Ian McNeice Movies

Director Brian De Palma returns to the helm for the first time since 2002's Femme Fatale with this stylish screen adaptation of James Ellroy's novel detailing one of the most notorious unsolved murders in Hollywood history. Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner) was a struggling actress looking to make a name for herself in 1940s-era Tinseltown. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, it was her grim fate that would ultimately overshadow anything she would accomplish during her short and tragic career. When police discover Elizabeth's body cut clean in half and with all of her organs missing, ex-pugilist detectives Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) are the men charged with cracking the case and apprehending the killer. This isn't your average murder case, however, and as Blanchard's marriage to Kay (Scarlett Johansson) begins to suffer due to his obsession with the sensational crime, his partner Bleichert discovers a troubling link between the victim and the mysterious Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank), a prominent socialite and the daughter of one of the town's most connected key players. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Roman Polanski gives one of Charles Dickens' best-loved stories a new and dynamic interpretation in this period drama. Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is a young orphan in Victorian England who has been sent to a dank workhouse run by the miserly Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when it is learned there is no one to care for him. When Oliver dares to ask for more gruel, he is sent away to live with an undertaker, who treats him poorly. Preferring life on the streets to the treatment he's been receiving, Oliver runs away to London, where he falls in with the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden), a youthful pickpocket. The Artful Dodger is one of a gang of young thieves overseen by Fagin (Ben Kingsley), a paternal but sinister criminal mastermind. While Oliver finds a home of sorts with Fagin and his young cohorts, he also falls into a dangerous life made all the more threatening by the presence of Fagin's menacing overlord, Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman). Oliver Twist was Polanski's first feature film after enjoying a major career resurgence following the international success of his Oscar-winning World War II drama The Pianist. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Mark Antony (James Purefoy) is running things in Rome while Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) chases down Pompey (Kenneth Cranham) and his allies in Greece. But soon, word reaches Antony that the battle has turned against Caesar, who orders Antony and whatever troops he can muster to join him in Greece in what seems a hopeless cause. Pompey sends a messenger to Antony (living in Pompey's house) to let him know that Pompey will reward him if he sits out the battle, while Atia (Polly Walker) tries to convince Antony to marry her and seize power in Rome. Antony bides his time reaching a decision. Meanwhile, Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is having problems at home. Lyde (Esther Hall), Niobe's (Indira Varma) sister, is worried over her missing husband, and has moved in with the couple. Niobe seems more concerned about her well-being than the state of her marriage. After listening to the frustrated, lovelorn, drunken Vorenus complaining through the night, Pullo (Ray Stevenson) tells Lyde that he's heard that her husband was murdered, and pointedly tells her, in front of Niobe, to get on with her life. Pullo, assigned with schooling Octavian (Max Pirkis) in the "manly arts," takes the young man to an upscale brothel. Atia, concerned that she'll be on the losing side of the battles in Greece, gets Ocatvian out of town, and sends Octavia (Kerry Condon) to Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) with some "gifts" as a gesture of friendship. Servilia sees through the ploy, but treats Octavia kindly, telling the girl she's blameless for what her mother has done. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Divorced architect Jonathan Rivers (Michael Keaton) seems to lead a pretty good life with partial custody of his young son and a happy second marriage to Anna (Chandra West), a best-selling author. Things take an ugly turn when Anna disappears during a thunderstorm, apparently the victim of a freak accident. Eventually, her body is found, and Jonathan sinks into despair. Then he meets Raymond (Ian McNeice), who claims that Anna has contacted him through EVP, or electronic voice phenomena. Raymond explains that the dead can communicate from beyond via static on common electronic equipment like radios and televisions. Jonathan is skeptical until he starts getting phone calls from Anna's inactive cell phone. He visits Raymond, whose home is filled with audio and video monitors and high-tech recording equipment. There he meets Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger), who has recently received a farewell message from her late fiancé. Jonathan eventually receives what appears to be a communication from Anna, but soon afterward, Raymond turns up dead. Obsessed with maintaining contact with his late wife, Jonathan visits a psychic (Connor Tracy) who warns him that he's going down a dangerous path, "meddling" in the affairs of the dead. Undaunted, Jonathan continues to study EVP and eventually finds that he's getting messages from people who haven't died...yet. White Noise was directed by Geoffrey Sax from an original script by Niall Johnson. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

This television miniseries tells the familiar story of Spartacus, played in this endeavor by ER regular Goran Visnjic. Spartacus, who was enslaved by the Romans after they murdered his father, leads fellow slaves in an attempt to overthrow the repressive Roman Empire. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Jules Verne's famous novel of a daring man who takes on the greatest voyage in history is once again adapted for the big screen in this adventure comedy. In 1872, eccentric British inventor Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) has come up with any number of gadgets to help people travel with greater speed and ease, and is working on plans for a flying machine. In a lively discussion with Lord Kelvin (Jim Broadbent), the head of the Royal Academy of Science, Fogg states his belief that it's possible for someone to travel around the globe in a mere 80 days. Kelvin, who makes no secret of his belief that Fogg is a crackpot, challenges him to do just that, and adds a wager to the bargain to make things interesting: if Fogg can't circumnavigate the globe in 80 days, he'll give up inventing forever. Fogg takes the challenge, and teams up with his manservant, a former acrobat named Passepartout (Jackie Chan), and lovely navigator Monique (Cécile De France) to make the epic voyage -- traveling by train, boat, balloon, horseback, or any other means at their disposal. However, Fogg and his companions are dogged along the way by the false accusation that the inventor took part in a bank robbery, forcing him to not only complete the journey but clear his name as well. Like the blockbuster 1956 adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, this film features a number of major stars in cameo appearances and supporting roles as Fogg makes his way around the globe, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Cleese, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Sammo Hung, Rob Schneider, Richard Branson, Mark Addy, and more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A pair of naïve newlyweds find their honeymoon taking an unexpectedly morbid turn when they arrive at a remote country hotel to find that it has been overtaken by the annual Undertakers Convention in a hilarious comedy mystery starring Rik Mayall, Nick Moran, and Steve Huison. Edward and Samantha have just exchanged their wedding vows, and now they're off to celebrate their nuptials with a romantic stay at a majestic country house hotel. Their quest for quiet and romance is suddenly curbed, however, when they discover that a group of fun-loving undertakers have overrun the stately estate. When the Head of the Funeral Director's Association perishes under most suspicious circumstances, the race is on to reveal his killer before the body count begins to multiply. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A has-been '80s pop star whose phone stopped ringing some time ago, Paul Kerr (Craig Ferguson) is an alcoholic on a downward spiral. After crashing his motorcycle through a window and into a fountain in his estate, Paul is sent to a mental hospital on the assumption that he has become suicidal. When a woman named Rebecca (Jemma Redgrave) shows up one day with teenage Olivia (Charlotte Church), whom she claims is Paul's long lost daughter, both the girl and the depressed singer slowly begin find a new sense of purpose in their lives. Returning to his home to set his life straight with a little help from a former bandmate, a tentative romance develops between Rebecca and Paul. Subsequently discovering that his newfound daughter shares her father's talent for singing, it appears as if Paul may well be on his way to finally finding post-fame happiness in life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An ordinary man remakes himself into a warrior after the death of his family in this thriller. Jack Elgin (Jeremy Irons) is a magazine editor living in London with his wife and three children. Elgin joins his spouse and his children as they set off for a trip to India, and when the plane lands due to mechanical failures, the flight is hijacked by terrorists from the "August 15th Movement," who insist on 50 million dollars in ransom from the United States government. The U.S. administration delivers on the request, but as the terrorists begin to evacuate hostages from the plane, circumstances go awry and Elgin's wife and child die in the subsequent fire. The hijackers are soon arrested but released from custody, and when Elgin protests this turn of events to a representative of the U.S. State Department (Jason Priestley), he is told there's little than can be done -- unless he's willing to take the law into his own hands. With the help of his friend Kate (Charlotte Rampling), who is well-schooled in the finer points of international intelligence, Elgin becomes a one-man anti-terrorist squadron, tracking down extremist factions and turning their own weapons against them. Elgin's work is so impressive it attracts the attention of Jules Bernard (Forest Whitaker), an FBI agent who has his own agenda regarding shutting down terrorists. The Fourth Angel was co-produced by American independent studio Artisan Entertainment, but its U.S. theatrical release was canceled in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Shot largely in black-and-white, The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz tells the story of a mysterious man (Thomas Fisher) who climbs out of a hole and hails a cab to London, where he takes on the identities of various people he encounters over the course of the day. A total eclipse of the sun is due to take place later in the day, and as the stranger assumes various identities, chaos overtakes the capital. It's all observed literally with a blind eye by a fat police chief (Ian McNeice) who harbors a connection with the Astral Plane. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Patrick Stewart stars as Ebeneezer Scrooge in this made-for-TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic holiday fable. Scrooge is a skinflint businessman who loathes the Christmas season and begrudges having to give time off to his best employee, Bob Cratchit (Richard E. Grant). On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his late friend and partner, Jacob Marley (Bernard Lloyd), who in the afterlife has come to see the error of his ways. Marley arranges for Scrooge to be visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Joel Grey), Christmas Present (Desmond Barrit), and Christmas Yet to Come (Tim Potter) in hopes of teaching Scrooge of the importance of embracing the joy of the holiday season. A Christmas Carol was produced for the TNT cable television network. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Renowned Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis wrote and directed this adaptation of the classic final drama by playwright Anton Chekhov, set in 1900. Lyubov Ranevskaya (Charlotte Rampling) left Russia to escape troubling memories of the death of her son. Now her family is riddled with debt and Lyubov and her teenaged daughter Anya (Tushka Bergen) have come home to the family estate, looking for a way to pay their bills. Much to their dismay, the Ranevskayas are forced to sell their land to Lopakhin (Owen Teale), a crude businessman who intends to build a housing development in what was once the family's cherry orchard. The international cast also includes Alan Bates as Lyubov's brother Gaev, Katrin Cartlidge as Lyubov's ward Varya, and Michael Gough and Frances de la Tour as the family's servants. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi