Heather Ogilvie Movies
- 2009
A dysfunctional New England family relies on the son prone to witnessing horrible accidents to get them though the hard times in this wry period drama set in the 1980s. Billy Conway never set out to see the gruesome side of life, he just always happened to be around when it presented itself. One day, a terrible accident befalls the Conway's, leaving one child dead and another severely brain damaged. In the aftermath, Billy's dad leaves home. Caught between his troubled brother and his embittered mother, young Billy begins to stray from his good son roots by hanging out with the neighborhood troublemaker. Who would have suspected that Billy's bad behavior could be the key to helping his family move on from the past and start life anew? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Gilbertson
- 2008
Two girls swap schools and experience some unexpected ups and downs in this coming-of-age comedy from Australia. Thirteen-year-old Esther Blueburger (Danielle Catanzariti) is a geeky misfit attending an upscale private school for girls, where she blends with the rest of the students like oil and water. Esther's parents Grace (Essie Davis) and Osmond (Russell Dykstra) have little concern for or understanding of her problems, and they're far more interested in her twin brother Jacob (Christian Byers). After being humiliated at her bat mitzvah, Esther wanders off and meets Sunni (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a seventeen-year-old high school student with a spunky attitude and little concern about what others think of her, an outlook encouraged by her mother Mary (Toni Collette), who makes a living as an exotic dancer. Esther and Sunni discover neither is happy at school, so they decide to switch places, with Esther pretending to be an exchange student at Sunni's public school. The switch goes over just fine at first, and Esther is welcomed warmly by her new classmates, but she discovers hanging out with an older crowd forces her to face some important new decisions, and she attracts the attentions of a boy who wants a more mature relationship than Esther can handle. Hey Hey, It's Esther Blueburger was the first feature film from writer and director Cathy Randall. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keisha Castle-Hughes, Danielle Catanzariti, (more)
- 2004
This Hallmark Hall of Fame offering stars Keith McErlean as Declan, a 30-year-old Irishman who is dying of AIDS. Remembering how he and his sister Helen (Gina McKee) once stayed with their grandmother Dora (Angela Lansbury) during their fathers' terminal illness, Declan concludes that Dora's place would be an excellent safe harbor for his own last few months on Earth. While Dora is a lovable eccentric blessed with wicked wit and boundless acceptance of the way things are, Declan's mother Lily (Dianne Wiest) is more aloof and conservative -- and she is deeply disturbed not only by her son's imminent demise, but also by the fact that she never knew he was gay. Adding to Lily's discomfiture is Helen's decision to briefly leave her husband and children to help Declan in his declining days...not to mention the arrival of her son's colorful gay friends Paul (Sam Robards) and Larry (Bryan O'Byrne). A moving tale of love and understanding "contemporary Irish" style, The Blackwater Lightship was first telecast February 4, 2004, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Lansbury, Dianne Wiest, (more)
Di Drew directed the family-friendly film Hildegarde. Life has been difficult for Kim Powell (Tara Morice) and her three children ever since the family patriarch passed away. After a pair of local bird smugglers "ducknap" their pet Hildegarde, Kim's children -- Chris (Sam Geer), Jeremy (Dayne Hudson), and Isabel (Gezelle Byrnes) -- team up to stop the illegal poachers and save all their feathered friends. Hildegarde was screened at the Brisbane Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard E. Grant, Tom Long, (more)
- 1996
Set in Australia, this romantic drama chronicles the renewal and the vengeance of an abused child who grows up to become the troubled April, a young mother who is kidnapped during a robbery and taken to an abandoned warehouse where she later falls for a crook who is as physically scarred as she is emotionally scarred. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
A pair of disparate battling lovers get a chance to live in each other's shoes in this lively Australian sex comedy. Though they have been together over a year, Tash and Brett have reached a point where they believe that neither understands the other. Tash is a serious, highly intelligent science journalist while hunky Brett hosts a music video show on an MTV-like network. Both gain a lot more understanding when something magical happens and they find that they have switched bodies. Poor Brett finds himself having to deal with uncomfortable female fashions, monthly cycles, and a highly competitive intellectual job. Poor Tash learns that being cool and handsome isn't as easy as it looks either. Then there is that little matter of making love.... ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
