John-Paul Macleod Movies

Nigel Cole directs the feel-good comedy Calendar Girls, based on the true story of a group of working-class British housewives who became overnight celebrities by posing for a nude calendar in order to raise more than 500-thousand pounds for a new leukemia unit. The film follows the adventures of best friends Chris Harper (Helen Mirren) and Annie Clarke (Julie Walters), both members of the charitable Rylstone Women's Institute in North Yorkshire. After Annie's husband John (John Alderton) succumbs to leukemia, the friends are motivated to take some action. They convince the group to craft a tastefully nude calendar featuring the usual ladies' activities of gardening and baking, as photographed by the young amateur Lawrence (Philip Glenister). Despite the disapproval of the Institute's leader Marie (Geraldine James), the calendar quickly becomes a best-seller and leads the group to Hollywood. Ciaran Hinds appears as Chris' husband Rod Harper. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Director Martin Duffy adapts author Rhidian Brook's popular children's book concerning British bard and Celtic shaman Taliesin in this family oriented religious drama starring Jonathan Pryce and John-Paul Macleoud, and featuring the final screen appearance of acclaimed actor Ian Bannen. Dejected when his parents announce their plans to dissolve the marriage, bookish twelve year old Taliesin (Macleod) turns to faith healing as a means of coping with his deep-rooted malaise. In the aftermath of the divorce, Taliesin moves in with his father (Pryce) and older brother (Matthew Rhys) and finds himself drawn to first an atlas and later an illustrated Bible. Later taking piano lessons from a man named Billy (Bannen) who moonlights as a faith healer, the impressionable young boy witnesses one of his instructor's hands-on sessions and begins asking profound questions about faith when prayer cures him of an inexplicable wart affliction. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi