Jason Watkins

A young girl embarks on a perilous journey to rescue her best friend and fight the forces of darkness in director Chris Weitz's adaptation of the first installment of author Philip Pullman's best-selling fantasy trilogy. Screen newcomer Dakota Blue Richards stars as young heroine Lyra Belacqua, Casino Royale star Daniel Craig appears as Lyra's ruthless adventurer uncle, Lord Asriel, and Nicole Kidman assumes the glamorous guise of the villainous Mrs. Coulter. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Three couples endure the living hell that is the happiest day of their lives in this comic mockumentary. Confetti is the United Kingdom's most prestigious wedding magazine, and publisher Antoni (Jimmy Carr) and editor Vivien (Felicity Montagu) have made a career out of documenting the cutting edge in nuptial ceremonies. Antoni and Vivien have decided to stage a contest to find the most original wedding concepts in Britain; the Confetti staff will narrow the field down to three candidates, help the couples stage their weddings, and treat the grand prize winner to a major photo spread in the magazine as well as a new home worth 500,000 pounds. Before long, Antoni and Vivien announce the finalists: Josef and Isabelle (Stephen Mangan and Meredith MacNeill), fitness enthusiasts who want a tennis-themed wedding; Matt and Sam (Martin Freeman and Jessica Stevenson), whose ceremony will be inspired by Hollywood movie musicals; and Michael and Joanna (Robert Webb and Olivia Colman), a pair of naturists who seldom wear clothes and want to be nude throughout the ceremony). Veteran wedding planners Archie Heron (Vincent Franklin) and Gregory Hough (Jason Watkins) are hired to help each couple have a day they'll always remember, though they may not look back on their work with fondness. Confetti was the second theatrical feature from director Debbie Isitt; all the dialogue was improvised by the film's cast during the filming. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A beautiful Russian bride seeking to start a new life in America finds her dreams shattered when an internet marriage agency sets her up with an abusive husband. When Natasha (Lia Williams) received word that she had found a new husband, she began to feel as if her future was finally looking up. That all changed, however, when her newfound husband reveals himself to be an abusive tyrant. These days, Natasha's only reprieve is her torrid affair with handsome houseguest Eddie (Douglas Hodge). But when lust gives way to deceit, murder, and madness, a once-innocent long shot at love becomes a desperate battle of survival. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Another member of the Fiennes family leaves a mark in the film business, as Martha Fiennes makes her big-screen directorial debut with a screen adaptation of the verse novel by Aleksander Pushkin, with her big brother Ralph Fiennes in the leading role. Onegin (Fiennes) is a blase man who has grown weary of the social whirl of his life in St. Petersburg in the 1820s. Onegin's wealthy uncle has recently passed on, bequeathing him a large estate in the country, where the financially embarrassed Onegin has now chosen to live. Onegin makes fast friends with his neighbor Lensky (Toby Stephens), who introduces Onegin to his fiancée Olga (Lena Headley). Olga in turn introduces him to her mother (Harriet Walker) and her younger sister, Tatyana (Liv Tyler). Onegin finds Tatyana interesting, and she is strongly infatuated with him, finding him coolly attractive and enjoying his straightforward way of expressing himself. Tatyana makes her feelings known to Onegin in a love letter, but he calmly rejects her advances. Lensky senses Tatyana's attraction to Onegin and talks to him about her; Lensky is shocked when Onegin says he regards her as unintelligent, and in a moment of anger Lensky challenges his friend to a duel. Neither man wants to kill the other, but both are too stubborn to back down, and Onegin ends up shooting Lensky, forcing him to flee to parts unknown. Six years later, a older and more humble Onegin re-encounters the married Tatyana and begs her for a second chance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this early film, award-winning director Mike Leigh uses a loose, open-ended narrative structure to unsettle cinematic expectations and create a truly inventive and very honest film. High Hopes opens with the arrival of Wayne, a small-town lad in his twenties, in the London metropolis. Completely lost in the hustle and bustle, Wayne asks for directions from a cyclist named Cyril. Unable to assist him, Cyril brings Wayne to his house to examine a map and meet his long-time girlfriend, Shirley, also a working-class intellectual. After the opening credits roll, Wayne, equipped with directions, leaves and turns to wave goodbye to the helpful couple. Completely unexpectedly the camera stays with Cyril and Shirley, Wayne exits the film as a minor character, and the viewer's notions of what to expect from a narrative drama are completely shaken. Throughout, High Hopes' seemingly innocuous events turn out to be crucial incidents in the characters' lives. After this abrupt change of direction, Cyril and Shirley pay a visit to Cyril's aging mother, Mrs. Bender, and meet her neighbors, the vapid Boothe-Braines. In a parallel story, we meet Cyril's high-strung sister, Valerie, who perpetually neglects her mother as she herself is neglected by her wandering husband, Martin. The remainder of the film explores the dull, unfulfilled lives of the middle class and the wasteful and purposeless lives of the upper-middle class (the Boothe-Braines), and Cyril and Shirley's struggle to decide if they should bring a child into this mess of a world. As with his other films, Leigh did not work from a script in filming High Hopes, relying instead on the actors' improvisations which contribute to the lyrical, open-ended quality of the narrative. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide