Nik Powell Movies
The final days of one of the truly legendary figures of British rock & roll are explored in this biographical drama, which marks the directorial debut of veteran producer Stephen Woolley. Brian Jones (played by Leo Gregory) was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, and his incisive blues guitar style, broad range of musical influences, and striking blond good looks helped establish him as part of the true royalty of the British music scene. But by 1969, Jones' life had begun to spiral out of control; his appetite for drugs made him wildly unreliable, his arrests for possession of marijuana prevented the Stones from touring the United States, his bandmates Mick Jagger (Luke de Woolfson) and Keith Richards (Ben Whishaw) had grown tired of working with him (and envious of the attention he received in the press), and his longtime paramour Anita Pallenberg (Monet Mazur) had become involved with fellow Stone Richards. Worried about Jones' drug abuse, the band's tour manager, Tom Keylock (David Morrissey), hires middle-aged carpenter Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) to do some repairs at Jones' estate, but also asks him to look after the musician and try to keep him away from dope. Keylock underestimates the power of Brian's personality, and before long, the straight-arrow Thorogood is Jones' household manservant and partner in hedonism, through Thorogood begins to chafe at the emotional games Jones enjoys playing with his new companion. Stoned was adapted in part from three different books on Brian Jones and the Rolling Stones as well as recently uncovered interviews with people who claim to have been involved in Brian Jones' death. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, (more)
Two sisters engage in a subtle war for the affections of a man half their age in this British comedy drama. It's 1936, and Janet Widdington (Maggie Smith) and her sister, Ursula (Judi Dench), are a pair of elderly spinsters who share a home in Cornwall on the coast of England. After a storm, the sisters discover that someone has been washed up on the beach in front of their house. Bringing the body inside, they discover the victim is a handsome Polish man named Andrea Marowski (Daniel Brühl) who has suffered a broken ankle and speaks no English, only Polish and German. As the sisters patch up Andrea's ankle, Janet dusts off her old German textbook from school, and begins getting to know more about their guest. It isn't long before Janet develops an infatuation for the good-looking stranger, and attempts to teach him English, which is more than a bit maddening to Ursula, who has fallen head over heels for him -- especially after the sisters discover he's a gifted violinist and hear him display his craft on a borrowed instrument. As the sisters find themselves vying for Andrea's attention, they wonder if they should report his presence to the authorities, especially after Olga (Natascha McElhone), an attractive woman in her early thirties who lives nearby, becomes aware of Andrea's presence in the home and wants to make contact with him. Based on a short story by William J. Locke, Ladies in Lavender marked the directorial debut of actor Charles Dance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, (more)
Australian filmmaker Paul Goldman directs the comedy The Night We Called It a Day, based on the actual events during Frank Sinatra's 1974 tour stop in Sydney. Joel Edgerton plays Rod Blue, a long-haired rock promoter in Australia during the '70s. He hopes to save his floundering career by spending all his money booking Frank Sinatra (Dennis Hopper). But when Sinatra arrives with his girlfriend Barbara Marx (Melanie Griffith), he insults the locals by calling reporter Hilary Hunter (Portia de Rossi) "a two-dollar whore." Union leader and future Australian prime minister Bob Hawke (David Field) tries to cancel the tour unless he apologizes, and it's up to Rod and his assistant Audrey (Rose Byrne) to step in and save the tour. Tom Burlinson performs Sinatra's vocal parts. The Night We Called It a Day was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Melanie Griffith, (more)
A literary drama offering the parallel tales of two wounded souls, director Mehdi Norowzian's tale of redemption and the struggle to find one's place in life finds an ex-convict's correspondence with a young boy offering hope for the future despite the fact that the boy has yet to find his own place in the world. Believing that her husband has been unfaithful, Mary Bloom (Elisabeth Shue) embarks on an affair with a young handyman (Justin Chambers) that results in her pregnancy. Racked with guilt when her husband dies in a car accident shortly thereafter, Mary begins to hate her son, Leo (Davis Sweat), leaving the youngster hungering for affection. Assigned correspondence with a convict for a class project, the withdrawn Leo begins to form a close bond with Stephen (Joseph Fiennes), who increasingly relies on his communication with Leo as a form of cathartic repentance. When Stephen is released from jail, he gets a job at a diner where concerned co-workers Vic (Sam Shepard) and Caroline (Deborah Unger) attempt to help him establish himself on the outside. Simultaneously brutalized by local drunk Horace (Dennis Hopper), Stephen decides to leave the diner and search for the boy whose letters carried him through his darkest days. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Directed by Craig Lahiff, Black and White is a story about bigotry, social injustice, and a real-life murder trial that made Australian headlines in the late '50s. On a December afternoon in 1958, the body of a nine-year-old white girl is discovered in a cave off the coast of Southern Australia. Detective Paul Turner (Roy Billing) quickly arrests a half-aboriginal fair-worker named Max Stuart (David Ngoombujarra), who signs a confession. However, being that Max is illiterate, the legitimacy of the confession is contested by his legal aid representatives, David O'Sullivan (Robert Carlyle) and Helen Devaney (Kerry Fox). Despite the questionable confession, Max is found guilty by the all-white, all-male jury, and sentenced to be hanged. O'Sullivan lodges a series of appeals, but no conclusive evidence of Max's guilt or innocence has been found to this day. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Carlyle, Charles Dance, (more)
Australian filmmaker known for such classics as The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Six Degrees of Separation, Fred Schepisi tells this story about a group of lifelong chums coming to terms with their friend's death, based on a prize-winning novel by Graham Swift. When Jack Dodd (Michael Caine) passes on, his three best buddies (Tom Courtenay, Bob Hoskins, and David Hemmings) along with his son (Ray Winstone) carry out his last wish -- to have his ashes cast off the pier of the seaside town of Margate, where he and his beloved wife honeymooned and where he hoped to retire. As the group venture to the coast in a large black Mercedes, they reminisce about their younger, wilder days. Eventually, they end up in a pub where, in a haze of beer and tears, secrets are unveiled. Meanwhile, Jack's wife, Amy (Helen Mirren), visits the mentally disabled daughter that Jack refused to acknowledge. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, (more)
- 2000
A woman who wants to get rid of her husband has second thoughts when he's suddenly not the man he once was in this romantic comedy shot in Ireland. Harry McKee (Brendan Gleeson) is the host of a long-running television series called "What's Cooking?" in which he shares recipes with celebrity guests. Harry is also an alcoholic, and chronically unfaithful to his wife Ruth (Amanda Donohoe), which has earned him a certain amount of bad publicity over the years. Ruth decides she's had enough of Harry's unreliability and demands a divorce, which Harry is in no position to contest. But the day before their divorce is to be declared final, Harry is attacked by muggers; his injuries leave him severely disoriented, and as a result he humiliates a powerful politician (James Nesbitt) on the air before passing out and falling into a coma. A week later, Harry regains consciousness, but something has happened to his memory -- he can't recall anything that has happened in the past 25 years, and he's convinced that he is only 18 years old. Ruth discovers her husband is now literally a different person, and with a little prodding she's able to re-educate Harry into a sweet-tempered and monogamous teetotaler. Harry isn't able to leave his past entirely behind, however; even if he can't remember it, the politician he embarrassed is eager to get revenge. Wild About Harry also features George Wendt and Adrian Dunbar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brendan Gleeson, Amanda Donohoe, (more)
- 1999
British TV screenwriter Kay Mellor debuts with this quirky screwball comedy. The film opens with romance novelist Kate (Kerry Fox) crashing her VW bug into the gleaming Jaguar of car salesman Dave (Ray Winstone), resulting in an insult-barbed screamfest. They both enter the same pub, where they learn that Kate's husband is leaving her for Dave's young buxom wife (his third). The distraught Kate seeks solace and cheer from Andrew (Ben Daniels), her gay actor friend and housemate. When Dave's wife changes the locks, he cuts a deal with Kate, who still intensely dislikes the man: if he can stay in her spare room, she can forget about the outlandishly high bill to repair his damaged Jag. Soon, of course, love blooms when Kate realizes that Dave is no mere car salesman: he is a loving father to his six kids from previous marriages and an avid reader of the classics. Things seem peachy until Dave mysteriously disappears. Fanny and Elvis was screened at the 1999 Dinard Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerry Fox, Ray Winstone, (more)
Finnish director Ilkka Jarvilaturi directs an international cast in this deadpan post-Cold War spy farce. Jaded CIA veteran Harry (Bill Pullman) and young SVR agent Natasha (Irene Jacob) are on-again off-again lovers who have little to do in Helsinki except spy on one another, until a courier (Bruno Kirby) shows up with a porno tape bearing top-secret US satellite codes. Natasha wants the tape to get her psychotic boss (Udo Kier) off her back, while Harry needs it to placate his Boy Scout colleague fresh from spy school. History is Made at Night was screened at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Pullman, Irène Jacob, (more)
The Lost Son brings together talented British director Chris Menges with a well-known face of French cinema, Daniel Auteuil, who plays a detective in self-exile in London who deals mostly with cases of adultery. At the same time, he is trying to come to terms with the ghosts of his past. While trying to locate the brother-in-law of an old friend who once saved his life, he finds himself in the middle of a network of pedophiles. The director tries to avoid voyeurism or over-simplification in dealing with such a sensitive issue. The tone is not judgmental. One memorable image sums up the thrust of the film: a silent boy urinating on the corpse of one of his torturers. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Auteuil, Nastassja Kinski, (more)
On the eve of near-future Northern Ireland's first general election, well-marketed reformer Michael Brinn (Robert Lindsay), a shoo-in for prime minister, has newspaper columnist Dan Starkey's dander up. Working the election beat alongside visiting Boston Globe writer Charles Parker (Richard Gant), Starkey (David Thewlis) watches his pointed barbs slide off Brinn's Teflon-coated backside. Drowning his troubles in drink in a Belfast park, Starkey invites beautiful art student Margaret (Laura Fraser) to a friend's party, unaware of her ties to both the IRA and to Brinn's political party. When Starkey's wife (Laine Megaw) catches him canoodling with Margaret, she kicks Starkey out and he ends up in Margaret's bed. When the girl turns up mortally wounded a mere day later, mouthing the words "divorcing Jack" just before her death rattle, Starkey finds himself a suspect in the murder. Donning a ridiculous wig and going on the lam, he must fend off a nationwide manhunt while tracing the connection between Margaret's death and the upcoming election. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, this British/French co-production marked director David Caffrey's feature debut. Irish writer Colin Bateman adapted his own novel, one of several to feature Starkey as a protagonist. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Thewlis, Rachel Griffiths, (more)
Love, politics, and class at once bring together and tear apart an extended family in this period drama. In 1920, Ireland is in the midst of a political upheaval, as upper class Anglo-Irish Protestants are driven from the country by the nation's increasingly vocal wishes Irish Catholic majority. Sir Richard Naylor (Michael Gambon) and his wife Lady Myra (Maggie Smith) are wealthy members of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy who slowly realize the life they've known in County Cork is coming to an end. Living with the Naylors are their financially-embarrassed friends Hugo and Francie Montmorency (Lambert Wilson and Jane Birkin); Marda Norton (Fiona Shaw), another friend who was one involved with Hugo; their nephew Laurence (Jonathan Slinger), a student at Oxford; and their niece Lois (Keeley Hawes). Lois is infatuated with Gerald (David Tennat), a British officer helping to mind the Naylors' property, though Myra believes he's beneath Lois' station; however, she's also keenly attracted to Connolly (Gary Lydon), an IRA soldier who is hiding in a mill on the estate. The Last September was based on the novel by Elizabeth Bowen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, (more)
- 1998
British director Caleb Lindsay helmed this romantic comedy with a twist. Two jaded London women, Dallas (Amelia Curtis) and Popeye (Louisa Milwood Haigh), are tired of the dating game and concoct a scheme to profit from men's attentions. They place personal ads, accept dates, and bilk their suitors out of dinners, gifts, and loans of money before dumping them. Elliot (Kevin McKidd) and Oz (John Simon) are two lonesome guys who decide to try singles ads for the first time. After they go out with Dallas and Popeye a few times, it dawns on Elliot that Dallas is stringing him along. He warns Oz that the women might be playing them for fools, but Oz has fallen hard for Popeye. Popeye tells Dallas that she is just playing Oz for bigger stakes, but eventually romance proves stronger than financial incentives. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin McKidd, Amelia Curtis, (more)
- 1998
A loser looking for work is asked to become a hired killer in this dark comedy. Frank (Mark Addy)'s life is going nowhere when his mother throws him out of the house. Frank ends up sharing a house with his friend Kenny (Charlie Creed-Miles), who lives with his alcoholic grandfather and disabled brother. Frank is shooting the breeze with Kenny one day and mentions he was once in the service as a Special Air Services officer. Kenny, very impressed, offers Frank some work -- he'd like him to kill Donut (Alan Atherall), a low-level crook responsible for his brother's injury, along with Donut's girlfriend Jackie (Samantha Morton). Frank is taken aback but eventually agrees, and he shows up at Donut's place to discover that he's not in. Jackie, however, lets Frank inside, and Frank and Jackie get to know each other a bit as he waits for his target to show up -- and wonders if he really has the nerve to kill someone. The Last Yellow was screened at the 1999 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mark Addy, Charlie Creed-Miles, (more)
Based on Jim Cartright's play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, this screen adaptation directed by Mark Herman is an underdog film about an underdog girl named Little Voice (or LV for short). LV (Jane Horrocks from Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet who does all her own singing) is a shy, mousy woman living with her mom Mari (Secrets and Lies' Brenda Blethyn). Little Voice doesn't leave her house. Instead she sings along to her record collection of Shirley Bassey, Judy Garland, and Marilyn Monroe. Her mother Mari, however, is an outspoken woman who is convinced her sex appeal (which is little) will land her a man, especially when she's drunk. One night while bar-hopping, Mari meets the suave yet sleazy talent agent Ray Say (Michael Caine), whom she takes home for a nightcap. There Ray hears the beautiful Little Voice singing a perfect rendition of Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz. He's stunned by its beauty and thinks he can make her a star. From there the story heads in complicated, romantic, and sweet-hearted directions that should not be given away. Also starring in this small independent film is Ewan McGregor. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks, (more)
In this witty romantic thriller, Alan (Jared Harris) is a London schoolteacher who leads a quiet, mildly stuffy life. As a hobby, he serves as a jazz disc jockey, spinning tunes for a hospital's public address system, but he craves danger and excitement. One night, Alan stops into a bar for a drink and sees Beatrice (Asia Argento), a beautiful woman who is arguing with two men. Alan is immediately enraptured by Beatrice and begins to pursue her. What Alan doesn't know is that Beatrice is an infamous thief known to the police as "B. Monkey" (named for her ability to break into anything), and the men she was quarreling with were Paul (Rupert Everett) and Bruno (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a gay couple who are her partners in crime. When Alan becomes aware of Beatrice's secret, he tries to lead her into a safer and more honest way of life, even as she lures him into the thrilling existence he's been dreaming of. Leading lady Asia Argento is the daughter of Italian horror auteur Dario Argento. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Jared Harris, (more)
- 1997
- R
In this debut feature film from young British writer-director Shane Meadows, an unemployed ex-boxer, Alan Darcy (Bob Hoskins), borrows money from a gangster to set up a boxing club in his small, gritty English city. Darcy narrates the story from his diary notes. Boxing saved him from a wasted youth, and Darcy promotes the idea to the town fathers as a gang-prevention strategy. The town's economy is in shambles and the young men have nothing to look forward to. Darcy gives them a reason to live and a dream, converting their violent energy to sport and fostering a sense of camaraderie and sportsmanship. First he wins them over by playing soccer with them, then he lures them into his lessons on boxing. He drives them hard to prepare them for their first match, against boxers from a rival local team. Darcy has the team poised to win when one of his best fighter's parents threatens to pull him from the match. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Hoskins, Danny Nussbaum, (more)
- 1997
Indian-born Bharat Nalluri directed this British thriller, set in a rundown Newcastle housing project in northeast England. Suicidal Irishwoman Chrissy (Susan Lynch) is on the brink of jumping from a 21st-story balcony with her four-year-old son Jake (Adam Johnston). Former police psychologist Rob (Paul McGann) tries to talk her inside. After she survives, Rob realizes he's attracted to her. Teen arsonists threaten the apartment of Chrissy's neighbor Jan (Denise Bryson) and her husband Jimmy (Tom Georgeson). Their own son Kevin (David Horsefield) is in cahoots with the gang. When Chrissy and Rob leave to go on a date, they are trapped in an elevator along with Jake and Jimmy's elderly father (Birdy Sweeney) after gang members tamper with the elevator's engine room. Filmed in Liverpool and shown at the 1997 London Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul McGann, Susan Lynch, (more)
- 1997
- R
In part, filmmaker Stephan Elliott (best known for The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert) made this black, surrealistic and subversive comedy to bid farewell to Australian cultural traditions (i.e. excessive beer drinking, racism and sexism) that are rapidly disappearing due to the increasing infiltration of urban sophistication and political correctness into even the county's most remote regions. Unfortunately, Elliot's outrageous tribute to past 'traditions' is presented with such vulgar abandon that many Australians are sure to be offended, not tickled, even though Elliot did try to tone down the mean spirit of the original script which was first titled 'Big Red.' The story centers on Teddy, a fugitive con-artist who has fled New York and gone into the Australian outback. His troubles begin when he is picked up at a lonely gas station by the blonde and brassy Angie who quickly seduces him and then knocks him out cold. Teddy awakens to find himself in the dusty town of Woop Woop. Surrounded by steep cliffs, the town, which was built near a now-defunct asbestos mine, is ruled by Angie's father Daddy-O, who is as much a warden as he is a local leader, deciding when and who will enter and leave Woop Woop. A weird place that is supported by a kangaroo-meat dog-food factory, it is populated by beer-swilling rednecks, crude eccentrics (and a giant kangaroo named Big Red) who find endless entertainment listening to Oscar & Hammerstein musicals (the town's ramshackle drive-in runs The Sound of Music and South Pacific continuously). Teddy quickly discovers that he is in effect the burg's newest prisoner and is expected to constantly service the sexually insatiable Angie. Not willing to remain a captive, Teddy begins planning his escape. The story's surrealism comes from Elliot's deliberately inappropriate use of musical numbers to punctuate events. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A football fan tries to reconcile his obsessive love of the game with his job, his romantic relationships, and his life in general in this comedy/drama. Since he was a child in North London, Paul Ashworth (Colin Firth) has been a loyal fan of the Arsenal football team; he attended many a match with his father as a child, especially after his parents divorced, and Arsenal's annual season is one of the few emotional anchors in his life. Now in his mid-30s, Paul teaches English at a state-run school and has become involved with Sarah (Ruth Gemmell), a fellow member of the school staff. While she's pretty, bright, and in nearly all ways a good catch, Sarah doesn't care for football. This lack of interest unfortunately shows itself at a time when Arsenal seems poised to win their first championship in 18 years, and Paul hopes to buy a house near their stadium to make it easier to attend home games. When Sarah becomes pregnant and the long-term stability of their relationship becomes a crucial issue, she forces Paul to decide what he loves more: Sarah and their baby, or Arsenal? For Paul, the answer isn't as simple as one might imagine, as he weighs the joys and responsibilities of adulthood against the passionate enthusiasm that sustained him through his youth. Fever Pitch was based on the semi-autobiographical book by Nick Hornby, who has a cameo as a football coach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, (more)
- 1996
- R
Violence and anti-gay prejudice combine to make a heated custody battle all the more ugly in this tense domestic drama. Hannah Wyatt (Joely Richardson) is a single mother who lives with her nine-year-old son Oliver (Sam Bould) and her boyfriend Frank Donally (Jason Flemyng). Hannah was married to Martyn (Martin Donovan), but their relationship ended bitterly when Martyn chose to finally acknowledge his homosexuality and left her to move in with his lover Tom Dixon (Ian Hart). Oliver has suffered several unexplained injuries in recent months, and one day Hannah comes home from work to discover that Frank has severely wounded Oliver's hand when he lashed out with violence over a minor bit of misbehavior. Hannah kicks Frank out of the house, but when he returns -- tearfully begging forgiveness and claiming he'll never hurt Oliver again -- she takes him back. Martyn learns of Frank's violence against his son, and she sues to have full custody of Oliver for the sake of the child's safety. However, Hannah is terrified of both losing her son and being left without a man in her life; she and Frank join forces in court against Martyn, using his homosexuality as their chief weapon against him and trying to poison Oliver's mind with homophobia against his father. Hollow Reed's soundtrack features selections recorded for the film by Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox, and Paul Weller. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson, (more)
- 1995
- NR
A young boy comes of age in rural Georgia during the 1940s in Terence Davies' challenging, visually powerful drama. Acclaimed for his nostalgic, beautifully photographed reflections on England's past (The Long Day Closes, Distant Voices, Still Lives), Davies looks beyond his home country to America with this adaptation of a novel by John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces. The film is told through the eyes of David (Jacob Tierney), a teenage boy struggling to deal with life in a troubled family. He reflects on his youthful experiences of his father (Denis Leary), an abusive, impoverished worker who disappeared during World War II after enlisting in the army. David is left to care for his increasingly unstable mother (Diana Scarwid) with the help of his Aunt Mae (Gena Rowlands), a lively big band singer. With David's recollections making up the loose plot, The Neon Bible stresses memorably intense images over narrative momentum, with cinematographer Michael Coulter creating sharp, painterly compositions. Some viewers will likely be frustrated by the slow pace and elliptical style, though others may be transfixed by the often stunning photography and poetic approach. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Jacob Tierney, (more)
The Beatles' early days as a struggling bar band are depicted in this fact-based drama, which tells the little-known story of original member Stuart Sutcliffe (Stephen Dorff). A close friend of John Lennon, Sutcliffe acts as the band's original bassist, accompanying them on their early gigs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany. The friendship becomes strained, however, when Sutcliffe falls in love with a German art student and starts to question his commitment to the band. With Sutcliffe's story taking center stage, the stories of the more famous Beatles largely fade into the background. The exception is John Lennon, thanks to a fierce performance by Ian Hart, who had previously portrayed the musician in the more intimate and provocative The Hours and the Times. While Backbeat does provide a new perspective on the band's beginning, and numerous opportunities for a group of modern rock musicians to recreate the band's energetic early performances, it never makes Sutcliffe's story seem more than a footnote to musical history. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sheryl Lee, Stephen Dorff, (more)
