Lynn Redgrave

A Manhattan shopaholic (Isla Fisher) whose buying sprees have buried her in immense debt lands a columnist gig dishing out financial advice in this Touchstone comedy based on Sophie Kinsella's series of books. P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) directs, with producing duties being handled by Jerry Bruckheimer. Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) can't seem to break her habit for making impulsive purchases, and while she's always decked out in the latest styles, her credit card bills are as thick as a telephone book. If Rebecca could somehow manage to land her dream job at a high-profile fashion magazine, perhaps she could transform what is now a simple addiction into something that could really benefit her professionally. When Rebecca becomes an advice columnist at a financial magazine published by the same company as her favorite fashion magazine, her fresh approach strikes a chord with readers and she quickly becomes the toast of the town. Meanwhile, her bank account is still bone dry, wreaking havoc on her love life and placing her career in jeopardy. As Rebecca teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, she gradually begins to reassess her priorities in life. Joan Cusack, John Goodman, Hugh Dancy, and Krysten Ritter co-star in the Touchstone Pictures production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Lynn Redgrave, Alan Cummings, Cynthia Nixon, and Tim Curry all lend their voices to this wide-eyed tale of adventure and awe in the exciting world of Tinseltown. Adapted from the popular series of children's books by Kay Thompson, Eloise in Hollywood finds everyone's favorite six-year old Plaza Hotel resident setting out on a mischievous adventure through the star-studded streets of Hollywood. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Christmas Eve is drawing near, and when the Plaza's most famous six-year-old vows to put on the best holiday show ever a last minute cancellation threatens to sink the elaborate holiday celebration in an animated tale that offers holiday fun for the whole family. A variety of traditions from various cultures promise to make this year's show the biggest holiday event in Plaza history, but in the ensuing chaos Mr. Salamone is prompted to cancel the show just plans begin falling into place. Now it's up to Eloise to keep the spirit of Christmas alive, and as the kids scramble to save the show and Eloise ponders whether her surprise guest will truly show up, everyone is about to learn the most important holiday lesson of all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

It's Halloween, and The Plaza's most notorious poltergeist is coming out to play. But when Eloise is accused of trying to scare the guests and the staff at the stately hotel, she realizes that the only hope of clearing her name lies in solving the mystery of a frightening phantom. Everyone in The Plaza knows the name Diamond Jim Johnson, but few believe that he has really returned from the dead to haunt them as the legends claim. While Eloise does her best to convince everyone that Diamond Jim's ghost is currently drifting through the hallways of The Plaza, no one believes her. Later, in order to reverse Diamond Jim's curse and save the hotel from some very real monsters, Eloise draws on her own supernatural powers of investigation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Alfred Kinsey was an entomologist who taught at Indiana University and had a keen interest in an area of human behavior that had seen little scholarly research -- human sexuality. While the courtship and reproductive patterns of animals had been carefully documented, Kinsey believed that most "established facts" about human sexual behavior were a matter of conjecture rather than research and that what most people said about their sex lives was not born out by the evidence (a subject that had personal resonance for him given the troubles he and his wife Clara Kinsey had in the early days of their marriage). After introducing a course in "Marriage" at Indiana University which offered frank and factual information on sex to students, Kinsey began an exhaustive series of interviews with a wide variety of people from all walks of life in order to find out the truth about sex practices in America. When he published Sexual Behavior and the Human Male in 1948, his findings were wildly controversial, indicating that most men had a wider variety of sexual experiences than most people imagined, including a number of practices commonly thought to be dangerous or perverted (including pre-marital sex, same-sex contacts, and masturbation). An even greater outcry greeted Kinsey's next volume, Sexual Behavior and the Human Female, which contradicted common notions than most women went into marriage sexually inexperienced. Kinsey is a film biography written and directed by Bill Condon which examines Kinsey's life and work from his strict childhood until his death in 1956. Liam Neeson plays Alfred Kinsey, and Laura Linney co-stars as Kinsey's wife and colleague Clara. John Lithgow highlights the supporting cast as Kinsey's repressed and moralistic father, while Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, and Timothy Hutton play members of Kinsey's research team and Tim Curry appears as an IU faculty member at odds with Kinsey's teachings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, My Sister's Keeper stars Kathy Bates as Christine, who since childhood has suffered from a debilitating mental illness. Spending most of her life in and out of various institutions, Christine has long yearned for independence, but is unable to wrest free of her controlling mother, Helen (Lynn Redgrave). Upon Helen's death, her other daughter, Judy (Elizabeth Perkins), a successful, self-absorbed art director who has deliberately distanced herself from her family, is appointed trustee of the troubled Christine. The rest of the film chronicles Judy's frustrated efforts to balance her sister's needs with her own, and Christine's ongoing ambition to stand on her own two feet. Though the filmed studiously avoids false sentiment and pathos, it still manages to touch even the hardest of hearts. Adapted from a book by Margaret Moorman, My Sister's Keeper was first seen as a CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation on January 27, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of The Brothers Grimm's best loved fairy tales gets an overhaul using the latest in visual effects technology in this comedy-drama for the whole family. A little girl (Dakota Fanning) has a hard time getting to sleep, so her father (Daniel Roebuck) dusts off a book of children's stories and reads her one of his favorites. Hansel (Jacob Smith) and Gretel (Taylor Momsen) are two children who are being raised by their loving father (Gerald McRaney) and his shrewish second wife (Delta Burke) after the unfortunate death of their mother. When Father is forced to leave home to find work in the city, Stepmother decides this would be the perfect time to get rid of the children, and she manages to "lose" Hansel and Gretel in an enchanted forest. While the children make a valuable and magical friend in The Sandman (Howie Mandel), they also encounter a mysterious woman with a gingerbread house (Lynn Redgrave), who takes them in; however, it isn't long before they learn she's actually a witch, and has made some unorthodox dinner plans involving her young guests. Hansel & Gretel also features the voice talents of Sinbad, Bobcat Goldthwaite, and Tom Arnold as, respectively, a talking raven, a troll, and the Bogeyman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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

William Shakespeare's King Lear is transposed into a modern-dress British crime drama in this tense tale of family ties and the lust for power. Sandeman (Richard Harris) is the elderly leader of a Liverpool crime syndicate who is fiercely loyal to his wife Mandy (Lynn Redgrave) and his daughters Jo (Emma Catherwood), Tracy (Lorraine Pilkington), and Kath (Louise Lombard). When Mandy is shot dead during a street robbery, Sandeman is shattered, and decides it's time to turn the business over to one of his daughters. Jo, the middle child, has long been Sandeman's favorite, and he decides to give her control of the business, as well as the lion's share of his estate when he dies. Loyal Jo, however, does not want to get involved in her father's dealings, which leads to a heated battle between Tracy and Kath over Sandeman's empire; adding fuel to the fire are Dean (Paul McGann), a strong-arm man for Sandeman who's married to Kath, and Jug (Jimi Mistry), Tracy's spouse and a notorious drug dealer. As a civil war rages among Sandeman's family and associates over control of his syndicate, police officer Puttnam (Aidan Gillen) and customs agent Quick (Tom Bell) make one last attempt to put Sandeman behind bars before he retires from his life of crime. My Kingdom isn't the first gangland drama to be based on the work of William Shakespeare; another of the Bard's tragedies received similar treatment in 1955's Joe Macbeth. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

On a remote island in Nova Scotia, teenaged Claire (Julia Brendler) slowly befriends Celia (Lynn Redgrave), an eccentric novelist who is working on a manuscript. The manuscript, which is set a half-century ago, tells the story of Silly (Kirsten Dunst), a young woman who tried to leave the island with the son (Trent Ford) of a WWII naval officer. Deeply cuts between past and present, contrasting the lives of the characters in the manuscript with those of Claire and Celia. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Best buddies Abbie (Madonna), a heterosexual yoga instructor, and Robert (Rupert Everett), a gay landscaper, cope with failed relationships, the approach of middle age, and the AIDS-related death of a mutual friend by sticking together as a "family of choice." Drunk one night, they have sex, and when Abbie turns up pregnant, they decide to move in together and raise the child as decidedly unconventional co-parents. Flash forward several years and Abbie begins dating Ben (Benjamin Bratt), an investment banker. The new relationship causes tension between Abbie and Robert that ultimately leads to betrayal, courtroom confrontation, and a sudden denouement. Everett, a sometime writer of trashy comic novels such as Hello Darling, Are You Working?, reportedly supplied the film's concept and even additional dialogue, although Tom Ropelewski is the credited screenwriter. This was pop diva Madonna's first film role since the hoopla of Evita; she supplied a highly edited hit cover of Don McLean's "American Pie" and one other song for the soundtrack, which was released on her own Maverick imprint. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Somewhere in L.A., Peter (Kenneth Branagh), a washed-up British playwright, struggles to duplicate his past glory as he surfs a foul-smelling tide of disenchantment. His wife, Melanie (Robin Wright Penn), manages to maintain an optimistic outlook even as she longs for the baby that her husband is hesitant to help her conceive. When Peter befriends Amy (Suzi Hofrichter), a neighborhood girl who has mild cerebral palsy, their friendship softens him to the idea of fatherhood and propels Melanie's maternal yearnings into hyperdrive. As if baby fever weren't enough, Peter is plagued by a seemingly benevolent stalker (Jared Harris), his neighbors' incessantly noisy dog, and the flighty cast and crew of his latest play. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide