Damian Jones Movies

Two years after director Menhaj Huda offered an unflinching look at the lives of troubled London youth in Kidulthood, that film's screenwriter and star Noel Clarke steps up to the challenge of directing for this sequel that finds Sam Peel struggling to stop the cycle of violence that nearly destroyed his life. Sam (Clarke) has just served six years for killing Trife, and now he's a free man. But life isn't any easier for Sam on the outside than it was on the inside, because out on the streets he is forced to confront the people he hurt on a daily basis. Some of those people have decided to move on with their lives, but others don't have that luxury. Now, as Sam begins to come to grips with his sorrow and guilt, he is surprised to discover that a new generation of bad boys is out for bloody revenge. Years ago, Trife had tried to warn Sam that he should stop the violence before it's too late. Today it's Sam's duty to try and get that message across and prevent the kids on the streets from throwing their lives away for a skewed sense of honor that doesn't even really exist. Hopefully, for both Sam and the next generation, the kids of today will be more receptive to that message than he once was. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The feature debut from writer/director Dan Wilde this British drama centers on a family split apart in the wake of its patriarch's death. Jennifer Ehle stars as widowed Alice, who eventually moves on and remarries, a move that has a devastating effect on her son Jack, played by Mark Wells. Years later, the family reunites and long-supressed feelings are finally revealed. Alpha Male also stars Danny Huston. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The family-oriented comedy Thunderpants, directed by Peter Hewitt, concerns an unfortunate ten-year-old who suffers from nearly incessant intestinal gas issues. Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) is shunned by much of his family and his classmates because of the unpleasant odors that are forever emanating from him. Only his nerdy friend Alan A. Allen (Rupert Grint), who has no sense of smell, will help Patrick in his goal to become an astronaut. Eventually, Patrick becomes involved with representatives of the United States space program, as well as an opera singer (Simon Callow) who needs Patrick to "play" an exact note at a perfect moment. Ned Beatty and Stephen Fry round out the cast of this quirky comedy. Thunderpants was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A Welsh woman is belatedly forced to come out of her shell when poor fortune befalls her family and friends in this kitchen-sink comedy. Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths) is a woman in her early thirties who seems never to have finished growing up; she still lives at home with her widowed father Jack (Jonathan Pryce), hasn't established much of a life of her own, and can't get her relationship with her boyfriend Colin (Rhys Miles Thomas) to go anywhere. Jack, an enthusiastic ladies' man with a passion for opera and no modesty about sharing his vocal talents with those around him, runs a bakery, and is known to sing the occasional aria for the edification of fellow motorists as he delivers bread. Annie-Mary has been slowly saving up money for a down payment on a flat of her own until disaster strikes and Jack suffers a stroke. Confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak, Jack is incapable of running the bakery, and it falls to Annie-Mary to keep the business afloat. Attempting to rise to the occasion, Annie-Mary decides to give the bakery a make-over, with limited success, but as she tries to keep the business going and care for her father, Annie-Mary discovers that one of her closest friends, Bethan (Joanna Page), is suffering from a serious illness and hasn't long to live. Bethan has always wanted to visit America and see Disneyland, so Annie-Mary hatches a plan to raise the money by winning a local talent show; despite her feeble dancing ability, Annie-Mary decides to form a pop group with her friends, in hopes of fulfilling one of her foiled ambitions from her teenage years. Though shot in 1999, Very Annie-Mary didn't find its way to theaters until 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A lavish country party that should have been the best night of their lives unexpectedly begets a shocking cycle of violence for a confident career woman and her handsome young love interest in this brutal and unforgiving thriller starring Gillian Anderson and Danny Dyer. Adam (Dyer) is just getting his career off of the ground, so when the beautiful, older, and much more professionally experienced Alice (Anderson) invites him to a party, he readily accepts. Upon arriving at the classy soirée the pair immediately discover that they share an exhilarating sense of sexual chemistry, eventually wandering off alone for some highly charged sex. Still reeling from their earth-shaking bout of lovemaking, Adam and Alice speed down a quiet country road and suddenly find themselves thrown into the middle of a vicious attack in which both are severely injured. But their physical scars don't run nearly as deep as their emotional scars, and before long Alice becomes overtaken by her drive for vengeance and determined to make her tormentors pay for their violent transgression. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The personal lives of five exotic dancers go under the microscope in this drama, the first American feature from director Michael Radford. Eddie (Robert Wisdom) is the manager of a strip club in suburban California known as the Blue Iguana, where he keeps an eye on the women who make their living dancing for his customers. Stormy (Sheila Kelley) is an attractive, thick-skinned woman who is getting old enough to realize her days as a dancer may be numbered. Jo (Jennifer Tilly) likes to think of herself as the Blue Iguana's star attraction, though her career may hit a detour now that she's learned she's pregnant. Angel (Daryl Hannah) is a sweet, but immature woman, who tries to deal with her fear of being unloved by adopting a child. Jasmine (Sandra Oh), an aspiring poet, tries not to get settled into a career as a stripper, while being encouraged in her writing by coffeehouse owner Dennis (Chris Hogan), who features spoken word performers. And Jesse (Charlotte Ayanna), the youngest of the performers, expresses her desperate need for approval in her desire to please the customers. Dancing at the Blue Iguana received its world premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A startling examination of the Bosnian war of the mid-1990s and the role of journalists in covering it, this film was based on real-life journalist Michael Nicholson's book Natasha's Story. Like Nicholson, cynical journalist Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is one of the rat pack of reporters looking for gore in the streets of besieged Sarajevo. He is outraged when grandstanding reporter Flynn (Woody Harrelson) helps local citizens remove the corpse of a mother gunned down on a family outing. But the next day, Henderson is among the journalist vultures at a grisly scene, and he has to tell a little girl that both her parents were killed. When his story is demoted by his television network in favor of a celebrity puff piece, Henderson is angry. At the behest of his producer, Jane Carson (Kerry Fox), he visits a local orphanage. Henderson becomes deeply involved with the plight of the children and starts documenting their individual stories even as his employers express increasing disinterest. Henderson campaigns to get the kids out of Yugoslavia, with the help of an American aid worker, Nina (Marisa Tomei). He promises a girl named Emira (Emira Nusevic) that he'll take her back to his home in England. To make good on his vow, he must risk both his career and his life. He adopts the child and she is happy in England. But he must return to war-torn Sarajevo when her birth mother, who had abandoned her, demands her daughter back. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Sex and science fiction are again combined in this sophomoric fantasy set somewhere in the future in an unnamed US city. The tale begins as the media announces the unwelcome arrival of an alien spacecraft, from which a beautiful Asian woman disembarks. She has come to the gang-ravaged city for a little vacation. The head of the city's police regime, General Hayden, wants to catch her and get rid of the gangs simultaneously. To do so, he sounds an earthquake alarm and then orders a mass evacuation of the town. Only the police and the gangs remain, and it is lucky Officer Weed who gets to meet the toothsome alien Amelia first. Since her arrival, Amelia has changed herself into a seductive black woman in a silver metallic suit. Unable to resister her bountiful charms, Weed and she do the nasty, and he learns that among her many talents is her ability to change into any kind of woman she wants to be; he also learns that she needs sex like he needs food. Lucky her, she found a veritable banquet in the lusty Weed. Meanwhile, the gang wars rage on. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide