Simon Moore Movies

Based on the children's books by author/illustrator James Gurney, the three-part, six-hour ABC miniseries Dinotopia got under way when a pair of teenaged half brothers, Karl and David Scott, took over the controls of their father Frank's (Stuart Wilson) private plane. Not surprisingly, the boys crashed the plane into the ocean, whereupon they were washed on the shore of an unchartered continent. While searching for their missing dad, Karl and David wandered into Waterfall City, the capitol of Dinotopia, a hidden civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexisted. In fact, some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic Stenonychosaurus named Zippo, possessed human intelligence and spoke perfect English. Among the many rules in Dinotopia was the edict that, once an outsider arrived, he or she was never allowed to leave. As Karl and David prepared to take their rightful places in their new surroundings, both boys developed a strong bond with young Marion (Katie Carr), who was on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of the Dinotopian society. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores, not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threatened to destroy Dinotopia and everyone living on the island. Decked out with special effects courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and the British FrameStore CFC, Dinotopia was designed as the pilot for a proposed weekly ABC adventure series. Co-produced by Disney Television and Hallmark Entertainment, the miniseries premiered as an episode of the Wonderful World of Disney anthology on May 12, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Simon Moore directed this British musical drama. The story follows five friends over a 15-year span. In 1979, students Scott (Adrian Lester), Bryony (Amy Robbins), Angela (Clare Cathcart), Tim (Billy Carter) and Keith (Daniel Ryan), in their last year at the University of Hull form a vocal group directed by Scott. Climbing atop their shared house one day, they team for a greatest-hits medley, delivered a cappella. Heartbroken over Scott, Bryony moves in with her tutor Gavin (Robin Herford), while Scott makes plans for an ascent to fame as a pop star. Facing the uncertain future, the quintet vows to reassemble when they are "halfway through life" -- on July 1, 1994 at the Cote d'Azur villa of Tim's parents. Instead, they're back together in 1985 for Bryony's wedding to Gavin. Scott has failed as a pop performer, Keith runs a chain of gardening shops, Tim is a children's TV personality, and Angela is a waitress who sings professionally. As the years pass and more surprises surface, it becomes evident their lives can never harmonize in a manner as perfect as their music. South African locations substitute for the French Riviera. Music by Alan Parker, with a cappella arrangements by Tot Taylor. More than 20 tunes are featured. Shown at the 1997 London Film Festival, Up on the Roof did not do well in its London opening but bounced back with a highly positive reaction at the 1997 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Director Sam Raimi brings his trademark comic book-influenced visual panache to this post-modern Western. Sharon Stone stars as Ellen, a mysterious female gunslinger who arrives in the frontier hamlet of Redemption for a contest pitting quick-draw artists against each other. The event is the brainchild of Redemption's evil, corrupt mayor, Herod (Gene Hackman), a criminal who has taken over the town and charges a 50% tax on local businesses. The pot for Herod's deadly game has swollen, attracting numerous colorful gunfighters from around the territory. As each battle thins the ranks of players, the pasts of several participants are revealed. Ellen is seeking revenge on Herod for a heinous past injustice. The fast-talking braggart known as "The Kid" (Leonardo DiCaprio) may in fact be Herod's son. The pacifist Reverend Cort (Russell Crowe), who refuses to participate in the bloodshed, is the fastest draw in the West and a former colleague of Herod's. After several spectacular slayings, Ellen and Herod stage a final showdown, but not before he has made her an unexpected proposal. The Quick and the Dead (1995) is dedicated to veteran Western actor Woody Strode, who appears in a cameo as Redemption's coffin maker, his final performance. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

This four-hour, six-episode British miniseries, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1989 and in America on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in 1990, provided the basis for Traffic, Steven Soderbergh's 2000 Oscar winner. Though Soderbergh and screenwriter Stephen Gaghan borrowed much of their plot and structure from the original, Traffik focuses on the European drug trade instead of the American one and utilizes England, Germany, and Pakistan as its major settings. One of the three primary plot strands involves Jack Lithgow (Bill Paterson), a member of the British Parliament, who discovers that his daughter, Caroline (Julia Ormond), is a heroin addict despite the fact that he leads the country's Drug Abuse Committee. In a parallel story line, Helen Rosshalde (Lindsay Duncan), the British wife of German drug smuggler Karl Rosshalde (George Kukura), must take over her husband's illegal operations after an associate turns state's evidence and Karl goes on trial. In the third interwoven segment, and the one that diverges the farthest from the plot of the American film, Pakistani poppy farmer Fazel (Jamal Shah) ingratiates himself to drug overlord Tariq Butt (Talat Hussain) in order to support his family after the Pakistani government, at the insistence of Lithgow and other British officials, cracks down on the subsistence-level farmers who supply the heroin trade with its raw materials. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide