Maria Aitken Movies
Ralph Fiennes plays a grown man haunted by his childhood in David Cronenberg's stylized psychological drama Spider. Upon his release from a mental institution, Spider (Fiennes) takes up residence in a halfway house. Paranoid, quiet, and forever making notes, Spider spends much of the film remembering scenes from his youth, specifically a horrific event from his childhood that occurred after he came to believe that his father (Gabriel Byrne) was having an affair on his mother (Miranda Richardson). The psychological terror builds to a climax that challenges how much the viewer can believe Spider's recollections of the event. Bradley Hall plays Spider as a boy, and Richardson portrays many different women who come into contact with Spider. Spider was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, (more)
- 1998
Those familiar with Pakistan's history will be most likely to appreciate this elaborate tribute to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the man who created the Muslim nation in the wake of Great Britain's relinquishment of control over India. The story begins on a fantastical note, as an ailing Jinnah (Christopher Lee) expires and then finds himself in a heavenly place awaiting final judgment on his deeds. That could take some time, for the celestial bureaucrats in charge have misplaced Jinnah's file and the whole heavenly computer network is down. With nothing but time on his hands, Jinnah answers the many questions of his guide (Shashi Kapoor). His responses comprise the main story. Jinnah's tale begins in 1947 as England prepares to grant India its freedom. Muslims have always been a minority in the diverse country and Jinnah wants to create a country especially for them. The Muslim leader's nemesis, Viceroy Mountbatten (James Fox) finds Jinnah's proposal disturbing and so attempts to convince Ghandi (Sam Dastor) and Nehru (Robert Ashby) to dissuade Jinnah from starting more trouble, but it is to no avail. The story then jumps backward to 1916 when Jinnah (played as a young man by Richard Lintern) served as a prominent member of the India Congress Party. It was during this time that he married a beautiful Parsee (Indira Varma). As the guide continues his questions, a deeper understanding of Jinnah and the bloody events surrounding the genesis of Pakistan emerges. Jinnah played at the 1998 Montreal Festival of New Cinema & New Media. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lee, James Fox, (more)
The starring cast of the hit A Fish Called Wanda reunited for this farcical comedy, which star and co-screenwriter John Cleese described as "not a sequel, but an equal." When London's Marwood Zoo is purchased by Octopus, Inc., the multi-national holding company run by New Zealand publishing tycoon Rod McCain (Kevin Kline), the staff is given a firm order: if the zoo is not turning at least a 20% profit soon, it will be shut down. Willa Weston (Jamie Lee Curtis), who was recently hired by McCain to oversee another firm that bit the dust, is assigned to keep a watchful eye over zoo director Rollo Lee (Cleese), who gets the idea that since people seem to enjoy aggressive, violent entertainment at the movies, the zoo should round up and execute all the cute, benign animals and replace them with more vicious specimens to boost attendance. Needless to say, talkative zookeeper Adrian "Bugsy" Malone (Michael Palin) is appalled at this suggestion and attempts to disguise the more timid beasts with fake fangs and daubings of artificial blood. Meanwhile, Rod and his son Vince (also played by Kevin Kline) want the animal displays to be more spectacular, and they hope to boost income by introducing corporate sponsorship with logos pasted on the cages, the staff uniforms, and even the animals themselves. An already complex situation is further tangled by the efforts of Vince, Rod, and Rolo to seduce Willa, whose obsession with the bottom line is compromised by her fondness for the gorillas. Fierce Creatures was originally shot in 1995, but when the original version tested poorly, producers John Cleese and Michael Shamberg opted to reshoot part of the film (most notably the ending), with director Fred Schepisi replacing Robert Young for the revised sequences. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, (more)
- 1995
The Grotesque (aka Grave Indiscretion, aka Gentleman Don't Eat Poets) is a very black, very British comedy that puts an unusual and perversely entertaining spin on the classic tea-cup-and-intrigue mystery. Sir Hugo Coal (Alan Bates) is a grumpy, eccentric English gentleman (and self-styled paleontologist) obsessed with reconstructing a dinosaur skeleton with bones dredged up from a nearby moor. He is also penniless, and so must live vicariously off the inheritance of his smoldering American wife Harriet (Theresa Russell). Enter: the crafty and secretive Fledge (Sting) and his wife and co-conspirator Doris (Trudie Styler) the new Coal family servants. Fledge immediately sets his sights on Harriet and the Coal fortune, Doris on the household wine cellar. When Hugo and Harriet's daughter Cleo (Lena Headey) announces her engagement to demure poet Sidney Giblet (Steven Mackintosh), Hugo is less than pleased, but not for long, since Sidney is murdered soon after and, we learn, his body gruesomely disposed of. As the rivalry between Fledge and Hugo escalates, Cleo, the police, and the poet's shrewd mother Mrs. Giblet (Anna Massey) follow a trail of clues from the swampy, bone-littered moor to the Coal pig sties and finally (rather horribly) back to the Coal dinner table. Though criticized for its irreverent humor and somewhat ambiguous ending, The Grotesque is worth a watch. Sting and his real-life partner Trudie Styler (who co-produced the film) are both wonderful as the loathsome, manipulative servants, as is Anna Massey as the poet's investigative mother. The real stars of the film, however, are not the actors, but the dense, ornamental interiors provided by Jan Roelfs and Michael Seirton. Every corner of the Coal mansion is littered with artifacts and art objects, every frame crawling with worms, frogs, and reptiles. Like a Dutch still life, The Grotesque is simultaneously repellent and attractive, a painterly assemblage of morbidity and dramatic artifice. ~ Anthony Reed, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Bates, Theresa Russell, (more)
A sensible civil servant on the verge of resigning from his dreary job is assigned the task of assessing the functionality of a long-abandoned government research facility, only to become enamored with the quirky population of the remote, East Anglia town that houses it, in director Martyn Friend's adaptation of John Hadfield's acclaimed novel. Jasper Pye has never been what one would call an impulsive or exciting man, but upon venturing out to Arcady to fulfill his latest assignment, he soon finds that a change of scenery may be just the thing to turn his boring life around once and for all. Despite his initial assumptions that the population of Arcady would be little more than backwater country bumpkins, the colorful personalities of the friendly townfolk continually sidetrack Jasper from his official duties as wild drinking binges at the local pub, lively traction engine rallies soon begin to take precidence over his work priorities. If he's not careful, Jasper may even find himself experiencing a little moonlight romance with the naughty daughters of the town aristocrat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Husband and wife producers Richard Goodwin and Christine Edzard return to the same milieu as in their epic version of Little Dorrit in The Fool. This slight story stars Derek Jacobi as Mr. Frederick, a theatrical clerk in the London of 1857, who concocts a monetary scam to bilk the rich. In order to carry off this deception, Mr. Frederick passes himself off as the well-heeled Sir John. But problems arise after he is recognized by some theater people, and he begins to take his false identity a bit too seriously. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, (more)
- 1989
Hosted by actress Maria Aitken, this instructional video is part of a BBC Master Class series in which acting lessons are given to the viewer with particular emphasis on high comedy. Scenes from Coward, Wilde, Sheridan, Congreve, and one of her own readings from Private Lives are used as instructional tools. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
In A Fish Called Wanda, Jamie Lee Curtis plays an ambitious con artist who uses every ounce of her sexual wiles to obtain a fortune in jewels stolen by her gangster lover Tom Georgeson. First, she romances Georgeson's dimwitted but deadly henchman Kevin Kline (who won an Academy Award for his performance). Then, to clear the path for her getaway with Kline, Jamie woos Georgeson's starched-shirt attorney, John Cleese -- and it's Cleese whom she genuinely falls in love with. Michael Palin, Cleese's former Monty Python cohort, plays a stuttering mob flunkey who continually messes up his one big assignment: killing a little old lady (it isn't that he has any qualms about knocking off the old dear; it's just that her pet dogs keep getting in the way). A Fish Called Wanda was scripted by star John Cleese. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, (more)
Based on Paul Theroux's Doctor Slaughter, Half-Moon Street is motivated by the moneymaking schemes of the heroine, PhD researcher Laura Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver). Stuck in a low-paying government job in London, Laura decides to increase her bank account by working for what is euphemistically termed an "escort service." It is understood that her duties go above and beyond mere handholding, and Laura has no problem with this. Michael Caine enters the scene as Lord Bulbeck, a high-ranking British diplomat with whom Laura forms a "special" bond. Little does she know that she is being set up in a power-grabbing scheme masterminded by oil-rich sheik Karim Hatami (Nadim Sawalha). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sigourney Weaver, Michael Caine, (more)
- 1971
- PG
Vanessa Redgrave stars as Mary Stuart of Scotland, with Glenda Jackson co-starring as Queen Elizabeth I. As with the earlier Maxwell Anderson play Mary of Scotland, the film sympathizes with Mary, and there are two fictionalized face-to-face confrontations between the two queens (who never met in real life). With this film, old-line Hollywood producer Hal Wallis continued his trademark of showcasing dynamic stars within a period milieu; the film is literally swamped with lavish Tudor decor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, (more)
