James Laurenson Movies

When journalist Kenny Brogan (Kevin McKidd) tries to jump start his career by interviewing a doctor who may be involved in an assisted suicide clinic, he doesn't realize that his rise to the top could be halted by dying family members of his own. His mother, May (Lindsay Duncan), reveals she has ovarian cancer, and Brogan could potentially be burdened with the care and feeding of his mentally impaired sibling. Directed by Alison Peebles, Afterlife also features Shirley Henderson, Paula Sage, James Laurenson, Fiona Bell, Julie Austin, and Antony Strachan. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Peter Bogdanovich turns his sights on the 1920s for a fictitious look at the possible reasons for the death of silent movie producer Thomas Ince (played here by Cary Elwes) after spending a holiday with media tycoon William Randolph Hearst (played by Edward Herrmann). The film begins and ends on Ince's funeral, attended by best-selling novelist Elinor Glyn (Joanna Lumley), who was present when the young producer finally died and who leads the audience through the unsure details of what may have occurred to cause the tragedy. Then, through flashback, we see Elinor arriving on the dock to Hearst's party, which is attended by a number of Hollywood players. Among those in attendance are Ince, his business manager (Victor Slezak), and his irritating mistress (Claudia Harrison. Charlie Chaplin (played by British comic Eddie Izzard) is recovering from a box-office bomb and fearing his 16-year-old mistress is pregnant, not to mention that he is seeing Hearst's lady on the side, the vampish actress Marion Davies (played here by Kirsten Dunst). Also seen are Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly), a clumsy movie critic who works for Hearst, and Joseph (Ronan Vibert), Hearst's private secretary. The film was funded in Europe and also includes in its large cast James Laurenson, Chiara Schoras, and Claudie Blakley. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast by the BBC in 1999, Trial by Fire served as the unofficial pilot film for the Helen West mystery series, based on the novels by Frances Fyfield. Moving from London to the supposed tranquility of the suburbs, prosecutor Helen West (Juliet Stevenson) and her police-chief boyfriend, Geoffrey Bailey (Jim Carter), don't find very much peace and quiet. In fact, things are almost as bad as in the big city, what with spousal abuse, kleptomania, and murder running amok. Much against her will, Helen is drawn into the intrigues of her new murder -- and by extension, so is Geoffrey, who totally disagrees with Helen's deductions. Trial by Fire aired in the U.S. as an episode of the PBS Mystery! anthology on February 24, 2000; in the subsequent Helen West series, the roles of Helen and Geoffrey were respectively played by Amanda Burton and Conor Mullen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sean Bean returns as Richard Sharpe in this historical adventure based on the novel by Barnard Cornwell. Dashing British soldier Sharpe has finally married the woman he loves, Jane Gibbons (Abigail Cruttenden), but their honeymoon is cut short when Richard is called back to duty by Wellington (Hugh Fraser) as the British Army sets out to capture a compound held by French forces in the Pyrenees. However, as Sharpe and his comrades bravely battle against Napoleon's forces, Sharpe gets word that a dangerous fever is spreading through England, and Jane has contracted the illness. Sharpe is wondering if he should stay on the battlefield or if he should be by Jane's side when he encounters a face from his past, his nemesis Ducos (Feodor Atkine). Sharpe's Siege was the tenth Richard Sharpe adventure produced for British television; the Sharpe films later found a loyal audience in the United States after they aired on PBS. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The naked body of a murdered little girl is found in a forest surrounding a small Eastern European town. It's the third case in a row, and local police detective Victor Marek (Richard E. Grant) is on the killer's trail, but his superior, Novak (James Laurenson), needs to solve the crime quickly in order to boost his political career. So he arrests some suspicious hippie who later hangs himself in a prison cell. Though Marek is ordered to close the case, he continues to work on it on his own. He rents an old gas station and a house in the area where the murders took place. Working from a drawing done by one of the murdered girls he tries to find the clues for the identity of the killer. Marek becomes so obsessed with his quest that when he meets Milena (Lynsey Baxter), a single young woman with a little daughter (Perdita Weeks), he does not hesitate to use the child as the bait for the criminal. Though the film plot bears a strong resemblance to Sean Penn's movie The Pledge, it is actually a remake of the 1958 German film It Happened in Broad Daylight, scripted by Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, who later reworked his original screenplay into the novel The Pledge. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-cable adaptation of Roderick Thorp's crime thriller, Peter Weller stars as a Hollywood cop whose murder investigation runs into a wall of police corruption. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Based on John Trenhaile's A Man Called Kyril, this byzantine-plotted spy melodrama stars Ian Charleson in the title role. Kyril is a supposed Soviet defector who relocates in London. In fact, his defection is a smoke-screen: Kyril has been sent by the KGB to seek out a British mole in Moscow Centre. At four hours, Codename: Kyril affords plenty of breathing space for the various plots and counterplots, but its excess of espionage verbiage may prove confusing to the average viewer. Filmed for British television in locales ranging from Norway to Holland, Codename: Kyril was first telecast in the US on the Showtime cable network on April 27, 1988; a videocassette version running 115 minutes was made available in 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this sci-fi film, actually a television pilot inspired by Nicolas Roeg's provocative 1976 film, chronicles the exploits of an alien marooned on Earth. All he wants is to go back to his dying planet. He is hindered by military forces determined to find him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

James Laurenson stars as an artist whose paintings don't sell. Laurenson's imaginative wife Michelle Phillips reasons that sales of Laurenson's works would increase tenfold if he were to die. Thus, dutiful spouse that she is, Michelle begins plotting hubby's murder. David Robb costars in this British made-for-TV nailbiter. Paint Me a Murder debuted in America over the USA cable network on March 9, 1985, in tandem with another British TV movie, Tennis Court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Inspired by Pink Floyd's album of the same name, Pink Floyd: The Wall is a dark, expressionistic musical, told from the point of view of Pink, a depressed rock musician. The film is structured around Pink's reflections on his life, all of which center on the building of "the wall." This wall is a metaphor for psychological isolation, a barrier Pink creates to distance himself from his pain. The foundations for this wall are lain in childhood, with the death of Pink's father leaving him to be raised by an overprotective mother and a repressive school system. He seeks freedom from this world through writing and music. However, even after he achieves success as a rock star, the wall continues to grow, with Pink feeling trapped by fame and wounded by his failed personal relationships. Lost in despair and self-loathing, he attempts to isolate himself from the world entirely. Director Alan Parker approaches this material in a highly stylized manner, mingling animation and dream-like sequences to suggest Pink's perception of the world. These techniques complement the almost constant music, which the film often uses in place of dialogue. Songs include "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Comfortably Numb". ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Elvira, mistress of the dark (aka Cassandra Peterson) is the insouciant host of the 60-minute melodrama Rude Awakening. Denholm Elliot plays a British real-estate broker who is plagued by disturbingly vivid dreams. Soon Elliot can't separate his dreams from reality, and vice versa. His shattered emotional state has a negative effect on his family, but that's nothing compared to the pull-out-the-rug finale. Made for television, Rude Awakening was packaged for videocassette release as part of Elvira's Thriller Video series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the 1992 Derek Jarman feature of the same title, this Edward II constitutes a celebrated 1969 stage adaptation of Sixteenth Century scribe Christopher Marlowe's seminal play. Mounted at the Edinburgh Festival, this particular production gained legendary status for catapulting Ian McKellen to international superstardom in the title role. 1980s Hollywood mainstay Richard Marquand (Return of the Jedi, Jagged Edge) directs. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide