 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 1989  PG, 126 min.
Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy
Director: Terry Gilliam
Cast: John Neville, Eric Idle, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams, Sarah Polley, Bill Paterson, Valentina Cortese, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Jeffrey, Charles McKeown, Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Alison Steadman, Ray Cooper
Terry Gilliam, who also directed "Time Bandits" and "Brazil," has created an enjoyable film based on the exaggerated war stories of a real-life, 18th-century baron (John Neville). Not only did he have amazing adventures all over the world, the good baron met the King of the Moon (Robin Williams), took a voyage into the heart of a volcano, and was swallowed by a sea monster.
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Blame It on the Bellboy 1992  PG-13, 78 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Mark Herman
Cast: Dudley Moore, Bryan Brown, Richard Griffiths, Andreas Katsulas, Patsy Kensit, Alison Steadman, Penelope Wilton, Bronson Pinchot, Jim Carter, Alex Norton, John Grillo, Andrew Bailey
Three men with similar-sounding last names check into a Venice hotel. Melvyn Orton (Dudley Moore) is a real estate agent with a deal to be made; Mike Lawton (Bryan Brown) is a hit man with a job to perform; and Maurice Horton (Richard Griffiths) has a rendezvous set up by a dating service. Their missions get swapped due to a bellboy (Bronson Pinchot) who has poor English language skills. Weak farce.
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Clockwise 1986  PG, 96 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Christopher Morahan
Cast: John Cleese, Penelope Wilton, Alison Steadman, Stephen Moore, Joan Hickson, Sharon Maiden, Penny Leatherbarrow, Tony Haygarth, Peter Cellier
John Cleese plays a school headmaster who is obsessed with time. He becomes completely terrified when he realizes he has missed the train to an important conference and seeks other means of getting to the conference on time. Cleese, as often happens, is excellent.
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Coming Through 1985  N/R, 80 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Barber-Fleming
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Helen Mirren, Alison Steadman, Philip Martin Brown, Felicity Montagu, Fiona Victory, Norman Rodway, Alison King, Lynn Farleigh, Malcolm Storry, Robin Paul Bassford, Benjamin Whitrow
Through flashbacks–intertwined with a man and woman who are obsessed with D. H. Lawrence–the life of Lawrence (Kenneth Branagh) including his love for aristocratic Frieda Von Richthofen (Helen Mirren) is told.
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Confetti 2006 R, 100 min.
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Director: Debbie Isitt
Cast: Martin Freeman, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Meredith MacNeill, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman, Vincent Franklin, Jason Watkins, Jimmy Carr, Felicity Montagu, Alison Steadman, Ron Cook, Selina Cadell, Julia Davis
In this improvised mockumentary, wedding planners Archie and Gregory (Vincent Franklin and Jason Watkins) spend 10 weeks assisting three engaged couples who vie for the prize of a new house and their picture on the cover of "Confetti" magazine. Matt and Sam (Martin Freeman and Jessica Hynes) want their ceremony to be just like a Broadway musical; Isabelle and Josef (Meredith MacNeill and Stephen Mangan) want their wedding to have a tennis theme; and nudists Joanna and Michael (Olivia Colman and Robert Webb) want no clothes worn at their ceremony. Stress abounds, and the couples create chaos as they battle to win the prize.
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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers 2004 N/R, 125 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Charlize Theron, Emily Watson, John Lithgow, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Vaughan, Sonia Aquino, Stanley Tucci, Stephen Fry, Henry Goodman, Alison Steadman, David Robb
This complex biography of movie great Peter Sellers (Geoffrey Rush) shows how his troubled personal life was often hidden when he took over a role and immersed himself in the character he portrayed.
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Life Is Sweet 1991 R, 102 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks, Stephen Rea, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Moya Brady, David Neilson, Harriet Thorpe, Paul Trussel, Jack Thorpe-Baker
Set in the lower-middle-class home of a London family, this film provides an insightful character study of four different family members and how they interact with one another. Wendy (Alison Steadman) and Andy (Jim Broadbent) live with their teenage daughters–tomboy Natalie (Claire Skinner) and anorexic Nicola (Jane Horrocks). The girls deal differently with their optimistic mother and good natured father who runs a business from a mobile snack bar. When problems rise to the fore, Wendy strives to keep the family together.
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Nuts in May 1976  N/R, 84 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Roger Sloman, Alison Steadman, Anthony O'Donnell, Sheila Kelley, Stephen Bill, Richenda Carey, Eric Allan, Matthew Guinness, Richard Ireson, Sally Watts
A middle-class couple–Keith (Roger Sloman) and Candice Marie (Alison Steadman)–arrive at a campground prepared to tent camp and follow (to a fault) the guidebook's suggestions for discovering the countryside. Neighboring campers, however, prove to be more than small distractions to Keith's meticulously planned vacation.
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 Pride and Prejudice 1995 TV, 280 min.
Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: Simon Langton
Cast: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, David Bamber, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Anna Chancellor, Susannah Harker, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Adrian Lukis, Julia Sawalha, Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow, Emilia Fox, Christopher Benjamin, Anthony Calf
This excellent TV miniseries does justice to Jane Austen's classic tale of the relationships of two people caught in the 19th-century class system when headstrong Elizabeth (Jennifer Ehle) meets wealthy Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth). Darcy courts Elizabeth, and problems ensue over the issues of manners and love when the couple learns that they must deal with their different perspectives on life if they are to live their lives together.
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A Private Function 1985 R, 93 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Malcolm Mowbray
Cast: Michael Palin, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Richard Griffiths, Tony Haygarth, John Normington, Bill Paterson, Liz Smith, Alison Steadman, Pete Postlethwaite
Set in a Yorkshire village at the end of World War II, the plot revolves around food rationing prevalent in that era. The main focus is on a stolen pig that becomes the center of controversy.
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Shirley Valentine 1989 R, 108 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Cast: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie, Joanna Lumley, Bernard Hill, Sylvia Syms, Alison Steadman, George Costigan, Anna Keaveney, Tracie Bennett, Ken Sharrock, Karen Craig, Gareth Jefferson, Gillian Kearney, Catharine Duncan
Shirley (Pauline Collins) is an English housewife, unhappy with her life, who leaves her husband Joe (Bernard Hill) for a two week vacation in Greece with her best friend Jane (Alison Steadman). After Jane hooks up with a man and leaves her alone, Shirley runs into tavern owner Costas Caldes (Tom Conti)–certainly a solution to any housewife's boredom–and begins an unforgettable affair with him. Collins received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.
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 The Singing Detective 1986  TV, 415 min.
Genre: Drama / Fantasy
Director: Jon Amiel
Cast: Michael Gambon, Patrick Malahide, Joanne Whalley, Janet Suzman, Alison Steadman, Bill Paterson, Jim Carter, David Ryall, Gerard Horan, Leslie French, Lyndon Davies, Ron Cook, Imelda Staunton, George Rossi, Janet Henfrey
This near-classic tale by Dennis Potter combines music, film noir, mystery, fantasy, and autobiographical material in a successful British TV miniseries, originally airing in six episodes. Detective novelist Philip E. Marlow (Michael Gambon) suffers from a crippling skin/nerve disease (psoriatic arthropathy–a disease that Potter died of). In his hospital bed, he relives his latest novel, "The Singing Detective," with himself in the title role, often drifting into a surrealistic fantasy world as he relives his life.
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Stormy Monday 1988 R, 93 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Mike Figgis
Cast: Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean, James Cosmo, Heathcote Williams, Prunella Gee, Alison Steadman, Al Matthews, Brian Lewis
An American (Tommy Lee Jones) is trying to take over Sting's nightclub, but Melanie Griffith and Sean Bean are out to stop him.
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 Topsy-Turvy 1999 R, 160 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Mike Leigh
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Lesley Manville, Eleanor David, Ron Cook, Timothy Spall, Wendy Nottingham, Alison Steadman, Louise Gold, Kevin McKidd, Katrin Cartlidge, Julia Rayner, Andy Serkis, Shirley Henderson
Director Mike Leigh presents a tribute to those well-known Victorian operetta writers: Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) and Sullivan (Allan Corduner). The focus is on the London production of "The Mikado" and the tribulations encountered as two distinctly different personalities collaborate on their ninth operetta.
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| 1. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)
2. Blame It on the Bellboy (1992)
3. Clockwise (1986)
4. Coming Through (1985)
5. Confetti (2006)
6. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
7. Life Is Sweet (1991)
8. Nuts in May (1976)
9. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
10. A Private Function (1985)
11. Shirley Valentine (1989)
12. The Singing Detective (1986)
13. Stormy Monday (1988)
14. Topsy-Turvy (1999)
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