Lynn Redgrave Movies

Lynn Redgrave, Alan Cummings, Cynthia Nixon, and Tim Curry all lend their voices to this wide-eyed tale of adventure and awe in the exciting world of Tinseltown. Adapted from the popular series of children's books by Kay Thompson, Eloise in Hollywood finds everyone's favorite six-year old Plaza Hotel resident setting out on a mischievous adventure through the star-studded streets of Hollywood. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

It's Halloween, and The Plaza's most notorious poltergeist is coming out to play. But when Eloise is accused of trying to scare the guests and the staff at the stately hotel, she realizes that the only hope of clearing her name lies in solving the mystery of a frightening phantom. Everyone in The Plaza knows the name Diamond Jim Johnson, but few believe that he has really returned from the dead to haunt them as the legends claim. While Eloise does her best to convince everyone that Diamond Jim's ghost is currently drifting through the hallways of The Plaza, no one believes her. Later, in order to reverse Diamond Jim's curse and save the hotel from some very real monsters, Eloise draws on her own supernatural powers of investigation. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Christmas Eve is drawing near, and when the Plaza's most famous six-year-old vows to put on the best holiday show ever a last minute cancellation threatens to sink the elaborate holiday celebration in an animated tale that offers holiday fun for the whole family. A variety of traditions from various cultures promise to make this year's show the biggest holiday event in Plaza history, but in the ensuing chaos Mr. Salamone is prompted to cancel the show just plans begin falling into place. Now it's up to Eloise to keep the spirit of Christmas alive, and as the kids scramble to save the show and Eloise ponders whether her surprise guest will truly show up, everyone is about to learn the most important holiday lesson of all. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Alfred Kinsey was an entomologist who taught at Indiana University and had a keen interest in an area of human behavior that had seen little scholarly research -- human sexuality. While the courtship and reproductive patterns of animals had been carefully documented, Kinsey believed that most "established facts" about human sexual behavior were a matter of conjecture rather than research and that what most people said about their sex lives was not born out by the evidence (a subject that had personal resonance for him given the troubles he and his wife Clara Kinsey had in the early days of their marriage). After introducing a course in "Marriage" at Indiana University which offered frank and factual information on sex to students, Kinsey began an exhaustive series of interviews with a wide variety of people from all walks of life in order to find out the truth about sex practices in America. When he published Sexual Behavior and the Human Male in 1948, his findings were wildly controversial, indicating that most men had a wider variety of sexual experiences than most people imagined, including a number of practices commonly thought to be dangerous or perverted (including pre-marital sex, same-sex contacts, and masturbation). An even greater outcry greeted Kinsey's next volume, Sexual Behavior and the Human Female, which contradicted common notions than most women went into marriage sexually inexperienced. Kinsey is a film biography written and directed by Bill Condon which examines Kinsey's life and work from his strict childhood until his death in 1956. Liam Neeson plays Alfred Kinsey, and Laura Linney co-stars as Kinsey's wife and colleague Clara. John Lithgow highlights the supporting cast as Kinsey's repressed and moralistic father, while Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, and Timothy Hutton play members of Kinsey's research team and Tim Curry appears as an IU faculty member at odds with Kinsey's teachings. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Ralph Fiennes plays a grown man haunted by his childhood in David Cronenberg's stylized psychological drama Spider. Upon his release from a mental institution, Spider (Fiennes) takes up residence in a halfway house. Paranoid, quiet, and forever making notes, Spider spends much of the film remembering scenes from his youth, specifically a horrific event from his childhood that occurred after he came to believe that his father (Gabriel Byrne) was having an affair on his mother (Miranda Richardson). The psychological terror builds to a climax that challenges how much the viewer can believe Spider's recollections of the event. Bradley Hall plays Spider as a boy, and Richardson portrays many different women who come into contact with Spider. Spider was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Directed by Metin Huseyin, Anita & Me follows the development of a cross-cultural friendship between 12-year-old Indian immigrant Meena (Chandeep Uppal) and her 14-year-old British neighbor, Anita (Anna Brewster). An aspiring writer, Meena (Uppal) writes down all the challenges of her new life in great detail, from her parents insistence that she focus solely on her studies, to the vast cultural differences between Britain and India. The most notable subject, however, is the comfort she finds from her unlikely friendship with Anita. Anita & Me is based on a novel by Meera Syal, who also penned the screenplay. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

What's a middle-aged woman to do when her husband walks out on her and her favorite pop star is murdered by a serial killer? Writer/director P.J. Hogan explores this and many other pressing questions in Unconditional Love, a comic murder-mystery he devised with his wife and co-screenwriter, Jocelyn Moorhouse. Their heroine, Grace Beasly (Kathy Bates), finds her placid Midwestern life turned upside down after she loses both of the aforementioned men in her life: her husband (Dan Aykroyd) and the Tom Jones-like, Welsh singing star Victor Fox (Jonathan Pryce), whom she unabashedly worships. After Fox's death, Grace impetuously flies to England for his funeral. Paying an uninvited visit to his countryside estate, she discovers Dirk Simpson (Rupert Everett), Fox's longtime, secret live-in lover, who's also in a state of shock following the senseless murder. Together, the two team up, traveling back to the Windy City to find the infamous "Crossbow Killer" who took Fox's life. After receiving a fall 2002 release in the U.K., Unconditional Love had its U.S. premiere on the Starz network in August 2003. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

In this animated adventure inspired by the well-loved characters created by Frank L. Baum, a performing lion from a circus (Jason Priestley) is given a special prize for courage and is sent out to visit the fabled Land of Oz to claim his reward. En route, the lion encounters the Wicked Witch of the East (Lynn Redgrave), who demands that the lion bring her the magical flower of Oz, which will allow her to possess even more power. With the help of a girl named Wimsik, the lion finds the flowers the Wicked Witch needs, but he realizes that he's thrown away his valor in the process, becoming the Cowardly Lion. The Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage also features the voice talents of Tim Curry, Bob Goldthwait, Jane Horrocks, and Dom DeLuise. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

On a remote island in Nova Scotia, teenaged Claire (Julia Brendler) slowly befriends Celia (Lynn Redgrave), an eccentric novelist who is working on a manuscript. The manuscript, which is set a half-century ago, tells the story of Silly (Kirsten Dunst), a young woman who tried to leave the island with the son (Trent Ford) of a WWII naval officer. Deeply cuts between past and present, contrasting the lives of the characters in the manuscript with those of Claire and Celia. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Best buddies Abbie (Madonna), a heterosexual yoga instructor, and Robert (Rupert Everett), a gay landscaper, cope with failed relationships, the approach of middle age, and the AIDS-related death of a mutual friend by sticking together as a "family of choice." Drunk one night, they have sex, and when Abbie turns up pregnant, they decide to move in together and raise the child as decidedly unconventional co-parents. Flash forward several years and Abbie begins dating Ben (Benjamin Bratt), an investment banker. The new relationship causes tension between Abbie and Robert that ultimately leads to betrayal, courtroom confrontation, and a sudden denouement. Everett, a sometime writer of trashy comic novels such as Hello Darling, Are You Working?, reportedly supplied the film's concept and even additional dialogue, although Tom Ropelewski is the credited screenwriter. This was pop diva Madonna's first film role since the hoopla of Evita; she supplied a highly edited hit cover of Don McLean's "American Pie" and one other song for the soundtrack, which was released on her own Maverick imprint. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi