Ben Miles Movies

V for Vendetta director James McTeigue re-teams with that film's producers Larry and Andy Wachowski for this action-packed tale of a skilled assassin who was trained by a mythical secret society, and patiently awaits the day he will avenge the death of his best friend. Swept off the streets as a young boy, Raizo (Korean pop star Rain) is transformed into an unstoppable killing machine by a secret society known as the Ozunu Clan. The Ozunu Clan is so proficient at keeping their existence a secret that most people think they are only a myth, but the moment Ozuno assassins kill Raizo's friend, their days in the shadows are numbered. In the aftermath of that killing, Raizo stages a daring escape, subsequently biding his time until the day he can take the entire Ozunu Clan down. Later, in Berlin, Europol agent Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) discovers a money trail connecting multiple political murders to a mysterious network of elusive assassins from the Far East. While her superior Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles) orders Mika to back down and stop asking questions, she stealthily begins searching through classified agency files on a relentless mission to discover the truth about the murders. Singled out as a target as a direct result of her investigation, Mika is marked for death by lethal Ozunu assassin Takeshi (Rick Yune). Just as Mika is about to be silenced forever, Raizo saves her from certain death. But Raizo knows that Takeshi and the rest of the Ozuno Clan won't stop until he and Mika are both dead. Now, as Raizo and Mika are hunted through the winding streets of Europe, their only hope for survival is to trust one another and stay alive long enough to bring the Ozunu empire crumbling to the ground. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta takes place in an alternate vision of Britain in which a corrupt and abusive totalitarian government has risen to complete power. During a threatening run in with the secret police, an unassuming young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) is rescued by a vigilante named V (Hugo Weaving) -- a caped figure both articulate and skilled in combat. V embodies the principles of rebellion from an authoritarian state, donning a mask of vilified would-be terrorist of British history Guy Fawkes and leading a revolution sparked by assassination and destruction. Evey becomes his unlikely ally, newly aware of the cruelty of her own society and her role in it. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

A handsome working man living in a small village in the south of England finds his romantic overtures to a beautiful, newly arrived schoolteacher challenged by a barrage of wealthy suitors in this tale of rural romance that launched the career of writer Thomas Hardy. Fancy Day is a woman of striking beauty who comes from a wealthy family background. Dick Dewey is an honest working man who longs to win the heart of the lovely newcomer. Though his sincere efforts to win Fancy over are received with encouraging grace by the kind-hearted schoolteacher, Dick soon finds that he's not the only man in town attempting to win her hand in marriage. Reverend Maybold, Farmer Shiner, and a local landowner are also hoping to charm Fancy to the alter, and even if Dick does manage to out-charm the rest, there's no guarantee that Fancy's father will even give approval to the union. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mathias Ledoux directs the straight-to-video crime thriller Three Blind Mice, an English-language co-production from France and the U.K. Edward Furlong stars as Thomas Cross, a computer programmer who witnesses the murder of his friend Cathy (Valérie Decobert) via her Web cam. When he tries to tell the police what happened, he realizes that he doesn't know her real name or address. He teams up with Internet specialist Detective Claire Bligh (Emilia Fox), who's been assigned to the case. They do an investigation of their own to find the identity of the killer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

The Forsyte Saga was a remake of the classic 1960s British miniseries which put the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre on the map. Whereas the original version covered all of John Galsworthy's novels about the upper-crust Forsyte clan, requiring 26 episodes to do so, the remake took in only the first two books, running five episodes in Great Britain and seven episodes when it was exported to the U.S. (several sequels were, however, promised should this "trial balloon" prove successful). This was more than ample time to detail the fortunes and follies of the Forsytes as they made the sometimes painful transition from the Victorian to the Edwardian era. The focus was on frosty, tradition-bound Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis), whose sincere but sterile relationship with his beloved wife Irene (Gina McKee) was complicated by Irene's fondness for iconoclastic architect Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd). And in another branch of the Forsyte family, Old Jolyon Forsyte (Corin Redgrave) was vexed by the bohemian lifestyle of his son Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves). Budgeted at ten million dollars and running approximately eight hours, the "new" Forsyte Saga debuted in the U.K. on April 7, 2002, and in the U.S. courtesy of PBS on October 6 of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although Americans know Coupling primarily in the form of NBC's failed U.S. remake, the original British series has been a hit since it first aired on BBC2 in May 2000. Written by Steven Moffat and produced by his wife, Sue Vertue, the raunchy comedy follows the sexual and romantic exploits of six young professionals in London as they hang out in a pub, hunt for conquests, and reluctantly settle down with one another. Despite the three-guys, three-girls setup, any similarities to the hit U.S. sitcom Friends are superficial. Coupling is far more concerned with frank sex talk and romantic Darwinism than sentimentality and soap opera plotlines. Early episodes focused almost entirely on conceptual "knob gags" -- long setups and payoffs of an unfailingly vulgar nature. From sex toys to lesbian chic to one character's closet full of homemade porn, Moffat's scripts take R-rated dialogue as a given. As the series has progressed, however, its characters have essayed more mature relationships while remaining fixated on the intricacies of sex.

The relationship between flustered everyman Steve (Jack Davenport) and his icy blond girlfriend, Susan (Sarah Alexander), provides the show's nominal through-line, even as the more extreme characters earn more of the laughs. Patrick (Ben Miles), a Tory womanizer, represents one male extreme. The other comes in the form of Jeff (Richard Coyle), a juvenile sex addict afflicted by both performance anxiety and verbal diarrhea. As for the ladies, Jane (Gina Bellman) is the over-confident, deliberately kooky man-trap, while Sally (Kate Isitt) is the self-help addict obsessed with halting the aging process. Although each character starts out as little more than a collection of tics, time has deepened the emotional resonance of the entire cast.

After three seasons on BBC2, Coupling underwent some changes in its fourth season. Richard Coyle abruptly quit, leaving Moffat to replace Jeff with Oliver (Richard Mylan), a similarly bumbling man-boy. The show also moved over to BBC3. In America, the series first aired on PBS before migrating to the BBC America cable network. Despite their various levels of television experience, most cast members were relative unknowns when the series began. Only Jack Davenport, with the BBC hit This Life and the film The Talented Mr. Ripley under his belt, had much of a profile; he has since appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Based on Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel, Getting It Right this charming comedy follows the story of Gavin Lamb (Jesse Birdsall), a 31 year-old virgin who is terrified with women and still lives with his parents. Nevertheless, he becomes the subject of desire for a variety of women, including a single mother (Jane Horrocks), a wealthy pregnant girl (Helen Bonham Carter) and a middle-aged socialite (Lynn Redgrave). Gavin eventually finds love with one of the three women in this engaging, low-key romantic comedy. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi