Bill Moody
All of London is in love -- or longing to be -- in Four Weddings and a Funeral writer Richard Curtis' first directorial effort. Billed as "the ultimate romantic comedy," Love Actually involves more than a dozen main characters, each weaving his or her way into another's heart over the course of one particularly eventful Christmas. The seemingly perfect wedding of Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) brings many of the principals together, including heartsick best man Mark (Andrew Lincoln), who harbors a very unrequited crush on Juliet. There's also recent widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), trying to help his lonely stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) express his true feelings to a classmate. Across town, devoted working mother Karen (Emma Thompson) tries to rekindle the passion of her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), who secretly pines for a young colleague of his. In the same office, the lonely Sarah (Laura Linney) not-so-secretly pines for a man just a few desks away (Rodrigo Santoro), who returns her affections but may not be able to dissuade her neuroses. Providing the unofficial soundtrack for all of the couples is an aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who just wants to cash in and get laid -- but even he might find a meaningful relationship in the most unlikely of places. A working print of Love Actually premiered at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, (more)
- 1995
Though the traditional British "Rag Week" is hard to explain to American viewers, suffice to say that the annual ceremony involves elaborate pranks and practical jokes. On this particular Rag Week, the police officers at the Gasworth district house steel themselves for the usual onslaught of stunts and gags. As the other coppers contend with a recalcitrant telephone system, Inspector Fowler and Sgt. Patricia Dawkins get mixed up with a purportedly fake bank robbery. "Rag Week" was first shown on December 4, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
This dramatic love story takes place in a British prison. Rachel, a young dentist, decides to take a part-time job at a nearby prison after she and her husband are separated. There, she meets Philip, whose ten-year incarceration for killing his girlfriend is almost up. Rachel and Philip fall in love, which is a breach of Rachel's professional contract. Towler, fellow inmate and former drug dealer, finds out and blackmails Rachel into bringing contraband to prison. When Rachel learns that she is to bring a gun to Towler, she changes her mind, but as she tries to leave she finds herself a target in a shoot-out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Roth, Julia Ormond, (more)
Kenny Rogers returns as Brady Hawkes, the Gambler, in this made-for-TV Western. Brady's son Jeremiah (Kris Kamm) is now an adult, and seems to have followed his father's footsteps into a life of adventure; however, Brady learns that Jeremiah has taken a far more dangerous path and has joined the gang of notorious outlaws Butch Cassidy (Scott Paulin) and the Sundance Kid (Brett Cullen). Fearing for his son's safety, Brady sets out to find his son and rescue him before he winds up on the wrong side of a gun. The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps also stars Dixie Carter, Loni Anderson, and Mariska Hargitay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Rogers, Loni Anderson, (more)
- 1993
In this British "ethnic" sitcom, Trevyn McDowell was cast as Jane Wainwright, the leader of a youth club catering to tough inner city kids. So far as the local authorities were concerned, the most hard-boiled of Jane's youthful charges was a bloke named Trevor (Robert McKewley), aka "Too-Bad." In truth, Trevor was a deep-down decent kid, something of a cockney Fonzie; and yet, every time something went wrong or some local crime was committed, poor Too-Bad was held responsible. The seven-episode What You Lookin' At? was broadcast from July 17 to August 28, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Trevyn McDowell, Robert McKewley, (more)
- 1987
- R
Based on one of the most scandalous murders in British history, White Mischief transpires in Kenya at a time just before the beginning of World War II. Jock Broughton (Joss Ackland) is a wealthy rancher who becomes taken with a young gold-digger named Diana (Greta Scacchi). Even though he is fully aware of her reasons for doing so, the pair wed. Broughton falls on hard times and loses his fortune. The hedonistic Earl of Erroll (Charles Dance) realizes this change of fortune may make Diana more open to engaging in an affair. One evening, Erroll is found murdered. Broughton is tried for the crime. Michael Radford would not direct again for seven years, but returned with the international hit Il Postino in 1994. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Scacchi, Charles Dance, (more)
A John Carpenter story served as the launching pad for Black Moon Rising. Veteran thief Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired by the FBI to steal some politically volatile computer tapes. The owners of the tapes are displeased, and begin chasing Quint all over the countryside. Just when he's about to surrender his booty, Quint's car -- wherein the tapes are stored -- is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton). She delivers the car to her corporate-villain boyfriend Ryland (Robert Vaughn), who runs a hot auto ring. Nina then has second thoughts and decides to throw in with Quint...and round and round we go. The "Black Moon" of the title is the name Quint's high-tech, low-slung vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton, (more)
- 1980
Babylon is a gritty, neorealist account of the lives of a group of West Indian youths living in London. Blue (Brinsley Forde) is the Rastafarian leader of a Sound System (a mobile disc-jockey team who spin reggae records at clubs, parties, and other gatherings) who is trying to prepare for an upcoming Sound System competition. Blue's love of music is one of the few positive outlets in his life; with the crime and violence of London's slums, the verbal and physical attacks by racist whites, and the jealousy of other DJs, Blue is reaching the end of his rope. That rope begins to fray when Blue is fired from his job, is brutally attacked by police officers, and discovers that his DJ equipment has been destroyed by angry neighbors. Unlike most films about reggae music and culture, Babylon doesn't explore the sunny side of Jamaican life or West Indian gangland culture; instead, it looks at how the implicit radicalism of reggae mirrored political and social concerns in the urban areas outside Jamaica where the music was so enthusiastically embraced. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman, (more)
John Mackenzie's masterfully directed British crime drama features a star-making performance by Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand, a successful London gangster whose world falls apart over the course of one weekend. Shand controls the London docks and is planning a big real estate deal, financed by money from the American mob and given the okay by the London organization. His world is sweet -- he lives in a fancy penthouse, he owns a yacht, and has a sensitive and intelligent mistress. But suddenly a bomb explodes inside his Rolls Royce, another bomb destroys a pub he owns, and a third is found inside his casino. Shand can't understand who would suddenly want him dead, particularly over the Easter weekend, when representatives from the American mafia are coming into town to discuss investing in Shands's real estate project. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, (more)
