Clive Curtis Movies

Brothers of the Head was adapted from Brian Aldiss' novel by screenwriter Tony Grisoni, and marks the narrative feature debut of Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe (Lost in La Mancha), who have structured Aldiss' story as a mock documentary. Twins Luke and Harry Treadaway star, respectively, as conjoined twins Barry and Tom Howe, joined at the torso. They were essentially purchased from their family as teens in the 1970s by a sleazy showbiz impresario, Zak Bedderwick (Howard Attfield), who planned to turn them into rock stars. Manager Nick (Sean Harris) kept the volatile Barry in line, sometimes violently, while musician Paul (Bryan Dick) taught the introspective Tom how to play the guitar, and helped the brothers write their songs. A documentary filmmaker, Eddie (Tom Bower), was hired to record the process. Their first live performance was a near disaster, as the rowdy pub crowd didn't welcome the sight of the two young men coming on-stage with their arms around each other, but Barry, the charismatically angry frontman, shocked the crowd by exposing the joint between them as he ripped into a snarling performance of their first single, "Two-Way Romeo," and the legend of their group, the Bang Bang, was born. As the proto-punk group's fame grew, Laura (Tania Emery), a young journalist, came to write an article about them, and quickly developed a romantic relationship with Tom, causing friction between the brothers. The film features interviews with some of the characters in the present day, and clips from an imagined unfinished Ken Russell film about the twins, starring Jonathan Pryce and Jane Horrocks. The music of the Bang Bang, performed by cast members and the band Crackout, was written and produced by Clive Langer. Brothers of the Head was shown at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Stormy Monday is a four-person character study in which style is all that matters. This tautly constructed, deftly executed crime thriller is set in economically depressed Newcastle England. Sting plays Finney, a relatively honest Newcastle jazz-club owner who crosses the path of crass American gangster Cosmo (Tommy Lee Jones). Flaunting his wealth at every opportunity, Cosmo wants to involve Finney in a land development deal -- if only he'll give up his club. Both men are enamored of Kate (Melanie Griffith), who becomes a pawn in their ongoing one-upsmanship. Kate and her lover (Sean Bean) try to prevent Finney from corrupting his own sense of values by wallowing in the gutter with Cosmo. Stormy Monday, the first feature-length directorial effort of former jazz musician Mike Figgis, who also wrote the script and composed the score, tells its story using subtle shadings of character and a vivid evocation of its Newcastle setting rather than through violent action. Figgis's moody direction of his excellent screenplay is quietly effective and brimming with visual nuance and irony -- particularly in its perceptive take on love, money, jazz, and economic necessity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This feature-length story about the heist of $10 million in Nazi diamonds primarily rides on star Tom Selleck's popularity as TV's Magnum, P.I., (a 1980s show), since the plot turnarounds, slighted character development, and stock situations are not that engaging on their own. The setting is 1934 and Nick Lassiter (Selleck) has been strong-armed by the Yank and Brit governments into stealing the diamonds from a German agent (Lauren Hutton) -- if he can track the gems to their hiding place. Along the way, he travels through London of the 1930s -- marketplaces, warehouses, and watering holes that lend an atmosphere to his search. His lady love Sara (Jane Seymour) more or less stands around to lend support while the suavely suited-up Lassiter battles a crooked cop (Bob Hoskins), his real arch enemy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

While wandering the English moors on vacation, college yanks David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) happen upon a quaint pub with a mysterious patronage who warn them not to leave the road when walking after dark. Irreverent of such advice as characters in horror films always are, the two decide to find a short cut....David wakes up in the hospital with a nasty bite wound to his shoulder; the freshly deceased, and rapidly decomposing, Jack arrives soon after to deliver the grim news that, unless he commits suicide, David will become a werewolf when the moon is full. David dismisses the encounter as a hallucination, but all indicators point to lycanthrope; evenings of barking and bloodletting follow closely behind. While the story is thin and much of the tongue-in-cheek humor is overdone, there are plenty of genuine jolts thanks to makeup guru Rick Baker's eye-popping special effects. The werewolf, resembling a cross between a bear and a wolverine, appears frighteningly real, and, given the fantastic premise, the gore is most convincing (although surprisingly and refreshingly scant). The hospital dream sequences are creative, and the scenes in which the werewolf runs rampant through downtown London are particularly good. In all, An American Werewolf in London is an original, atmospheric film that manages both to scare and amuse. While dismissed by most American critics upon its release, the film managed to secure a place in the annals of American cinema when Baker won an Academy Award for his amazing effects and creature designs. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

The plot of this of this adaptation of the Daniel Carney's novel, sprinkled throughout a series of extended Sam Peckinpah-inspired action sequences, deals with a collection of mercenary toughguys -- Colonel Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton), Lieutenant Shawn Fynn (Roger Moore), Rafer Janders (Richard Harris), Pieter Coetzee (Hardy Kruger) -- who are hired to parachute into the African bush country and abscond with deposed African president Julius Limbani (Winston Ntshona) and reinstall him as a reigning monarch of an African country, to satisfy British mercantile interests. The action sequences were successful enough to spawn a sequel -- appropriately titled Wild Geese II. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide