Maggie Steed Movies
- 2009
- PG13
- Add The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to Queue Add The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to top of Queue
Set in the present day, director Terry Gilliam's fantastical morality tale follows the traveling show of the mysterious Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) -- a man who once won a bet with the Devil himself, and possesses the unique ability to guide the imagination of others. Many centuries ago, Dr. Parnassus won immortality in a bet that found the malevolent Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) coming up short. While few would be foolish enough to try their luck against the powers of darkness a second time, Dr. Parnassus did precisely that -- this time trading his mortality for youth on the understanding that his firstborn would become the property of Mr. Nick when the child reaches his or her 16th birthday.
Flash-forward to the present day, and Dr. Parnassus' daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), is about to celebrate her sweet sixteen. Dr. Parnassus is desperate to save his little girl from her fiery fate, so when Mr. Nick arrives to collect, he senses the good doctor's malaise and cooks up a wager too enticing to refuse: Dr. Parnassus and Mr. Nick will each compete to seduce five souls, with possession of Valentina going to whoever manages to complete the task first. As the competition begins to heat up, a mysterious man named Tony (Heath Ledger) appears. Could Tony be the one man capable of helping Dr. Parnassus win the competition and save Valentina? While the sudden death of prominent Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus player Heath Ledger in January of 2008 left Gilliam and company scrambling to find a means of salvaging the film -- which was already well into principal photography at the time -- the cavalry soon arrived in the form of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, who each serve as alternate-dimension versions of Tony when the character crosses through a paranormal mirror. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Flash-forward to the present day, and Dr. Parnassus' daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), is about to celebrate her sweet sixteen. Dr. Parnassus is desperate to save his little girl from her fiery fate, so when Mr. Nick arrives to collect, he senses the good doctor's malaise and cooks up a wager too enticing to refuse: Dr. Parnassus and Mr. Nick will each compete to seduce five souls, with possession of Valentina going to whoever manages to complete the task first. As the competition begins to heat up, a mysterious man named Tony (Heath Ledger) appears. Could Tony be the one man capable of helping Dr. Parnassus win the competition and save Valentina? While the sudden death of prominent Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus player Heath Ledger in January of 2008 left Gilliam and company scrambling to find a means of salvaging the film -- which was already well into principal photography at the time -- the cavalry soon arrived in the form of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell, who each serve as alternate-dimension versions of Tony when the character crosses through a paranormal mirror. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, (more)
A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than Walter's feelings, as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed. Kitty and Walter move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover, the British Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter learns of his wife's infidelity, he becomes furious, and impulsively volunteers to travel to China to work in a village stricken with a major cholera epidemic. While Walter's actions are meant to punish Kitty rather than reflect his own benevolence, the daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship. The Painted Veil is the third screen adaptation of Maugham's best-selling novel of the same name; a 1934 version starred Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall, while Eleanor Parker and Bill Travers played the leads in a 1957 remake titled The Seventh Sin. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, (more)
- 1998
Based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Dame Mary Durack, this big-budget Australian historical drama miniseries traces three generations of the Duracks. After several family deaths, the Duracks flee Irish famines of the 1840s for a better life Down Under, where they make a fortune with Queensland cattle -- only to lose it all in a property crash near the turn of the century, prompting patriarch Patsy Durack (Stephen Dillane, of Welcome to Sarajevo) to reflect, "If it's kings we are, it's kings in grass castles that may be blown away in the wind." Compressing 75 years into four hours, the Durack saga is set against the wider tapestry of pioneering Australian history during the 19th Century. Premiered March 29, and April 5, 1998 on Seven Network Australia. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Dillane, Essie Davis, (more)
Charles Dickens' 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit was given one of its few TV presentations in this six-part British adaptation, which originally aired on BBC2 from November 7 to December 12, 1994. The youngest son of a mercenary London family, Martin Chuzzlewit was sent to America to learn the rudiments of the business world. Upon discovering that his new employer was even more odious and greedy than his relatives, Martin became determined not to be corrupted as well. Paul Scofield was cast as the older Martin, with Ben Walden as his younger self. Presented in one 80-minute and five 60-minute installments, Martin Chuzzlewit was rebroadcast in America as part of PBS' Masterpiece Theatre anthology in 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1993
Set in 1956 during the Suez crisis, this Dennis Potter-scripted musical comedy is about two young British servicemen, Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) and Mick Hopper (Ewan McGregor), stationed as Russian translators at the War Office. Francis, who stays with his aunt and uncle, develops a crush on his beautiful neighbor, Sylvia (Louise Germaine), who happens to be married to Francis' bullying superior, Corporal Berry (Douglas Henshall). Mick, who loves rock & roll and dreams of becoming a professional drummer, falls for Lisa (Kymberley Huffman), the niece of Lt. Colonel Trekker (Shane Rimmer), the American liaison at the office. The movie employs Potter's usual device of the characters lip-synching to the popular songs of the period. ~ Yuri German, Rovi
- Starring:
- Giles Thomas, Louise Germaine, (more)
- 1993
- NR
Martin Sherman adapted Alice Thomas Ellis' novel for this comedy about a suburban Englishwoman who's about to settle on marriage with her mother-dominated next door neighbor until everyone's comfortable life is disrupted by a visit from her exotic and flamboyant friend Lili (Jeanne Moreau, in a scene-stealing performance). ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeanne Moreau, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1991
This four-part, four-hour British miniseries was a sequel to Malcolm Bradbury's 1990 TV effort The Gravy Train. Christoph Waltz returned to the role of Dorfman, a terminally idealistic member of the European Economic Council. This time around, the teeny-tiny Balkan state of Slaka hoped to join the Council in hopes of supping from the same public-fund trough as the rest of the European nations. It was up to Dorfman to cast the deciding "yea" or "nay" vote. The Gravy Train Goes West was seen over Britain's Channel Four from October 28 to November 18, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christoph Waltz, Ian Richardson, (more)
- 1987
After a brief business-trip fling, a white-collar executive (Daniel Massey) learns he has contracted AIDS, and he and his wife (Claire Bloom) are forced to come to grips with his mortality. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- 1980
Babylon is a gritty, neorealist account of the lives of a group of West Indian youths living in London. Blue (Brinsley Forde) is the Rastafarian leader of a Sound System (a mobile disc-jockey team who spin reggae records at clubs, parties, and other gatherings) who is trying to prepare for an upcoming Sound System competition. Blue's love of music is one of the few positive outlets in his life; with the crime and violence of London's slums, the verbal and physical attacks by racist whites, and the jealousy of other DJs, Blue is reaching the end of his rope. That rope begins to fray when Blue is fired from his job, is brutally attacked by police officers, and discovers that his DJ equipment has been destroyed by angry neighbors. Unlike most films about reggae music and culture, Babylon doesn't explore the sunny side of Jamaican life or West Indian gangland culture; instead, it looks at how the implicit radicalism of reggae mirrored political and social concerns in the urban areas outside Jamaica where the music was so enthusiastically embraced. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brinsley Forde, Karl Howman, (more)
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