Rosalind March Movies
Michael Radford (Il Postino and The Merchant of Venice) directs screenwriter Edward Anderson's script about an aging janitor and an American executive who form an unlikely alliance in order to carry out an elaborate jewel heist. Set in 1960s-era London, the tense crime thriller stars Michael Caine as the scheming maintenance man who longs to relieve his employers at the London Diamond Corporation of their valuable inventory, and Demi Moore as the savvy executive who is completely perplexed by the wealthy diamond magnates. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Demi Moore, Michael Caine, (more)
Nigel Cole directs the feel-good comedy Calendar Girls, based on the true story of a group of working-class British housewives who became overnight celebrities by posing for a nude calendar in order to raise more than 500-thousand pounds for a new leukemia unit. The film follows the adventures of best friends Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) and Annie Clarke (Julie Walters), both members of the charitable Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire. After Annie's husband John (John Alderton) succumbs to leukemia, the friends are motivated to take some action. They convince the group to craft a tastefully nude calendar featuring the usual ladies' activities of gardening and baking, as photographed by the young amateur Lawrence (Philip Glenister). Despite the disapproval of the Institute's leader Marie (Geraldine James), the calendar quickly becomes a best-seller and leads the group to Hollywood. Ciaran Hinds appears as Chris' husband Rod Harper. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, (more)
First filmed as a theatrical feature in 1982, Agatha Christie's 1940 mystery novel Evil Under the Sun was remade as a two-hour episode of the off-and-on British TV series Poirot. David Suchet is back as the infuriatingly brilliant and fussy Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who after suffering a fainting spell at a posh restaurant is whisked off to a fancy health resort along the Devon Coast. As he recuperates, Poirot is able to relax, secure in the belief that he can give his sleuthing a bit of a well-deserved result. Alas, this is not to be. Another guest at the resort, a world-famous actress, is murdered -- and virtually everyone else in the vicinity had both motive and opportunity to do the dirty deed. First telecast in the U.K. in 2001. Evil Under the Sun made its America bow on July 13, 2003, courtesy of the A&E cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, (more)
Based on a novel by Dennis Danvers, the three-part British miniseries Wilderness asks the question "Can a nice Quaker girl find happiness as a sometimes-werewolf?" At the beginning of each lunar cycle, heroine Alice White (Amanda Ooms) transforms into a wolf -- or at least that is her story. Unable to convince her sweetheart that she suffers from lycanthropy, Alice turns to a psychiatrist who, instead of helping her, draws up plans to exploit her "complex" for his own professional advancement. Despairing, Alice heads to a Scottish wildlife retreat, where the story reaches its startling conclusion. Since its original TV run in 1996, Wilderness has been released to video in a shortened "feature film" version. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Vacillating between the suspense of a thriller and the absurdity of a farce, this uneven story about a demonized telephone company intent on controlling everyone's lives ends up in cinematic limbo -- neither farce nor thriller. When Mavis (Julie Walters) leaves her gay husband to go live in an apartment with her daughter, she receives a call from him saying he is about to come over for a visit. Nothing happens. Then the telephone does other strange things, and as she sets out to discover why, the people she meets are as odd as her phone. She comes across a dwarf with a giant libido and an expert in conspiracy theories who holds his own views (not created jointly with others). The woman would have been better off getting an answering machine, much needed to resolve the plot holes in this story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Walters, David Rappaport, (more)
