Angus MacFadyen Movies

Mel Gibson, long-time heartthrob of the silver screen, came into his own as a director with Braveheart, an account of the life and times of medieval Scottish patriot William Wallace and, to a lesser degree, Robert the Bruce's struggle to unify his nation against its English oppressors. The story begins with young Wallace, whose father and brother have been killed fighting the English, being taken into the custody of his uncle, a nationalist and pre-Renaissance renaissance man. He returns twenty years later, a man educated both in the classics and in the art of war. There he finds his childhood sweetheart Murron (Catherine McCormack), and the two quickly fall in love. There are murmurs of revolt against the English throughout the village, but Wallace remains aloof, wishing simply to tend to his crops and live in peace. However, when his love is killed by English soldiers the day after their secret marriage (held secretly so as to prevent the local English lord from exercising the repulsive right of prima noctae, the privilege of sleeping with the bride on the first night of the marriage), he springs into action and single-handedly slays an entire platoon of foot soldiers. The other villagers join him in destroying the English garrison, and thus begins the revolt against the English in what will eventually become full-fledged war. Wallace eventually leads his fellow Scots in a series of bloody battles that prove a serious threat to English domination and, along the way, has a hushed affair with the Princess of Wales (the breathtaking Sophie Marceau) before his imminent demise. For his efforts, Gibson won the honor of Best Director from the Academy; the movie also took home statuettes for Best Picture, Cinematography, Makeup, and Sound Effects. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide

Many may not know that Ireland maintained its neutrality during World War II, so that any soldiers from that conflict who found themselves on Irish soil had to be kept in captivity until the war's end. For a variety of aeronautical reasons, quite a few Axis and Allied pilots found themselves having to bail out over Ireland. In this film, captives Miles Keogh (Bill Campbell), a Canadian pilot, and Count Rudolph von Stegenbek (Angus Macfadyen), a German pilot, are rivals for the affections of Mattie Guerin (Jean Butler), a local Irish girl. How this rivalry continues is just part of the story of this exciting and romantic film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This romantic fantasy from writer, director, and producer James F. Robinson, stars Brendan Fraser as Fletcher McBracken, a starry-eyed San Antonio puppeteer who, like his father and grandfather before him, has a mystical vision of the woman he's fated to marry. Believing that she'll be found in "Formosa" (the one-time name of Taiwan), Fletcher books a flight. During a stopover in L.A., however, he learns of a trendy bar called Formosa and decides to check it out. Sure enough, Fletcher sees his dream girl, Rosalyn Willoughby (Joanna Going), a con artist on the lookout for a new mark, a millionaire from Texas. Assuming that Fletcher is the man she's supposed to bilk, Rosalyn accompanies him to San Antonio, where she meets his tuba-playing grandmother (Celeste Holm) and his eccentric friends, including the Tree Man (Lou Rawls). Charmed against her will by Fletcher, Rosalyn considers a real romance with the daffy artist, but each of them has some revelations to make before a real relationship can begin. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This unusual comedy-drama, set in an experimental psychiatric institute, is a departure for genre director Philippe Mora, whose usual oeuvre is science fiction, horror, and low-budget action films. Rene Auberjonois stars as Dr. Sam Cohen, director of the Temporal Displacement Foundation. Cohen's highly-offbeat but well-funded mission is to treat psychotic patients whose particular dysfunction is the belief that they are famous historical figures, with the chief therapy being psychodrama, the reenactment of passages from that figure's life. Although he has some patients who believe themselves to be artists or religious icons (Mick Fleetwood as Pablo Picasso and Jesse Grey Walken as Jesus Christ), Cohen's star patient (Angus MacFadyen) believes himself to be Adolf Hitler. The clever, mentally ill genius has inexorably drawn several fellow patients into his delusion, including Tessa (T.C. Warner), who now believes herself to be Eva Braun. Enacting the part of Hitler's father, Cohen hopes for a breakthrough with the group. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

L.A.-based Chinese director Sherwood Hu made his English-language feature debut with this fantasy thriller shot in Hawaii and mainland China. The wedding preparations of local policeman Turner (Angus MacFadyen) and native Hawaiian Jenny (Carlotta Chang) are intercut with a bank robbery led by Bong (Chris Tashima). When Turner stops at the bank, he encounters the robbers and chases them out of town to the farm where the wedding guests are gathered. Jenny and the guests are slaughtered during a shootout. The emotionally distraught Turner ignores the suggestion of police captain Kenny (Ray Bumatai) that he take a vacation. Driven by revenge, he begins an investigation and embarks on a search for the killers. Shown at the 1998 San Sebastian Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The sometimes rocky relationship between art and politics in America in the 1930s -- as well as the gulf between the wealthy and the struggling -- sets the stage for Tim Robbins' ambitious comedy-drama Cradle Will Rock. Pulling together a variety of threads from actual events, Robbins examines the lives and ambitions of a variety of creative mavericks and figures of power. Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and John Houseman (Cary Elwes) are working with Marc Bliztstein (Hank Azaria) to stage the latter's leftist musical "The Cradle Will Rock" for the WPA-funded Federal Theater Project. After Congress cuts funding for the embattled Federal Theater over the perceived leftist slant of their presentations, the project is canceled on the day of its premier. Welles and his cast respond by marching 21 blocks from the theater where the show was to open to another venue where, in deference to Actors Equity regulations, they perform the entire show from the audience. A member of Welles' cast, Aldo Silvano (John Turturro), is a dedicated actor from Italy who is trying to resolve his attitudes about his family, who loyally support Mussolini, to Silvano's disgust. Meanwhile, El Duce's former mistress, Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon), is consorting with industrial tycoon Gray Mathers (Philip Baker Hall) -- whose wife, Contesse LaGrange (Vanessa Redgrave) is a friend and supporter of Welles' project. Elsewhere, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) has hired expatriot Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to create a mural for his projected Rockefeller Center, but the two are soon locking horns over their different views on art, politics and the work at hand. And a ventriloquist fallen on hard times, Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray), finds himself trying to teach both comedy and speaking without lip movements to a pair of would-be performers at a WPA-backed vaudeville house. William Randolph Hearst (John Carpenter), Marion Davies (Gretchen Mol), Frida Kahlo (Corina Katt), and Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) are also woven into the tapestry of this historical epic, which premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A real estate developer (Eric Roberts) sells out his partner/buddy in order to clear the path for the construction of a major hotel. The wife of his buddy, who was a former lover of his, discovers the body of her husband (with the body of a woman he was having an affair with) and becomes aware his scheme. The big boss in charge of the whole project (Angus McFadyen) assigns two goons to get rid of the wife, but she manages to escape their bumbling chase and get her revenge. ~ All Movie Guide

This 2000 production recounts a famous tale from Greek mythology: the quest for the Golden Fleece. The film begins when the evil Pelias (Dennis Hopper) usurps the throne of his half-brother, Aeson, king of the Greek city of Iolcus, after murdering Aeson and marrying his wife, Polymele (Diana Kent). Aeson's child, Jason (Mickey Churchill), escapes but returns years later as a young man (Jason London) to see his mother, Polymele, and claim his royal patrimony. Pelias then threatens to kill Polymele unless Jason brings him the Golden Fleece. Made of the skull, horns, and gilded wool of a winged ram, the fleece affords protection and prosperity to the kingdom that possesses it. It hangs from a tree on sacred ground in the Black Sea port of Colchis, where an unsleeping dragon protects it. After Jason agrees to undertake a perilous ocean voyage to retrieve it, he assembles a crew that includes the mighty Hercules (Brian Thompson) and the musician Orpheus (Adrian Lester). On the long ocean voyage aboard his ship, the Argo, Jason overcomes many perils -- passing through clashing rocks and fighting deadly Harpies -- while the gods Zeus and Hera observe from the heavens and occasionally meddle in Jason's exploits. At Colchis, the King Aertes (Frank Langella) forbids Jason to carry off the fleece, for it has long protected and sustained his realm. But he relents upon learning that the gods favor the youth. However, Jason must first prove himself by yoking a fire-breathing bull. With the help of the king's daughter, Medea (Jolene Blalock), a sorceress smitten with love for him, Jason succeeds, survives further tests, kills the dragon, and returns with the fleece -- and Medea. But in Iolcus, Pelias gains control of the fleece, then sends 200 soldiers to kill Jason and his crew. Thus, Jason faces still another trial. His fate and the fates of Media, Pelias, and all of Iolcus depend on how he responds. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

A comedy detailing the war of the sexes with some new twists, this film stars Angus MacFadyen as Houston Blackett, a men's magazine owner whose mother suddenly dies in the Rocky Mountains. His mother has evidently left the estate not to her estranged son, but to her lover, a local girl named Zane (Penelope Ann Miller). Houston is aghast at the news, and his machismo is put to the test in the form of Zane, who takes no guff, especially from an objectifying type, as well as the people near him, who also begin to turn on him, including a reporter (Kathryn Harrold) and her tough assistant (Mary Kay Place). The film also features Ann-Margret as Houston's unforgiving, harsh mother-in-law, veteran actress Millie Perkins as his housekeeper, and writer/director Karen Leigh Hopkins as a single mother caught up in Houston's dilemma. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

A man who dares to feel finds his life in danger in this cautionary science fiction drama. In the future, after a Third World War has decimated much of the Earth's population, a new nation known as Libria rises up under the unquestioned leadership of Dupont (Angus MacFadyen). Believing human emotions and their expression were to blame for the failings of past societies, The Father has decreed that all citizens must take a daily dose of Prozia II, a drug which levels out the emotional landscape, and that all forms of creative expression are against the law; violating either regulation can be punished by death. John Preston (Christian Bale) is a Grammaton, an elite law enforcement officer who tracks down and punishes "sense offenders." One day, Preston accidentally fails to take his Prozia II, and for the first time begins experiencing emotions himself. Preston becomes aware of an underground of rebels who refuse to take their medication and have embraced art and literature, and he finds himself becoming infatuated with one of their number, Mary O'Brian (Emily Watson). Equilibrium is the second feature-length directorial effort from Kurt Wimmer, whose screenwriting credits include The Thomas Crown Affair and Sphere. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of such elliptical thrillers as The Dead Zone and Memento, prolific television director Michael Watkins' tense tale of murder and intrigue is certain to have viewers firmly planted on the edge of their seats. Physics professor J.T. Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) is well-renowned for his extensive knowledge and exceptional teaching skills. When J.T. receives a police file detailing his own murder, he notes that the report is dated five days into the future -- triggering a frantic race against the clock to solve the time-bending mystery and escape death's ever-tightening grip. If he had any doubts of the report's validity, any questions are soon put to rest when events in his life begin to mirror those of the ominous report. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A billiard-savvy street kid resorts to desperate measures after finding himself caught between a pair of veteran hustlers and a corrupt vice cop in this urban thriller directed by Keoni Waxman and starring Freddie Prinze Jr. Jericho Hudson (Prinze Jr.) knows his way around a pool table, but he's still no match for legendary pool sharks Cue Ball Carl Bridges (Ving Rhames) and Tenderloin Tony (Angus Macfayden). With some help from his grifting girlfriend Jezebel (Roselyn Sanchez), Hudson sets a plan into motion that will draw Cue Ball Carl and crooked cop Timothy Mortensen into a dangerous confrontation, but if the plan doesn't go just as planned Hudson might not live long enough to call his next shot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide