Richard McMillan Movies
The Marek Kanievska thriller A Different Loyalty stars Rupert Everett and Sharon Stone as war reporters who come across each other's path while they are both on assignment in Beirut. When Everett's character goes missing, Stone's character begins an investigation on her own. She soon realizes that he may have known much more about international politics than he was letting on. Can she rescue him before any number of governments can put a stop to her quest? ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, Rupert Everett, (more)
- 1998
Toronto TV scripter and stage director Jack Blum made his feature directorial debut with this Canadian family psychological drama. Blond 13-year-old Lisa (Elisabeth Rosen), who flirts with the school busdriver, lives with the sister of her mother Margaret (Lenore Zann), a boozing, man-chasing laundromat worker. Margaret begins an affair with quiet Jim (James Gallanders) about the time Lisa moves back into the house. After Jim makes out with Lisa, he tries but fails to dump Margaret, and the triangle soon turns explosive. Shown in the Directors Fortnight section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lenore Zann, Elisabeth Rosen, (more)
A teenage girl agrees to meet a thirtysomething fashion photographer in person after becoming acquainted with him in an online chat room, and the resulting encounter finds the line between predator and prey slipping slowly out of focus in director David Slade's provocative and topical thriller. Hayley (Ellen Page) is a 14-year-old teen whose emotional maturity seems to betray her tender age. Jeff (Patrick Wilson) is a potential child predator whose intentions toward his young chat buddy seem less than honorable. After meeting in a coffeehouse and getting to know each other briefly in person, Jeff invites Haley back to his place, and it's not long before Jeff's underage guest is pouring drinks and posing provocatively for an impromptu photo shoot. As the evening's questionable activities take a decidedly sordid slant and the raptorial Jeff appears poised to strike, a sudden turn of events finds that his apparent victim has had a plan of her own from the very beginning. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, (more)
David Cronenberg's cinematic intensity eviscerates this adaptation of David Henry Hwang's passionate stage production. Based on a true incident involving a French diplomat who carried on an affair for 18 years with a man the diplomat thought was a woman, M. Butterfly begins in 1964 Beijing when French foreign service employee Rene Gallimard (Jeremy Irons) becomes smitten with Chinese opera performer Song Liling (John Lone). Before long, Gallimard is enamored with Song, and they begin an inflamed affair -- bracketed by the stipulation that Gallimard will never be allowed to look upon her in a state of complete undress. Gallimard agrees to the rules, but, as he climbs up the diplomatic ladder, the communist government gets involved, corralling Song to become an informer for the government. When, at last, Gallimard's passion demands nudity, Song flees the relationship. Gallimard, pining for his lost love, then becomes a physical and mental wreck. He leaves China and accepts a two-bit diplomatic position, but then Song appears once again to Gallimard. At that point, Gallimard is arrested and, during the subsequent sensational trial for treason, his affair is exposed for the sham that it is. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, John Lone, (more)
- 1998
When a serial killer threatens to destroy the spirit of Christmas in New York, a pair of gumshoes set off to stop him. To keep holiday shoppers from panicking, the two cops try to keep their investigation low-key. Unfortunately, a pushy television reporter is equally determined to break the story wide open. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Glenn, Courtney Vance, (more)
In this romantic western, unlikely lovers leap across social boundaries so they can be together in the rugged, scenic Canadian Northwest. The young woman is a well-bred, impeccably mannered part of the country-club set, while her suitor is a rough-and-ready American rancher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Chalke, Chad Willett, (more)
Requiem for a Dream director Darren Aronofsky switches gears from drug-induced urban malaise to abstract science fiction with this time-tripping symbolic tale of a man's thousand-year quest to save the woman he loves. Moving between representational stories and images, this meditation on life and death focuses on the concept of the mythical Tree of Life that is said to bestow immortality to all who drink of its sap. In one of the film's allegorical timelines, a 16th century Spanish conquistador played by Hugh Jackman sets out to find the tree in order to save his queen (Rachel Weisz) from the Inquisition. Another conceptual story finds Jackman centuries later, struggling with mortality as a modern-day scientist desperately searching for the medical breakthrough that will save the life of his cancer-stricken wife, Izzi. The third and most abstract concept finds Jackman as a different incarnation of the same character-idea, this time questing for eternal life within the confines of a floating sphere transporting the aged Tree of Life through the depths of space. Still more avant-garde than his breakthrough film Pi, The Fountain finds Aronofsky almost completely abandoning conventional story structure in favor of something more cinematically abstract. Though the film was originally slapped with an R by the MPAA, Aronofsky & co. re-edited it to conform to a PG-13 rating. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, (more)
- 1987
