Jimmy McGovern Movies
- 2008
The eventful life of ill-fated Catholic monarch Mary, Queen of Scots is detailed in this lavish biopic directed by John J. Curran and starring Scarlett Johansson. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Robbie Coltrane returns as the mentally unsettled criminal psychologist Edward Fitzgerald in Cracker: A New Terror. Fitz returns to his home country after a decade in Australia, taking up the case of a psychologically disturbed veteran of the battles with the IRA who killed a man after the events of September 11, 2001. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 2002
Charles McDougall's Sunday is one of two films (the other being Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday) that were made in 2002 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of January 30, 1972, a date commonly known as Bloody Sunday. Originally aired on BBC television network, the film attempts to give a fact-based portrayal of the events, which began as a civil rights protest in response to some Catholic leaders being jailed without due process and ended in a gruesome massacre, with 14 Catholics shot dead and 14 others injured at the hands of the British military. After its television debut, Sunday went on to win the top prize at the 2002 Method Fest Independent Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ciarán McMenamin, Barry Mullan, (more)
A young boy struggles with his family during England's pre-war depression in this drama directed by Stephen Frears. Liam (Anthony Borrows) is a seven-year-old growing up in a working-class family in Liverpool during the early 1930s. Liam's dad (Ian Hart) and older brother Con (David Hart) both work at the nearby shipyards, and his sister Teresa (Megan Burn) works as a domestic for a wealthy Jewish family. Liam, who suffers from a speech defect, is not always happy at school, where his teacher (Anne Reid) and his priest (Russell Dixon) spend nearly as much time lecturing students about the wages of sin as they do covering the three R's. The family's troubles mount when the shipyard is shut down as England sinks into an economic downturn; angry and confused after losing his job, Dad becomes a member of a fascist organization that blames the nation's troubles on Jews and the Irish. Young Liam is forced to come to terms with his father's intolerance -- and the violence that it spawns. Liam also features a standout performance by Claire Hackett as Liam's Mam. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ian Hart
- 1999
- R
A mother's love turns deadly in the wake of an organ transplant in the thriller Heart. Gary Ellis (Christopher Eccleston) is a businessman, while his wife Tess (Kate Hardie) works in television. Gary and Tess don't get along very well, largely because he's convinced she's having an affair. One day, Gary has a major heart attack, and is soon confined to a wheelchair while doctors wait for a suitable donor for a heart transplant. Tess takes this opportunity to finally start having that affair Gary's been talking about, with a writer named Alex (Rhys Ifans). One day, Gary is rushed to the hospital after Sean (Matthew Rhys), a teenage aspiring boxer, is brought to the emergency room near death. Sean dies, and his heart is transplanted to Gary. After recovery, Gary is a new man, and Tess is so delighted she gives Alex his walking papers. But then Sean's mother Maria (Saskia Reeves) enters the picture; while at first Gary wanted to know what sort of person's heart was beating in his chest, now Maria is trying to work her way into the Ellis's lives, certain her son's hopes and dreams now live on in Gary's chest. Shot in 1997, Heart didn't receive a release in Europe until 1999, though it did play several film festivals the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Eccleston, Saskia Reeves, (more)
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