Amy Hargreaves Movies
- 2011
- NC17
- Add Shame to Queue Add Shame to top of Queue
An outwardly ordinary man must come to terms with his inner compulsions in this powerful drama from filmmaker Steve McQueen. Brandon (Michael Fassbender) is a successful businessman in his early thirties who lives in New York. To most around him, Brandon seems cool and introverted, but inside he is wrestling with a powerful sexual appetite; he's obsessed with pornography and prefers short-term relationships with women that allow him to keep the world at arm's length. The grim routine of Brandon's life is upended when his sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) stops by for an extended visit without prior notice. While Brandon is reserved, Sissy is an outgoing and flashy musician, and she doesn't seem to care about her brother's need for privacy. When Sissy forces Brandon to look closely at his life, he comes to understand the circumstances that made him the man he is today as his veneer of calm begins to crack. Shame won the Firpresci Award (presented by the International Federation of Film Critics) at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, (more)
Michael Clayton (George Clooney) handles all of the dirty work for a major New York law firm, arranging top-flight legal services and skirting through loopholes for ethically questionable clients. But when a fellow "fixer" decides to turn on the very firm they were hired to clean up for, Clayton finds himself at the center of a conspiratorial maelstrom. Once an ambitious D.A., Clayton is now a shell of his former dynamic self, thanks to a divorce, an unfortunate business venture, and astronomical debt. Though he longs to leave the cutthroat, ethically dubious world of corporate law behind, Clayton's poor financial situation and devotion to firm head Marty Bach (Sydney Pollack) leave him little choice but to remain on the job and tough it out. Meanwhile, litigator Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) finds her entire company's future hinging on the outcome of a multi-billion-dollar settlement overseen by Clayton's friend, star lawyer Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson). When Edens snaps and decides to blow the whistle on the questionable case, sabotaging the defense, Clayton must decide between his loyalty and his conscience. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, (more)
- 1995
- Add Mary Higgins Clark's Remember Me to Queue Add Mary Higgins Clark's Remember Me to top of Queue
Still recovering from a breakdown caused by the death of her son two years earlier, Menly Nichols (Kelly McGillis) convalesces in the old mansion where her husband Adam (Cotter Smith) grew up. The emotionally fragile Menly is having difficulty enough adjusting to her somewhat dank surrounding when she begins to be haunted by an eerie, faraway voice. Could the sounds be merely a manifestation of her trauma and guilt feelings--or are they caused by the ghost of her son, desperately trying to contact her? Whatever the case, trouble clearly lies ahead for both Menly and her baby daughter Hannah--and that trouble may or may not be linked with a murder case for which Adam has been hired as attorney for the defense. Based on the novel by (who else?) Mary Higgins Clark, this filmed-for-TV gothic melodrama made its CBS network debut on November 19, 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kelly McGillis, Cotter Smith, (more)
Unlike most teen horror movies, Brainscan relies more on atmosphere and plot than gore and bloodsoaked effects. Edward Furlong plays Michael, a 16-year-old horror movie fan, computer whiz, and misfit who responds to an ad for Brainscan, an CD-ROM virtual reality game that promises to "interface with your unconscious." Once involved with the game, Michael dreams that he brutally stabs a stranger and slices off his foot -- only to awaken and find the foot in his refrigerator. Out of Michael's computer comes Trickster (T. Ryder Smith), a sardonic, malevolent creation who advises Michael to keep playing new editions of Brainscan to evade capture by a suspicious cop (Frank Langella). With a death count that is relatively low and mostly offscreen (amputated feet notwithstanding), Brainscan doesn't make up for its lack of onscreen violence with a particularly original script, although it should be commended for not taking the easy way out. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Edward Furlong, Frank Langella, (more)
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