Emily Mortimer Movies

In this action adventure, author Bernard Cornwell's fictional Major Sharpe thrusts and parries with the best swordsman in Napoleon's army in order to protect a British spy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This is the first in a television series of British-made murder mysteries, adapted from Caroline Graham's novels about the polite and enigmatic Inspector Barnaby (John Nettles). Barnaby is married to the equally low-key Joyce (Jane Wymark), and they have an assertive daughter, Cully (Laura Howard). Barnaby's opposite is his acerbic partner, Troy (Daniel Casey). This pilot episode is set in the English county Midsomer. After the death of elderly Emily Simpson (Renee Asherson), her friend gets Barnaby to investigate, and the suspects include Michael Lacey (Jonathan Firth), curiously attached to his attractive sister Katherine (Emily Mortimer). The series premiered June 28, 1998 on A&E. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Based on the popular novels about that other suave, globe-trotting man of action, this genre picture from director Phillip Noyce mixed romance and character development with dangerous stunts, geopolitical intrigue, and a variety of elaborate disguises, resulting in an uneven stew of a spy thriller. Val Kilmer is Simon Templar, a classy, cunning master thief and "man of a thousand faces" who cribs his phony names from those of obscure saints and sells his illegal services to the highest bidder. Hired by an ambitious Russian politician (Rade Serbedzija) to steal the formula for cold fusion, Templar falls in love with Dr. Emma Russell (Elisabeth Shue), the frail Oxford scientist who has unlocked the secret of the process. Back in Moscow, the thief debates whether to betray his new love or the powerful madman who is paying him millions, until he discovers that his client is concealing oil reserves that could save his freezing people. Often seen as an also-ran to the legendary James Bond, Templar, the creation of author Leslie Charteris, in fact predated the first Bond novel by decades and probably inspired Ian Fleming in his creation of the debonair agent. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Produced for the PBS TV series Masterpiece Theatre, this adaptation of Laurie Lee's autobiographical novel follows a young man's maturation in the country town of Gloucestershire near the end of World War I. As young Laurie (Dashiell Reece) comes of age under the protective eye of his mother (Juliet Stevenson), he learns to live with an eccentric collection of friends, neighbors, and relatives. As he enters his teenage years, Laurie (now played by Joe Roberts) discovers women, specifically Rosie Burdock (Lia Barrow). Veteran screenwriter John Mortimer adapted Lee's book, with Lee narrating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood gets a decidedly unusual retelling in this film, produced as a two-part TV movie and first aired on NBC in May 1999. Noah Jon Voight is an ordinary laborer who one day begins receiving messages from God. It seems the Lord has a special assignment for him: since God is planning on destroying the world with a massive flood, he wants Noah to build a giant ark and fill it with one male and one female of each animal on earth. So why Noah of all people? As God tells him, "You fit the bill. Good times, bad times, you believe in me." And why a 500-foot-long ark? "I think big! I made the world in seven days!" Joining Noah on the trip of a lifetime is his wife Naamah (Mary Steenburgen); those not invited along for the ride are F. Murray Abraham as Lot, Carol Kane as his wife Sarah, and James Coburn as a peddler. Some video versions run 140 minutes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

If you could talk to the child that you used to be, what advice would you give him? That question forms the basis of this comic fantasy. Forty-year-old Russ Duritz (Bruce Willis) is a wealthy and powerful "image consultant" who has made a career out of telling people how to present themselves. But while he's a success in business, he's a failure in life; he's vain, mean-spirited, and hasn't been able to hold onto a marriage (or even a pet dog). One day, Russ is startled to meet Rusty (Spencer Breslin), a stocky kid whom he soon realizes is himself at the age of eight, having passed through a wrinkle in time. Young Rusty doesn't seem much happier than the grown-up Russ, so the older man takes his younger self under his wing and tries to teach him how to avoid the mistakes he's made, while Rusty encourages Russ to be a more caring human being. Along the way, Russ and Rusty become friends, and realize how much they can learn from each other. Disney's The Kid also stars Jean Smart as one of Russ' clients, Lily Tomlin as his assistant, and Daniel Von Bargen as his father. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Nicole Holofcener, writer/director of the critically acclaimed Walking and Talking, shifts her focus from New York to Los Angeles for her second feature, Lovely & Amazing. Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn of Secrets and Lies) is a middle-aged woman who's about to undergo liposuction. She has three daughters. Michelle (Catherine Keener) is a cynical, self-involved, would-be artist in an unhappy marriage. Elizabeth is a struggling actress who constantly takes in stray dogs. Her insecurities about her attractiveness come to the fore when she blows a screen test with a big movie star, Kevin (Dermot Mulroney). The youngest of the Marks sisters, Annie (Raven Goodwin), is an overweight eight-year-old African-American girl whose birth mother was an addict. Jane has adopted Annie, and is determined to provide her with a better life. Jane has a crush on her suave surgeon (Michael Nouri of Flashdance), but her family is thrown into chaos when complications arise during her outpatient procedure, and she's forced to stay in the hospital. Michelle, pressured by her husband (Clark Gregg) to take some financial responsibility for raising their young daughter, eventually gets a part-time job working in a one-hour photo booth, where she meets Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a misfit teen who awkwardly flirts with her. Elizabeth's boyfriend, Paul (James LeGros), who seems to disapprove of the entertainment industry, leaves her. Annie eats compulsively and misbehaves. When the family is faced with a series of crises, relationship patterns that had solidified over the years subtly begin to change. A festival favorite, Lovely & Amazing has been shown at the 2001 Telluride Film Festival, the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, and the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

First-time screenwriter Stelios Pavlou enjoyed a major success with this script that he wrote while working in an English liquor store by sending it to actor Samuel L. Jackson, who signed on for one of the lead roles. Jackson is Elmo McElroy, a kilt-wearing, golf club-wielding Los Angeles native who has invented an illegal drug formula that he hopes will provide him with a last major score of 20 million dollars before he retires from a life of crime. He travels to Liverpool, England, where he hopes to find a buyer for his creation among the denizens of the city's rave scene, but his plans go awry when those who are in on the deal start turning up dead. Elmo's only protector is a chain-smoking, Yank-hating local hood named Felix De Souza (Robert Carlyle), who reluctantly partners with the violence-prone American to finish the deal and cash in, sparking a gang war between Elmo's vengeful one-time employer, The Lizard (Meat Loaf); Felix's boss, Durant (Ricky Tomlinson); crooked cop Virgil Kane (Sean Pertwee); a beautiful assassin, who also happens to be Felix's ex-girlfriend (Emily Mortimer); and an offbeat, yoga-practicing nightclub owner and mobster named Iki (Rhys Ifans). For its U.S. release, the title of The 51st State was changed to Formula 51. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Loosely based on a real-life operation during World War II, this action-adventure from director John Woo stars Nicolas Cage as Joe Enders, a Marine traumatized by the loss of his entire platoon in the Solomon Islands during an ambush he believes was deadlier than necessary due to his indecision. Suffering from eardrum damage in Hawaii, Joe manages to be declared fit for duty once again thanks to a sympathetic nurse (Frances O'Connor), but his new assignment isn't what he expects. Joe is ordered to safeguard a Navajo soldier named Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) because the military has developed a new secret code based on the near-dead Navajo language that is proving unbreakable to the Japanese. Any soldier that speaks Navajo is an immediate asset, including Ben and his pal, Charlie Whitehorse (Roger Willie). Joe's orders are to "baby sit" Ben during the invasion of Saipan, protecting him if possible, but -- if the code-talker's capture becomes imminent -- to kill him before he falls into enemy hands. Meanwhile, Charlie is to be guarded by affable harmonica player Ox Henderson (Christian Slater). Joe reluctantly accepts this new duty as a way to get back into the war, and in the ensuing carnage, his nearly suicidal acts of bravery make him a hero while Ben becomes paralyzed by fear. Determined to live up to Joe's example, Ben musters up his courage, even in the face of racism from a fellow soldier (Noah Emmerich), and ends up rescuing his own protector behind enemy lines by briefly posing as a Japanese soldier. Despite their growing mutual respect, Joe is eventually forced to take an action that threatens to shatter his bond with Ben, as the war's tragic losses strike closer to home for both men. Windtalkers co-stars Peter Stormare, Jason Isaacs, and Mark Ruffalo. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

An amoral young man wends his way into the lives of a handful of damaged souls in this adaptation of British Beat Generation writer Alexander Trocchi's first novel. Written for the screen and directed by David Mackenzie, Young Adam begins with the discovery of a barely dressed woman's corpse by two barge workers, Joe (Ewan McGregor) and Leslie (Peter Mullan). A taciturn drifter, Joe hoists the body ashore with little distress, and the ensuing police investigation does little to ruffle his day-to-day existence on the barge. But his behavior becomes more and more erratic, and as he begins a torrid affair with Leslie's downtrodden wife Ella (Tilda Swinton), flashbacks reveal a similarly cruel encounter he once had with a young woman named Cathie (Emily Mortimer). Young Adam premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival before securing berths at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals later that year. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Directed by Shona Auerbach, Dear Frankie revolves around nine-year-old Frankie (Jack McElhone) and his mother, Lizzie (Emily Mortimer). The mother and son duo have been on the run for as long as Frankie, who has been deaf for years, can remember. In an effort to protect Frankie from the truth -- that a psychotic father, whose physical abuse caused his hearing loss, is at the root of their constant need to move from one home to the next -- Lizzie pens a series of letters from Frankie's "father" in hopes of assuaging his curiosity. However, when Frankie becomes convinced that his father is taking a break from his exotic adventures and making his way back home, Lizzie must make a tough decision: find another way to pacify Frankie's desire to meet his father or tell him the awful truth. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Twenty acclaimed filmmakers from around the world look at love in the City of Lights in this omnibus feature. Paris, Je T'Aime features 18 short stories, each set in a different part of Paris and each featuring a different cast and director (two segments were produced by two filmmakers in collaboration). In "Faubourg Saint-Denis," Tom Tykwer directs Natalie Portman as an American actress who is the object of affection for a blind student (Melchior Belson). Christopher Doyle's "Porte de Choisy" follows a salesman (Barbet Schroeder) as he tries to pitch beauty aids in Chinatown. Nick Nolte and Ludivine Sagnier are father and daughter in "Parc Monceau" from Alfonso Cuarón. Animator Sylvain Chomet turns his eye to a pair of living, breathing mimes in "Tour Eiffel." An interracial romance in France is offered by Gurinder Chadha in "Quais de Seine." In "Le Marais" from Gus Van Sant, a man (Gaspard Ulliel) finds himself falling for a handsome gent (Elias McConnell) who works in a print shop. Isabel Coixet tells the tale of a man (Sergio Castellitto) who is making his final choice between his wife (Miranda Richardson) and his lover (Leonor Watling) in "Bastille." Juliette Binoche plays a grieving mother in Nobuhiro Suwa's "Place des Victoires," in which she's greeted by a spectral cowboy (Willem Dafoe). Richard LaGravanese's "Pigalle" finds a long-married man (Bob Hoskins) turning to a prostitute for advice on pleasing his wife (Fanny Ardant). Gérard Depardieu and Frédéric Auburtin direct Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara as longtime marrieds meeting for one final pre-divorce encounter in "Quartier Latin." Steve Buscemi learns a lesson about local etiquette in the Paris Metro in "Tuileries" from Joel and Ethan Coen. In "Loin du 16ème" by Walter Salles, a housekeeper (Catalina Sandino Moreno) longs for her own child as she tends to the infant of her wealthy employer. Elijah Wood stars in "Quartier de la Madeleine," a vampire tale from Vincenzo Natali. Wes Craven presents another fantasy in "Père-Lachaise," in which an engaged young man (Rufus Sewell) receives romantic advice from the spirit of Oscar Wilde (Alex Payne). A postal worker from Colorado (Margo Martindale) shares her thoughts on her visit to Paris in mangled French in Alexander Payne's witty "14th Arrondissement." Other segments include "Place des Fêtes" from Oliver Schmitz, Bruno Podalydès' "Montmartre," and "Quartier des Enfants Rouges" by Olivier Assayas, which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal. Paris, Je T'Aime received its world premiere at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Master of horror Wes Craven offers a lighter and more whimsical take on the supernatural in this short film, which transpires in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery. It concerns a young man who receives romantic advice from a most unexpected source. Part of the anthology film Paris, Je T'Aime, Père-Lachaise stars Emily Mortimer and Rufus Sewell. Other contributors to the project include Gus Van Sant and the Coen Brothers. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide