Jill Johnson Movies
This spy outing hones in on secret agent Magnus Pym (Peter Egan). Having impersonated so many different people during his career as a British spy, Pym eventually lost track of who he really was -- a confusion compounded by the fact that he knew nothing of his actual past. Ultimately feeling that he could trust no one -- not even his so-called friends -- Pym turned his back on the British and began trading secrets with the Enemy. Filmed on location in England, Europe, and the U.S., the seven-episode A Perfect Spy originally aired in the U.K. in 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Egan, Ray McAnally, (more)
The complex relationships among an Oxford professor, one of his students, and the young woman who captivates both of them is the subject of this difficult but rewarding drama. Director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter had previously collaborated on 1963's The Servant, and they surrounded this recasting of a Nicholas Mosley novel with a similar atmosphere of ominous mystery. The story is presented through flashbacks and disconnected memories that trace the characters' interactions. Though the mood is occasionally brightened by satirical views of the academic world, the overall effect is rather somber, concerned with missed opportunities, unhealthy obsessions, and unavoidable regret. Dirk Bogarde superbly captures the pensive professor's torment, with able support from Jacqueline Sassard and Michael York as the younger couple. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, (more)
- 2006
Not to be confused with the awful 1988 Chris Columbus picture of the same name, the Swedish-language comedy-drama Heartbreak Hotel gently explores the nuances and gradations in the blossoming friendship between two women. The film opens with a bitter, ugly and comically vulgar argument between gynecologist Elisabeth (Helena Bergstrom) and parking attendant Gudrun (Maria Lundkvist), who meet and immediately engage in a nasty dispute in a parking lot while Elisabeth is en route to her son's wedding. Such is their one and only interaction, until Gudrun experiences severe lower stomach pain and, ironically, winds up on the examination table at Elisabeth's office. The women quickly find that they have a great deal in common - specifically, both are recent divorcees and single parents. In time, a fast bond develops between them, and they become inseparable friends. Elisabeth enables Gudrun to open up to the outside world, carting her to the titular dance club and enabling her to have fun for the first time in years. But when Gudrun's ex-husband Ake (Claes Mansson) turns up and espouses a desire to reunite with his wife - kindling jealousy in Elisabeth - and Elisabeth's ex-husband Henrik (Johan Rabaeus) also seeks reconciliation with his former wife, it threatens to move the friendship onto decidedly shaky ground. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helena Bergström, Maria Lundquist, (more)
Jeremy Irons portrays Nowak, one of four Polish laborers, living in England. In exchange for a place to stay, Irons and his buddies -- none of whom have British work permits -- agree to renovate their landlord's flat within a limited time-frame. Despite their hectic schedule, the boys agree never to work on Sunday: this is the day that they communicate with their loved ones in Poland. On one such Sunday, however, the Soviets declare martial law in Poland, cutting off all telephone and telegraph service to the outside world. Nowak, the only one of the four who speaks English, learns of the turmoil in Poland before his friends do; he decides to keep the news secret, rather than jeopardize their living arrangements. When the flow of money from home ceases, Nowak takes to stealing to finance the renovation project. He pushes his friends mercilessly to make sure the project is completed on time, secretly burning their letters so that they remain in the dark about the Soviet incursion upon their native soil. When they do find out, they physically vent their anger upon Nowak, perceiving him to be as much an enemy and oppressor as the Soviets. This is clearly the allegorical point that director Jerzy Skolimowski is hoping to make in Moonlighting; wisely, he avoids conveying his message in fluent tract, relating his story with generous doses of humor and irony. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Eugene Lipinski, (more)
- 1995
- Add My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransport to Queue Add My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransport to top of Queue
During WW II, between 1938 and 1939, Allied forces launched a courageous rescue mission to save 10,000 children from certain death in the concentration camps. These children were of Jewish or Gypsy descent or were otherwise marked as undesirable. This documentary looks at what happened to these salvaged children. To tell their often sad stories and chronicle the psychological effects of the traumatic events (although it was planned that the children would eventually be returned to their parents, over 90% never saw their parents again) the film uses interviews with survivors and rescuers, archival footage, and old photographs. Though filmmaker Melissa Hacker keeps the focus on others, her own mother was one of the children saved from the camps. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1990
Featuring plenty of female nudity and weak attempts at ribald humor this soft-core sex comedy follows a gaggle of buxom stewardess who save their struggling charter airline by stripping for their business clientele while airborne. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
James Belushi and Charles Grodin team up for this variation on the Prince and the Pauper. Belushi plays Jimmy Dworski, a convicted car thief, serving time in a minimum security prison. But when Jimmy wins a pair of tickets to the World Series from a radio call-in show, he can't resist walking out of jail, particularly when the warden won't even let the inmates watch the series on television. Grodin plays rich workaholic Spencer Barnes, who, when his wife walks out on him right before a long-planned vacation, leaves his datebook in an airport telephone booth. Happening upon Spencer's datebook is Jimmy, who simply intends to return the datebook to Spencer for a 1,000-dollar reward. But when he finds the datebook contains his credit cards, Jimmy assumes Spencer's identity, living the good life and dating the boss's daughter, while making his way to Malibu to return the property to Spencer. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- James Belushi, Charles Grodin, (more)
- 1986
This British made-for-television movie tells the story of the 1950s competition to unlock the mystery behind DNA, and the personal and political tribulations that accompanied the endeavor. Jeff Goldblum stars as American scientist Jim Watson, and Tim Pigott-Smith is Britain's Francis Crick. Together, the non-traditional scientists raced to find the structure of the DNA molecule before their contemporaries did the same. The film was based on the book of the same name by James Watson. ~ Bernadette McCallion, Rovi
- 1990
- R
When young Bobby Delaney (James Davies) inadvertently releases genie Dancee (Heidi Paine) from her lengthy imprisonment, the grateful girl agrees to grant him three wishes. When Bobby wishes to find his true love, the genie obliges by conjuring up a horde of infatuated women for him to try out. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jim Davies, Heidi Paine, (more)
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