Movies by Aidan McArdle
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Ella Enchanted
Ella lives in a magical world in which each child, at the moment of their birth, is given a virtuous "gift" from a fairy godmother. Ella's so-called gift, however, is obedience. This birthright proves itself to be quite the curse once Ella finds herself in the hands of several unscrupulous characters whom she quite literally cannot disobey. Determined to gain control of her life and decisions, Ella sets off on a journey to find her fairy godmother who she hopes will lift the curse. The path, however, isn't easy -- Ella must outwit a slew of ...
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Einstein and the Bomb
What happened after Einstein fled Nazi Germany? Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama dives into the mind of a tortured genius.
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The Duchess
A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.
Epitaph
An ex-Army marksman's plan to avenge the murder of his parents brings him into business with a murder-for-hire organization and the C.I.A.
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Van Gogh: Painted with Words
A drama-documentary presented by Alan Yentob, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role. Every word spoken by the actors in this film is sourced from the letters that Van Gogh sent to his younger brother Theo, and of those around him. What emerges is a complex portrait of a sophisticated, civilised and yet tormented man.
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Not Only But Always
The story of the working and personal relationship between the comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, a hugely popular duo in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s. Focusing primarily on Cook, the film traces the pair from their first meeting through their career as part of the Beyond the Fringe review, their television series Not Only... But Also and various other projects before their later estrangement as Moore became a successful Hollywood film star and Cook remained in the UK.
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National Theatre Live: Leopoldstadt
At the beginning of the 20th century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. But Hermann Merz, a factory owner and baptised Jew now married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world. We follow his family’s story across half a century, passing through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. A company of 40 actors represent each generation of the family in this epic, but intimate play.
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Footprints in the Snow
Paralysed from the waist down after a car crash, Julie Hill struggles to get used to her disability and to save her marriage. It looks as if her husband will leave her. Then doctors try a revolutionary treatment which feeds electrical impulses to her leg muscles - allowing her to ride a bicycle once again and so go out for bike rides with her family. Her marriage survives and she and her husband end up closer together than before.
Seanie & Flo
Seanie is a lonely, borderline delusional man who empties bins on the sparse stretches of motorways that haven’t been populated with service stations yet. He’s also responsible for picking up the rubbish that is illegally dumped around the outskirts of the town. Flo is a belligerent teenage girl on her first day doing community service for spraying graffiti around the town. Today is their first day working together and their attitudes to both rubbish and art couldn’t be any more different. When they catch a couple illegally dumping on a road...
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Sonja: The White Swan
The true story of Sonja Henie, one of the world's greatest athletes and the inventor of modern figure skating, who decides to go to Hollywood in 1936 to become a movie star.
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Perfect Day
Drama following the tensions and romantic crises among a group of friends over the course of a single wedding day.
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The Borderlands
Vatican investigators are sent to the British West Country to investigate paranormal activity, and they find the events are more disturbing than they first imagined.