Ciaran Donnelly Movies
- 2004
A journalist investigating the murder of a seemingly inconsequential thief discovers that the clues to the crime actually lead directly to the politician currently in the running to become the Prime Minister of Ireland in the acclaimed British television series that ratchets up the tension in the first episode and never lets up. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Finbar Lynch, Orla Brady, (more)
- 2002
Premiering May 13, 2002, on BBC1, the British espionage-adventure series Spooks pitted undercover agents of the country's MI-5 squad (the U.K. equivalent of the NSA) against international troublemakers and terrorists. Though extremely violent and almost unbearably tense, the series scored its biggest points by dramatizing the pressures brought to bear against "average" people engaged in a top-secret profession: For example, one of the many plot threads involved the love life of Senior Case Officer Tom Quinn (Matthew MacFadyen), whose girlfriend was convinced that Tom was merely a lower-level computer tech. Other members of the "Spooks" team included Quinn's second-in-command, Zoe Reynolds (Keeley Hawes), technical genius Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo), reckless Tessa Phillips (Jenny Agutter), and department head Harry Pierce (Peter Firth). During the series' first season on the air, Spooks made headlines throughout the British Isles by virtue of its explosive second episode, in which a popular soap opera actor, misleadingly advertised as one of the series' "stars," was abruptly and nastily killed off; thereafter, audiences could never take anything that happened on the series for granted -- and the viewership soared. Spooks debuted over the American A&E cable network under the title MI-5 on July 22, 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes, (more)
A young boy comes to fear that his blind mother may become the next victim of a serial killer in this complex psychological thriller. Unfolding at first as a traditional suspense tale, the film follows the terrified boy's attempts to determine the killer's identity, a task his policeman father has failed to achieve. Things take a more provocative and puzzling turn when the boy's penchant for fantasy is revealed, forcing the audience to question whether what has been shown has been real or merely a product of the boy's imagination. As a result, much of the anxiety in Afraid of the Dark emerges not from the violent shocks, but from the uncertain reality and the tantalizing, disturbing hints of the child's psychology. This purposeful ambiguity may strike some viewers as confusing and alienating, despite the film's assured performances and striking imagery. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Keyworth, James Fox, (more)
