Kieran Bew Movies
An American abroad is introduced to the heady but dangerous pleasures of violence in this powerful drama from Great Britain. Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) is a journalism student from America who is expelled from college when his roommate sets him to take the fall after drugs are found in their dorm room. Needing time to sort out what his next move should be, Matt travels to London to visit his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani), who has married British Steve Dunham (Marc Warren). As it happens, Matt arrives at a less than opportune moment, and he ends up spending his first evening in the U.K. with Steve's brother Pete (Charlie Hunnam). Pete hangs out with a "firm" of friends who call themselves "the Green Street Elite" and are passionate fans of the West Ham United football club (Matt quickly discovers calling British football "soccer" is an easy way to get your teeth knocked out). Pete has little use for Matt until the Green Street Elite get into a dust-up with another firm; Matt turns out to be a fierce if inexperienced fighter, and discovers he enjoys the kick of street brawling. Matt is cautiously accepted by Pete and the other members of the firm, and is soon absorbed into the very British world of violent football fandom. But when Pete and his friends learn that Matt studied journalism, they begin to suspect he's a reporter doing an undercover piece on hooliganism, and they set out to teach him an ugly lesson about loyalty. The debut feature film from British director Lexi Alexander, Green Street Hooligans (initially shown simply as Hooligans) was the first film ever to win both the Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, (more)
Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Alien vs. Predator follows billionaire Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) and his team of drillers, scientists, and archaeologists, to an obscure pyramid site in Antarctica. Among the icy ruins, allegedly, lies the proof of an empire predating humankind. Once there, however, the group finds more than ancient sarcophaguses and hieroglyphics; rather, their discovery consists of dismembered human skeletons and fossilized remains of the alien creatures that appear to have violently burst out of their chests. Even more horrifying is the evidence suggesting that the aliens may still exist. Indeed, there are aliens below the pyramids, but an equal threat looms above: three Predators, all on the verge of manhood, are engaged in a gruesome rite of passage -- every hundred years, young Predators must travel to Earth and take on a hunting ritual in order to complete the transition to adulthood or die in the process. Before long, the humans find themselves battling for their own lives as the Predators and aliens continue their fight for superiority. The film also features Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Ewen Bremmer, Colin Salmon, and Agathe de la Boulaye. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, (more)
Susan Vreeland's novel The Girl in Hyacinthn Blue was the source for this made-for-TV drama. Utilizing a complex flashback-within-flashback structure, the film chronicles the 300-year history of a lost painting said to have been created by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. The story is framed by the present day narrative of an eccentric history teacher (Glenn Close) who has the inside track on the number of lives profoundly altered, for both good and ill, by the elusive painting. The teacher's tale interconnects individual stories of tragedy, romance, success, failure and even the Holocaust. Even the narrator herself has a personal and emotional stake in the supposed Vermeer. Advertised as the most expensive and ambitious project ever undertaken during the 52-year history of television's Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series, Brush With Fate debuted February 2, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Thomas Gibson, (more)
- 2001
- Add Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale to QueueAdd Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale to top of Queue
Originally seen on British television, this two-part filmed biography of famed Danish fantasist Hans Christian Andersen bears more resemblance to the truth than the 1952 musical with Danny Kaye, but not by much. Once again, Andersen, as played by Kieran Bew, is depicted as handsome and charming, whereas the real Hans was homely and graceless, truly the "ugly duckling" of which he wrote so eloquently. According to this film, 15 year old Hans pays a visit to a gypsy fortune teller, who prophesizes that "There will come a day when all of Copenhagen will be lit up in your honor." Our hero's inevitable journey from the village of Odense to the capital of Denmark brings him in contact with wealthy Jonas Collin (James Fox), who bankrolls the youthful writer's career. Though Hans falls in love with Collins' daughter Jette (Emily Hamilton), he dedicates most of his stories to his own beloved, clubfooted sister Jenny (Flora Montgomery). In the classic "name dropping" tradition of the great Hollywood biopics, the more Andersen's fame grows, the more he commisserates with such other literary celebrities as Charles Dickens. And of course, several of Andersen's best stories are "brought to life" via enchanting and colorful visualizations. In the US, Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale was seen on the Hallmark cable channel beginning September 8, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
