Tom McCamus Movies

Director Roger Spottiswoode adapts Roméo Dallaire's harrowing autobiography concerning his experiences as the leader of a 1994 U.N. peacekeeping mission to Rwanda that failed to prevent the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans. Dispatched to Rwanda in 1993 to oversee a fragile cease-fire, charismatic Lieutenant General Romeo Dellaire (Roy Dupuis) finds his mission complicated by lack of funding, too much bureaucracy, and a ramshackle crew assembled from military units from dozens of countries. Everyone seems to have a different agenda, and as the peace agreement between the Tutsi-led rebels and the French-supported Hutu-led government begins to deteriorate, appeasing speeches are undercut by shadowy massacres. When an unknown group shoots down the president's plane, Kigali goes up in flames as part of a clandestine yet long-planned campaign against the Tutsi minority. Hindered by an inadequate mandate, Lieutenant General Dellaire watches helplessly as the Hutu militia gains power and civil war gives way to genocide. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

British actress/director Sara Sugarman makes her U.S. feature debut with the Disney-produced comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, based on the young-adult novel by Dyan Sheldon and adapted for the screen by Gail Parent. The story concerns a popular urban teenager named Mary Elizabeth Cep (Lindsay Lohan), who is convinced her real name is Lola. Unfortunately, her family moves from fashionable New York City to a small suburb in New Jersey. Disturbed by her environment, Lola is quick to wage war against the popular Carla Santini (Megan Fox). She's also pursued by high school hunk Stu Wolff (Adam Garcia), but chooses to focus her attention on winning back her title of Most Popular Girl in School. With the help of a frumpy drama teacher (Carol Kane) and shy new friend Ella (Alison Pill), Lola creates a dramatic performance to earn her coveted high status. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

An emotionally distant youngster comes to terms with his personal demons, aided by a pair of ghastly supernatural beings in first-time director Jeff Erbach's 2002 film, The Nature of Nicholas. Young Nicholas (Jeff Sutton) has felt a significant void in his life since the death of his father in a plane crash. To fill this hole, Nicholas has developed an obsessive infatuation with his friend Bobby (David Turnbull), a young athletic type who has recently begun to appreciate the charms of the opposite sex. To further complicate matters, a spirit-like image resembling his father has begun appearing to Nicholas and seems to be trying to help Nicholas pay more attention to girls than to Bobby. At the height of his confusion, Nicholas rashly kisses Bobby, which causes Bobby to split into two -- with one half of Bobby remaining as his normal self and finding repulsion in Nicholas' act and the other half being a monstrous mirror image of Bobby. Left with only the monstrous version of Bobby -- which is actually the version he prefers -- Nicholas takes the ghoul into his care and hides the creature for himself. However, Nicholas finds the secret to be more than he can bear and is eventually forced to come to terms with his emotions. The Nature of Nicholas was selected as part of the Panorama Canada program at the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi

David Weaver makes his feature debut with this omnibus film in which each tale is told during different points during the 20th century, but in the same hotel room -- room 720. The film opens during the swinging '20s when a beautiful young woman, married against her will to a brutish thug of a man, endures a tension-fraught honeymoon. During the Depression segment, a mail-order bride from China meets her husband for the first time. Following the end of WWII, a soldier returns home to meet his girlfriend and his best friend. During the paranoia of the 1950s, a professor searches for his wife. During the 1980s, a lawyer has too much sex and debt, and during the dawn of the millennium, a woman comes to a newly refurbished room 720 to meet her Internet lover. Such acclaimed Canadian actors as Tom McCamus, Sandrine Holt, and Colm Feore star in this film, which was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Detective Ed Delongpre (Dennis Hopper) is challenged by the mayor of Burman City to make an arrest in a one-day series of child slayings within 48 hours. With no clues to work with, Delongpre and his longtime partner McGivern (Frederic Forrest) and their team of investigators stake out just about every place in town where kids are at play. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to the cops (with one notable exception), the mayor has also made a deal with a notorious mobster to also find the killer, pitting the good guys against the bad guys to stop a sicko. Also meanwhile, Delongpre's relationship with his estranged adult daughter Leslie (Leslie Hope) is torn open after a decade -- Leslie is the mayor's pushy assistant. ~ Buzz McClain, Rovi

The private life of celebrated author and philosopher Ayn Rand takes center stage in this film produced for the Showtime cable network. In 1951, Ayn Rand (Helen Mirren) is a best-selling author and celebrated thinker when she meets Nathaniel Branden (Eric Stoltz) and his friend Barbara (Julie Delpy), two college students who admire her writing and ideas. Rand takes the students under her wing, but before long her mentoring becomes less benevolent and more abusive. She badgers Barbara and Nathaniel, who were never more than close friends, into marrying, and while Nathaniel responds well to Rand's tutelage, Barbara begins to shrink from Rand's lack of compassion, which Rand sees as weakness. Things become more uncomfortable when, after Barbara and Nathaniel join Ayn and her often-ignored husband Frank O'Connor (Peter Fonda) on a vacation, Ayn and Nathaniel demand "permission" to have an affair, which they feel is dictated by the importance of their work. Based on Barbara Branden's autobiography about her years with Rand, The Passion Of Ayn Rand was premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Atom Egoyan's haunting adaptation of the Russell Banks novel The Sweet Hereafter was the Canadian filmmaker's most successful film to date, taking home a Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and scoring a pair of Academy Award nominations, including Best Director. Restructured to fit Egoyan's signature mosaic narrative style, the story concerns the cultural aftershocks which tear apart a small British Columbia town in the wake of a school-bus accident which leaves a number of local children dead. Ian Holm stars as Mitchell Stephens, a big-city lawyer who arrives in the interest of uniting the survivors to initiate a lawsuit; his maneuvering only drives the community further apart, reopening old wounds and jeopardizing any hopes of emotional recovery. Like so many of Egoyan's features, The Sweet Hereafter is a serious and painfully honest exploration of family grief; no character is immune from the sense of utter devastation which grips the film, not even the attorney, whose interests are in part motivated by his own remorse over the fate of his daughter, an HIV-positive drug addict. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

In this suspenseful detective drama, a police detective's personal involvement with a beautiful widow takes a professional turn when she is accused of murdering her husband. The gumshoe feels it is his job to prove her innocent. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Just before Christmas, Fraser (Paul Gross) and Ray (David Marciano) are put in charge of young Del Porter (Ryan Philippe), who claims to have witness a bank heist. In truth, Del is trying to shield his father William (James Purcell), the wheelman for a gang of bank robbers disguised as sidewalk Santas. The two lawmen take it upon themselves to straighten out the situation and to persuade William from further disillusioning his loyal son. This Yuletide episode includes an altogether appropriate reference to O. Henry, author of "Gift of the Magi." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rip Torn does a magnificent job as American poet Walt Whitman in the fanciful period piece Beautiful Dreamers. The scene is a hellish 19th century Canadian institution for the mentally retarded. Compassionate doctor Maurice Bucke (Colm Feore) defies his superiors by treating his patients as human beings rather than animals. He even begins conducting classes for his charges, teaching them basic cognitive and manual dexterity skills. When Whitman champions Bucke's cause, the doctor is ostracized by those who fear the poet's reputation as a "wild-eyed" radicial. Based on a true story, Beautiful Dreamers is more interesting for its intentions than its execution. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Basically a knock-off of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, this youth-oriented adventure centers on the time-traveling exploits of a dim-bulbed nuclear scientist and his friends, a fashion model and her fiery photographer. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi