Nathaniel Parker Movies

A wanted criminal finds he's the one in danger when he hides out in the house of a seemingly ordinary man in this thriller from Australian director Nick Tomnay. John Taylor (Clayne Crawford) is a thief who is having an especially bad day; he was part of a bank robbery that went spectacularly wrong, leaving him with a seriously injured foot and his description being broadcast by every news outlet in the city. John needs to get off the streets fast, so he stops at a nearby home and bluffs his way inside, telling the man of the house, Warwick Wilson (David Hyde Pierce), that he's a friend of a friend and was told to drop by sometime. Warwick buys John's story, and even invites him to stay for dinner, but before long John realizes he picked the wrong house to pull this scam. Warwick is a perfect gentleman on the outside, but inside he's an angry and unstable person, and when he finds out that John isn't an ordinary visitor, he's in for a fight for his life. The Perfect Host was an official selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A charmingly naïve boy from the English village of Wall travels to a magical, mythical world in search of the falling star that will help him win the heart of his true love in this fantasy adventure starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais, and Sienna Miller. For hundreds of years the massive cobblestone barrier that surrounds the sleepy English hamlet of Wall has kept the citizens of the village safe and secure from the malevolent supernatural forces that stir just outside its perimeter. When dashing Tristan Thorne (Cox) promises the fairest girl in the village, Victoria (Miller), that he will prove his love by bestowing her with a genuine falling star, his daring mission sends him on an adventure far outside the comfortable confines of Wall. In order to find the fallen star, Tristan will have to ascend the wall and venture deep into the forbidden heart of the fantastical realm known as Stormhold. Upon discovering that the meteorite he sought was in fact a beautiful girl named Yvaine (Danes), who has stumbled though space and is now being pursued by the King of Stormhold's (Peter O'Toole) sons (who long to use her cosmic powers to lay claim to the throne), Tristan vows to protect the otherworldly visitor at all costs. But the king's sons aren't the only ones in search of the luminous Yvaine; fearsome witch Lamia (Pfeiffer) has become convinced that the young girl's power can help her to achieve eternal youth and beauty. As Tristan makes his way through Stormhold on a mission to bring the star back to Wall, he will encounter a series of spectacular characters and creatures that will lead him to a fate he never imagined. Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn serves as director and co-screenwriter for this tale of witches and pirates adapted from the novel by fantasy icon Neil Gaiman, who also produces. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

"A Traitor to Memory" once again teams Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small as Elizabeth George's upper-class detective Thomas Lynley and his working-class partner, Barbara Havers. This particular case finds the duo investigating a lethal hit-and-run accident that may have something to do with the death of a baby three decades before. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Though not the most ambitious British TV adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's 19th century novel Vanity Fair, this six-part BBC1 version was arguably the most expensive and elaborate. Natasha Little was cast as scheming country lass Becky Sharp, who managed to climb to the top of the British social ladder during and after the Napoleonic Wars, leaving a trail of broken hearts, betrayed friendships, and shattered reputations in her wake. Somehow, however, Becky always managed to land on her feet, and after mending her ways in middle age, she lived out her declining years as a much-beloved "Lady Bountiful." Debuting in Britain on November 1, 1998, Vanity Fair subsequently aired as part of the American public TV Masterpiece Theatre anthology beginning October 24, 1999. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on Jon Krakhauer's harrowing account of folly and tragedy on the slopes of the world's highest mountain, this made-for-TV movie re-enacts that fateful excursion. Christopher McDonald and Peter Horton star. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Actor Oliver Parker made his directorial debut with this adaptation of the tragic play by William Shakespeare that abridges the original text by half and ups the quotient of sex and violence. Laurence Fishburne stars as the Moorish general Othello, who returns a hero after crushing an invasion attempt by the Turkish army near Cyprus. Pledged to marry the lovely Desdemona (Irene Jacob), Othello ignores the advice of his intended's father, who tells him that she may have a deceptive nature. Othello's aide Iago (Kenneth Branagh), jealous over the elevation of his rival, Cassio (Nathaniel Parker, the director's real-life brother) to lieutenant, begins scheming to make Othello believe that Desdemona and Cassio are carrying on an affair. On the slimmest of evidence, Iago manages to manipulate Othello's suspicious, distrustful nature. Played previously in black face on film by actors Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier, Parker's production of Othello (1995) was the first major cinematic production to cast an African-American in the title role. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Director John Duigan brings Jean Rhys' difficult 1966 best-selling novel to the screen. It's a story meant to be a prequel to Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre, surmising what drove the first Mrs. Rochester mad in that novel. In Jamaica in the 1840s, slavery has been recently outlawed. Plantation owner Annette Cosway (Rachel Ward) has become so poor that she marries a rich, boorish Englishman whom she does not love. Her husband, Paul Mason (Michael York), is a sexist, racist tyrant who mistreats his servants and his wife. Paul flees to England after the servants and their countrymen revolt and burn down the mansion, killing Annette's young son. Annette goes insane and is consigned to the care of a servant. Her daughter Antoinette (Karina Lombard) is placed in a convent until she is old enough to inherit the property, but the inheritance depends on her marrying a proper husband. By previous arrangement, she marries Edward Rochester (Nathaniel Parker). At first they are lustily in love, but Rochester proves to be as elitist who is as disrespectful as Mason. Rochester has title to all of Antoinette's property, but he despises Jamaica and wants to return to England. He also fears the black magic of Christophene (Claudia Robinson), who mixes up a voodoo potion which ends up driving the couple farther apart. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi