Ros Hubbard Movies

Prolific actor/director Charles Martin Smith takes the helm for this lighthearted adventure comedy recounting the theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey. Based on the memoirs of Ian Hamilton, Stone of Destiny follows the determined student's reckless quest to make the ultimate symbolic gesture for Scottish independence. Charlie Cox stars in a film featuring Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd, Stephen McCole, and Kate Mara. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson star in this live-action adaptation of Susan Wojciechowski's beloved children's tome, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. The fable centers around two lonely, broken people. Jonathan Toomey (Berenger) is a woodcutter who buried his ability to love when he lost his wife and child in a horrid accident, and thus earned the nickname Gloomy at the hands of misunderstanding local children. Thomas McDowell (newcomer Luke Ward-Wilkinson) watched quietly as the death of his father ripped away his childhood innocence - and destroyed his world. Now, Thomas's single mother, Susan (Richardson) must sell their urban home and move, son-in-tow, into the countryside to live with her sister. When Thomas grows virtually inconsolable over the loss of a wooden manger scene bequeathed to him by his dad, Susan asks Jonathan to carve a new one for the young boy. In time, a most unexpected friendship blossoms between Thomas and the old woodcutter, that heals the wounds and melts the heart of each broken soul. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Dan Brown's controversial best-selling novel about a powerful secret that's been kept under wraps for thousands of years comes to the screen in this suspense thriller from director Ron Howard. The stately silence of Paris' Louvre museum is broken when one of the gallery's leading curators is found dead on the grounds, with strange symbols carved into his body and left around the spot where he died. Hoping to learn the significance of the symbols, police bring in Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), a gifted cryptographer who is also the victim's granddaughter. Needing help, Sophie calls on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a leading symbologist from the United States. As Sophie and Robert dig deeper into the case, they discover the victim's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members have been privy to forbidden knowledge dating back to the birth of Christianity. In their search, Sophie and Robert happen upon evidence that could lead to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, while members of the priory and an underground Catholic society known as Opus Dei give chase, determined to prevent them from sharing their greatest secrets with the world. Also starring Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, and Alfred Molina, The Da Vinci Code was shot on location in France and the United Kingdom; the Louvre allowed the producers to film at the famous museum, but scenes taking place at Westminster Abbey had to filmed elsewhere when church officials declined permission. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A successful mystery writer retreats to a remote fishing village following the tragic death of her son, only to become caught up in a bizarre supernatural murder mystery in this tale of terror directed by Craig Rosenberg and starring Demi Moore. Rachel Carson's (Moore) five-year-old son has drowned, and as a result her life appears to be falling apart at the seams. When a sympathetic friend rents Rachel a secluded cottage in hopes that a little peace and quiet will help the grieving mother recover from her loss, the quiet retreat is violently shattered by a series of bizarre and unexplained murders. Now with a community in fear and her sanity slowly slipping, Rachel must use her instincts to unmask the killer before it's too late and she too falls prey to the murderous rage that threatens to consume the once tranquil town. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Celebrated writer and director John Sayles turns his eye to politics in America in this drama. The son of respected Colorado politician Senator Jud Pilager (Michael Murphy), Dicky Pilager (Chris Cooper) is a charming but half-bright man with a bad habit of mangling the English language and a decided lack of political correctness. Dicky is also in the midst of a hard-fought campaign to become governor of Colorado. Dicky's campaign manager, Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss), is a ruthless sort who will leave no stone unturned to see that his candidate wins, so when Dicky snags a dead body while fishing during the shooting of a campaign commercial, Raven is determined to find out if his man has been set up. Raven hires Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston), a former journalist turned private investigator, to find out who the dead man is and if he might be connected to Pilager's enemies. But the deeper O'Brien digs into the matter, the more he finds out about the candidate and his family -- and very little of it is flattering. John Sayles assembled a typically impressive cast for Silver City, with the supporting cast highlighted by Tim Roth, Kris Kristofferson, Maria Bello, Thora Birch, Daryl Hannah, Billy Zane, and Mary Kay Place. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson stars as Jeremy, a British book editor and aspiring writer seeking a new lease on life, in Shadows in the Sun, an uplifting drama from ABC Family. Sent by his employer to Tuscany to elicit a new book from dried-up (and cantankerous) exiled author Weldon Parrish Harvey Keitel, Jeremy soon finds himself smitten with Weldon's daughter Isabella (Claire Forlani) and gradually connects with Weldon despite the man's initial resistance. Soon, the two men begin encouraging each other to write as romance flowers between Jeremy and Isabella. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This television miniseries tells the familiar story of Spartacus, played in this endeavor by ER regular Goran Visnjic. Spartacus, who was enslaved by the Romans after they murdered his father, leads fellow slaves in an attempt to overthrow the repressive Roman Empire. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Scottish filmmaker Gillies MacKinnon directs the revenge thriller The Escapist. Escaped convict Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis, Gollom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) breaks into the house of commercial pilot Denis (Jonny Lee Miller) and kills his pregnant wife, Valerie (Paloma Baeza). The baby survives but Denis is too distraught to care for it, so relative Christine (Jodhi May) steps in to take over the parenting duties. Denis then stages an elaborate plan of revenge by faking his own death and turning into a criminal. After being caught and convicted, he makes several failed attempts at escaping prison in an effort to mimic his enemy, Ricky. Denis is taken to increasingly higher security prisons until he is at the same one as Ricky, leading to a violent conclusion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Writer and director John Sayles returns with another multi-layered look at an American community, subtly exploring how race, class, economics, and both national and regional history come together to shape people's lives. Plantation Island is a community on the coast of Florida; the island was once a notorious hotbed of segregationists, with most of the African-American population centered in the neighborhood of Lincoln Beach, while Delrona Beach is primarily home to white residents. Marly Temple (Edie Falco) is the sixth generation of her family to live in Delrona Beach, where she helps run a motel and cafe owned by her elderly and ill-tempered father (Ralph Waite) and drama instructor mother (Jane Alexander). Marly's former husband, Steve (Richard Edson), is a scruffy ne'er do well who's a sucker for get-rich-quick scams, while her current boyfriend, Scotty (Marc Blucas), is struggling to make something of himself as a golf pro. Meanwhile, Desiree Perry (Angela Bassett) is an actress who is returning to Lincoln Beach for the first time since she was a teenager, hoping to introduce her new husband, Reggie (James McDaniel), to her mother, Eunice Stokes (Mary Alice). Desiree was the center of a minor local scandal when she became pregnant as a teenager and moved away. Eunice has never quite forgiven her, while Flash (Tom Wright), Desiree's high school boyfriend and the man responsible, hasn't seen her since. Eunice is looking after Terrell (Alex Lewis), a troubled youth recently found guilty of arson, and Desiree and Reggie soon find themselves bonding with the misguided youth. In time, Delrona Beach and Lincoln Beach are brought together by a common concern; Greg (Perry Lang) and Lester (Miguel Ferrer) are representatives from a nearby resort community looking to expand, with Plantation Island looking like their most likely target. As homeowners debate whether to sell or stay put, local government officials and the town's business community argue the merits and faults of the resort's expansion into Plantation Island. Meanwhile, Marly becomes romantically involved with Jack (Timothy Hutton), a landscape architect affiliated with the developers who seems to believe his work is doing more harm than good. Sunshine State also features Mary Steenburgen, Alan King, and Bill Cobbs. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A popular video game comes to the screen with this big-budget adventure starring Angelina Jolie as a buxom heroine recalling equal parts Indiana Jones and James Bond. Jolie is Lara Croft, a proper British aristocrat groomed at schools for the children of the elite. Croft leads a double life, however, as an acquirer of lost antiquities through questionable means, highly trained in combat skills with the help of a robotic opponent called Simon. Despite her exciting profession and a life of wealth and breeding, Lara pines for her father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight), whose passing left her orphaned. On the eve of a celestial event that will also mark the anniversary of Lord Croft's death, Lara comes up against an ancient organization called the Illuminati, represented by the sinister Powell (Iain Glen), who's in pursuit of an ancient relic with power over time and even death itself. With the aid of her high-tech support team, Lara travels to some exotic locales in search of the artifact, including a foray into a decrepit Asian temple guarded by lethal stone apes and other creatures that spring to life. Filmed at various locations in Great Britain as well as Iceland and the Angkor Wat temples of Cambodia, Tomb Raider co-stars Noah Taylor, Chris Barrie, Daniel Craig, Rachel Appleton, Leslie Phillips, Mark Collie, and Julian Rhind-Tutt. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Robert Duvall dons tartan and a thick brogue to star as Gordon McLeod, the manager of a failing Scottish football club. The second-division club -- dubbed Kilnockie after the fishing town it calls home -- has a new owner, an American named Pete Cameron (Michael Keaton), who pressures McLeod to spruce up the faltering club and, against McLeod's wishes, hires first-division star Jackie McQuillan (real-life footy luminary Ally McCoist). McQuillan's past days of glory came with a price, as his flashy lifestyle and volatile temperament cost him both his career and wife Kate (Kirsty Mitchell), who is none other than McLeod's own daughter. In the tradition of sports dramas from Hoosiers to Major League, A Shot at Glory sees the rag-tag team -- which also includes a talented American goalkeeper (Cole Hauser) -- put aside their differences for the love of the game, ultimately leading Kilnockie to a climactic match against the legendary Glasgow Rangers . ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama adapted from a true story, Sinead Hamilton (Joan Allen) is a public relations agent turned journalist who is appalled at the corruption and drug trafficking in her native Dublin; determined to do something about it and make the city a safer place in which to bring up her son, Hamilton begins a series of investigative pieces exposing the major players in the city's dope trade, as well as possible links between drug dealing and the Irish Republican Army. Hamilton's stories win wide acclaim and lead to a public outcry to see that justice is served; they also make Hamilton a number of very dangerous enemies among the underworld, as well as the more corrupt segments of the law enforcement community. When the Sky Falls is based on the true-life story of Irish investigative reporter Veronica Guerin; Guerin worked on the early drafts of the script before she was murdered by members of the drug cartel she helped to expose, leading the producers to change the names of the characters and alter the story's outcome. The supporting cast includes Patrick Bergin as a police investigator, Pete Postlethwaite as a criminal insider who gives information to Hamilton, and Liam Cunningham as another notorious crime boss. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Gerard Stembridge directs this charming comedy about a handsome stranger who wreaks havoc on an entire family. Pub torch singer Lucy Owen (Kate Hudson) falls for Adam (Stuart Townsend) as soon as she lays eyes on him. Tired of a string of failed short-termed relationships, she succumbs to Adam's radiate charisma and agrees to marry him after only knowing him for a scant couple of days. Yet when she brings him home to her family, she finds to her dismay that his magnetism works equally well on her two older sisters. The middle one, Laura (Frances O'Connor), is a shy bookish sort whose love for poetry proves to be her weakness, while eldest sister Alice (Charlotte Bradley) is aloof at first, but eventually she also yields to his wiles. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide