Michael Culkin Movies
A disgraced European football (read: soccer) player inadvertently winds up in the 13th Century after breaking into his mother's advanced physicals laboratory and using her experimental time machine to try and correct the mistake that got his team knocked clean out of the competition. It was the final minutes of a decisive game, and had Dolf (Joe Flynn) nailed the crucial goal, his team would have had a shot at the title. He only wanted to go back in time a couple of hours, but somehow he overshot his intended time by about eight centuries. Once there, Dolf comes into contact with the plucky Jenne, who's about to lead 8000 youngsters in the Children's Crusade. But while Dolf's 21st Century smarts quickly earn him the role of group leader, he will have to summon both strength and bravery in order to prevent the children from being enslaved by the 13th Century's most notorious tyrant. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephanie Leonidas, Joe Flynn, (more)
An elderly widow and a young would-be author strike up an unlikely friendship in this comedy drama. Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright) has been uneasy since the death of her husband, and she decides to move from her long-time home in Scotland to London so she can be closer to her grandson Desmond (Lorcan O'Toole). Mrs. Palfrey settles into the Claremont Hotel, a shabby residential inn for senior citizens that has seen better days. She tries to contact Desmond, but isn't able to get in touch with him, and at first she has a hard time relating to the other folks at the Claremont, especially friendly busybody Mrs. Arbuthnot (Anna Massey). Lonely and out of sorts, Mrs. Palfrey goes out for a walk one day and takes a nasty spill after losing her balance. Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), a struggling writer in his mid-twenties, finds Mrs. Palfrey on the pavement and helps her, taking her back to her room and making sure she's OK. The two strike up a conversation and discover they have a surprisingly amount in common. A friendship grows between them, even though Mrs. Palfrey asks Ludovic to pose as her absent grandson so her neighbors will stop asking questions about him. Mrs. Palfrey even gives her new friend romantic advice, encouraging Ludovic to ask a pretty girl he meets at the video store out on a date. Based on a novel by the British author Elizabeth Taylor, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was directed by Dan Ireland. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, (more)
- 2000
Adapted for the screen from the 1951 play that revived playwright Noel Coward's flagging reputation, Relative Values is another wit-laden addition to the English comedy of manners ouevre. Set sometime during the mid-20th century, the film opens on the French Riviera, where nebbish English aristocrat Nigel (Edward Atterton) has just announced his engagement to vulgar American movie star Miranda Frayle (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Nigel's news dismays both his mother, Felicity (Julie Andrews), and Miranda's former lover, fellow screen icon Don Lucas (William Baldwin). Felicity manages to strap on a stiff upper lip while Don drowns his sorrows in booze and flees to England. Meanwhile, Felicity's personal assistant Moxie (Sophie Thompson) makes the rather startling announcement that Miranda is her estranged younger sister. Everything looks set to go pear-shaped until Felicity's cunning butler Crestwell (the ever-cunning Stephen Fry) comes up with an ingenious plan that will turn the tables in Moxie's favor. After Nigel returns to his mother's estate with Miranda in tow, Crestwell's plan is complicated by the unexpected arrival of an inebriated Don at a dinner party that Felicity is throwing for the engaged couple. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sophie Thompson, Edward Atterton, (more)
The living dead set out to settle some old scores in this audacious blend of horror and crime thriller. John Dark (Luke Goss) and his partner, Mort Shade (Kevin Howarth), are a pair of police detectives working the vice squad in a rough-and-tumble dockside neighborhood. After Mort is killed in an altercation with crooks in a refrigerated warehouse, John is startled to see him back on the beat, but it turns out this isn't the same old Mort. The late policeman's body has been possessed by a malevolent and bloodthirsty spirit, but while the demon is looking for blood to keep itself alive, Mort is determined to do away with some of the too-hot-to-touch criminals he'd been chasing with John for years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Marshall Herskovitz directed this look at life in 16th-century Venice, based on Margaret Rosenthal's 1994 book The Honest Courtesan. Positioned outside of the Venetian court, Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) hopes to rise above her station, but her interest in nobleman's son Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell) is blocked since his parents forbid their marriage. Following the path taken by her mother, Paola (Jacqueline Bisset), Veronica becomes a courtesan, finding this gives her a niche in the male-dominated society. When Vatican emissaries accuse her of witchcraft, she lashes back, using the trial as a feminist forum to expose the hypocrisies of the period. Filmed in 1996 in Venice and Rome with a variety of working titles (Courtesan, Venice, and The Honest Courtesan). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine McCormack, Rufus Sewell, (more)
- 1995
- R
- Add Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh to QueueAdd Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh to top of Queue
This sequel to director Bernard Rose's superb, metaphorical Candyman is a more straightforward Gothic horror project, discarding any association with the events of the previous film (which was based on the short story "The Forbidden" by horror surrealist Clive Barker) aside from the title entity, played again by the imposing Tony Todd. A melancholy but extremely deadly ghost, Candyman is revealed -- in a compelling sequence of flashbacks -- as the vengeful spirit of Daniel Robitaille, a black portraitist in post-Civil War Louisiana who was set upon and horribly mutilated by an angry white mob in retaliation for his affair with a plantation owner's daughter. In present-day New Orleans, at the height of Mardi Gras festivities (the film's title refers to the literal translation of the Latin "Carnival"), Candyman walks the realm of the undead, with a hook in place of the hand he lost to the lynch mob, waiting to be summoned by the recitation of his name five times into a mirror. The latest victims of his evisceration skills include members of the Tarrant family, with young schoolteacher Annie (Kelly Rowan) next in line. Her family's connection with the Candyman legend is eventually revealed when Annie visits the family estate to uncover the link between her ancestors and Daniel Robitaille himself. This is a well-executed horror film, with fine performances and good use of the subtle menace underlying the Mardi Gras ambience, but the deft hand of Barker is clearly absent, leaving a standard horror plot without the mythical resonance of the original. The chilling Philip Glass score is a definite plus, though. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, (more)
This biography of Ludwig von Beethoven (played here by Gary Oldman) builds its narrative around an actual letter found after his death, addressed only to the composer's "immortal beloved." The responsibility of discovering this mysterious person's identity falls to Beethoven's friend and secretary (Jeroen Krabbé), who sets out on an investigation that soon becomes an exploration of the composer's life. Through recollections and scattered hints, we receive glimpses of Beethoven's relationships with women, particularly his close interaction with a pair of very different Countesses. The film also pays prominent attention to the composer's oddly obsessive relationship with the young nephew whom he attempted to mold in his own image, and Beethoven's eventual hearing loss and descent into emotional instability. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Oldman, Jeroen Krabbé, (more)
Bernard Rose followed his moody fantasy-thriller Paperhouse (1988) with this modern horror tale, based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden". Compiling a thesis on urban legends, University of Illinois in Chicago graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) becomes aware of the prevalent superstition surrounding the legend of "Candyman" (Tony Todd)--a hook-wielding phantom who will appear if his name is recited five times into a mirror--among the tenants of Chicago's Cabrini Green project. A senior professor, hearing of Helen's research, explains the historical basis for the legend, detailing how Candyman is believed to be the vengeful spirit of a former slave who, though initially respected in academia, was set upon and mutilated by an angry mob when accused of taking a white mistress. When the clinically-detached Helen flaunts her intellectual confidence by reciting Candyman's name five times, she sets in motion an inevitable series of supernatural events -- culminating in a series of grisly killings, after which Helen is invariably found holding the bloody murder weapon. Though she is captured by the police, it becomes evident to Helen that Candyman is guiding her fate every step of the way. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, (more)
Three women, separated by a span of nearly 80 years, find themselves weathering similar crises, all linked by a single work of literature in this film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham. In 1923, Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is attempting to start work on her novel Mrs. Dalloway, in which she chronicles one day in the life of a troubled woman. But Virginia has demons of her own, and she struggles to overcome the depression and suicidal impulses that have followed her throughout her life, as her husband Leonard (Stephen Dillane) ineffectually tries to help. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a housewife living in suburban Los Angeles, where she looks after her son Richie (Jack Rovello) and husband Dan (John C. Reilly). Laura is also an avid reader who is currently making her way through Mrs. Dalloway. The farther she gets into the novel, the more Laura discovers that it reflects a dissatisfaction she feels in her own life, and she finds herself pondering the notion of leaving her life behind. Finally, in 2000, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is a literary editor who is caring for Richard Brown (Ed Harris), a former boyfriend and noted author, who is slowly losing his fight with AIDS. Clarissa is trying to arrange a party to celebrate the fact that Richard has won a prestigious literary award, but is getting little help from Richard's ex-lover, Louis (Jeff Daniels). As she labors to help Richard through another day, he wonders if his life is worth the unending struggle. The Hours also features Toni Collette, Miranda Richardson, Allison Janney, and Claire Danes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, (more)
