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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Gulliver's Travels 1996 TV, 188 min. Genre: Adventure
Director: Charles Sturridge Cast: Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, James Fox, Ned Beatty, Edward Fox, Robert Hardy, John Standing, Alfre Woodard, Geraldine Chaplin, Peter O'Toole, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Phoebe Nicholls, Karyn Parsons, Edward Petherbridge, John Wells
An all-star cast, Jim Henson's special effects, and good performances make this made-for-TV miniseries a joy to watch and is probably the most faithful retelling of the Jonathan Swift social satire. Lemuel Gulliver (Ted Danson) returns home to Mary (Mary Steenburgen) after a long absence and acts out his wild adventures that include the tiny Lilliputians, the huge Brobdingnags, the Laputas (the no-common-sense scientists), and the intelligent horses surrounded by wild humans.
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King Lear 1984 TV, 158 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Michael Elliott Cast: Laurence Olivier, Diana Rigg, Anna Calder-Marshall, Dorothy Tutin, Colin Blakely, John Hurt, Leo McKem, Jeremy Kemp, Robert Lindsay, David Threlfall, Brian Cox, Edward Petherbridge, Robert Lang, Geoffrey Bateman, John Cording
King Lear (Laurence Olivier) is aging and wants to leave his kingdom to the daughter who can prove that she loves him the most. When daughter Cordelia (Anna Calder-Marshall) remains steadfast in refusing to play her father's game, Lear exiles her. The other two daughters–Regan and Goneril (Diana Rigg and Dorothy Tutin)–plot to deceive their father. Meanwhile, Gloucester (Leo McKem) and his sons Edgar and Edmund (David Threlfall and Robert Lindsay) experience their own family problems, which are based on honesty and also the lack of trust. Tragedies lie ahead for both families. This version of the Shakespeare tragedy was first aired on television and won the Emmy.
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The Statement 2003 R, 120 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Norman Jewison Cast: Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam, Alan Bates, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds, John Neville, Matt Craven, Edward Petherbridge, Frank Finlay, David de Keyser, William Hutt
In this less-than-brilliant film based on Brian Moore's 1996 novel, a former Nazi executioner, Pierre Brossard (Michael Caine), has been living out his life in Southern France where he is protected by the Catholic Church. But now he becomes the target of assassins as well as the law and must turn to his wartime cohorts for help in this next challenge of his life as a fugitive.
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| 1. An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)
2. Gulliver's Travels (1996)
3. King Lear (1984)
4. The Statement (2003)
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