Adrian Lester
- 2009
- R
- AddCase 39to Queue
Prompted to rescue ten-year-old Lillith Sullivan (Jodelle Ferland) from her parents after allegations of abuse suggest that the child is not safe in her own home, kind-hearted social worker Emily Jenkins (Renée Zellweger) discovers to her horror that the situation is far deadlier than she ever suspected. Ian McShane and Bradley Cooper also star in the thriller from Antibodies director Christian Alvart. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renée Zellweger, Jodelle Ferland, (more)
Emma Watson, Yasmin Paige, and Lucy Boynton headline director Sandra Goldbacher's made-for-television adaptation of author Noel Streatfield's classic novel of the same name. The setting is 1930s London. Orphans Pauline (Watson), Petrova (Paige), and Posy Fossil (Boynton) have all been adopted by eccentric explorer Professor Brown (aka "Gum"), and raised as sisters by Brown's benevolent niece Sylvia (Emilia Fox). Before the three girls get to know their adventurous adoptive father, however, Gum vanishes for over a decade. Though her faithful retainer, Nana (Victoria Wood), does her best to keep the family afloat, Sylvia simply can't keep up with the demands of raising a family, and her health begins to deteriorate. Eventually, faced with dwindling financial resources, she decides to take in lodgers. Those who arrive as household guests include the lively academics Dr. Smith (Harriet Walter) and Dr. Jakes (Gemma Jones), plus curvy dance instructor Theo Dane (Lucy Cohu) and kind-but-pensive Mr. Simpson (Marc Warren). As the nontraditional family begins to see their lives changed by these new arrivals in ways that they never anticipated, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy enroll in the local theater school and set about establishing themselves as stars of the stage. But while Pauline dreams of becoming a world-famous actress and Posy longs to grow into a graceful ballerina, Petrova just wants to take to the sky as an aviator. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emilia Fox, Emma Watson, (more)
Three decades after a major country is quarantined in hopes of containing a lethal and highly contagious virus nicknamed "Reaper," signs that the super-bug has resurfaced in a major city prompt desperate specialists to race back into the infected zone to find a cure in director Neil Marshall's (The Descent) miasmic speculative sci-fi thriller. Few could have foreseen the terror that the microorganism known as "Reaper" would unleash upon the unsuspecting population, and when terrified authorities quarantined the entire country in hopes of saving the human race, the streets immediately descended into chaos. Thirty years later, the inhabitants of planet Earth think that they've seen the last of the merciless killer disease, but they couldn't be more wrong. When "Reaper" reappears more powerful than ever in a major city, an elite group of professionals led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) are forced to travel back into the sealed-off country where the virus first broke out in order to create a cure and save humankind from certain doom. Now, as the rest of the world anxiously awaits word of their ultimate fate, Eden and her brave team are about to find out that there is indeed a hell, and they are about to journey directly into its black, envenomed heart. Also in the cast are Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell, as well as a host of veterans from Marshall's past productions, including Sean Pertwee, MyAnna Buring, Craig Conway, and Nora-Jane Noone. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, (more)
Director Kenneth Branagh tackles the works of William Shakespeare for the fifth time in his career as a filmmaker with this adaptation of one of The Bard's most accessible works. Rosalind is the daughter of a banished duke, and lives among a community of Westerners living in 19th century Japan. When her father, the duke, is suddenly banished, the frightened girl is forced to flee for the Forest of Arden lest she risk being executed by her malevolent uncle. Joining Rosalind on her flight to the forest is her sympathetic cousin Celia, who helps to pass her incognito kin off as a man in order to avoid detection. Later, Rosalind's clever ruse begins to serve a dual purpose when she determines to use the disguise to gauge the devotion of Orlando, yet another exile, while making her way to the Forest of Arden. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, (more)
Frank Langella (Dracula, Good Night, and Good Luck.) stars in Andrew Wagner's independent drama Starting Out in the Evening, an adaptation of the acclaimed 1999 best-seller by Brian Morton. Langella plays Leonard Schiller, a once-celebrated author whose first four novels inspired Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) to pursue a career as a writer. These days, Leonard is still working toward completion of the novel that has occupied his life for nearly a decade. On the surface, Leonard has removed himself completely from the deep-seated need for success that characterized his life at an earlier point in time; but on a more buried level, he still longs for his fiction to be rediscovered and re-acclaimed. Now an eager graduate student in the throes of her thesis, Heather is writing her dissertation on Schiller, and promptly convinces him that she can use the thesis to regenerate popularity and discovery of his work. Heather also projects personal interest in Leonard, however, which cuts straight through to the core of his loneliness and brings him in touch with his need for a meaningful relationship even as it leaves him feeling shaken and increasingly uncertain. Meanwhile, Leonard finds that his relationship with his daughter, Ariel (Lili Taylor), is challenged, both by Heather's presence and by Ariel's decision to begin dating her former boyfriend Casey (Adrian Lester) once again -- a fact that Leonard finds most upsetting thanks to his disapproval of Casey. Suddenly, Leonard feels his entire world turned upside down, from his familial relationships to the security of his writing to his own physical vitality -- but he is also taking risks and plunging headfirst into the core of life for the first time, thus living out the principles long celebrated and upheld in his fiction and giving himself the capacity to grow. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, (more)
A handful of couples discuss their romantic and erotic tribulations on a sunny afternoon in this romantic comedy drama. It's a beautiful day in London, and a number of people head out to Hampstead Heath Park to enjoy the weather, though not every couple on hand is as comfortable as the weather might suggest. Julia (Gina McKee) and Gerry (Hugh Bonneville) are having a picnic as part of a blind date, but they don't seem to be enjoying one another's company. Billy (Ewan McGregor) and Brian (Douglas Hodge) are a gay couple at a crossroads -- Billy wants to settle down and adopt a child, but Brian doesn't believe this will stop his partner's chronic infidelity. Iris (Eileen Atkins) and Eddie (Benjamin Whitrow) were an item many years ago, but aren't sure what to make of one another when they meet by chance in the park. Sara (Catherine Tate) and Pete (Adrian Lester) discover how much they care for one another just as they're on the verge of divorce. Jamie (Andrew Lincoln) finds he has some explaining to do when his wife Molly (Holly Aird) catches him ogling a pretty young woman (Eglantine Rembauville) who is inadvertently exposing her underwear. Ludo (Nick Sidi) and Anna (Sophie Okonedo) are a couple whose romance doesn't seem fated to live out the day. And Noel (Tom Hardy) is a lecherous sort who is looking for a woman as interested in sex as he is. Scenes of a Sexual Nature was the first feature film from director Edward Blum; the picture was shot on a shoestring budget, with the actors being paid union scale in exchange for a share of the film's profits. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, (more)
Directed by Roland Emmerich, this mega-budget, special-effects-laden epic revolves around the onset of an international series of crises brought on by the long-term results of the greenhouse effect. At the eye of the storm is paleoclimatologist (a professor dedicated to the study of weather patterns throughout the ages) Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), who voluntarily takes on the preservation of the world in the dawn of the next ice age and all the disaster that comes along with it -- violent hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, massive floods, etc. Hall must also contact his son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), who was in the middle of an academic competition in New York City when the chaos begun. In addition to facing the largest-scale onslaught of natural catastrophes in the history of humankind, Jack, in his journey north, must contend with the masses fleeing south in an attempt to resettle in a warmer climate. The Day After Tomorrow also features Emmy Rossum, Sela Ward, and Joe Cobden. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, (more)
- 2003
- R
Patrick Harkins makes his directorial debut with the satirical dark comedy The Final Curtain, written by screenwriter John Hodge (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave). Serious author Jonathan Stitch (Adrian Lester) accepts a job writing a biography of unscrupulous U.K. game show host J.J. Curtis (Peter O'Toole). Told in flashback, the story goes back to the '70s with the game show "The Big Prize." Curtis enters into intense competition with his television rival, the young newcomer Dave Turner (Aidan Gillen from Queer as Folk), who hosts a game show called "Current Account," where contestants give their loved ones electrical shocks. Also starring Julia Sawalha from Absolutely Fabulous as Dave's personal assistant, Karen. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter O'Toole, Adrian Lester, (more)
Love and war divide two brothers in a drama from award-winning director Milcho Manchevski, his first since his acclaimed 1994 debut Pred Dozhdot. After an elderly woman (Rosemary Murphy) gets the better of a burglar (Adrian Lester) who has broken into her apartment, she decides to tell him a story about her family to give him a perspective on an individual's legacy to their family. Luke (David Wenham) and Elijah (Joseph Fiennes) are brothers and cowboys in the American West near the turn of the century. Luke and Elijah are both in love with Lilith (Anne Brochet), a woman who works in an upscale brothel, and when Elijah marries her, it puts a permanent rift in his relationship with his brother. Luke leaves the country and travels to Macedonia, where he becomes involved with a group of resistance fighters who are trying to topple Turkish occupation of their land; a skilled gunman, Luke soon becomes a valuable member of the Macedonian nationalist forces, and falls in love with Neda (Nikolina Kujac), a woman fighting alongside the loyalists. However, Luke discovers he can't entirely leave his past behind when he discovers Elijah has become a hired gun who has joined the Turkish forces. Dust was the opening night attraction at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Fiennes, David Wenham, (more)
This 2000 production recounts a famous tale from Greek mythology: the quest for the Golden Fleece. The film begins when the evil Pelias (Dennis Hopper) usurps the throne of his half-brother, Aeson, king of the Greek city of Iolcus, after murdering Aeson and marrying his wife, Polymele (Diana Kent). Aeson's child, Jason (Mickey Churchill), escapes but returns years later as a young man (Jason London) to see his mother, Polymele, and claim his royal patrimony. Pelias then threatens to kill Polymele unless Jason brings him the Golden Fleece. Made of the skull, horns, and gilded wool of a winged ram, the fleece affords protection and prosperity to the kingdom that possesses it. It hangs from a tree on sacred ground in the Black Sea port of Colchis, where an unsleeping dragon protects it. After Jason agrees to undertake a perilous ocean voyage to retrieve it, he assembles a crew that includes the mighty Hercules (Brian Thompson) and the musician Orpheus (Adrian Lester). On the long ocean voyage aboard his ship, the Argo, Jason overcomes many perils -- passing through clashing rocks and fighting deadly Harpies -- while the gods Zeus and Hera observe from the heavens and occasionally meddle in Jason's exploits. At Colchis, the King Aertes (Frank Langella) forbids Jason to carry off the fleece, for it has long protected and sustained his realm. But he relents upon learning that the gods favor the youth. However, Jason must first prove himself by yoking a fire-breathing bull. With the help of the king's daughter, Medea (Jolene Blalock), a sorceress smitten with love for him, Jason succeeds, survives further tests, kills the dragon, and returns with the fleece -- and Medea. But in Iolcus, Pelias gains control of the fleece, then sends 200 soldiers to kill Jason and his crew. Thus, Jason faces still another trial. His fate and the fates of Media, Pelias, and all of Iolcus depend on how he responds. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason London, Jolene Blalock, (more)
Actor/director Kenneth Branagh sets his screen version of Shakespeare's play in the 1930s, adding such classic songs as "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and staging it in the manner of a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical. The King of Navarre (Allesandro Nivola) and three of his noblemen (Branagh, Matthew Lillard, and Adrien Lester) have decided that they're wasting their time chasing women. They swear a solemn oath to spend the next three years avoiding the pitfalls of romance and improving their minds. No sooner have they made this agreement than they meet a French princess (Alicia Silverstone) and her three handmaidens (Natascha McElhone, Carmen Ejogo, and Emily Mortimer). The pledge is forgotten and the chase is on. Love's Labour's Lost also features Nathan Lane, Timothy Spall, and Paul Whitehouse. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, (more)
In this light comedy directed by British writer-comedian Ben Elton, Sam and Lucy Bell (Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson) are an upwardly mobile London couple who are trying desperately to conceive a baby. Along for the ride, which is laden with sperm-count and hormone-injection jokes, is a cast that reads like a Who's Who in British comedy. Rowan Atkinson makes an appearance as an obstetrician, Dawn French and Joanna Lumley show up as an Australian nurse and Lucy's snooty boss, and Emma Thompson has a stint as a New Age health freak. Adrian Lester and Tom Hollander also co-star, the latter as a Brit-loathing Scottish director. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, (more)
- 2000
Mary McGuckian directs this bleak biopic about famed Manchester United soccer star George Best, who dumped his career down the drain with booze, brawling, and drugs. The film charts Best's (John Lynch) rise from Belfast, to fame, to dissipation. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Lynch, Ian Bannen, (more)
In modern-day London, three men and three women fall in and out of love and back again, to the Greek-chorus accompaniment of two cab drivers (Ian Hart and John Thomson), who engage in an ongoing conversation about sex. In one pairing, Eleanor (Olivia Williams), a sophisticated and slightly anal art restorer, is pitted against Frankie (Craig Ferguson), a smartly dressed divorcee who still shares a flat with his bitter ex-wife. The two meet one night at a salsa club, and a caustic attraction soon flourishes. Another pairing sees Mo (Jane Horrocks), a tough, love-'em-and-leave-'em Liverpuddlian, reunite with Eddie (Jimi Mistry), a clumsy bloke who was in love with Mo years before and now dreams of winning her back. Meanwhile, Jocelyn (Catherine McCormack), a young woman both neurotic and without self-esteem, finds unlikely happiness with the slovenly Fergus (David Morrissey), who bemoans the lack of love in his life. Born Romantic is the second feature of British writer/director David Kane, who made his feature debut with the similarly themed This Year's Love in 1999. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Craig Ferguson, Ian Hart, (more)
Mike Nichols directed this Elaine May screenplay adapted from the 1996 bestseller by "Anonymous" (Joe Klein), who fictionalized Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. In the New Hampshire primary, Governor Jack Stanton (John Travolta) convinces Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), grandson of a respected civil rights pioneer, to become his deputy campaign manager. Stanton's smart wife Susan (Emma Thompson) always comes through with public support for her philandering husband. The film's parallel for James Carville is Stanton's redneck advisor Richard Jemmons (Billy Bob Thornton), who knows every strategy and tactic but worries, "The woman thing, that's the killer." Sure enough, problems during the New Hampshire primary include charges of adultery. To get a handle on past peccadillos, Stanton's staff brings in an old family friend, lesbian Libby Holden (Kathy Bates), who knows how to clean up dirt. Stanton, a strong debater, moves on to Florida and New York. When one opposing candidate drops dead of a heart attack, he's replaced by Florida's Governor Fred Picker (Larry Hagman), but Holden holds the skeleton key to the skeleton in Picker's closet. Just how the Stantons put this information to use reveals whether they are ruthless politicians or inspirational leaders with ideals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Emma Thompson, (more)
- 1997
Simon Moore directed this British musical drama. The story follows five friends over a 15-year span. In 1979, students Scott (Adrian Lester), Bryony (Amy Robbins), Angela (Clare Cathcart), Tim (Billy Carter) and Keith (Daniel Ryan), in their last year at the University of Hull form a vocal group directed by Scott. Climbing atop their shared house one day, they team for a greatest-hits medley, delivered a cappella. Heartbroken over Scott, Bryony moves in with her tutor Gavin (Robin Herford), while Scott makes plans for an ascent to fame as a pop star. Facing the uncertain future, the quintet vows to reassemble when they are "halfway through life" -- on July 1, 1994 at the Cote d'Azur villa of Tim's parents. Instead, they're back together in 1985 for Bryony's wedding to Gavin. Scott has failed as a pop performer, Keith runs a chain of gardening shops, Tim is a children's TV personality, and Angela is a waitress who sings professionally. As the years pass and more surprises surface, it becomes evident their lives can never harmonize in a manner as perfect as their music. South African locations substitute for the French Riviera. Music by Alan Parker, with a cappella arrangements by Tot Taylor. More than 20 tunes are featured. Shown at the 1997 London Film Festival, Up on the Roof did not do well in its London opening but bounced back with a highly positive reaction at the 1997 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Carter, Clare Cathcart, (more)
