Philip L. Clarke Movies

The miserable lives and lost loves of London roommates Mark (David Mitchell) and Jeremy (Robert Webb) are conveyed via sophisticated sound and camera techniques that allow viewers to literally get inside the heads of the two protagonists as the British sitcom Peep Show enters its second season. This year, Jeremy, aka "Jez" (Robert Webb), tries to juggle two girlfriends: his longtime dream girl, Toni (Elizabeth Marmur), and an American lass named Nancy (Rachel Blanchard) -- who, much to Jez's dismay, is "saving herself" until marriage. Meanwhile, Mark continues trying to persuade Sophie (Olivia Colman) that she'd be happier with him than with her usual beau, Geoff (Neil Fitzmaurice); to this end, Mark attempts to prove to Sophie that he's no dullard by squiring other girls, with a marked lack of success. Elsewhere, aspiring pop star Jez finally lands a job with a band, but not the job he'd like; and Jez's manipulative buddy Super Hans (Matt King) adds crack addiction to his ever-growing list of shortcomings. The season ends as Nancy proposes to Jez for strictly business reasons, while Mark takes advantage of Geoff's public humiliation to swoop down on the supposedly available Sophie. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

First-time feature director Marc Munden's Miranda is a story about a man obsessed with an elusive woman. Frank (John Simm) is a librarian who falls hard for Miranda (Christina Ricci) the second he sees her in the library. She is secretly helping the nefarious Christian (John Hurt) in a real estate scam involving the library. Miranda, a master of disguise, soon travels to London where she goes to work on Nailor (Kyle McLachlan). She does not know that Frank is following her. Miranda was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

After the critical and commercial success of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the Walt Disney Pictures animation studio embarked on their most serious and ambitious animated feature to date with this adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel Notre Dame de Paris. Quasimodo (voice of Tom Hulce) is a grotesquely deformed but kind-hearted young man who was abandoned by his parents as an infant and thrown down a well; he was rescued by the priests of Notre Dame, the massive cathedral in the heart of Paris, and he lives there, earning his keep as a bell ringer. Quasimodo has become the ward of Judge Frollo (voice of Tony Jay), an outwardly pious but deeply hateful man who treats Quasimodio with indifference and violently loathes the Gypsies who spend their days in the cathedral's courtyard. Frollo hopes to clear the Gypsies out of Paris with the help of Phoebus (voice of Kevin Kline), leader of the troops under Frollo's command. However, Phoebus does not share Frollo's racist views and harbors no ill will against the Gypsies. When Quasimodo is crowned King of the Fools after leaving Notre Dame during the annual festival of Topsy Turvy Day, the hunchback is ordered beaten by the guards as punishment, but Esmerelda (voice of Demi Moore), a hot-blooded but compassionate gypsy beauty, shows pity on him and helps free him from his chains. The lovely Esmerelda is the first woman to show kindness to the unfortunate Quasimodo, and the hunchback soon falls in love with her. However, the dashing Phoebus is also infatuated with her, and Esmerelda is attracted to Phoebus as well, though she feels a motherly affection for the hunchback. Judge Frollo finds that he also desires Esmerelda, which only inflames his hatred for the Gypsies when she refuses his proposals. Darker and less outwardly comic than most of Disney's features, The Hunchback of Notre Dame does feature comic relief in the form of Victor (voice of Charles Kimbrough) and Hugo (voice of Jason Alexander), a pair of gargoyles who befriend Quasimodo, as well as several songs from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this animated sequel to An American Tale, Fievel Mousekewitz strikes out from not-so-enthralling New York City in a wagon train headed West. Helping propel the departure is a crafty cat named Cat R. Waul who tells our Fievel that out West the cats and mice get along just fine. Once on the trail, Fievel finds that the cat's real plan is mice meat pie out of the little rodents, and Fievel tries his darndest to warn everyone, but to no avail. On his side, however, are a couple of friendly cats, including one named Tiger (voice: Dom Deluise) whose scattered one-liners will keep most audiences chuckling. Another wonderful character is the has-been sheriff Wylie Burp (voice: James Stewart). Although this film may be rightfully criticized as being a little too tame, even for toddlers, the endearing and humorous character side-play will likely appeal to most little ones, and very possibly some big people, too. ~ Rovi

The Man who Saw Tomorrow is none other than Michel de Nostradamus, the French doctor who lived in the 16th century but supposedly saw far ahead into the 20th century and beyond. This documentary is an attempt to bring home the interpretation of some of his predictions using historical footage, newsreels, interviews, and dramatized scenes. The film is narrated by Orson Welles -- shown sitting in a small, nondescript office, with the voice of Nostradamus provided by Philip L. Clarke. Predictions noted in the documentary include Napoleon's career, the coming of Hitler, and of Franco, and events across the sea: the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, and a supposed nuclear attack on New York City in 1999, among other dire events. If equal time had been given to scholars to refute the glib interpretations by illustrating how abstruse and confusing the original 16th-century French quatrains really are, the documentary might have achieved more balance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi