Mark Shivas Movies

Based on the novel by Dodie Smith (101 Dalmatians), director Tim Fywell's comic romance follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain (Romola Garai) and her quirky family as they attempt to make the best of their meager existence in a crumbling English castle. While her father (Bill Nighy) has been struggling for over a decade to repeat the success of his debut novel, her beautiful sister Rose (Rose Byrne) frequently voices her displeasure with their current situation, and nudist stepmother Topaz (Tara Fitzgerald) proves little help at much of anything. The arrival of American landlord Simon Cotton (Henry Thomas) and his brother Neil (Marc Blucas) provides a glimmer of hope as the initially repelled Rose soon takes a liking to Simon and the two arrange to marry. Lost in the chaotic shuffle of marriage plans and increasingly complicated relationships, the hapless Cassandra soon begins to blossom into womanhood as she experiences aspects of life that were heretofore unknown to her. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Telecast on American cable television as Sweet Revenge, this wickedly black comedy was produced for British TV under the title The Revengers' Comedies, which was also the name of the Alan Ayckbourn play collection upon which it was based. Late one night on London Bridge, two potential suicides meet. Henry Bell (Sam Neill) is a midlevel executive who has been unfairly fired by his office rival; Karen Knightly (Helena Bonham Carter) is a nutty heiress whose boyfriend has jilted her in favor of a bitchy American beauty. Forsaking their plans to kill themselves, Henry and Karen go the Strangers on a Train route by agreeing to "swap" revenges: Karen will dispose of Henry's enemy, Bruce Tick (Steve Coogan), while Henry will destroy Karen's bête noire, Imogen Saxton-Billing (Kristin Scott Thomas). A U.S./U.K./French co-production, Sweet Revenge made its official debut over America's Showtime network on September 24, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gillies MacKinnon directed this $5.6 million production with a screenplay by his brother, Billy MacKinnon. The film adapts the 1992 autobiographical novel by Esther Freud (Sigmund Freud's granddaughter) about hippie misadventures in North Africa in 1972, as described by a five-year-old girl. Disenchanted with the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia (Kate Winslet) heads for Morocco with her children, six-year-old Lucy (Carrie Mullan) and precocious eight-year-old Bea (Bella Riza). Living at a low-rent Marrakesh hotel, the trio survives on the sale of hand-sewn dolls and a few checks from the girls' father, a London poet who also has a child by another woman. After the girls match their mother with gentle Moroccan acrobat and con man Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), sexual gears are set in motion, and he moves in, serving as a surrogate father. Julia's friend Eva (Sira Stampe) urges Julia to study in Algiers with a revered Sufi master at a school of "the annihilation of the ego," and in another sequence European dandy Santoni invites Julia and the girls to his villa. As finances dwindle, Julia's philosophy is "God will provide," although usually it's Bilal who provides. This film was shot October-November 1997 in Morocco, where Winslet caught a stomach bug. Back in London, she went directly into the hospital and thus missed Titanic's London premiere. The score blends North African music with British-American pop hits of the '60s. The film's title derives from a word game played by the girls. Shown at the 1998 Dinard Festival of British Cinema and the 1998 London Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

This Irish-British road movie follows the misadventures of some Irish ex-cons. When Dublin hood Tom French (Tony Doyle) comes down hard on slow-witted Anto (David Wilmot), Git (Peter McDonald) intervenes and then is assigned a mission. He is ordered to travel to Cork to bring back French's friend Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey) and the money Frank in holding. Along for the ride is French's associate Bunny (Brendan Gleeson). The two rescue Grogan from gunmen, but Grogan claims to know nothing about any money, only about his 18-month affair with French's wife. Thus, uncertainty looms on the horizon as the three drive back to Dublin. Shown at the 1997 Edinburgh Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Amid the bloody tumult of Communist dictator Ceausescu in 1989 Romania, a hedonistic and morally sidetracked physician, Daniel Pavenic (Michael Gambon), attempts to hold his annual dinner for 12 of his closest friends. Only three such friends are willing to brave the dangerous war-torn streets to go to Pavenic's mansion, where they find themselves investigating the shocking, debauched relationship between their host and a once-beautiful house servant. The more the guests learn about the twisted relationship, the more they find themselves re-entangled in their own dark memories. The book upon which this drama is based, The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini, by Stephen Dobyns, was set in Chile. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

This is the third film adapted from a fictional trilogy by Irish writer Roddy Doyle about families living in a working-class Dublin neighborhood. The first was director Alan Parker's smashing music mockumentary The Commitments and the second was the hilarious comedy The Snapper, directed by Stephen Frears. Frears also directs this film, which is about two unemployed buddies who convert a dilapidated van into Bimbo's Burgers, a mobile fast-food joint selling fish and chips and hamburgers. Bimbo (Donal O'Kelly) is the brains behind the operation, while his slacker friend Larry (Colm Meany) is his bumbling helper. They first set up shop outside a pub to capture patrons streaming out after watching a telecast of Ireland playing in the World Cup. When Ireland is eliminated, the bumbling entrepreneurs move to a forlorn beach. They get the help of Larry's daughter Diane (Neili Conroy) and son Kevin (Rauidhuri Conroy), who soon becomes so disgusted with the fare that he becomes a vegetarian. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Scottish filmmaker Gillies MacKinnon directed and co-wrote (with brother Billy MacKinnon) this semi-autobiographical drama set in the working class Glasgow of 1968. Thirteen-year-old Lex Maclean (Iain Robertson) is torn between his brothers, his only male role models. Alan (Joseph McFadden) is an aspiring artist who's on his way to develop his talent at school. Bobby (J.S. Duffy) is mentally disturbed and somewhat simple-minded and has become involved with a local gang, the Glens. While walking down the street with Bobby one day, Lex takes an air gun and casually shoots it at some boys, hitting Malky Johnson (Kevin McKidd) in the eye. The leader of a rival gang, the Tongs, Johnson is aware that his girlfriend Joanne Macgowan (Laura Fraser) has a crush on Alan. Johnson's blinding injury turns him into a deadly enemy of Lex and his brothers. Offered protection by Bobby's gang, Lex must choose between two different paths. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

In this intense, multi-layered British drama, the lives of three Irish young people living in London are painstakingly examined. The film's realistic presentation of London and all it's problems is notable. The profiled three are friends, Mickey, Mary, and Bimbo. They came to London from Dublin filled with dreams of a better life. Mary is pregnant and the child is apparently Bimbo's. The three separate and each face the grueling realities of London life. The city, though diverse, is not particularly accepting of outsiders and each character will go through similar struggles as they learn about themselves and about life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A middle-aged Irish bus conductor with a passion for the writings of Oscar Wilde causes controversy when he attempts to stage Wilde's Salome in this period drama set in early 1960s Dublin. Alfie Byrne (Albert Finney) is a well-liked local figure, a life-long bachelor who charms his bus passengers with dramatic recitations of Wilde's poetry. One day, he spots a beautiful young woman named Adele (Tara Fitzgerald) who inspires him to attempt to stage Salome with her as the title character. Wilde's play inspires outrage amongst the more conservative members of the community, who attempt to shut Alfie down. Rather than giving in, however, Alfie chooses to be true to himself, a decision that forces him to face his true self, particularly his feelings towards his young, handsome co-worker Robbie Fay (Rufus Sewell). ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This British parody is the last film of famed television writer Dennis Potter. The story centers upon a terribly tacky British horror film "Smoke Rings," which featured the screaming talents of the ambitious, sexy model and starlet Mandy Mason, who mysteriously died soon after the film was produced. U.S. producer James Boyce and his wife Amber, a Cockney fluffhead, are staying in a rented home in England. Amber's mother is Mandy Mason. Harris is the lawyer who found the rental for the Boyce's. His favorite film is "Smoke Rings," and he still has a crush on the late Miss Mason. When he attends a dinner with the Boyce's he is delighted to find that his favorite film is the midnight feature on the television. A few days later, Amber begins to exhibit disturbing behavior--behavior which parallels that of her mother, and of her mother's character in "Smoke Rings." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This dramatic love story takes place in a British prison. Rachel, a young dentist, decides to take a part-time job at a nearby prison after she and her husband are separated. There, she meets Philip, whose ten-year incarceration for killing his girlfriend is almost up. Rachel and Philip fall in love, which is a breach of Rachel's professional contract. Towler, fellow inmate and former drug dealer, finds out and blackmails Rachel into bringing contraband to prison. When Rachel learns that she is to bring a gun to Towler, she changes her mind, but as she tries to leave she finds herself a target in a shoot-out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The Snapper is Stephen Frears' adaptation of the second book in Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy. The Curley family is a poor but eccentric and loving Irish family. Oldest daughter Sharon (Tina Kellegher) announces she is pregnant, but refuses to reveal the identity of the father to anyone. Her father, Dessie (Colm Meaney), is supportive, but begins to chafe at the derisive gossip aimed at his family and his daughter. This leads to a confrontation between the two that is, like the rest of the movie, simultaneously funny and sad. The family waits in the hospital as Sharon gives birth to the snapper (Irish slang for an infant). The other books in the Barrytown Trilogy were also adapted into films featuring Colm Meaney as the father: The Commitments, directed by Alan Parker, and The Van, directed by Stephen Frears. Doyle had a hand in the screenplay for all three. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Set near the end of 1899, as a new century is due to arrive and many people struggle to keep up with an era in flux, this drama follows the goings-on at a medical clinic operated by Professor Mandry (Charles Dance). Mandry appears somewhat progressive to his top student and right-hand man, Paul Reisner (Clive Owen), given his willingness to hire women and blacks - but Reisner's unchecked enthusiasm for Mandry soon fades when he discovers Mandry's hesitancy to acknowledge the importance of Felix's work on diabetic disorders, and his willingness to propagate eugenics via the enforced sterlization of impoverished British women. Eventually, their disagreements lead to the younger man's suspension; Paul then turns to Clara (Miranda Richardson), a free-thinking young woman working at the clinic who shows tremendous professional and emotional support to him. Soon they become lovers, but have disagreements of their own regarding medical ethics. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide