Fionnula Flanagan Movies
Educated in Switzerland and England, Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan studied for her trade at Dublin's Abbey Theatre. With her portrayal of Gerty McDowell in the 1967 film version of Ulysses, Flanagan established herself as one of the foremost interpreters of James Joyce. She made her 1968 Broadway bow in Brian Friel's Lovers then appeared in such Joycean theatrical projects as Ulysses in Nighttown and James Joyce's Women (1977). The last-named project earned her "Critic's Circle" awards in Los Angeles and San Francisco; it was subsequently committed to film in 1988, with Flanagan repeating her portrayal of Harriet Shaw Weaver. A familiar presence in American television, Flanagan has appeared in several made-for-TV movies, among them The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975), Mary White (1977), The Ewok Adventure (1984) and A Winner Never Quits (1986). She won an Emmy for her work as Clothilde in the 1976 network miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. Fionnula Flanagan's weekly-series stints have included Aunt Molly Culhane in How the West Was Won (1977), which earned her a second Emmy nomination; Lt. Guyla Cook in Hard Copy (1987) and Kathleen Meacham, wife of police chief John Mahoney (another transplant from the British Isles) in Help (1990). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Based on author Rick Porrello's book To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia, director Jonathan Hensleigh's richly detailed biopic details the rise and fall of notorious Cleveland union rep Danny Greene (Ray Stevenson), who earned notoriety in the mid-'70s for his bold willingness to defy the Italian mob. Raised on the mean streets of Cleveland, Greene's tough reputation eventually lands him a contact with the local mob. Before long, the scrappy local has become a mafia enforcer, but after forming an alliance with notorious gangster John Nardi (Vincent D'Onofrio) and burning feared loan shark Shondor Birns (Christopher Walken), Greene starts to discover that he has the potential to become as powerful as any of his adversaries. Later, Greene develops a reputation as untouchable after surviving numerous assassination attempts, and dealing a devastating blow to organized-crime syndicates across the U.S. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, (more)
Confrontational Irish cop Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) reluctantly teams with uptight FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) to take down a gang of international drug traffickers in this comedy thriller co-starring Mark Strong, Rory Keenan, and Liam Cunningham. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, (more)
Robert Zemeckis directs this animated version of the Yuletide classic A Christmas Story. The story centers on Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), a penny-pinching miser who cares nothing for the people around him, least of all his hopelessly downtrodden employee Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman) and infectiously optimistic nephew, Fred (Colin Firth). On Christmas Eve, after a frightening encounter with the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, Scrooge is visited by three spirits -- the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come -- who take him on an eye-opening journey to expose the truths he is reluctant to face. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey
Ricky Gervais directs himself in The Invention of Lying, a comedy in which everyone in the world tells the truth except for one misfit in the film industry, who after discovering the act of lying, milks it to become the world's most phenomenal performer. Matthew Robinson will co-direct from his own script, which he and Gervais collaborated on. Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, and Louis C.K. co-star in the Media Rights Capital production, with John Hodgman, Tina Fey, Christopher Guest, and Jeffrey Tambor rounding out the rest of the cast. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, (more)
Based on Danny Wallace's autobiographical book, Jim Carrey stars as a man who decides to spice up his life by saying yes to everything in his life that he would normally say no to. Fun With Dick and Jane's creative team of director Peyton Reed and writer Nick Stoller head up the production. Zooey Deschanel co-stars as the romantic interest, with Bradley Cooper appearing as Carrey's best friend. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, (more)
Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins took a turn behind the camera for the first time since 1996's August with this mind-bending fantasy that he also wrote and stars in. Hopkins plays Felix Bonhoeffer a screenwriter with a habit of getting lost in his own head. Felix begins to doubt reality itself, though, when the real world and the one in his imagination begin to blend together. Also starring Christian Slater and John Turturro, Slipstream premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Stella Arroyave, (more)
The first film by Duncan Tucker, Transamerica stars Felicity Huffman as a pre-operative transsexual named Bree (whose given name was Stanley). One week before going under the knife, Bree learns that she fathered a boy who is now 17 and is in trouble with the law. Bree would like to ignore this information, but is forced to meet the young man, Toby (played by Kevin Zegers), by her analyst Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), who will not allow the surgery to happen unless Bree meets him and confronts this aspect of her past. Upon meeting, the son believes that Bree is simply a do-gooder. She buys a car and the two road-trip back to her home in Los Angeles, Bree all the while attempting to keep from Toby the truth of the situation. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, (more)
Four men come together to find out how and why the woman who raised them was killed in this hard-edged urban drama from director John Singleton. Short-tempered Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), struggling musician Jack (Garrett Hedlund), streetwise Angel (Tyrese Gibson), and hard-working Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) are four guys who don't appear to have much in common, in terms of either race or temperament. However, these men have one very important bond -- all four were adopted and raised by the same woman (Fionnula Flanagan), and they all love her as a mother, and respect one another as brothers. When their mother is killed during a robbery at a grocery store, the four brothers come together for the funeral, but when they don't get straight answers about what happened to her, they begin looking into the crime themselves. The deeper they dig into the case, the more the brothers begin to suspect that the shooting wasn't an accident, and that powerful and unexpected forces were involved. Four Brothers marked one of the first starring roles for Andre Benjamin, better known as Andre 3000 of the top selling hip-hop group OutKast. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, (more)
Eight loosely connected city dwellers find their lives intersecting through their sexual proclivities in director Ken Kwapis' screen adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's enduring play La Ronde. As the revolving set of bedroom doors spin ever faster, the hopes, fears, truths, and heartaches of those longing to make a meaningful connection surface to offer a revealing look at modern sexuality. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
A career soldier is forced to choose between following orders and saving lives in this action thriller. Lt. A.K. Waters (Bruce Willis) is a veteran Navy SEAL whose commander (Tom Skerritt) has given his team a special assignment. A Central African nation is expected to explode into war at any moment, and Waters and his cohorts are to escort any American citizens in the area to safety, most notably Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci), a doctor from the United States who has set up a clinic in the jungle. Waters and his men find Kendricks, but she refuses to leave with them unless she can bring along 70 refugees who have been left to her care. Kendricks makes it clear that if they are left behind, the refugees will face certain death, but Waters's C.O. insists he bring back Kendricks -- but not her patients. Forced by his conscience to disobey orders, Waters and his team race against time to escort the refugees to a border town where they will find safe haven before invading troops can ambush them. Tears of the Sun (which was produced under the title Man of War) also features Cole Hauser and Fionnula Flanagan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, (more)
- 2003
This fourth TV movie inspired by the classic, long-running mystery series Murder, She Wrote is also the first based on a novel, namely Lyn Hamilton's The Celtic Riddle. Angela Lansbury recreates her role as mystery writer-cum-amateur sleuth Jessica B. Fletcher, who on this occasion has journeyed to Ireland, there to attend the reading of the will of an old friend. Naturally, the bequeathing is chock-full of bizarre conditions and codicils, but the reading itself takes second place to the series of murders which follow. The police do their usual "thorough" investigation and come up with nothing, leaving it to Jessica to assemble the clues, many of which are maddeningly cryptic, and all of which are somehow linked to a huge hidden treasure. Filmed on location, Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle first aired May 9, 2003, on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Angela Lansbury, Joe Michael Burke, (more)
- 2003
Three losers jump headfirst into the world of bars, gambling and hookers after leaving town to avoid repaying a bookie. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Allen Leech, Ciaran Nolan, (more)
- 2002
- PG13
- Add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to Queue Add Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood to top of Queue
Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar's first English-language production is a creepy period ghost story that continues in the vein of his earlier art house hit Open Your Eyes (1997). Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a devoutly religious mother of two ailing children who has moved with her family to a mansion on the English coast while awaiting her husband's return from World War II, though he has been declared missing. Their children, Anne (Alakina Mann) and Nicholas (James Bentley), both suffer from a rare photosensitivity disease that renders them extremely vulnerable to sunlight, prompting Grace's rule of having only one door open in the house at a time. When Anne begins claiming to see ghosts, Grace at first believes her newly arrived family of eccentric servants to be responsible, but chilling events and visions soon lead her to believe that something supernatural is indeed going on. The Others was released only a few months prior to Vanilla Sky (2001), the American remake of Alejandro's Open Your Eyes (1997), ironically starring Kidman's then-estranged husband Tom Cruise. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, (more)
Vanessa Stewart (Janine Turner) has the soul of an artist, but her business tycoon father insists that she follow in his footsteps. As a result, Vanessa convinces herself that she wants to be a globetrotting executive, and also that she truly loves the man to whom she is engaged. But while in Venice on a business trip at the behest of her father, Vanessa meets and falls in love with adventurous Irish TV war correspondent Bill Fitzgerald (Paudge Behan). Deciding to kick over the traces, Vanessa is prepared to turn her back on her family obligations and plight her troth with Bill. But Fate, as it often does, takes a hand in matters when Bill is reported killed during a dangerous combat assignment. Based on a novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (as if the full title of this made-for-TV feature left any doubt), A Secret Affair first aired October 27, 1999 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janine Turner, Paudge Behan, (more)
- 1998
In this TV series, Boston police detective Sean McGrail (Jason Beghe) and public defender Annie Cornell (Moira Kelly) are an odd couple caught in a passionate love affair, and they're just as passionate when they clash. In their close-knit Irish neighborhood, they get plenty of advice, including caustic comments from Sean's mom Fiona (Fionnula Flanagan), his firefighter brother (Stephen Lee), and his other brothers (Jason Wiles, Stephen Largay), also cops. The opening episode sets up an improbable situation that has Annie in the courtroom grilling her hubby-to-be about thong underwear and strippers. Filmed in L.A., this romantic comedy-drama premiered September 30, 1998 on CBS. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Moira Kelly, Jason Beghe, (more)
- 1998
Old New Borrowed Blue is a bittersweet love story of modern times. Rosie and Vincent are desperately trying to have a baby, but this is causing an unavoidable stress on their sex life. When Benoit, a French postal worker and teenage pen pal of Rosie's, arrives on their doorstep with romantic intentions, Vincent is not as thrilled as Rosie. Having found out that his over-the-channel sweetheart is now married, Benoit settles in as her houseguest. Vincent is unhappy with the arrangement and tries to cure his wounded ego in an affair with his old flame, the local hairdresser, Cathy. Rosie and Vincent find themselves facing choices they had never imagined they would have to make. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christopher Eccleston, Dervla Kirwan, (more)
- 1998
Based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Dame Mary Durack, this big-budget Australian historical drama miniseries traces three generations of the Duracks. After several family deaths, the Duracks flee Irish famines of the 1840s for a better life Down Under, where they make a fortune with Queensland cattle -- only to lose it all in a property crash near the turn of the century, prompting patriarch Patsy Durack (Stephen Dillane, of Welcome to Sarajevo) to reflect, "If it's kings we are, it's kings in grass castles that may be blown away in the wind." Compressing 75 years into four hours, the Durack saga is set against the wider tapestry of pioneering Australian history during the 19th Century. Premiered March 29, and April 5, 1998 on Seven Network Australia. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Stephen Dillane, Essie Davis, (more)
Just as the charming British film The Full Monty told the story of simple men willing to shed their clothes for money, Waking Ned Devine is the story of older Irish men who pursue money and take off their clothes. Commercial director Kirk Jones makes his feature directing debut with a story about a small town in Ireland called Tulaigh More, where one of their 52 inhabitants wins the lotto jackpot of nearly seven million pounds. When nobody claims it, the town goes on a search to find out why. They find the winner, old Ned Devine, dead -- a smile on his face, clutching the winning ticket. Well, in Ireland, the lottery winnings must be claimed by the purchaser, which puts the town in a spot -- if the lottery officials discover Devine dead, he forfeits his money. What ensues is a community coming together in hopes of getting his money to split 51 ways. What they learn is the importance of friendship and the true value of money. To reveal any more would spoil some major surprises, but suffice it to say, it involves aging actors David Kelly, 69, and Ian Bannen, 70, naked. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ian Bannen, David Kelly, (more)
- 1996
- R
A 1981 hunger strike in a Belfast prison is the historical inspiration for the drama Some Mother's Son, which attempts to focus on the personal dimensions of the event through its portrayal of the families of the striking prisoners. Directed by Terry George, co-author of In the Name of the Father, the film is anchored by Helen Mirren's performance as Kathleen Quigley, an educated, thoughtful schoolteacher who feels the Irish-English conflict is remote from her life until her son is arrested for his involvement with the Irish Republican Army. Yet while she supports her son and works to save his life, Kathleen nevertheless maintains her disdain for violence. This is in great contrast to Annie Higgins, the mother of Gerard's collaborator, who wholeheartedly embraces the IRA's mission. Despite their differing philosophies, the women form an uneasy bond over the suffering of their imprisoned sons. Kathleen finds herself increasingly politicized but finds herself facing a moral dilemma when the prisoners begin a hunger strike. As Gerard's next of kin, it is her right to agree to intravenous feeding should her son enter a coma; however, many people, including Annie, would see such as an act as betrayal of the strike, leaving Kathleen with a choice between saving her son's life and respecting his cause. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanagan, (more)
- 1995
In the first episode of a two-part story, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) is in Ireland, staying at a bed-and-breakfast at Ballynook Castle. Rumor has it that the castle is haunted by the ghost of a murdered woman, and the locals are convinced that the spirt is responsible for the death of a kitchen worker. Suspecting that the victim was murdered by "live" culprits who are searching for a hidden treasure, Jessica follows a trail of clues that may well lead her into a death trap! Rod Taylor and Fionnula Flanagan, both of whom had appeared in previous episodes filmed in Ireland, show up here in different roles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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