John Neville Movies

Canadian writer-director Jeffrey St. Jules's fifteen-minute short The Tragic Story of Nling dramatizes the plight of a man reduced to animalistic behavior as he struggles to survive beyond the boundaries of his city. Tom Barnett and John Neville (The Road to Wellville) co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A man who has been able to avoid the consequences of his actions for nearly 50 years suddenly finds he must answer pursuers on both sides of the law in this drama, based on the novel by Brian Moore and inspired by a true story. After France fell to German occupation during World War II, the Nazi-controlled Vichy government established a law-enforcement group known as the Milice, who were under the direct control of Nazi authorities. In 1944, Pierre Brossard (George Williams) is one of a handful of Milice officers who round up and execute seven Jewish resistance members in the village of Dombey. After the liberation of France, Brossard is tried and convicted for his crimes, but he manages to escape capture, and years later is pardoned. In 1992, Brossard (now played by Michael Caine) is an elderly man living a quiet life in Provence and modestly supported by fellow veterans of the Vichy regime when he's ambushed and nearly killed by a man whom he learns was a hired killer. Brossard discovers this is hardly his only problem; new legislation will allow Vichy-era war criminals who escaped punishment to be charged and tried again, and Anne Marie Livi (Tilda Swinton), a bright and aggressive French prosecutor, has joined forces with Col. Roux (Jeremy Northam) to bring Brossard, among others, to justice. While Brossard is still being clandestinely assisted by church officials and Vichy sympathizers, he must go on the run to avoid capture, and finds himself hiding from the French police as well as a cadre of underground assassins, whose alliances and purposes are frustratingly unclear. The Statement also stars Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates, and Frank Finlay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A writer who was dumped at the alter attempts to impress his flaky ex-fiancee by helping her father movie in this dialogue-driven comedy from Canadian writer/director/actor Benjamin Ratner. Gene Maxwell (Ratner) was preparing to exchange his wedding vows when his fiancée Liz (Elizabeth Berkley) vanished without a trace. Three years later, Gene has published a best-selling novel entitled "Fear Knot." Gene lives at home with his dysfunctional parents and autistic sister, and when Liz appears on his doorstep the broken-hearted writer can't help but hope that the flame will be rekindled. But all Liz wants is for Gene to help her elderly father Malcolm (John Neville) move while she jets off to Prague to act in a low-budget sci-fi flick. But while any hope of continuing his romance with Liz proves less likely with each long-distance telephone call he receives, Gene does manage to form a warm bond with Malcolm over the course of the move. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A boy makes an unusual and dangerous friend in this family drama. Aaron McGregor (Devin Douglas Drewitz) is a young boy who, after the death of his parents, goes to live with his aunt and uncle in a rural community. Aaron feels like an outcast in his new home, not accepted by his schoolmates and receiving little in the way of support or affection from his uncle Archie (Burt Reynolds). One of the few things that comforts Aaron is the sound of a pack of wolves who howl on the prairies late in the night; when a band of farmers attempt to kill the animals, Aaron discovers one is still alive and he attempts to nurse the survivor back to health. However, while Aaron is happy with his new friend, he learns the hard way that keeping a wolf under wraps is no easy task. Time of the Wolf also features guest appearances from Jason Priestley and Marthe Keller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Superachiever Claire Raphael (Lorraine Bracco) expertly divides what little time she has between her job, her family, and her invalid mother. As a result, Claire's stay-at-home husband Dennis (Martin Donovan) suffers from a profound inferiority complex. As a means of reclaiming his "manhood," Dennis sues for divorce -- and for the custody of the couple's children. By rights, Claire could challenge her husband; instead, she cuts her losses, starting life (and love) anew in a reconditioned lighthouse. Adapted from Barbara Delinsky's novel A Woman's Place, the made-for-cable Custody of the Heart was first telecast by the Lifetime network on August 28, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The fortunes of a family of Hungarian Jews are followed over the course of nearly 150 years in this epic historical drama, with leading man Ralph Fiennes playing three different roles. The story begins in the late 18th century, as Aaron and Josefa Sonnenschein (the name means "Sunshine" in German) die in an explosion while making an herb tonic for sale in their village. Their son Emmanuel (David de Keyser), the only survivor of the tragedy, travels to Budapest, carrying the recipe for the medicine with him. He's able to parlay the formula into a successful business, and Emmanuel and his wife Rose (Miriam Margolyes) raise two sons, Ignatz (Ralph Fiennes), who becomes a successful lawyer, and hot-tempered Gustave (James Frain). The Sonnenscheins also make room in their home for Valerie (Jennifer Ehle), but Emmanuel and Rose become furious when Valerie becomes romantically involved with Ignatz. Eventually, Valerie and Ignatz raise two children, Istvan (Mark Strong) and Adam (Ralph Fiennes), and the family changes its name to Sors in hopes of avoiding the anti-Semitism sweeping Europe. In time, Adam goes so far as to convert to Catholicism, and he marries another Catholic, Hannah (Molly Parker). He soon begins an affair with his brother's wife, Greta (Rachel Weisz), who is unable to persuade Adam to leave as the Nazis rise to power. Adam and Hannah have only one son, Ivan, who is fated to watch his father die in a concentration camp; as Ivan grows to adulthood (now played by Ralph Fiennes), he swears revenge on the forces of fascism and embraces Communism. Ivan throws in his lot with Communist leader Andor Knorr (William Hurt), but a liaison with the wife of a party official (Deborah Kara Unger) leads Ivan to tragic consequences and a jail term. In time, Valarie and Gustave are reunited at the family's estate as the only two members of the Sonnenschein clan who survive to witness the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Hungarian director Istvan Szabo co-wrote Sunshine's original screenplay in collaboration with American playwright Israel Horovitz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Billed as Benji meets Howards End, this charming Canadian children's film concerns the struggle between a philanthropic duke (John Neville) and his sniveling nephew Cecil (Oliver Muirhead), who worries that his uncle is wasting his money by spending it on the poor. When the duke dies halfway through the movie, his American niece Charlotte (Courtnee Draper) takes over. Soon Charlotte falls in love with a dashing laborer (Jeremy Maxwell), while Cecil plots to stain the moral standing of the duke's loyal dog, Hubert. Star Trek's James Doohan also appears as a snooty English butler. The Duke was screened at the 1999 Flanders Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

This 60-million-dollar science fiction suspense drama (marketed with an additional 25 million dollars), was adapted from the popular TV series The X-Files -- arriving in theaters while the Emmy-winning series was still being aired, continuing plot threads familiar to many of the series' 25 million viewers, and featuring several familiar recurring characters introduced during the previous five TV seasons. In 15,000 B.C., a strange creature attacks a caveman. Cut to present day, when a boy at the same North Texas spot falls into a pit and is contaminated by a black substance. When a bomb threatens the Dallas Federal Building, special FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) locate the device but are unable to prevent the explosion. The agency blames Mulder and Scully for the disaster, subjecting them to lengthy interrogations while trying to sever their partnership. In a bar, conspiracy theorist Kurtzweil (Martin Landau), a friend of Mulder's father, tells Mulder about the group behind the explosion, the cover-up of the boy's death, the bodies of four infected rescue workers removed from the Federal Building, the secret government, and the forthcoming plague. Mulder and Scully set out to find answers, and their investigation becomes a foray into the fantastic. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Good and evil battle for the future of 23rd century Earth in this visually striking big-budget science fiction epic. In the movie's prologue, which is set in 1914, scientists gather in Egypt at the site of an event that transpired centuries earlier. Aliens, it seemed, arrived to collect four stones representing the four basic elements (earth, air, fire and water) - warning their human contacts that the objects were no longer safe on Earth. A few hundred years later (in the 23rd century), a huge ball of molten lava and flame is hurtling toward Earth, and scientist-holy man Victor Cornelius (Ian Holm) declares that in order to prevent it from destroying the planet, the same four elemental stones must be combined with the fifth element, as embodied by a visitor from another world named Leeloo (Milla Jovovich). However, if the force of evil presents itself to the stones instead, the Earth will be destroyed, and an evil being named Zorg (Gary Oldman) will trigger the disaster. Despite her remarkable powers, Leeloo needs help with her mission, and she chooses her accomplice, military leader-turned-cab driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis), when she literally falls through the roof of his taxi. Writer and director Luc Besson began writing the script for The Fifth Element when he was only 16 years old, though he was 38 before he was able to bring it to the screen.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This period drama was based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by author Pat Barker, one of a trilogy dealing with World War I. James Wilby stars as Siegfried Sassoon, the real-life war hero and poet who, in 1917, writes a statement against the war that is read in Parliament. Faced with the choice of either a court-martial or time in a mental hospital as a result, Sassoon chooses the hospital, and is sent to Craiglockart, a Scottish castle where shell-shocked vets are being treated by Freudian therapist Dr. William Rivers (Jonathan Pryce). Sassoon soon befriends a pair of fellow inmates. One, Billy Prior (Jonny Lee Miller) is suffering from battlefield trauma. The other is shy young fan and fellow poet Wilfred Owen (Stuart Bunce), whose own anti-war writings, encouraged by Sassoon, will go on to make him posthumously famous as well. In the meanwhile, the once-zealous Dr. Rivers begins to question his role of mending patients' minds so that they may simply go back to the front lines. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Mary Swann, an Ontario farmer's wife, lead a fairly dull existence until she demonstrated a remarkable talent for poetry and became the darling of the literati. Tragically, she was ruthlessly slain by her own husband who then committed suicide. Mary's closest friend Rose is devastated by the death and so runs a small museum to keep Mary's memory alive. Sarah Maloney is a writer who wants to write a biography about Swann. Learning that a competitor has similar plans, Sarah hastily leaves Chicago and heads northward where she meets Rose. The ensuing friendship between the disparate women provides the film with some interesting comparison/contrasts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, a school teacher discovers that it takes more than the ABCs to get through to a class of "uneducatable" kids. When Lou Anne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a nine-year veteran of the Marine Corps with a degree in education, begins a new job at an inner-city school in California, the principal (George Dzundza) warns her that her class will be the "rejects from Hell" -- kids with severe social problems and no interest in education. While at first her African-American and Latino students scoff at Lou Anne, she ultimately gets them to open up to learning and literature, through a combination of bribery (candy bars) and intimidation (her karate training from the Marines comes in handy), and she's able to reach out to the students who need her the most: Callie (Bruklin Harris), a bright girl who believes she's thrown away her future when she becomes pregnant; Emilio (Wade Dominquez), a macho bully whose violence is stifling his academic potential; and Raul (Renoly Santiago), the brightest kid in the class, who is afraid to show his intelligence. Dangerous Minds was adapted from a memoir by Lou Anne Johnson entitled My Posse Don't Do Homework. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of the comic novel by T. Coraghessan Boyle is the story of real-life Corn Flakes inventor Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins), an eccentric health nut in the early 20th century. Convinced of the benefits of holistic health practices (mostly involving irrigation of the bowels and colon), Kellogg opens a spa in Battle Creek, Michigan that immediately attracts the well-to-do of his time, including Will (Matthew Broderick) and Eleanor Lightbody (Bridget Fonda). A young couple with sexual and marital problems, the Lightbodys aren't helped much by the forced separation of sexes at Kellogg's sanitarium, and the situation is further exacerbated by Will's obliging nurse (Traci Lind) and Eleanor's encounters with a group of German sex therapists. Also at the spa are Charles Ossining (John Cusack), an ambitious con man who sees a fortune in Kellogg's cereal, and the unwashed, cretinous George Kellogg (Dana Carvey), one of the doctor's several dozen adopted children. A spoof as obsessed as its protagonist with its scatological subject matter, The Road to Wellville was an unusual effort for director-composer Alan Parker, known better for darker dramatic material and musicals. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide