An Awfully Big Adventure 1995 R, 113 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Mike Newell Cast: Hugh Grant, Georgina Cates, Alan Rickman, Alun Armstrong, Peter Firth, Rita Tushingham, Prunella Scales, Alan Cox, Edward Petherbridge, Gerard McSorley, Clive Merrison, Nicola Pagett, Carol Drinkwater, James Frain, Ruth McCabe
Members of a small repertory theater in London–manager Meredith Polter (Hugh Grant) and cast member Stella Bradshaw (Georgina Cates), a star-struck young actress–learn there is more than meets the eye to the company's leading man, P.L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman).
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The English Patient 1996 R, 162 min. Genre: Drama / Romance
Director: Anthony Minghella Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth, Julian Wadham, Jurgen Prochnow, Clive Merrison, Kevin Whately, Nino Castelnuovo, Hichem Rostom, Peter Ruhring, Torri Higginson, Geordie Johnson
Based on Michael Ondaatje's novel, this is the story of the changing of Count Laszlo de Almasy's (Ralph Fiennes) life by aristocrat Katharine Clifton (Kristin Scott-Thomas) in 1938. Now, in 1944, following his World War II plane crash, the count, nursed by Canadian Hana (Juliette Binoche), remembers events leading to the accident in which he was badly burned. The movie won an impressive nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actress (Binoche).
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Firefox 1982 PG, 136 min. Genre: Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi
Director: Clint Eastwood Cast: Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke, Ronald Lacey, Stefan Schnabel, Kenneth Colley, Klaus Lowitsch, Nigel Hawthorne, Thomas Hill, Clive Merrison, Kai Wulff, Michael Currie, Dimitra Arliss, Austin Willis
Called back into service, American fighter pilot Mitchell Gant (Clint Eastwood), who speaks fluent Russian but is suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder following his duty in Vietnam, is hired by the United States to steal a secret fighter plane from the Soviet Union. Gant succeeds in capturing the plane, but now a cat-and-mouse chase ensues across the Arctic.
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Heavenly Creatures 1994 R, 99 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Jackson Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Clive Merrison, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Simon O'Connor, Jed Brophy, Peter Elliott, Gilbert Goldie, Geoffrey Heath
Based on the facts behind a true murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand, this film chronicles the meeting and plotting of Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) and Juliet (Kate Winslet) that culminates in the murder of Pauline's mother (Sarah Pierse). This is the story of two girls who retreat into an imaginary world that overlaps into gruesome realities.
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Pandaemonium 2000 PG-13, 124 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Julien Temple Cast: Linus Roache, John Hannah, Samantha Morton, Emily Woof, Emma Fielding, Andy Serkis, Samuel West, Michael N. Harbour, William Scott-Masson, Clive Merrison
Great Britain's new poet laureate is about to be announced in 1816, and William Wordsworth (John Hannah) is the favorite. As the crowds gather, his old friend/partner Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Linus Roache) comes out of seclusion to join in the congratulations. Now a hopeless opium addict, Coleridge reflects on their early years when they left society to live on a communal farm. While Wordsworth was despondent with writer's block, Coleridge created his masterpiece, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," with the help of a little opium. As time progressed, jealousies, drugs, and argumentative relationships followed. While not historically accurate, Julien Temple's flair for innovativeness makes for an enjoyable film.
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Saving Grace 2000 R, 94 min. Genre: Comedy
Director: Nigel Cole Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, Martin Clunes, Tcheky Karyo, Jamie Forman, Bill Bailey, Valerie Edmond, Phyllida Law, Clive Merrison, Leslie Phillips
"Saving Grace" is one British comedy that travels well across the sea into America's mainstream. The plot revolves around the proper, middle-aged, widow Grace Trevethan, who turns her greenhouse into a hydroponic marijuana farm in order to pay off family debts.
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The Sign of Four 1983 TV, 102 min. Genre: Mystery aka: Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
Director: Desmond Davis Cast: Ian Richardson, David Healy, Thorley Walters, Terence Rigby, Joe Melia, Cherie Lunghi, John Pedrick, Clive Merrison, Richard Heffer, Michael O'Hagan, Robert Russell, Gordon Rollings, John Benfield, Moti Makan, Kate Binchy
Mary Morstan (Cherie Lunghi) receives a gift of the second-largest diamond in the world, the "Great Mogul," from an anonymous donor. Now, the anonymous man calls and asks Mary to meet him. She asks Sherlock Holmes (Ian Richardson) and Dr. Watson (David Healy) to accompany her. They investigate and learn that two villains–ex-con with a wooden leg Jonathan Small (Joe Melia) and murderous midget Tonga (John Pedrick)–are determined to get the diamond and will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.
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Up at the Villa 2000 PG-13, 115 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Philip Haas Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sean Penn, Anne Bancroft, James Fox, Jeremy Davies, Derek Jacobi, Massimo Ghini, Dudley Sutton, Lorenza Indovina, Clive Merrison, Roger Hammond, Linda Spurrier, Ben Aris, Anne Ridler, Ann Bell
Based on W. Somerset Maugham's romantic thriller set in Italy during the 1930s, this film features Kristin Scott Thomas in the role of the beautiful young widow, Mary Panton, who is currently residing in a villa. Intrigue evolves from Mary's one-night affair with an illegal immigrant, Karl Richter (Jeremy Davies), while she is also being courted by both playboy Rowley Flint (Sean Penn) and the very respectable Sir Edgar Swift (James Fox).
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| 1. An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)
2. The English Patient (1996)
3. Firefox (1982)
4. Heavenly Creatures (1994)
5. Pandaemonium (2000)
6. Saving Grace (2000)
7. The Sign of Four (1983) aka: Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
8. Up at the Villa (2000)
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