Brian McCardie Movies

The creators of such docudramas as The Queen and Frost/Nixon re-team for this period sports chronicle set in 1974. In England, the Leeds United players retain a status as the preeminent champions of their football league. Unfortunately, the manager to whom the team owes much of its success, visionary Don Revie (Colm Meaney), promptly leaves the unit to take over the England team. His replacement, the slick and confident Brian Clough (Michael Sheen), is publicly known as a vociferous critic of the team's approach to games. Clough has some experience and success to back him up -- in flashbacks, the film details how he and his business partner Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) coached Derby County from the bottom of the Second Division to the League Championships, though they had much less success working with the Brighton team later on. For various reasons, Taylor refuses to accompany Clough to his new post in Leeds, so Clough must go it alone. Clough wastes no time aggressively attempting to modify the playing style of the team -- he dictates that they play more attractively, and less violently. This clashes with the intentions of the team members, however. When the players hit the field, they find it extraordinarily difficult to adapt to the mandates of their new coach, which sets the stage for a series of losses and puts Clough's reputation on the line. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Naomi Watts produces and stars in Ellie Parker, a semi-autobiographical story of an Australian actress struggling to make it in Hollywood. Ellie is young enough to still schlep to auditions back and forth across L.A., changing wardrobes and slapping on makeup en route, but just old enough that the future feels "more like a threat than a promise." She lives with her vacant musician boyfriend (Mark Pellegrino), who leaves her just about as dissatisfied as any other part of her life, and has a loose definition of the word "fidelity." Helping make sense of their surreal and humiliating Hollywood existence is her best friend Sam (Rebecca Rigg), another out-of-work actress trying her hand at design, who attends acting classes with Ellie to stay sharp. When Ellie gets into a fender bender with a guy who claims he's a cinematographer (Scott Coffey), her perspective on her work and the dating world starts to change. Chevy Chase also makes an appearance in this series of Hollywood vignettes, playing Ellie's agent. Watts, Coffey, and Pellegrino all worked together on David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, where Watts had her breakout performance, and Ellie Parker grew out of the friendship forged between Watts and director/screenwriter Coffey. It was shot on digital video over the course of five years, having begun its life as a series of shorts featuring Watts' character. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Directed by Dana Packard, Mr. Barrington centers around the lives of Lila, an acutely agoraphobic poet going through a bout of writer's block, and her husband, Samuel, who is only vaguely aware of his wife's psychological troubles. When Lila hears a noise coming from her front porch one morning, her subsequent investigation reveals Mr. Barrington, a charming and oddly familiar man atop an old-fashioned bicycle. Lila becomes obsessed with Mr. Barrington's increasingly surreal visits, and her mental health deteriorates even further. Unable to continue ignoring Lila's problems, Samuel pays a visit to the dreary orphanage where Lila was raised as a child. Once there, the convent director reluctantly reveals a shocking piece of history. Mr. Barrington features Jennifer Nichole Porter, Eric Schweig, Jonelle Allen, Nancy Davis, C. James Roberts, and William McDonough. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

On New Year's Eve, no one wants to be alone. On this night in 1981, several different groups of young desperate people begin a journey from around New York City to a big party hosted by Monica (Martha Plimpton) and new friend Hillary (Catherine Kellner). As the hours pass and no one shows, Monica begins to unravel. She must bribe Hilary to stay with the promise of a clear shot at Monica's old boyfriend, Eric (Brian McCardie). Eric, at that moment is drinking in a nightclub with his new girlfriend, Bridget (Nicole Parker) and her friend Caitlyn (Angela Featherstone). When Bridget learns the host of the party is Eric's ex-girlfriend, she moves in on the bartender (Ben Affleck). Another group consists of two teenagers from Long Island, Monica's cousin Val (Christina Ricci) and Stephie (Gaby Hoffmann). The two get lost on the way when they run into a pair of punk rockers, Tom (Casey Affleck) and Dave (Guillermo Diaz). In a nearby diner, Lucy (Courtney Love) commiserates with her best friend Kevin (Paul Rudd) who has just been dumped by performance artist Ellie (Janeane Garofalo) so she could move in with her therapist. As they bar hop it slowly dawns upon the two that they could be more than friends. Elsewhere, new acquaintances Jack (Jay Mohr) and Cindy (Kate Hudson) are celebrating more than the new year. Cindy lost her virginity to Jack the night before, though is afraid Jack is with her out of sense of obligation. Now if only everyone can get to the party by midnight. Linking the different stories is the disco cabbie (Dave Chappelle) in whose cab the party never stops. ~ Ron Wells, Rovi

A man bringing modern transportation to the ancient jungles of Africa discovers one of man's oldest enemies lays in wait for him in this period adventure drama. John Beaumont (Tom Wilkinson) is the owner of a British railroad firm who is building a rail line through Uganda. A bridge is needed so that the tracks may cross a large river, and engineer John Henry Patterson (Val Kilmer) is summoned to the African nation to supervise construction. While Beaumont has placed Patterson under a strict deadline, the bridge designer is certain that with his guidance, the local laborers will be able to complete the job in time. However, when several workers are killed in an attack by a lion, Patterson is forced to deal with the animal; while he bags a lion who invades the work site one evening, it soon becomes obvious that there's more than one predator in the nearby jungle. The lion attacks continue, eventually claiming the lives of 130 men, and Patterson and Beaumont finally agree to call in Charles Remmington (Michael Douglas), an expert hunter who understands the nature of the man-eaters and knows how to lure them into his trap. The Ghost and the Darkness is based on a true story, which was previously brought to the screen in 1953, in Arch Oboler's pioneering 3-D adventure Bwana Devil. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The 18th century Scottish legend of Robert Roy MacGregor comes to life in this stylish adaptation of the swashbuckling novel by Sir Walter Scott. Liam Neeson stars as the title character, a cattle drover and proud head of a Highlands clan who takes a one thousand pound loan from the royal Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) in order to make a profit on some livestock that will keep his struggling people alive through the coming winter. One of the Marquis' henchmen, wily expert swordsman Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) learns of the loan from the nobleman's factor, Killearn (Brian Cox), and steals the money by murdering Rob Roy's best friend MacDonald (Eric Stoltz). Unable to repay the loan and unwilling to give up his land, Rob Roy becomes a fugitive, hunted by none other than Cunningham, who rapes Rob Roy's wife Mary (Jessica Lange). Scotch-British politics come to a boil over the Rob Roy affair, leading to an officially sanctioned showdown between the stoic farmer and Cunningham. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Created by Phil Redmond, the British cop drama Waterfront Beat was set along the docks of Liverpool. John Ashton starred as DCI Don Henderson, head man of the Inner City and Waterfront Division. Henderson's subordinates were well suited to their responsibilities, though the unrelenting grimness of their surroundings and the nastiness of the crooks with whom they came in contact exacted a daunting toll on the protagonists. The 16 50-minute episodes of Waterfront Beat originally aired from January 6, 1990 to February 20, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi