel, this film was more widely distributed as A Merry War; it also briefly played under the title Comstock and Rosemary. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The Grotesque (aka Grave Indiscretion, aka Gentleman Don't Eat Poets) is a very black, very British comedy that puts an unusual and perversely entertaining spin on the classic tea-cup-and-intrigue mystery. Sir Hugo Coal (Alan Bates) is a grumpy, eccentric English gentleman (and self-styled paleontologist) obsessed with reconstructing a dinosaur skeleton with bones dredged up from a nearby moor. He is also penniless, and so must live vicariously off the inheritance of his smoldering American wife Harriet (Theresa Russell). Enter: the crafty and secretive Fledge (Sting) and his wife and co-conspirator Doris (Trudie Styler) the new Coal family servants. Fledge immediately sets his sights on Harriet and the Coal fortune, Doris on the household wine cellar. When Hugo and Harriet's daughter Cleo (Lena Headey) announces her engagement to demure poet Sidney Giblet (Steven Mackintosh), Hugo is less than pleased, but not for long, since Sidney is murdered soon after and, we learn, his body gruesomely disposed of. As the rivalry between Fledge and Hugo escalates, Cleo, the police, and the poet's shrewd mother Mrs. Giblet (Anna Massey) follow a trail of clues from the swampy, bone-littered moor to the Coal pig sties and finally (rather horribly) back to the Coal dinner table. Though criticized for its irreverent humor and somewhat ambiguous ending, The Grotesque is worth a watch. Sting and his real-life partner Trudie Styler (who co-produced the film) are both wonderful as the loathsome, manipulative servants, as is Anna Massey as the poet's investigative mother. The real stars of the film, however, are not the actors, but the dense, ornamental interiors provided by Jan Roelfs and Michael Seirton. Every corner of the Coal mansion is littered with artifacts and art objects, every frame crawling with worms, frogs, and reptiles. Like a Dutch still life, The Grotesque is simultaneously repellent and attractive, a painterly assemblage of morbidity and dramatic artifice. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide

The made-for-cable film Stalin relates the story of the ruthless Soviet dictator and his tyrannical rule. Robert Duvall gives an excellent performance as the dictator and the photography is beautiful, as are the sets, since much of the movie was shot on location in Russia. The screenplay also does a good job of detailing Stalin's aggression, not only on his citizens, but also his young wife (Julia Ormand). Nevertheless, the story is very detailed and viewers need to pay close attention in order to make the film a rewarding experience. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Hatred may play an important role in the human mind. Hatred is explored on a multi-national level and its origins sought. Bill Moyers serves as host. ~ All Movie Guide

Husband and wife producers Richard Goodwin and Christine Edzard return to the same milieu as in their epic version of Little Dorrit in The Fool. This slight story stars Derek Jacobi as Mr. Frederick, a theatrical clerk in the London of 1857, who concocts a monetary scam to bilk the rich. In order to carry off this deception, Mr. Frederick passes himself off as the well-heeled Sir John. But problems arise after he is recognized by some theater people, and he begins to take his false identity a bit too seriously. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide