John Boswall Movies
- 2006
- PG13
- Add Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to QueueAdd Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to top of Queue
Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) returns to the screen for another round of supernatural adventures on the high seas in this spirited sequel to the 2003 Disney hit, which re-teams original director Gore Verbinski with original screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. As Will (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) prepare to exchange vows at the altar, their wedding plans hit rough waters with the arrival of sea-bound scallywag Jack Sparrow. It seems that Sparrow owes a substantial blood debt to half-octopus sea captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and that the only way for the flamboyant sea rover to elude the wrath of his otherworldly pursuer is to seek the aid of mysterious and powerful voodoo priestess Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), whose ability to resurrect the dead and gaze into the future may provide just the advantage needed to avoid a waterlogged fate in the locker of his legendary nemesis. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, (more)
Former Monty Python members Terry Jones, Eric Idle, John Cleese, and Michael Palin were reunited by director Jones for this live-action adaptation of the 1908 children's fantasy classic by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932). The actors have only slight physical changes to suggest animal characteristics, plus tails protruding from their Edwardian-style costumes. In pre-WW I England, fascist Weasels prowl the countryside, forcing modest Mole (Steve Coogan) from his underground home after the Weasels acquire the meadow from wealthy, waddling Mr. Toad (Jones). Toad's inheritance is leaking away because of his fascination with the recently invented motorcar. After Mole takes shelter with refined Rat (Idle), the two set out for Toad's cavernous mansion. Toad crashes into another vehicle, but unfortunately, his attorney (Cleese) has nothing nice to say in Toad's defense. Toad's behavior in court prompts the judge (Stephen Fry) to give him a century-long jail sentence. Rat and Mole plan to spring Toad with the help of the hibernating Badger (Nicol Williamson), but Toad simultaneously puts his own escape plan into motion. Back at Toad Hall, the Weasels construct a dog-food factory and intend to destroy the main house by blowing it up-so the threatened animals make plans to retake Toad Hall.
Crew members who worked on past Python films include James Acheson (production/costume design) and John Du Prez (original music and songs). Lawrence Van Gelder (New York Times) reviewed, "The Wind in the Willows, brimming with verbal and visual wit and imagination, driven by high adventure, reveling in English eccentricity, enlivened by bursts of song, unafraid of ideas and filled with color and splendid performances, exposes most other movies intended to attract children as out-and-out pap." This film should not be confused with the 1996 animated adaptation which also has Michael Palin in the cast. Filmed at Burnham Beeches (in Buckinghamshire, England). Other earlier versions: the second half of Disney's animated The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); live-action by the Minneapolis Children's Theatre (1983); stop-motion animation for British TV (1983); 1982 stop-motion animation by John Semper (Spider-Man); and Rankin-Bass animation for U.S. TV (1987). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Crew members who worked on past Python films include James Acheson (production/costume design) and John Du Prez (original music and songs). Lawrence Van Gelder (New York Times) reviewed, "The Wind in the Willows, brimming with verbal and visual wit and imagination, driven by high adventure, reveling in English eccentricity, enlivened by bursts of song, unafraid of ideas and filled with color and splendid performances, exposes most other movies intended to attract children as out-and-out pap." This film should not be confused with the 1996 animated adaptation which also has Michael Palin in the cast. Filmed at Burnham Beeches (in Buckinghamshire, England). Other earlier versions: the second half of Disney's animated The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949); live-action by the Minneapolis Children's Theatre (1983); stop-motion animation for British TV (1983); 1982 stop-motion animation by John Semper (Spider-Man); and Rankin-Bass animation for U.S. TV (1987). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Coogan, Eric Idle, (more)
- 1994
- PG
Unlike the barren and forbidding moors elsewhere in England, Return of the Native's Egdon Heath attires itself in vibrant wildflowers, mossy hillsides, winding streams, arching footbridges, and undulant meadows. An enchantress would be at home in this place, but not Eustacia Vye, portrayed by Zeta-Jones. Though coveted by every man in Egdon Heath -- and every boy old enough to stare -- the beautiful Eustacia longs for the smoking chimneys and broad stone buildings of Paris. When a native of Egdon Heath, Clym Yeobright Ray Stevenson, returns from his job in Paris as a jeweler, Vye stuns him with her beauty and marries him in hopes of persuading him to take her to Paris. But, alas, Clym is a clod at heart. He vows to remain in Egdon Heath to teach and edify. After his eyesight deteriorates, Eustacia turns her attentions to rakish Damon Wildeve Clive Owen, and the plot begins to churn and curdle. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones, Clive Owen, (more)
- 1984
Directed by British filmmaker Michael Radford, Nineteen Eighty-Four is the second film adaptation of the George Orwell novel. The film is set during April of 1984 in post-atomic war London, the capital city of the repressive totalitarian state of Oceania. Winston Smith (John Hurt) is a government bureaucrat whose job is rewriting history and erasing people from existence. While his co-worker Parsons (Gregor Fisher) seems content to follow the state's laws, Winston starts to write in a secret diary despite the fact the "Big Brother" is watching everyone at all times by way of monitors. He silently suffers and tries to comprehend his oppression, which forbids individual human behaviors such as free thinking and sex. He meets Julia (Suzanna Hamilton), who works for the Ministry of Truth, and they engage in a stoic love affair. They are soon found out, and Winston is interrogated and tortured by his former friend O'Brien (Richard Burton in his final film appearance). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Hurt, Richard Burton, (more)
