Gary Kemp Movies

Henry Herbert directed this British drama, the first feature filmed in its entirety in Northern Ireland since the cease-fire. Colin Bateman scripted by adapting his novel, Cycle of Violence. Reporter Kevin Miller (Gerard Rooney) attends his father's wake, goes back to the office drunk, and is reassigned to cover events in the small border town of Crossmaheart where he meets Marie (Maria Lennon), girlfriend of a previous journalist who mysteriously vanished. When the body turns up, Marie departs, leaving Kevin to get to the bottom of the mystery. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Elements of mystery and fantasy are deftly interwoven and presented from a child's perspective in this unique film. The basic plot focuses on a police marksman, Max. Recently Max had accidentally shot a hostage, and now his confidence is shaken. He is offered special bullets by a peer. These bullets help him to earn a high score during target shooting. Subsequently, Max receives a special assignment to guard chess grand master, Maxim who must not know a bodyguard has been assigned to him. When Maxim meets Eva, Max's wife, and her daughter Lili, the two are attracted to each other. Their attraction is observed by a sniper. In a parallel subplot, which has a medieval fairy tale setting, a group of do-gooders including Max and Kaspar (the magic bullet man) are battling evil. The film's surprising ending represents Lili's view of recent events. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Lawrence Kasdan originally wrote his script for The Bodyguard in the late 1960s as a vehicle for Steve McQueen; by the time it reached the screen, Kasdan's star was another movie hearthrob, Kevin Costner. When imperious musical superstar Whitney Houston begins receiving death threats, she is compelled to hire a bodyguard. Enter Costner, who immediately incurs the wrath of Houston and her entourage by imposing prison-like security measures. An ex-Secret Service agent, Costner still hasn't purged himself of his guilt feelings over his inability to protect President Reagan from would-be assassin John Hinckley (in the original concept, the agent had been guarding JFK in Dallas, but Costner was too young to make this credible; besides, he and Oliver Stone had been there before). Gradually, and inevitably, Costner and Houston fall in love. Ralph Waite is cast as Costner's father, while Robert Wuhl and Debbie Reynolds please the crowd in their cameo roles. The Bodyguard was a huge box-office success, helped along in no small part by Whitney Houston's bestselling rendition of the old Dolly Parton hit "I Will Always Love You." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Peter Medak directed this fact-based drama, chronicling the lives of the infamous Kray Brothers, notorious celebrities in 60s London. The Krays were twin gangsters who ruled London's stylish East End club scene, staking out their territory by committing the most violent crimes imaginable, preferring to perform the most torturous acts themselves. The film stars Gary Kemp and Martin Kemp, founding members of the pop group Spandau Ballet, as Ronald and Reginald Kray. The film opens as their mother Violet Kray (Billie Whitelaw) recalls a dream in which she is a swan from which two beautiful babies have hatched. She can't tell if the swans are angels or demons, but the film soon answers that question for her. Brought up in London's East End in the 1930s, Ronald and Reginald Kray are raised in the resentful world of Violet, who is hateful of her lot in life and bitter at the control men have in running the world ("Housework is a lethal business," she says). The twins react to each other almost telepathically and they take out their anger by clogging the nose of their sleeping father (Alfred Lynch), pushing around fellow schoolboys, and even beating each other to pulp at a boxing match. When her mother chastises them for their fight in a fairground boxing ring ("You fight them up, but you don't fight each other"), the twins veer into the London underworld. In their self-contained world of Us-Against-Them, the Krays rapidly rise to the height of power, first taking over the territory of a petty mobster by violent means and then putting together an underworld empire of posh clubs, cars, and fancy suits. But at the height of their fame, the twins begin to break from each other. Reginald falls in love with Frances (Kate Hardie), while Ronald gets involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his underlings. Ronald, in a jealous rage over Frances stealing his brother away from him, becomes even more brutal in his crimes and while the brothers' backs are turned, a group of older mobsters challenge the Krays' authority, invoking a horrible bloodbath that effects not only the two brothers but Frances and Violet as well. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide