Tom Goodman-Hill Movies
- 2007
An outwardly confident but unmarried woman on the verge of her fortieth birthday reflects on her past suitors and the choices she once made while attempting to help her marriage minded niece choose between a number of potential suitors in this tale inspired by the life and letters of Jane Austen. Jane Austen (Olivia Williams) is about to turn forty, but she still hasn't found her ideal man. When Jane is approached by her niece Fanny (Imogen Poots) and asked to help select the perfect husband for the young girl, the ageing spinster begins to wonder why it is that she never found a man to share her own life with. Perhaps if Jane had accepted the proposal of a wealthy landowner she could have saved her family from financial ruin, and what of the handsome young physician who once warmed to Jane after tending to her ailing family members? In this speculative tale, director Jeremy Lovering and screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes ponder the potential reasons why the real Jane Austen never found her own Mr. Darcy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, (more)
- 2003
- PG13
- Add The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to QueueAdd The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to top of Queue
Based on the comic book miniseries by Alan Moore, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen takes place in an alternate universe where the characters of several literary classics exist in reality. As if that weren't enough, they've been assembled together in 1900 by Queen Victoria as a team of evil-fighting heroes. Among them are Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery) from H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines; Mina Harker (Peta Wilson) from Bram Stoker's Dracula; Tom Sawyer (Shane West) from several works by Mark Twain; Dorian Gray (Stuart Townsend) from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray; Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah) from Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; The Invisible Man (Tony Curran) from H.G. Wells book of the same name; and several others. Working together, the odd assortment of characters must combine their powers to defeat a mysterious villain and save the world from certain destruction. Directed by Stephen Norrington (Blade), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen also stars Jason Flemyng, Tom Goodman-Hill, and David Hemmings. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean Connery, Shane West, (more)
Made for British television, this two-part adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's adventure-fantasy novel The Lost World adroitly combines a straightforward retelling with an abundance of slyly satirical grace notes--not to mention deliberate echoes of such earlier films as Jurassic Park, Planet of the Apes and even Apocalypse Now. The basic plotline details the efforts of feuding scientists George Challenger (Bob Hoskins) and Summerlee (James Fox) to prove that dinosaurs still exist on a remote plateau somewhere in the Amazon jungles. They succeed in this endeavor, and also stumble upon a lost tribe of primitive humans, whose hearts and minds are captured by a mad missionary (Peter Falk). Though the film does not flinch in the special-effects department, there is still plenty of time left over for a quaintly old-fashioned romantic triangle involving sportsman Lord Roxton (Tom Ward), the lovely Agnes Mooney (Elaine Cassidy) and dashing Edward Malone (Matthew Rhys). And while there is action aplenty, the film remains scrupulously within the "suitable for children" category. Originally broadcast as the 2001 Christmas offering by BBC1, The Lost World premiered in the US over the A&E cable network on October 6 and 7, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2000
- Add Catherine Cookson's A Dinner of Herbs to QueueAdd Catherine Cookson's A Dinner of Herbs to top of Queue
Based on author Dame Catherine Cookson's best-selling thriller, this six-part drama takes place over 40 years of the later half of the 19th century. When Roddy Greenbank's (Jonathan Kerrigan) father is unexpectedly killed, Kate Makerpeace (Billie Whitelaw), a friend of the deceased, agrees to take in several of the surviving children. Though the relationships between the children are strong, the bonds are put to the test as they become aware of several painful secrets from the past. Seemingly destined for tragedy, the fates of the artistic Roddy and his revenge-obsessed brother Hal (Tom Goodman-Hill) converge in a consequence that could easily spill over into the next generation. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
This romantic historical drama is based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway. In 1918, 18-year-old Hemingway has volunteered to fight in the great war; while he goes into battle imagining it to be a lark, he soon discovers that the realities of warfare are far more grim, and during a shelling attack in Italy, his leg is severely wounded. Hemingway has taken a great deal of shrapnel, and the doctors at the field hospital decide that amputation would be the quickest and most effective way to deal with the injury. However, the idea of losing a leg horrifies Hemingway, and he pleads with Agnes (Sandra Bullock), the Austrian nurse looking after him, not to let the doctors cut off his limb. Moved by Hemingway's concern, Agnes convinces the doctors to pursue other treatments, and she looks after him during his long and difficult convalescence. Love and passion bloom between the young and naive soldier and the 26-year-old nurse, but while he's eager for her to return home with him as he follows his muse as a writer, she regards him not as the love of her life but as a passing fling and thinks that he's too young to marry. Agnes eventually sends Hemingway a "Dear John" letter; later Hemingway would use her as the basis for several characters in his novels and short stories, not always flatteringly. In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough, previously an Academy Award winner for Gandhi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Chris O'Donnell, (more)
