Alan Corduner Movies

Barbra Streisand's directorial debut, Yentl, is a musical adaptation of a story by the beloved Jewish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. Yentl (Streisand) is a young woman who wants nothing more than to study religious scripture. She is denied that possibility because she is a woman. She moves, passes herself off as a male named Anshel, and then begins her studies. She becomes close to fellow student Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin), eventually falling in love with him, although she can not reveal her true self as she would then be expelled. Avigdor is in love with Hadass (Amy Irving), but religious law forbids him from marrying her. Avigdor attempts to fix Anshel up with Hadass, leading to Hadass falling in love with Anshel. Yentl received four Academy Award nominations, including two Best Song nods. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This is a good animated feature with lots of action that's suitable for older youngsters and adults. Valhalla, where the gods live and the souls of dead warriors are enshrined, is filled with powerful spirits like the supreme Odin (voice of Mark Jones) who is the creator of the cosmos and the god of war and death. Thor (voice of Stephen Thorne), the god of Thunder, is there too. He is also connected to war and rain, as well as the English word "Thursday" (Thor's day). Back in ancient times, humanity was divided between allegiance to Thor and allegiance to his enemy Loke. These two rivals follow a rainbow bridge from Valhalla to the land of the Giants, where grungy, Maurice Sendak-type monsters bash each other around. Battles and trickery ensue, involving human and godly characters in a struggle for supremacy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Monologist Eric Bogosian's one-man theatre piece Talk Radio, co-written by Bogosian and Ted Savinar, is searingly brought to the screen by Oliver Stone. Bogosian plays a provocateur radio talk-show host, whose constant espousal of his inflammatory views and ceaseless hectoring of his callers and listeners reaps equal parts love and hate. As his program rolls on, Bogosian is revealed to be just as screwed up as any of his fans, if not more. And then he pushes one caller just a bit too far. In co-adapting the play for the screen, Oliver Stone interweaves elements of Steven Singular's factual book Talked to Death, the story of a liberal Denver radio personality who was murdered at the behest of a militant right-wing hate group. One word of warning: if you're not a fan of the sort of radio depicted herein, chances are you won't warm up to this film. Talk Radio was the indirect inspiration for the 1990 TV series Night Caller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From director Beeban Kidron, Antonia & Jane is a look at an enduring friendship between a pair of decidedly opposite people. Beautiful, sophisticated, and self-assured, Antonia (Saskia Reeves) has it all -- or so it seems to the pudgy wallflower Jane (Imelda Staunton), who secretly resents the fact that her own inner light is invariably extinguished whenever her glamorous friend enters a room. The fact that Antonia stole and married Jane's first lover only makes matters worse. While Jane vents her feelings in her therapist's office, Antonia herself secretly longs to be more like Jane, who is always off in search of new adventures and experiences. Petricia Leventon and Alfred Hoffman also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

In this last gasp of the "Carry On" series, minus most of the "Carry On" players, Jim Dale plays Spanish map-maker Christopher Columbus, who has a plan to navigate a new route to India, bypassing the Sultan of Turkey (Rik Mayall) and his sky-high tributes. He convinces King Ferdinand of Spain (Leslie Phillips) and Queen Isabella (June Whitfield) to finance his trip, and he sets off for points east with a cabin boy in tow. But what Columbus doesn't realize is that his cabin boy is, in fact, a cabin girl. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Previously the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), the dark novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a parable about greed-inspired colonialism, was adapted into this television movie by offbeat filmmaker Nicolas Roeg. Ambitious sailor Marlow (Tim Roth) is employed by a British trading company. His mission is a journey to a remote colony in the Belgian Congo, the source of the consortium's profitable supply of ivory, where he's to retrieve some stranded cargo. As he travels upriver visiting the trading stations which acquire the precious commodity through exploitative barter with natives, Marlow hears wild tales of Kurtz (John Malkovich), a hugely-successful company manager whose post is deep in the jungle. It seems that Kurtz is revered as a god by the locals, both worshipped and greatly feared. Reaching Kurtz's compound, however, Marlow finds that the man has become a fiend, committing blasphemous atrocities and driven mad by power and disease. Malkovich was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe for his performance as Kurtz. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Peter Warlock was a noted British composer during the 1930s. Philip Heseltine was his harshest critic. This strange-but-true, highly dramatized British biopic brings to light a little known fact about the two enemies: they were same man. Much of the story centers upon reviewer Heseltine, one of the most feared figures in music criticism, a man known by peers as "The Grim Reaper." In his columns about Warlock's work, Heseltine calls the composer a pirate who gets his ideas from other composers. Heseltine falls in love after seeing the performance of American singer Lily Buxton. He arrogantly trashes her work, but she sees something good about him and goes out with him. Meanwhile, Warlock keeps composing and Heseltine's attacks upon him become excessively vitriolic causing Lily to get curious. She begins investigating and finds the chaotic, ramshackle apartment where Warlock lives. It is there that she learns the strange truth.th. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this family-oriented adventure, a kidnapped inventor's son employs one of his father's devices, a special detective, to help him save his dad. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Noted for intimate character studies created in collaboration with his actors, director Mike Leigh makes a dramatic change of pace with this biography of comic opera composers W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) is an easily angered but otherwise emotionally remote lyricist who works in collaboration with composer Sullivan (Alan Corduner), a genial and fun-loving sort who feels unsatisfied writing light operettas and longs to work with more serious material. While Sullivan is having a creative crisis, Gilbert is facing a failing marriage to Lucy (Lesley Manville), who loves her husband even if he can't return her affections, and must deal with his ailing father (Charles Simon). When they suffer their first failure, both men are depressed, and Sullivan announces that he's giving up operetta for good. However, a visit to an exhibit of Japanese art sparks an idea in Gilbert, and soon he and Sullivan are hard at work on what will become one of their greatest successes, The Mikado. Much of the film is devoted to the staging of this classic, with Shirley Henderson, Dorothy Atkinson, Martin Savage, Timothy Spall, and Kevin McKidd as members of the operetta's cast. Jim Broadbent won Best Actor at the 1999 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Alan Rickman and Janeane Garofalo headline writer/director Mike Binder's comedy about an American businessman who is summoned to London under the auspice of overseeing an impending business merger, only to discover that he is actually being groomed to replace his British counterpart - who unfortunately has no intentions of giving up his job. Matthew Barnes (Binder) and his wife (Garofalo) thought they were going to London for a brief business trip, little did they realize Matthew's employer had something a bit more permanent in mind. It seems that the powers that be would like to see Matthew's British counterpart John Gissing (Rickman) fired, and would love for Matthew to step in as his official replacement. But John is no dummy, and he's seen this storm brewing on the horizon for quite some time. Now, instead of stepping down peacefully and allowing the situation to play out as his superiors have planned, John schemes to make the American couple's stay in London as unpleasant as humanly possible by sending them on a series of disastrous and humiliating misadventures. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The joys and horrors of female friendship are explored in writer/director Sandra Goldbacher's Me Without You. Bold, brash, and fashionable Marina (played by Anna Popplewell as a child, and Anna Friel as a teen and adult) comes from a broken home. Her mother, Linda (Trudie Styler, who executive produced Guy Ritchie's first two films, and is also Sting's wife) is a hip young divorcée who apologizes every time she yells at her children. Holly (Ella Jones as a child, Michelle Williams of Dawson's Creek and Dick as a teen and adult) is a timid bookworm, mildly ashamed of her Jewishness, and easily goaded into more outrageous behavior by Marina. Holly's mother (Deborah Findlay) tells her early on not to expect too much from men. She helps lower her daughter's expectations by telling her, "Some people are pretty people, and some are clever people, which is more important than looks." As girls in the early '70s, Marina and Holly form a pact to become "Harina," inseparable best friends. Next-door neighbors, they are never apart for long. But Holly harbors a secret crush on Marina's older brother, Nat (Oliver Milburn), and when the girls are teens, and Marina finds out about Holly's feelings, she does her best to keep the two apart. In college, when Holly bonds with a lit-crit professor, Daniel (Kyle Maclachlan), over Andrei Tarkovsky and Ingmar Bergman, Holly feels compelled to sabotage their budding relationship, by seducing Daniel first. Eventually, Nat, despite his lingering fondness for Holly, gets seriously involved with a French actress, Isabel (Marianne Denicourt). As the girls get older, their differences become more apparent to Holly, and she begins to question their friendship. The film covers three decades, with songs and costumes appropriate to each era. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide