Simon Relph Movies

Bugs! is a live-action 40-minute nature documentary filmed in the large IMAX format in 3-D. Shot on-location in the jungles of Borneo, the film follows the life cycles of the caterpillar known as Papilio and the praying mantis known as Hierodula. As a caterpillar, Papilio dines on leaves, builds a cocoon, and becomes a butterfly before searching for a mate and laying eggs. As a butterfly, she survives by drinking the nectar from flowers. Meanwhile Hierodula catches flies for dinner, sheds his outer layer, and mates with a female mantis twice his size. Also includes large-format footage of other creatures, such as beetles, scorpions, tarantulas, frogs, and bats. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter and director John Byrne transformed his own 1983 off-Broadway play into this coming-of-age comedy-drama that is divided into six segments, each one a different day during one week in the lives of its main characters. Spanky Farrell (Russell Barr), Hector McKenzie (Bill Gardiner), and Phil McCann (Robin Laing) are a trio of working class teenage boys who labor in a drab Scottish carpet factory in 1957. Each of the lads dreams of a way out of his dreary life: Spanky desires to relocate to the U.S., Hector plans to marry a coworker -- Lucille (Louise Berry), who works in the mailroom -- and Phil toils as an artist, assembling a portfolio that he hopes will earn him an art school admission. While they plan for the future, the three young men are also eagerly anticipating a staff-sponsored dance that's going to be held that weekend by their company. Byrne's original stage production starred Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn and Val Kilmer in the leads. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Hey all you gremmies! Let's wax up our boards, load up the woodie and hit the beach for a big day of surfing in ... Cornwall, England? Blue Juice takes a look at a small but hardy group of British surfing enthusiasts who have learned to make the best of the flat waves and low tides of their homeland. Thirtysomething JC (Sean Pertwee) has been the local king of the surfing scene for some time, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Chloe (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who would like JC to pay a little more attention to her and perhaps start doing something useful with his life. One night, JC's buddies Dean (Ewan McGregor), a small time drug dealer, and Josh (Steven Mackintosh), a record producer, show up with their pal Terry (Peter Gunn) in tow. Terry is about to get married, and they figure that they should take him out for a good time before he puts on the harness. JC is eager to tag along, but Chloe is annoyed at JC for leaving her alone at home for yet another night, and she gives him his walking papers. JC is thinking of hooking up with some friends to check out some real waves elsewhere, but Chloe starts to think that she would like to give JC another chance. Blue Juice was released a year before Ewan McGregor had his commercial breakthrough in Trainspotting, and three years before The Mask of Zorro would make Catherine Zeta-Jones a star. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jessica Tandy made one of her final screen appearances in this comic road movie. Freda (Bridget Fonda) is a would-be singer and songwriter who would like a career as a performer but lacks the courage; it doesn't help that her husband Vincent (Elias Koteas), a graphic artist, keeps insisting that her interest in music is merely a hobby. Hoping to put some spark back into their marriage, Freda and Vincent take a vacation to Georgia, where they meet Camilla (Jessica Tandy), who lives in the main house near their cottage. Freda discovers that Camilla was once a musician; she claims to have enjoyed a stellar career as a concert violinist in her native Canada, and she knew only the best people (although Freda isn't sure that she believes all Camilla's stories, especially Ghandi's fondness for enemas). While Vincent gets involved in a business deal with Camilla's son Harold (Maury Chaykin), who produces sleazy exploitation films, Camilla regales Freda with stories about her greatest triumph, performing the Brahms Violin Concerto at Toronto's Winter Garden Theater. When Camilla discovers that the Brahms concerto is to be performed soon at the Winter Garden, Camilla and Freda decide that this is something they should see, and the pair hits the road to the Great White North, meeting a remarkable variety of people along the way. Tandy's husband and frequent co-star Hume Cronyn has a supporting role as one of Camilla's former beaus; it was their last picture together. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Previously filmed in 1935 with Ann Harding, Enchanted April, a romantic novel by Elizabeth, was remade in 1992. The first film skips along superficially at 66 minutes: the second, directed by the always intriguing Mike Newell, runs 101 minutes, allowing for richer characterizations and a bottomless reserve of brilliant dialogue. Two cloistered, married English women (Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson) impulsively rent an Italian villa and embark upon a vacation without their spouses. They are joined by two other ladies: the high-flown aging widow Joan Plowright, and elegant upper-crust beauty Polly Walker) whom they've never met. Under the spell of an exotic new location, the foursome are in for quite a few life-altering experiences, many of them amusing, and not a few very surprising. Impeccably accurate in its recreation of European manners and mores in the 1920s, Enchanted April is sheer bliss from fade-in to fade-out. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this film, a teenage Irish Catholic girl, Goretti (Emer McCourt) falls in love as only a 15-year-old can, and is carried away by the power of her feelings. Innocent teenage worries over boyfriends, girlfriends, and peer standing provide a context for Goretti's life before she falls in love. She soon defies the restrictions of her upbringing, and, because contraception is forbidden by her religious belief, she discovers that she is pregnant. Her lover cannot face the responsibility of fatherhood -- he writes her so from prison, where he was sent by the British soldiers after being accused of a crime he did not commit. Abortion is out of the question. Although Goretti has the support of her best friend and confidant, a downward spiral begins as she cannot face her Catholic family with the truth of her condition. Goretti seems to be waging a losing battle against a culture itself in conflict, as the presence of the British soldiers makes clear. This excellent exploration of a young girl's broader identity assumes an increasingly bleak and dark mood, as the story of Goretti unfolds on all levels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In a novel and intriguing approach to storytelling, director David Hare has created an engaging mystery and human drama that ostensibly focuses on an innocent dinner party but is really about something else. Jean Travers (Vanessa Redgrave) is an old-maid schoolmarm who has lived in Wetherby, a small town in northeastern Yorkshire, all of her life. She is still haunted by memories of a passionate love affair with a young man who was later murdered while on military duty in Malaysia nearly 35 years ago in the '50s. One evening, Jean invites a group of friends over for dinner; the group is comprised of two couples, one of which spends the time sniping at each other. A young man, John Morgan (Tim McInnerny) is also in the dinner party. Jean thinks he was brought along by one of the couples; the couples, in turn, believe he was invited by Jean -- in short, he is a total stranger that everyone assumes is a friend of someone there. As the evening progresses, political topics of the moment are brought up and chewed over; Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon, and other notables of the era are discussed, and various comments are made on the laziness of today's youth. The dinner party ends, and the next day John Morgan comes back to visit Jean. While she is in the midst of preparing tea for them both, he takes out a gun and kills himself. The shock waves from his senseless act later reverberate among the dinner-party guests, as the police investigator tries to piece together the man's background and the dinner party itself. Questions are raised about his motives, and viewers see the dinner party again, moment by moment, in an entirely new light. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this film, set in a British girls school just before the outbreak of WW II, two young girls build a beautiful friendship despite their disparate backgrounds. Their teachers disapprove of their close relationship and try to discourage it, which suggests to the viewer that they suspect a lesbian affair could evolve, but as was true to the era being portrayed, this was never verbalized. This film gently touches upon the vulnerable days of adolescence. ~ All Movie Guide

This kooky British comedy chronicles the zany and occasionally dramatic exploits of the Song and Dance Unit, Southeast Asia (SADUSEA, pronounced "sad-you-see") assigned to entertain troops stationed in the Malayan jungle during WW II. It is based on a play by Peter Nichols. The entertainers are led by the rigid Major Giles Flack. Much to Flack's discomfiture, most of his unit is gay and enjoys dressing up in drag. The film also contains a serious subplot about a treacherous cad in the group who gets the only real woman in the troupe pregnant and then abuses her. He also steals ammo and information to give to the enemy. In the end, a terrible battle ensues at his hands. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Few filmmakers other than Warren Beatty would have had the courage and vision to fashion an epic film from the life of famed American Communist John Reed (who is the only US citizen buried in the Kremlin). The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of unsubtle and prejudicial broad strokes. The film begins in 1915, when Reed (Beatty) makes the acquaintance of married Portland journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). So persuasive is Reed's point of view--and so charismatic is Reed himself-- that Bryant kicks over the traces and joins Reed and his fellow radicals. Among the famous personages depicted herein are Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson) and Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann). The second half of this nearly-200-minute film skims through the years when Reed, now a Russian resident, becomes disillusioned by the harsh realities of Bolshevism. Despite the celebrity line-up of real-life "witnesses" to the events depicted in the film (ranging from novelist Henry Miller to comedian George Jessel!), historians took Reds to task for its oversimplification of events and its laundering of the notoriously promiscuous Louise Bryant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a play by Terence Rattigan, The Nelson Affair recounts an infamous 18th century British scandal in slow-paced, talk-heavy fashion. Lord Nelson (Peter Finch) returns from battling Napoleon's navy and takes some well-deserved leave. He immediately picks up where he left off with Lady Hamilton (Glenda Jackson), blatantly carrying on their affair in public view of his family and beleagured wife (Margaret Leighton). Hamilton herself is under strain due to her advancing age and Nelson's unflagging need to return to sea. The picture plays more like a filmed theater piece than an epic historical romance (the famous Battle Of Trafalgar was filmed indoors and utilized stock footage), but Finch and Jackson turn in their usual excellent performances. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

A resident of 23rd-century Earth becomes involved in a revolution after discovering the hidden truth about society's rulers in director John Boorman's sci-fi drama. Sean Connery plays Zed, the central rebel, who begins the film as a member of the Exterminators, a band of skilled assassins who exact a reign of terror over the lesser Brutals. The Exterminators answer only to their god, a gigantic stone image known as Zardoz. Haunted by doubt about Zardoz's true divinity, Zed chooses to investigate. His disbelief is confirmed when the god proves to be a fraudulent tool of the Eternals, a secret society of brilliant immortals who pretend to divinity in order to exploit the masses. Knowing the truth, Zed sets out to reveal the hoax and destroy the Eternals' unjust rule. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Vanessa Redgrave stars as Mary Stuart of Scotland, with Glenda Jackson co-starring as Queen Elizabeth I. As with the earlier Maxwell Anderson play Mary of Scotland, the film sympathizes with Mary, and there are two fictionalized face-to-face confrontations between the two queens (who never met in real life). With this film, old-line Hollywood producer Hal Wallis continued his trademark of showcasing dynamic stars within a period milieu; the film is literally swamped with lavish Tudor decor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide