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Andy Jones Movies

2003  
R  
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Set in New York and New England (but filmed in Newfoundland), Behind the Red Door stars Kyra Sedgwick as Manhattan-based photographer Natalie Haddad, who enjoys success with her strangely gloomy and foreboding camerawork. When her agent and best friend Julia (Stockard Channing) arranges for her to accept a lucrative contract with a Boston ad agency, Natalie discovers that she will be working for her own gay brother Roy (Kiefer Sutherland), whom she hasn't seen in a decade. Although Roy is insufferably snobbish and manipulative, he manages to exert a curious control over Natalie, forcing her to confront several disturbing, long-suppressed memories of her past (shown in black-and-white flashbacks). Before the film is over, Natalie is made to realize why Roy's behavior is so overbearing -- and also, the viewer learns just how intimately Julia is involved in the lives of both siblings. Underwritten by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation as part of an ongoing program to heighten HIV/AIDS awareness, Behind the Red Door made its Showtime cable-network bow on January 12, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Kyra SedgwickKiefer Sutherland, (more)
 
2002  
R  
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Directed by actress Rosanna Arquette, this candid documentary is not only about the iconoclastic and somewhat reclusive film star Debra Winger (who does not even appear onscreen until an hour into the film), but also about the trials and tribulations of actresses in Hollywood who have reached "that certain age." In the course of her "search," Arquette interviews several of her colleagues, among them Whoopi Goldberg, Diane Lane, Teri Garr, Holly Hunter, Vanessa Redgrave, Charlotte Rampling, Meg Ryan, and Sharon Stone, all of whom have their own personal horror stories about insensitive producers and casting directors who tend to think of over-40 (and sometimes over-30) actresses as being suitable only for mother, "other woman," and "hero's girlfriend" roles -- when they bother to cast these actresses at all. The women also discuss the difficulties in balancing a successful career and a private life. Test-marketed on the film festival circuit throughout 2002, Searching for Debra Winger received its largest audience when it aired over the Showtime cable channel on August 18, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Patricia ArquetteRosanna Arquette, (more)
 
2002  
 
A young Irish servant girl travels to Newfoundland in an attempt to build a new life for herself and her infant daughter in director John. M. Smith's Gemini Award-winning miniseries. Mary Keane (Aoife McMahon) is a humble servant who has been raped and abused her entire life, but she's determined that her young daughter will not suffer the same grim fate. Now, after departing from their native Ireland, Mary and her daughter wind up at an isolated fishing station run by benevolent soul Thomas Hutchings (Colm Meany). But sickness and starvation run rampant in this harsh environment. Perhaps if all of the fugitives and lost souls who have wound up in this unforgiving no man's land can band together and make it through the hard times, there will finally be hope for the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Starring:
Colm MeaneyAoife McMahon, (more)
 
2001  
R  
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Iceland-born Canadian filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson spins this offbeat comedy about fine food and feathered friends. The owner of a failing gourmet eatery in a small Newfoundland town, Dave Purcell (William Hurt) is about to throw in the towel. As he raids his wine cellar and nurses his sorrows, his wacky friend Alphonse Murphy (Andy Jones) hatches a scheme to save the restaurant. They announce a faked sighting of a rare bird in the restaurant's vicinity, and soon bird watchers and even celebrities are pouring into the establishment. Dave's restaurant is so busy, in fact, that he hires Alphonse's shapely sister-in-law, Alice (Molly Parker), and in less time than it takes to burn a soufflé, romantic sparks are flying between the two. Unfortunately, Alphonse's schemes aren't limited to ornithological fraud. He has some hackneyed plan involving a submarine and a pile of cocaine that could bring down all that Dave has built. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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Starring:
William HurtAndy Jones, (more)
 
1998  
 
In this independent comedy from Canada, the new millennium is just around the corner, and God decides humanity is not working out as he hoped. So he sends John the Baptist back to Earth to see if there is any good reason to give the world a second chance. Logically enough, he heads to St. Johns, Newfoundland, where he meets Marietta, a talk show host. Marietta wastes no time putting John on the air, where his comments about the fate of the world cause no small controversy; in the meantime, John spends his spare moments helping Marietta and her husband patch up their failing marriage. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Mary WalshAndy Jones, (more)
 
1994  
 
This Canadian comedy spoofs the government film fund and provides valuable insight to those interested in learning the lingo of bureaucracy. Wick Burns is a government official with all the self-motivation and personality of a robot. His newest project is to find funding for a small art film, "Paint Cans." It was directed by his former film school classmate Vittorio Russo and produced by the oily tongued Neville Lewis. Everyone at the film fund hates this film, but simply saying no is not the bureaucratic way. Instead they try to get other agencies to fund the film. The story also introduces elements of Burn's personal life including his relationship with his disapproving father, and a fledgling romance with Arundel, a journalist he meets in Cannes. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Chas LawtherRobyn Stevan, (more)
 
1993  
PG  
Members of Canada's groundbreaking improvisational comedy troupe CODCO helped create this broad black comedy about a small Canadian community's unique bid to become a world power. Solomon Gundy is a small island off the Atlantic Coast of Canada whose economy is built around fishing. A government researcher determines that Canada's fish production needs to be cut by four percent -- and since Solomon Gundy produces four percent of the nation's catch, the government simply decides to suspend all fishing licenses for the Island. Needless to say, this decision is wildly unpopular with the locals, and Dexter (Maury Chaykin), the Federal official who has to break the bad news to the town, nearly gets lynched for his troubles. Augustus (Paul Gross), who acts as Solomon Gundy's mayor when he isn't busy officiating at the local church or running the miniature golf course, decides to take the bull by the horns and rallies the townspeople to declare their independence from Canada. As fate would have it, a group of Russian sailors gone AWOL happen by the Island, and Augustus is able to buy their submarine from the sole crewman left on board (Tommy Sexton). Augustus soon discovers the sub still has a cache of tactical missiles on board, making the newly independent Solomon Gundy a nuclear superpower. Also released as Northern Extremes, Burried on Sunday proved to be the final film role for founding CODCO member Tommy Sexton, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1993. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Paul GrossDenise Virieux, (more)
 
1986  
 
Canadian filmmaker Andy Jones both directs and stars in the whimsically acid Adventures of Faustus Bidgood. Faustus (Jones) is a clerk in the St. Johns, Newfoundland department of education. He dreams of becoming ruler of Newfoundland and staging a secession from Canada (the film is rife with pointed comments about the island province's governmental travails). Back in the real world, Faustus' boss Robert Joy plans to indoctrinate the citizenry of Newfoundland with a cultish geometric theory known as Total Education, but Joy may be foiled at any minute by the revelation of his earlier career as a flamenco dancer. Greg Malone pops in and out of the proceedings as a combination angel/demon who acts as everyone's conscience. It took Andy Jones ten years to finance and film The Adventures of Faustus Bidgood, which may explain why the film mounts its horse and rides madly off in all directions at once. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Andy JonesGreg Malone, (more)