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As the summer movie season comes to a close, August brings a shockingly stacked slate of offerings, topped by a film that is sure to age like a fine classic in years to come. Elsewhere we have accomplished debuts, action spectacles, and a thriller from the man who has recently returned to perfecting the formula.

15. Blink Twice (Zoë Kravitz; Aug. 23)

While its new title doesn’t quite have the hook of its original, Pussy Island, we’re curious what’s in store for the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz. Featuring some cast––including Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Alia Shawkat, Christian Slater, and Geena Davis––the story follows a cocktail waitress who becomes infatuated with a tech mogul and travels with him to his private island, where things begin going wrong. Featuring cinematography by Adam Newport-Berra (The Last Black Man in San...

One of the greatest filmmaking partnerships to grace the industry is getting its deserved due in a new documentary. Directed by Stephen Soucy and featuring Dame Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Grant, Vanessa Redgrave, Rupert Graves, and James Wilby, Merchant Ivory explores the collaboration of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant, and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. For those not familiar, Merchant Ivory Productions was responsible for the likes of A Room with a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, Maurice, and The Bostonians. Following a festival tour, the first trailer has now arrived from Cohen Media Group ahead of an August 30 release.

Here’s the synopsis: “Merchant Ivory (2023) is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth...

Picnik Entertainment & The Movie Partnership has announced that ‘Vindication Swim’ will be released on digital platform from the 10th of June.

Breaking the top 20 at the box office earlier in the year for it’s theatrical release, the movie is Based on the inspirational true story of Mercedes Gleitze, who in 1927 became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Vindication Swim depicts Mercedes’ upstream struggle in overcoming both the cold waters of the English Channel and the oppressive society of 1920s England. However, after a rival comes forward claiming to have accomplished the same feat, Mercedes is forced into battle to retain her record and her legacy.

Directed by Elliott Hasler, the cast includes Kirsten Callaghan, in the role of Mercedes Gleitze. It also stars John Locke (Poor Things), Victoria Summer (Saving Mr. Banks), James Wilby (Poldark) and Douglas Hodge (Joker).

Also in trailers – Nicola Coughlan, Nonso Anozie...

Ben Kingsley has had a versatile career spanning almost 60 years, with 144 acting credits to his name, showcasing his ability to tackle any genre and deliver emotional performances. While Ben Kingsley's role in Maurice was minor, his performance in other projects like Gandhi and House of Sand and Fog earned him critical acclaim and awards recognition. Kingsley's range and talent are evident in his performances in Without A Clue, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Hugo, Sneakers, Shutter Island, Lucky Number Slevin, and Schindler's List, where he portrays a diverse range of characters with conviction and depth.

Ben Kingsley has had a career spanning almost 60 years on screen. Ben Kingsley is a notable British actor and Oscar winner with over a hundred acting credits to his name. He developed an interest in acting at a young age and began performing in stage plays before moving on to acting...

After the smash hit of A Room With a View, Sands’ idiosyncrasies were hard to contain in mainstream movies, but in the right roles he was mesmerising

Sands dies aged 65A life in picturesObituary

Julian Sands was the English screen actor who emerged in the 1980s in a generation of floppy-haired, high-cheekboned exquisites that included James Wilby, Rupert Everett, Hugh Grant, Rupert Graves, Daniel Day-Lewis and Colin Firth. But Sands turned out to be a rarer, stranger and more exotic flower than any of them, virtually impossible to cast as a conventional lead and almost as difficult as a character turn. And this was due to his extraordinarily eccentric screen presence – distrait, elegant, deadly serious and otherworldly – and that utterly distinctive voice: softly melodious, slightly strangulated, nasal and decelerated; he delivered lines at about 60 to 70% of the speed at which other actors spoke. These were mannerisms that became more pronounced...

Clockwise from top left: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert (MGM), Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures), The Birdcage (MGM), Moonlight (Lionsgate)Graphic: AVClub

June means Pride Month, and Pride Month means celebrating queer art—which we could all use more of given the current state of things. In the spirit of 2023 Pride,...

Click here to read the full article.

Derek Granger, the British producer and screenwriter who served as the driving force behind the acclaimed 1981 miniseries Brideshead Revisited, died Tuesday at his London home, screenwriter Tim Sullivan told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 101.

Granger teamed with Sullivan and Brideshead writer-director Charles Sturridge on the grand period films A Handful of Dust (1988), starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Judi Dench, James Wilby, Anjelica Huston and Rupert Graves, and Where Angels Fear to Tread (1991), featuring Graves, Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis.

A onetime journalist and frequent Laurence Olivier collaborator, Granger in 1958 joined Granada Television, where he was head of drama and produced the famed soap opera Coronation Street; the epic 1972-73 series Country Matters, starring Ian McKellen; a 1976 adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Olivier, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; and, of course, Brideshead Revisited.

Based on Evelyn Waugh’s sprawling pre-World...

40 years ago, Hugh Grant made his film debut in 1982’s “Privileged,” a little-seen effort about undergraduates at Oxford (where Grant studied English lit), which was funded by the Oxford University Film Foundation. In its July 14, 1982, review, Variety said the film — which also marked the bows of producer Andy Paterson, director Michael Hoffman, actors Imogen Stubbs and James Wilby and composer Rachel Portman — would have “limited interest” for most audiences but that the actor, billed as Hughie Grant, gives a convincing performance as an “aristocratic dropout.”

For the next five years, Grant did sketch comedy, played the classics onstage and worked in TV; his first mention in Variety was for the 1985 miniseries “Jenny’s War,” playing the Raf pilot son of Dyan Cannon.

He boosted his profile with the 1987 Merchant-Ivory film “Maurice,” adapted from E.M. Forster. The film also featuring his “Privileged” costar Wilby and the two shared the best-actor prize at the Venice Film Festival.

The Duke Review — The Duke (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Roger Michell, written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman and starring Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Heather Craney, James Wilby, Matthew Goode, John Heffernan, Sarah Annett, Charlie Richmond, Anna Maxwell Martin, Fionn Whitehead, Richard McCabe, Andrew Havill and Sarah Beck Mather. Jim Broadbent [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Duke (2020): Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren are Splendid in a Heartwarming Comedy...

Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton, Helen Mirren as Dorothy Bunton in The Duke. Photo by Mike Eley, Bsc. Courtesy of Pathe UK. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

In this delightful, true story-based, quirky comic tale, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren costar as a bickering couple in a tale of a working class Newcastle man with a plan to ransom a stolen painting, Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington, to provide benefits for low-income retirees. Broadbent plays the rarely practical but idealistic man with the plan, while Helen Mirren stars as his long-suffering, more practical wife. The Duke focuses on a real 1961 incident in which a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya, newly purchased by the British government for 140,000 pounds, was stolen from the national gallery, the first and so far only theft from the gallery to date. The authorities are convinced a professional ring of thieves,...

Elliott Hasler’s indie biopic “Vindication Swim” has added Douglas Hodge and James Wilby to the cast.

Hodge recently appeared as Alfred Pennyworth in “Joker” opposite Joaquin Phoenix and has also had recurring roles in “The Great” and “Lost in Space.”

Wilby played Lord Falmouth in BBC period drama “Poldark” and has appeared in “Gosford Park” and the television series “Victoria” alongside Jenna Coleman.

“Vindication Swim” is based on the true story of Mercedes Gleitze, who became the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927.

In the feature Gleitze is played by newcomer Kirsten Callaghan.

“The film portrays Mercedes’ upstream struggle in overcoming both the cold waters of the English Channel and the oppressive society of 1920s England,” reads the logline. “However, after a rival comes forward claiming to have accomplished the same feat, Mercedes is forced into battle to retain her record and her legacy.”

In “Vindication Swim,...

At least twenty fine actors and stars make Robert Altman’s period piece about a party in a big English country house into a gala occasion. The show is also a fascinating entree into a classed world of masters and servants. The drama of manners could also be described as a mystery who-dunnit. Either way, we’re floored by excellent work from a stellar cast.

Gosford Park

Blu-ray

Arrow Academy USA

2001 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 131 min. / Street Date , 2018 / Available from Arrow Video

Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Geraldine Somerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, James Wilby, Claudie Blakley, Laurence Fox, Trent Ford, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Ron Webster, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E. Grant.

Cinematography: Andrew Dunn

Film Editor: Tim Squyres

Production Design: Stephen Altman

Original Music: Patrick Doyle

Written by Julian Fellowes,...

In honour of National Coming Out Day on October 11, we’ve been thinking about a lot of our favourite Lgbt movies. From the modern-day rom-coms like “Love, Simon” all the way back to hard-hitting dramas like “Midnight Cowboy” – and everything in between – we’ve been debating which movies are our all-time favourites.

In light of this, I’ve put together my own personal list of my favourite Lgbt films – ‘my’ and ‘personal’ are the operative words here. This list is entirely my own opinion and personal preferences, this is not a definitive ranking of what are ‘the best’ Lgbt films. Merely, this is a list of which films resonated with me the most.

But please, join in the debate in the comment section and tell us about your favourite Lgbt films and why – and whether or not you agree with my own list. You may think I’m right, you...

To celebrate the new 4K restoration of Merchant Ivory’s Maurice which was first released in 1987, the film will be opening at the BFI and in selected cinemas around the country, which is as good an occasion as any to revisit an old favourite or even discover it for the first time. Heralded as one of the most iconic gay themed productions of the last thirty years, Maurice has recently seen a resurgence in interest since the release of Luca Guadagnino’s beautifully atmospheric 2017 film Call Me By Your Name, for which James Ivory won an screenwriting Oscar.

Related: Read our glowing review of the 4K Restoration of Maurice here.

Earlier this week, HeyUGuys had the pleasure of speaking to the film’s leading actor James Wilby about his fond memories of acting alongside Hugh Grant and Rupert Graves in this groundbreaking production, and about the lasting effect Maurice has...

Hugh Grant and James Wilby star in this intensely poignant story of two young men forced to deny their love

Em Forster’s novel Maurice, unpublished in his own lifetime, often gets treated as an outlier in his work, and maybe the superlative 1987 film version, starring Hugh Grant and James Wilby, was first thought of as an outlier in the prestigious Merchant Ivory canon. This film was clearly capitalising on the 80s Varsity chic of Chariots of Fire and the TV Brideshead Revisited, but it is darker, less picturesque, more claustrophobically and even tragically male (though Judy Parfitt and Helena Bonham Carter do what they can with cameo roles). Now, Maurice, produced by Ismail Merchant and directed by James Ivory, who collaborated with Kit Hesketh-Harvey on the screenplay, is being rereleased as part of the Flare strand, showcasing Lgbt-themed films, at London’s BFI Southbank and in cinemas nationwide.

Related:...

After a sell-out London premiere screening which was introduced by its stars Hugh Grant and James Wilby at BFI Flare: London Lgbtq Film Festival earlier this year, the new 4K restoration of Maurice, Merchant Ivory’s award-winning adaptation of E.M. Forster’s autobiographical novel, will open at the BFI and across the country this month, giving fans the chance to savour this gem of a film on the big screen once more.

Making its debut at the 1987 Venice Film Festival to rapturous applause and critical acclaim across the board, Maurice went on to become one of the most repeatedly viewed and eternally cherished films of its genre by those who amongst us fell madly in love with its dream-like romance qualities. It shares this reaction with that of a whole new generation who have done the same with Luca Guadagnino’s award winning 2017 film Call Me By Your Name for...

By Todd Garbarini

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A Summer Story is the unassuming title of a classy and ultimately emotionally wrenching romantic drama of class differences set in Great Britain in the early 1900’s. Originally released in the United States in the summer of 1988 in a small number of theaters, the film is an adaption of John Galsworthy’s 1916 short story “The Apple Tree” which was also made into two separate radio programs over forty years earlier: Lady Esther Almanac on CBS in 1942 and Mercury Summer Theatre in 1946. Obviously the source material proved to be palatable enough to audiences to warrant adaptations in both the aural and visual spectrums. Director Piers Haggard, known for more sinister fare such as The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Venom (1981), directs from the late Penelope Mortimer’s adapted screenplay.

Frank Ashton is played by James Wilby, who was coming off...

Line-up includes introductions from Hugh Grant and Rupert Everett.

The BFI Flare: London Lgbtq+ Film Festival has announced its industry programme, which will run alongside the wider festival, March 21 to April 1.

The Makers, a strand of conversations with prominent individuals in Lgbtq+ cinema, returns with speakers Robin Campillo (director of Bpm (Beats Per Minute), which screens at the Festival, Elizabeth Karlsen (Carol producer) and Francis Lee (God’s Own Country writer/director).

Also included in the programme is Anatomy Of An Episode: The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, in which writer/executive producer Tom Rob Smith will discuss...

There's a beginning to every end. Starz has announced Kenneth Lonergan's Howards End TV show adaptation will debut in April of 2018. The premium cable service has also released a new trailer for the miniseries, which is based on the E.M. Forster 1910 novel of the same name. In UK, the series premiered on BBC One, on November 12, 2017. A Starz period drama, Howard's End stars Hayley Atwell, Philippa Coulthard, Alex Lawther, Tracey Ullman, Matthew Macfadyen, Julia Ormond, Joe Bannister, Jonah Hauer-King, Bessie Carter, Joseph Quinn, and Rosalind Eleazar. In 1992, the story was adapted as a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave, and Prunella Scales. Read More…...

Hugh Grant and James Wilby star in the 1987 Merchant Ivory film, returning to disc this week!

by Murtada

Do you not think that Maurice’s moustache would be the making of him?

No. It’s revolting.

This exchange about an hour into Merchant-Ivory’s 1987 classic gem Maurice, made me laugh so hard. There are so many moustaches in Maurice. It must’ve been the fashion in Edwardian England. But Hugh Grant’s Clive Durham is right, Maurice’s is revolting. But then how come later on he grows one even more revolting. In the world of Maurice, moustaches are the ultimate boner killers.

Maurice (James Wilby) and Grant’s Clive meet when they are students at Cambridge in 1909 and fall in love. Their relationship means a bit more to Maurice, he’s so smitten. And who wouldn’t be infatuated with Grant at the height of his floppy haired gorgeousness. Clive though always keeps him at an arm’s length, never succumbing to carnality. And we...

By Jose Solís.

Can you believe Maurice came out 30 years ago? James Ivory’s film adaptation of E.M. Forster’s novel was released in the fall of 1987, a year after the Oscar winning A Room with a View. While it was never as celebrated as the former, throughout the years it’s come to be more highly regarded for its groundbreaking Lgbtq romance, and as the film that launched Hugh Grant’s screen career.

The tale of forbidden love between the title character (played by James Wilby) and a male servant (Rupert Graves) is filled with pithy dialogue, handsome actors and a then unparalleled sensuality when it comes to conveying gay romance. Its influence can be seen in countless films that came after it, yet for decades it remained the happiest of Lgbtq screen romances. That's a position I discussed with Mr. Ivory as the film is being re-released in...

In 1987, James Ivory‘s Maurice first premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where he picked up the Silver Lion award as Best Director. Thirty years later, the Cohen Media Group has acquired the rights for the Merchant Ivory Production and will be revitalizing the gay period romance with a brand-new 4K restoration.

Starring James Wilby and Hugh Grant as two undergraduate students at Cambridge University, it follows the two characters, Maurice and Clive, as they fell in love at the University during a time when homosexuality in England was a punishable offense by the law. Judging from the preview, it looks to be a gorgeous restoration following recent previous Ivory re-releases.

Check out the trailer and poster below via Indiewire.

Set against the stifling conformity of pre-World War I English society, E.M. Forster’s Maurice is a story of coming to terms with one’s sexuality and identity in the face of disapproval and misunderstanding.

It’s been 30 years since we last saw James Wilby and Hugh Grant fall in love on the screen in James Ivory’s beautiful gay-themed film “Maurice.” Now, Cohen Media Group —which has acquired 30 titles from the Merchant Ivory Productions library— is releasing a brand new 4K restoration of the 1987 romantic drama, which will screen next month at New York City’s historic Quad Cinema, following the theater’s reopening this Friday, April 14.

Read More: ‘Behind the White Glasses’ Exclusive Clip and Poster: Documentary Chronicles the Career of Lina Wertmüller — Watch

Based on E.M. Forster’s 1971 novel by the same name, “Maurice” followed the story of two undergraduate Cambridge students, Maurice (Wilby) and Clive (Grant), who fall in love at a time when any reference of homosexuality at the English university was omitted and same-sex relationships was punishable by the law.

The film also starred Rupert Graves and Ben Kingsleyco.

Jim Broadbent as Tony Webster, in The Sense Of An Ending. Photo by Robert Viglasky ©. Courtesy of CBS Films

Memory is a funny thing. One can feel so certain of one’s own memories that it is jarring when others’ recollection of events does not match.

The tricks of memory are at the heart of the unforgettable The Sense Of An Ending, director Ritesh Batra’s screen adaptation of Julian Barnes’ short novel. In this American/British film, Jim Broadbent stars as Tony Webster, a curmudgeonly older man who lives alone, opening his tiny camera repair shop daily and seeming to live a joyless existence. His shop only sells and repairs old Leica cameras, and he seems to regard the occasional customer more as an interruption than the reason for this business. His dull routine is interrupted by the arrival of a letter, informing him he as been left something in a will.

From "Milk" to "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, of which I'm a proud voting member, has released the Top 10 Best Lgbtqa movies every non-lgbtqa must and should see! And I agree with all the selections. Some are brutally and politically honest, some are just fun but all speak volumes about the history of Lgbtqa in and around the world of cinema!

Here's the complete press release with the aforementioned list! Do you agree?

November 24, 2015 . Hollywood, Ca.: Just in time for the holidays, as they say . . . the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (galeca.org) today announced its membership.s picks for their second .Galeca Ten Best. list: The 10 Best Lbgtqa Films Galeca Every Non-lgbtqa Person Should See!

Oscar winners to community classics to modern independent discoveries . there.s a movie for every persuasion here.

Critics from the 120-member organization...

Matthew Macfadyen and Romola Garai are among the latest actors who have joined ITV's feature-length film Churchill's Secret.

Set during the summer months of 1953, the one-off drama stars Michael Gambon as Winston Churchill, who in his late 70s suffers from a life-threatening stroke.

The story is told from the perspective of his young nurse Millie Appleyard (Garai).

Macfadyen will play Randolph, one of Winston's children. Daisy Lewis, Rachael Stirling and Tara Fitzgerald have signed up to portray Winston's other children Mary, Sarah and Diana respectively.

Further cast additions include Bill Paterson, James Wilby, Alex Jennings, Patrick Kennedy, Christian McKay, Chris Larkin and John Standing.

Churchill's Secret is based on Jonathan Smith's recently-published book The Churchill Secret: Kbo, and is being adapted by Stewart Harcourt.

Filming will begin this month in London, Hayes and at Churchill's principal family home in Kent.

The one-off will also air in the Us on...

Michelle Yeoh and Max Beesley will appear in the fifth and final series of Strike Back.

Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester will be back as Strike Back leads Damien Scott and Michael Stonebridge, with Robson Green (Philip Locke), Michelle Lukes (Sgt Richmond) and Milauna Jackson (Kim Martinez) also returning.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's Yeoh - in her first ever role for television - will play the wife of the British Ambassador to Thailand, with Tim McInnerny (Blackadder, Spooks) playing her husband.

Mad Dogs star Beesley takes on the role of an ex-pat gangster in the new episodes, which will also feature guest appearances from Game of Thrones actor Michael McElhatton, Highlander: The Series star Adrian Paul and Spartacus actor Dustin Clare.

Completing the cast are Will Yun Lee (The Wolverine), James Wilby (Gosford Park), Joseph Gatt (Game of Thrones) and Christian Antidormi (Spartacus: War Of The Damned).

Cameron Roach,...

"Strike Back" has announced who is joining the cast for the Cinemax series' fourth season.

The action-packed drama, starring Philip Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton, will have a host of international cast members.

Michelle Yeoh from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II," Dustin Clare, who starred in Starz's "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena," Will Yun Lee of HBO’s “True Blood," James Wilby from “Gosford Park," "Highlander" series star Adrian Paul, "Banshee's" Joseph Gatt, Christian Antidormi from “Spartacus: War of the Damned” and British mixed martial arts champion and Ufc fighter Michael Bisping are all a part of the Season 4 ...

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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing Announce First Eight Titles to be Released Under New Multi-Year Distribution Deal

in August

Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing have announces the inaugural releases of eight films under the companies' new multi-year distribution deal. Over the next year and after, there will be additional releases by Kino Lorber from the Scorpion library, including new acquisitions that will be available for the first time.

Among the first selection of titles to be released in August are Green Ice, starring Ryan O'Neal and Omar Sharif; Grizzly, starring Christopher George (both out on DVD August 5th); A Summer Story, starring Susannah York (out g August 12th), the award-winning Australian drama Careful He Might Hear You (out on August 12th), Jack Hill's Sorceress, produced by Roger Corman (out on August 19th); The Girl in a Swing, starring Meg Tilly (out on DVD on August 19th); the acclaimed drama Friendly Fire, starring Carol Burnett, and the 1982 TV movie version of The Elephant Man (both streeting on DVD on August 26th)

"Green Ice"(1981)

Director: Ernest Day

Cast: Ryan O'Neal, Anne Archer, Omar Sharif, John Larroquette

In the Andes mountains a group of archaeologists are murdered after they discover uncut emeralds. Back in New York, Joseph Wiley (Ryan O'Neal, "Love Story") is down on his luck and runs off to Mexico where he meets Lilian Holbrook (Anne Archer, "Fatal Attraction"). The two are instantly attracted to each other, but Lilian is on her way to meet Meno Argenti (Omar Sharif, "Doctor Zhivago"), the man who intends to marry her. Wiley is mistakenly drawn into perilous adventure when a mysterious caller tells him to look at the samples - stolen emeralds. Lilian's sister is killed and, suspecting Argenti, Wiley and Lilian, in a bid to avenge her murder, plan a daring raid on Argenti's vault of emeralds - green ice. Also starring John Larroquette (TV's Night Court).

"Grizzly" (1976)

Director: William Girdler

Cast: Christopher George, Andre Prine, Richard Jackel, Joan McCall

When an eighteen-foot, two-thousand-pound grizzly bear starts mauling campers and hikers at a state park, a park ranger (Christopher George, "The Exterminator") springs into action. But the job is too big to tackle alone, so he enlists the aid of a naturalist (Richard Jaeckel, "The Dirty Dozen") and a helicopter pilot (Andrew Prine, "The Evil") to take this freak of nature down. Meanwhile, the giant grizzly, not content with picnic baskets, continues to kill indiscriminately, leaving pools of blood and piles of body parts in his wake. Can the ranger and his cronies end the grizzly's reign of terror without resorting to excessively extreme measures? This post-Jaws, nature-runs-rampant thriller was directed by William Girdler ("Day of the Animals"), and was a box office hit and the top-grossing independent film of 1976.

"A Summer Story" (1988)

Director: Piers Haggard

Cast: James Wilby, Susannah York, Jerome Flynn

A country girl has a brief, life-shattering moment when she falls for a young lawyer. Adapted from John Galsworthy'sThe Apple Tree, the film tells of the relationship between a young London lawyer, Frank Ashton (James Wilby,"Handful of Dust") and Megan David (Imogen Stubbs, "True Colors"), the innocent girl who helps him during his recovery from a twisted ankle at the farm where she lives. The attraction between the two is overpowering; they make love in the farm hayloft and vow never to be parted. But Frank goes to Torquay where he meets an old schoolfriend and his lovely sister Stella (Sophie Ward). Thus, Frank's plans become muddled and Megan comes looking for him. A Summer Story of young love. Also starring Susannah York (Tom Jones) and Jerome Flynn (TV's Game of Thrones).

"Careful, He Might Hear You" (1983)

Director: Carl Schultz

Cast: Wendy Hughes, Robyn Nevin, Nicholas Gledhill

Winner of 8 Australian Film Institute Awards - Nominated for 5 more - National Board of Reviews: Winner (Top 10 Films)

Set in Australia in the 1930s, this drama stars Nicholas Gledhill as P.S., a six-year old boy who lives with his Aunt Lila (Robyn Nevin, "The Matrix Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions") and Uncle George (Peter Whitford, "Strictly Ballroom"). P.S.'s mother died in childbirth, so her sister Lila took him in, and while George and Lila don't have much money, they always done the best they could to the give the boy a good home. One day, Lila's older sister, Venessa (Wendy Hughes, "My Brilliant Career") arrives from a trip around the world; Vanessa is quiet wealthy, and upon her return to Australia, she expresses interest in taking custody of the child. Lila is willing to let the boy meet his aunt, but decides to fight her in court when she decides that she wants the boy full time. The case becomes more complicated by the arrival of the boy's long-absent father, Logan (John Hargreaves, "Emerald City"), an alcoholic who loves his son, but is incapable of caring for him. Careful He Might Hear You won 8 Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Hughes) and Best Supporting Actor (Hargreaves).

"Sorceress" (1982)

Director: Jack Hill

Cast: Leigh Harris, Lynette Harris, David Millbern

From legendary producer Roger Corman ("Bloody Mama") comes the box office hit of 1982, "Sorceress." When an evil Wizard Traigon makes a pact with the dark forces to sacrifice his first born to his God Caligara to gain the highest degree of power, but things get complicated when his gives birth to twin. Having knowledge of her husband's plan she runs away and her two daughters grow up to be beautiful warriors played by playboy playmates Leigh and Lynette Harris. After the death of their mother and adopted families at the hands of Traigon and his army, the twins blessed with the forces of light and strength given to them by the magical warrior Krona, join forces with Baldar the Viking and Erlik the Barbarian to take down Traigon and avenge their mother's death. Standing in their way is all sorts of Traigon's minions, from an army of ape man to undead zombies which leads us to a climax in an all out battle between good and evil! Now watch this cult classic, not only from a brand new HD master, but from a previously never-before-seen longer version!

"The Girl in a Swing" (1988)

Director: Gordon Hessler

Cast: Meg Tilly, Rupert Frazer, Nicholas Le Prevost, Elspet Gray

A London art broker (Rupert Frazer, "Empire of the Sun") goes to Copenhagen where he requires the services of a secretary fluent in Danish, English, and German. He falls deeply in love with the woman (Meg Tilly, "The Big Chill"), despite the fact that he knows virtually nothing about her. She insists on not being married in a church, and after they are married, some bad things from her past begin surfacing in subtly supernatural ways, and he must find the best way to deal with them without destroying their relationship. Based on the best selling novel by Richard Adams ("Watership Down") and directed by horror specialist Gordon Hessler ("Cry of the Banshee," "The Oblong Box").

 "Friendly Fire" (1979 TV Movie)

Director: David Greene

Cast: Carol Burnett, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston, Timothy Hutton, David Keith

 The true story of Peg (Carol Burnett, "The Four Seasons") and Gene Mullen (Ned

Beatty, "Deliverance") who pursue the truth over their son's death in Vietnam. After their son is killed in Vietnam the couple's on-going inquiries eventually establish he was killed by 'artillery fire from friendly forces'. This beautifully orchestrated, harrowing story, assembled with uncommon sensitivity, is one of the most dramatic works ever made about the Vietnam War. Directed by David Greene ("Hard Country") and based on the novel by C.D.B. Bryan ("So Much Unfairness of Things") The wonderful cast includes Sam Waterston ("The Killing Fields"), Timothy Hutton ("Ordinary People") and David Keith ("An Officer and a Gentleman"). Winner of 4 Emmy Award® including Best Director and nominated for 3 more including Best Actor and Best Actress. 1980 Peabody Award Winner and DGA nominee foe Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Specials or Movies Made for TV.

"The Elephant Man " (1982 TV Movie )

Director: Jack Hofsiss

Cast: Philip Anglim, Kevin Conwak, Glenn Clsoe 

The story of John Merrick (Philip Anglim), The Elephant Man, and of his triumph over his terrible affliction. It is a story of life and the affirmation of life; timeless, tragic, uplifting and heroic; an exultation of the humanity of a man trapped inside the twisted, lesion-ridden grip of a terminally disfiguring disease. We see John Merrick as a man with many admirers, beginning with the witty and beautiful actress, Mrs. Kendal (Penny Fuller), who, so taken with Merrick, brought a who's who of English society to visit him regularly. The stellar cast includes Glenn Close as Princess Alexandra and Kevin Conway. Directed by DGA nominee Jack Hofsiss (1984 TV Movie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). Winner of 1 Emmy Award® for Best Supporting Actress (Fuller) and nominated for 3 more including Best Actor, Philip Anglim who also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Made for TV Motion Picture.

Review Gem Wheeler 27 Apr 2014 - 19:42

Endeavour wraps up its second series with this impressive episode. Here's Gem's review...

This review contains spoilers.

2.4 Neverland

All Arthur’s knights were brought down by earthly vices in the end: Lancelot by desire, Gawain by his pride and anger. Even the best of men had their price – all save one, Galahad. His destiny was to find the Grail, and to die as soon as he did so. No ties of love or family could bind him to this world for long. He saw men’s deeds with an outsider’s eye, and paid the outsider’s price in loneliness for doing so. It was the path forecast for him before his birth; there was none other open to him.

How appropriate, then, to be reminded of Galahad as we observe Morse at worship in the opening scenes of Neverland, the devastating final episode...

Review Becky Lea 19 Nov 2013 - 07:52

Can Ripper Street improve beyond a simple procedural? Here's Becky's review of Dynamite And A Woman...

This review contains spoilers.

2.4 Dynamite And A Woman

Ripper Street has decided that it is time to give its secondary characters a chance in the limelight. Last week saw Long Susan take centre stage and this week it is newcomer Constable Albert Flight (Damien Molony) to step up as he is called upon by the Leman Street trio to infiltrate the Irish community.

When a politician espousing racist anti-Irish sentiments is later blown up in his bed by Aiden Galven (Stanley Townsend), a recently escaped fugitive, Inspector Aberline decides to put Flight to use and sends him to woo Galven’s daughter Evelyn Foley (Charlie Murphy) in order to find the whereabouts of the fugitive. Meanwhile, Reid, Drake and Jackson investigate the murder of both Galven’s driver...

Whitechapel is stirring.

As you may know, the second series of Ripper Street is just around the corner. Matthew Macfadyen returns as Di Edmund Reid, paired with his stalwart DS Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn) and the mysterious and talented coroner Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg), who has finally hidden his sordid past as Matthew Judge…or so it seems.

The BBC Autumn Original Drama trailer gives little away but as we know, with a new series comes a myriad of new actors (encompassing both genders). David Costabile, Gale from Breaking Bad and Thomas Klebanow on The Wire, has been cast as the second Judge brother, obviously there to cause concern for Captain Jackson. Being Human’s Damien Molony enters as a new DC for H Division whilst Joseph Mawle (Game of Thrones) will play a rival to Reid and co. as K Division’s Inspector Jedidiah Shine. Others gracing the...

The Wire and Breaking Bad star David Costabile, Being Human's Damien Molony and Game of Thrones actor Joseph Mawle are among the new cast members for series two of BBC One period drama Ripper Street.

Filming has started in Dublin on the show's second run, which will feature the return of Matthew MacFadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg as crime-solving trio Reid, Drake and Jackson.

Costabile joins as Daniel Judge, the older brother of Jackson (Rothenberg), and will appear in the two-part finale.

Molony joins as new H Division constable Albert Flight, while Mawle is cast as the corrupt Inspector Jedidiah Shine. Newcomer Leanne Best will appear as Jane Cobden, the first woman elected to the London County Council.

Meanwhile, Paul Kaye (Dennis Pennis, Game of Thrones) is among the guest stars in series two, alongside Gina Bellman (Coupling), Neve McIntosh (Doctor Who and James Wilby (Maurice).

Based around the East End of London,...

London – Oscar winner Jim Broadbent has signed on to star in the second installment of screenwriter Chris Chibnall's two-part TV movie The Great Train Robbery for BBC One. Broadbent will star as Tommy Butler, alongside Robert Glenister (Hustle), Tom Chambers (Waterloo Road), Tim Pigott-Smith (The Hour), Tom Beard (Hunted), James Wilby (Titanic) and James Fox (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory). James Strong, who teamed with Chibnall on United and Broadchurch, will direct second installment, titled A Copper's Tale, and made by World Productions for BBC One. Story: Roland Emmerich Developing 'Lawrence of Arabia' Mini-Series for Fremantle The so-called "great train robbery"

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Jim Broadbent is to lead the cast of BBC One's second Great Train Robbery film.

Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall's latest project is composed of two TV movies - the first, 'A Robber's Tale', will star Fast & Furious 6 actor Luke Evans as Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the famous heist.

Oscar winner Broadbent will star in the second instalment, 'A Copper's Tale', as Tommy Butler - the detective charged with bringing the thieves to justice.

"I'm thrilled to be part the Great Train Robbery film," said the 63-year-old. "I have such strong memories of the massive impact of the actual robbery and it is wonderful to find out from the script so much of the real story.

"Tommy Butler is a fascinating copper of the old school and I anticipate great fun playing him."

Chibnall added: "I've enviously watched Jim's work on other writers' scripts for years and I have...

Oscar winner Jim Broadbent will play Tommy Butler, the detective who relentlessly sought to bring the gang behind the infamous August 8, 1963 robbery of a Royal Mail train to justice. The BBC‘s two-part drama The Great Train Robbery kicks off with The Robbers’ Tale, the story of how the heist was planned and executed. Luke Evans will play Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind behind the heist. The second part, A Coppers’ Tale, will feature Broadbent leading the Scotland Yard team Butler assembled to bring the thieves to justice in a race against time. Also joining A Coppers’ Tale are Tim Pigott-Smith (Downton Abbey, Alice In Wonderland), Robert Glenister (Law & Order: UK, Hustle), Tom Chambers (Waterloo Road), Tom Beard (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen), James Wilby (Titanic) and James Fox (W.E., Utopia). Created by Broadchurch and Camelot exec producer Chris Chibnall, the films are produced by World Productions for BBC One. Part...

Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent is set join the BBC drama where he'll play the detective who battled to bring the gang behind the August 9th, 1963 Royal Mail train robbery to justice. The first part called "The Robbers Tale" tells of how the heist was planned and executive with Luke Evans starring as Bruce Reynolds, the mastermind. The second part "A Coppers' Tale" has Broadbent assembling a team from Scotland Yard to take the thieves down. Also boarding the second part are Downton Abbey's Tim Pigott-Smith as well as Robert Glenister, Tom Chambers, Tom Beard, James Wilby and James Fox.

Birthday shoutouts go to James Wilby (above, in his greatest movie), who is 55, Anthony Head is 59, and Rihanna is 25. Jane Lynch will make her Broadway debut this spring as Miss Hannigan in the revival of AnnieIn ratings news, Smash and The New Normal ... well ... don't kill the messenger. The Down-Low Stigma Is Still Prevalent in Urban Gay Media. Cardinal Peter Turkson, Pope Contender, Suggests Gay Priests To Blame For Church Child Sex Abuse. Jimmy Hales is gay and a Mormon, and he's decided to document his coming out on video. He also laments that he has to live the rest of his life single and celibate. No Jimmy, you don't. You don't Have to live your life single and celibate. You don't have to deny yourself. He's so damn chipper about it that it pains me that I want to smack some sense into him.

Congratulations to Batwoman!

Toy Fair 2013 is underway,...

Brace yourselves. This list of the Top 100 Greatest Gay Movies is probably going to generate some howls of protest thanks to a rather major upset in the rankings. Frankly, one that surprised the hell out of us here at AfterElton.

But before we get to that, an introduction. A few weeks ago we asked AfterElton readers to submit up to ten of their favorite films by write-in vote. We conducted a similar poll several years ago, but a lot has happened culturally since then, and a number of worthy movies of gay interest have been released. We wanted to see how your list of favorites had changed.

We also wanted to expand our list to 100 from the top 50 we had done previously. We figured there were finally enough quality gay films to justify the expansion. And we wanted to break out gay documentaries onto their own list (You'll find the...

The Rms Titanic maritime disaster has been given yet another on-screen treatment, this time from Julian Fellowes, the creator of hit British import "Downton Abbey." In fact, due to Fellowes' involvement and the fact that "Titanic" focuses on all the different classes that were on board the ill-fated ship, some people have taken to referring to "Titanic" as "Downton at Sea." Star Linus Roache, who plays the upper-class Earl of Manton, tells Zap2it that's not exactly what it is.

"It's not 'Downton at Sea.' 'Downton Abbey' just deals mostly with two levels of society ... whereas this ship, this story, deals with so many different layers," says Roache. "You've got four or five layers. And you're bringing in an international dimension because you've got the Irish, how they relate to the Italians. It's really like viewing the world at that time."

Another obvious comparison that has been made is...

Happy Birthday to Jay Hernandez (above), who turns 34, James Wilby is 54, and Lili Taylor is 45, Lauren Ambrose is 34, Gloria Vanderbilt is 88, and Rihanna is 24. What are your Rihanna favs? I'm not a huge fan, but I do love "Only Girl In The World," "S&M," and "Disturbia."Investigations are underway to find out why a jazz radio station accidentally played five minutes of the soundtrack to a gay porn film. "It appeared to be a recording of two men in a mostly wordless but fairly graphic exchange."Lady Gaga studmiffin Taylor Kinney has been cast as the lead in the NBC firefighter drama pilot Chicago Fire.In ratings news, Amazing Race was up in its return, while Pan Am was up 71% in what was most likely its series finale.Warning: Huge Spoiler Pics For Tomorrow's Glee. You Have Been Warned!Towleroad has video of the ex of Sheriff Paul Babeu interviewed by CNN.

Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News

The cast has been announced for 'Downton Abbey' creator Julian Fellowes's new miniseries, 'Titanic.'

Linus Roache, last seen on U.S. television screens playing Exec A.D.A. Michael Cutter in the final season of 'Law & Order,' has signed on for a lead role in the four-part production.

He'll be joined onboard the doomed liner by fellow Brits and 'Masterpiece Theatre' vets Geraldine Somerville ('Gosford Park,' the 'Harry Potter' movies), Toby Jones ('Captain America,' 'Elizabeth I'), Celia Imrie ('Cranford,' 'Bridget Jones'), James Wilby ('Gosford Park') and Steven Waddington ('The Tudors,' 'Sleepy Hollow').

 

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The former poster-boy of the the Age of Reactionary Chic has survived being Mr Darcy to become Thinking Woman's Boy-Crumpet

Is Colin Firth the last man standing from his generation of actors? Of the rest of that generation, oh, what a culling there has been. The generation I'm talking about doesn't include the likes of Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, rougher sorts who came of age in the same period; I mean the public-school pin-up boys of the Age of Reactionary Chic, to borrow Peter York's indispensable phrase. What a time it was: the economy was in the toilet; the Falklands and the miners' strike were in the offing; and Mrs Thatcher was teaching a nation how to cry. In the British media and at the movies, there was a violent, neck-cricking throwback to a snootier, posher era we all thought had been snuffed out by the rise of the accented,...

Born only one day apart their careers have run in parallel and overlapped, but there is an essential difference in their characters

The year 1987 was a good one for big budget American films of the kind that spawn sequels and stage shows. Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon, The Witches of Eastwick, Wall Street, Dirty Dancing and Robocop all came out in rapid succession.

But in Britain the film industry was working at a gentler pace. Two thoughtful, very English films about male friendship came out that year and helped to launch the screen careers of actors who have proved our most enduring homegrown stars. Maurice, the film of Em Forster's tale of blighted love, starred a 27-year-old Hugh Grant opposite James Wilby as Edwardian schoolfriends who fall in love while at Cambridge. A similarly poignant story was being played out in A Month in the Country,...

DVD Playhouse—January 2010

By

Allen Gardner

The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment) Absorbing character study follows the leader (Jeremy Renner) of a bomb squad unit in Iraq and his growing addiction to the adrenaline-fueled life and death edge that he and his men must walk on a daily basis. Director Kathryn Bigelow, an unheralded great filmmaker for nearly two decades, has finally hit paydirt with this gut-wrenching examination of war as drug, as opposed to hell. That said, The Hurt Locker is 2/3 of a great movie that takes a wild left turn in a subplot involving Renner’s character and that of a local boy to whom he takes a shine, and never quite recovers its momentum. In spite of that hiccup, it remains one of the best films of 2009 and, thus far, the finest cinematic exploration of America’s war in the Middle East. Also available on Blu-ray disc, in...

Colin Firth has been showing up around Los Angeles dressed in a stylish suit, white shirt, and tie. Why not? He's speaking about his role in "A Single Man," written and directed by fashion designer Tom Ford. Says Firth of the first-time director, "It's a whole ethos that goes with him, that you certainly realize is worth playing up to, worth doing. It makes you realize jeans and T-shirts are a shame." Ford not only has the obvious sense of style; he cast wisely and shot tenderly, bringing out of the veteran Firth one of his finest performances to date—and that's saying something. "A Single Man," based on the Christopher Isherwood novel, follows a day in the life of George Falconer (Firth), a British college professor recently bereaved of his longtime partner (Matthew Goode). George is gentle, restrained, refined—and highly introspective on this one day.Ford initially approached Firth via email,...

To American audiences, the late producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory are best known for their trio of E.M. Forster adaptations - which is telling for careers spanning 40 years and nearly 30 films together (almost all with writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), making their Forster output roughly ten percent of their body of work. But then again, the names “Merchant and Ivory” are a sort of cinematic shorthand used to denote British films about boring people. My review of Howard’s End after the jump.

That’s not fair, it’s shorthand for particular literary works set at the turn of the century that depict the British class system in all of its repressive reputation, making it impossible for anyone to express their true feelings. To be fair, M&I’s Forster adaptations have been because of their most successful entries, with both A Room with a View and Howard’s...

*Note: This post originally ran on January 28th, 2008

Recently a new Rambo movie hit theatres, the first in 20 years. We've also seen a new Rocky film arrive 16 years after the previous one, a Die Hard sequel that took 12 years to reach theatres and a fourth Indiana Jones film - 19 years after Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade - is expected to draw huge audiences in May.

Seeing so many characters return after a long absence got me thinking about the various gay characters who'd I'd like to see again and gay films that deserve a sequel more than Rambo does:

Parting Glances

The complicated relationship of Parting Glances is one that really leaves me wondering what happens next with Robert (John Bolger) running away to Africa to avoid the grief his partner, Michael (Robert Ganoung) will experience when Michael's ex-boyfriend Nick (Steve Buscemi) succumbs to his battle with HIV. Would...

Madhur Jaffrey is triumphant in "Cotton Mary", enacting a tragic, culturally divided character of Shakespearean dimension.

Jaffrey gives a theatrical intensity to her portrait of madness brought on by an irresolvable conflict between identity and a rigid social structure. But the world in which this story takes place is remote and unfamiliar for most U.S. moviegoers. So while this excellent Merchant Ivory production should do well in overseas markets and any areas with Indian populations, "Cotton Mary" might have a tough time in U.S. cinemas.

Jaffrey plays the title character, an Anglo-Indian woman shunned by both sides in post-colonial India during the 1950s. Working in a hospital in the southern Indian state of Kerala, Mary saves the infant son of Lily (Greta Scacchi), a BBC correspondent's wife, when she steals the child away so her crippled sister and wet nurse, Blossom (Neena Gupta), can revive the baby.

The grateful woman brings Mary into her household as an "Ayah" (or nanny). As Lily grows increasingly alienated from her frequently absent husband (James Wilby) and a crowd of British expatriates, she adds to Mary's responsibilities. Mary uses this opportunity to usurp the power of the family servant, Abraham (Prayag Raaj), until he is forced to leave. Meanwhile, her beautiful niece, Rosie (Sakina Jaffrey), manages to insinuate herself into the family as the husband's lover.

Once Mary's power over the household is achieved, though, she finds herself stymied in her desire to be seen as British. Anglos reject her as native, and Indians view her as foreign. When she masquerades as Lily, wearing her madam's clothes and jewelry, the tragedy of her identity confusion has reached the pathetic stage of delusion.

The script by Alexandra Viets can been praised for the meticulous detail in which she underscores how the social milieu contributes to Mary's madness. Her characters have dimension and are easily recognized as types and flesh-and-blood people.

Yet the script can be faulted for the haste with which the tragedy unfolds. Transitions happen too quickly and elements peculiar to that time and place are not always made clear to U.S. viewers.

Ismail Merchant, directing his third feature, beautifully articulates the period of the Malabar Coast of 1954, and the actors give superb performances. The film has the well-upholstered sheen of all Merchant Ivory productions. But it is Jaffrey's performance that remains foremost in mind.

COTTON MARY

Universal Pictures

Merchant Ivory Prods.

Producers:Nayeem Hafizka, Richard Hawley

Director:Ismail Merchant

Screenwriter:Alexandra Viets

Executive producer:Paul Bradley

Director of photography:Pierre Lhomme

Production designer:Alison Riva

Music:Richard Robbins

Co-director:Madhur Jaffrey

Costume designer:Sheena Napier

Editor:John David Allen

Color/stereo

Cast:

Cotton Mary:Madhur Jaffrey

Lily MacIntosh:Greta Scacchi

John MacIntosh:James Wilby

Rosie:Sakina Jaffrey

Abraham:Prayag Raaj

Theresa:Laura Lumley

Blossom :Neena Gupta

Running time -- 125 minutes

MPAA rating: R...