The Gilbert and Sullivan musical is performed by members of the Stratford Festival. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1995
When government tax-auditor Alex Hartwell is sent to the hamlet of Walton to check the books of the Turnbull Chemical company, the last thing he expects is to find himself involved in corruption, murder, romantic mayhem and intrigue in this darkly slapstick Canadian comedy. Things go amiss right from the start when he arrives and finds that his pre-booked hotel room has been taken and he must then stay in the creepy, ramshackle Michelle Apartments in a room that belonged to a woman who died the night before he arrived. After settling into the unsettling place, Alex sends out his laundry and it comes back with a pair of purple undies belonging to Madeline, his seductive neighbor, who is married to a mentally unstable and insanely jealous Dean. Prior to Alex's arrival, Dean was incarcerated for fighting with his wife. The next day Alex meets with company-president Mr. Turnbull and finds him a few-cents-short-of-a-dollar. As he talks to the crazy CEO, he begins suspecting that the fellow has frequently helped himself to the company coffers. Later that night, Alex ends up necking with Madleine. Unfortunately, they are caught in mid-smooch by Dean who has just been released from the slammer. It's downhill from there and murderous chaos reigns. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1983
This video presents a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan's farcical play The Mikado. The writers used a traditional Japanese tale to poke fun at their own English society during Victorian times. The production took place at Canada's Stratford Festival. The story of troubled love and allegiance and mistaken identity unfolds on an elegantly simple set. The production stars Gidon Saks, Marie Baron, and Richard Mcmillan in a classic comedy of errors. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
Adapted from a novel by Garrison Keillor and Jenny Lind Nillson, this made-for-Showtime movie is set in the conservative small town of Sandy Bottom, WI, where life moves along at a pleasantly quaint pace and doctors still make house calls. Although life may be agreeable for most of the town's residents, it has never been easy for Ingrid Green (Glenne Headly), a classically trained pianist who moved to Sandy Bottom years ago with her dairy farmer husband Norman (Tom Irwin). Politically outspoken and cheerfully eccentric, Ingrid has never fit in with the town's residents, and when Norman announces his intention to put together a classical concert instead of the traditional marching band for the town's Dairy Days, his decision sets in motion a whole chain of events that disrupt everyday life in Sandy Bottom. Meanwhile, Ingrid and Norman's daughter Rachel (Madeline Zima) is struggling with her own problems: a star violinist who has inherited her mother's talent, she is concerned that she has also inherited Ingrid's eccentricities, and the fact that she's growing away from her best friend and wants to attend a musical academy doesn't make fitting in any easier. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenne Headly, Tom Irwin, (more)
- 1983
Set in the years before World War I, this film is about Robert, a young man growing up in a wealthy family in Toronto who is burdened by a distant, cool mother and a father dedicated to duty, both highly conservative people. When Robert loses his beloved invalid sister in a car accident he is further tormented by the family's decision to kill her pet rabbits - and quarrels with them so intensely that he enlists in the army and goes off to war. Once "over there," he discovers brothels and romance, and in a climactic scene, decides to free a barn full of horses from certain death - in spite of contrary orders from his superiors. The juxtaposition of Robert's internal conflict and the external horrors of combat may have been intended to illustrate the nature of "war," although that is difficult to surmise since the evidence in the film is not that strong. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brent Carver, Martha Henry, (more)
- 1997
The tragedy of Alzheimer's Disease is at the core of this heart-tugging made-for-cable drama, starring veteran actors Richard Kiley and Eva Marie Saint. Diagnosed with Alzheimers, the brilliant doctor Gerald Klooster (Richard Kiley) would sooner die immediately than endure the agony of a progressively failing memory. Thus, he asks his loved ones to do him one final favor and assist him in committing suicide. Everyone, including Gerald's wife Ruth (Eva Marie Saint), is willing to go along with this plan--everyone that is except his youngest son, who kidnaps the old man before his last wish can be granted and brings legal action against his mom. Based on a true story, Time to Say Goodbye? first aired over the Lifetime channel on September 1, 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Three brothers who are inept criminals butcher one last attempt to pull off a big heist in this caper comedy. Bill Firpo (Nicolas Cage) is sick of thievery and has retired from crime to run an upscale restaurant in New York. But when his two brothers, Alvin (Dana Carvey) and Dave (Jon Lovitz), get out of prison, Bill is sucked back into their world of crime. The three end up on the run and hide out in the small town of Paradise, PA. The friendly townspeople include a bank president (Clifford Moffat) whose trust in people has left his bank an easy target. The brothers can't resist lifting $275,000 from the vault. Unfortunately, Alvin drives their getaway car in circles and they end up back in town and get in an accident. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, (more)
