Bridget Armstrong Movies

Alternating between urban affluence and rural squalor in its New Zealand setting, this contemporary update of the Brothers Grimm tells the story of a boy and his sister whose placement into very different adoptive homes can't destroy the psychic bond that connects them. An impressionistic opening scene suggests that Jack and Dora's mother has gone off her rocker; soon, the children are packed off to an orphanage, where Dora is adopted by the kindly Mr. and Mrs. Birch (Brenda Simmons and Gilbert Goldie) and Jack falls into the hands of grim farmer Clarrie (Tony Barry) and his bottled-up wife Bernice (Elizabeth Hawthorne). Years later, the teen-aged Jack (Alexis Arquette) suffers through continuing abuse from his proud, sardonic parents and their quartet of vacant-eyed, black-clad daughters. Using an invention that helps focus his nascent hypnotic powers, the lad unleashes his revenge on the family and sets off to find his real sister. Dora Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, meanwhile, has grown up within the comforts of a middle-class home but can't escape her outsider status -- or her special powers, which allow her to sense not only Jack's presence, but also the voices of the dead. With the help of Teddy (Bruno Lawrence), an older telepathic man who wants to bed her, Dora finally finds her way to Jack. But his unhappy childhood has already inflicted too much damage, poisoning the siblings' hopes of a joyful reunion with their birth parents and setting the stage for the savage vengeance of Jack's stepsisters. Garth Maxwell, who previously directed the award-winning gay short Beyond Gravity, made his feature debut with Jack Be Nimble. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

A young New Zealand boy comes to grips with the harsh realities of adult life in this subpar drama adapted from a novel by Maurice Shadbolt. Nick Flinders (Paul O'Shea) is a teenager trying to adjust to life and his parents' unusual devotion to religion when he goes out hiking with his best friend, and the friend dies in an accident on the trip. Overwhelmed by guilt, Nick leaves home to spend time with his grandparents -- but then tragedy strikes again. Encumbered by stilted, unnatural dialogue and acting (with the exception of the grandfather), Among the Cinders burns out after the first few scenes. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this outing, Benji finds himself on the loose in Athens. An international spy (Ed Nelson) places a secret oil formula within the folds of Benji's paw, and before the poor dog knows what's happening, he's being pursued through the ancient metropolis by a daunting variety of villains. Fortunately, Benji is smarter than his pursuers, so a happy ending is never in doubt. Writer/director Joe Camp managed to keep the Benji franchise alive into the 1980s, even writing a book about his filmmaking adventures with the clever canine. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

British musical star Tommy Steele had starred in Half a Sixpence in London and on Broadway, thus he was first choice for this garish film version. Based on the H.G. Wells story Kipps (previously filmed in 1941 with Michael Redgrave), Half a Sixpence tells the tale of a humble London drapery clerk (Steele) who inherits a fortune. He briefly forgets his old mates and his faithful girl friend (Julia Foster), but soon discovers that High Society isn't his cup of tea. Filmed during the "monster musical" cycle fostered by The Sound of Music, Half a Sixpence isn't really suited for the spectacular approach dictated by co-producer Charles H. Schneer. Fortunately, the guiding directorial hand is the film's other producer: George Sidney, a veteran of MGM's Arthur Freed unit, who knew how to successfully weld music with story. Thanks to Sidney and star Steele, Half a Sixpence never gets too out of hand, though we'd argue with some of the eyestrain-inducing color choices in the bigger numbers. The film might have done better at the box office had the score yielded a few hit songs. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on Anthony Kimmins' stage success The Amorous Prawn, this British light comedy stars Joan Greenwood as the wife of an Army general (Cecil Parker). Having fallen upon hard times, the wife hits upon a scheme to raise some quick cash. She opens her husband's highland headquarters to visiting salmon fishermen, a circumstance that displeases the general when several of those anglers turn out to be handsome young men. On the assumption that American audiences would think The Amorous Prawn was a film about shrimp instead of salmon, the US distributor added the "Mr." to the original. When filmgoers failed to respond, the picture was re-retitled The Playgirl and the War Minister, a shameless attempt to exploit the then-current Profumo political scandal. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi