The story of a young, gay, black, con artist who, posing as the son of Sidney Poitier, cunningly maneuvers his way into the lives of a white, upper-class New York family.

Quintessentially British

2022

English

5.3

♡ 1

Documentary

Frank Mannion Director

Judi Dench as Self

Ian McKellen as Self

Tom Allen as Self

Oz Clarke as Self

This unique and cheeky documentary explores Britain and what makes our country great from our traditions to our self-deprecating sense of humour.

I'll Do Anything

1994

English

5.5

♡ 1

65%

41%

Comedy

Drama

parent child relationship

unsuccessful

James L. Brooks Director

Jerry Hauck as Airplane Passenger

Jake Busey as Burke's Fired Driver

Woody Harrelson as Ground Zero Hero

Ian McKellen as John Earl McAlpine

Matt Hobbs is a talented but unsuccessful actor. When estranged (and strange) ex-wife Beth dumps their daughter Jeannie on Matt, father and daughter have a lot of adjusting to do. His budding relationship with attractive production assistant Cathy Breslow is made complicated, while the precocious child is overly accustomed to getting her own way. Matt eventually faces the choice of family vs career in a particularly difficult way.

Restoration

1995

English

6.6

♡ 18

71%

Michael Hoffman Director

Robert Downey Jr. as Merivel

David Thewlis as Pearce

Sam Neill as The King

Ian McKellen as Will Gates

An aspiring young physician, Robert Merivel found himself in the service of King Charles II and saves the life of someone close to the King. Merivel joins the King's court and lives the high life provided to someone of his position. Merivel is ordered to marry his King's mistress in order to divert the queens suspicions. He is given one order by the king and that is not to fall in love. The situation worsens when Merivel finds himself in love with his new wife. Eventually, the King finds out and relieves Merivel of his position and wealth. His fall from grace leaves Merivel where he first started. And through his travels and reunions with an old friend, he rediscovers his love for true medicine and what it really means to be a physician.

David Copperfield

1999

English

7.6

♡ 5

Drama

Simon Curtis Director

Ian McKellen as Creakle 2 episodes, 1999

Colin Farrell as Milkman 1 episode, 1999

Nicholas Lyndhurst as Uriah Heep 2 episodes, 1999

Daniel Radcliffe as Young David 2 episodes, 1999

David Copperfield (Daniel Radcliffe) lives a nearly-idyllic existence with his beautiful mother Clara (Emilia Fox) and their housekeeper Peggotty (Pauline Quirke). His life changes forever when his mother re-marries. Mr. Murdstone (Trevor Eve) is a no-nonsense businessman and a strict disciplinarian who believes in corporal punishment. David is soon sent to a strict boarding school, but when his mother dies, his stepfather sends him to London to work in a foul-smelling factory. He forms a close friendship with Mr. Micawber (Bob Hoskins) and moves in with the man and his loving family, but as the Micawbers are forced by circumstance to relocate, he seeks out his aunt Betsey Trotwood (Dame Maggie Smith). She sends him to fine school and he lodges with Mr. Wickfield (Oliver Ford Davies) and his daughter Agnes (Antonia Corrigan). As he grows, older David (Ciarán McMenamin) is apprenticed to a law firm where he meets the senior partner's daughter Dora (Joanna Page). Life's challenges continue to confront him but with help from friends and family, he overcomes adversity including his wife's death and his aunt's loss of savings. Eventually he has the satisfaction of seeing the conniving Uriah Heep (Nicholas Lyndhurst) sent to a penal colony.—garykmcd

Jack & Sarah

1995

English

6.6

♡ 9

74%

Tim Sullivan Director

Samantha Mathis as Amy

Cherie Lunghi as Anna

Lorraine Ashbourne as Jackie

Ian McKellen as William

Jack always lands on his feet. He lands on his feet when he marries the beautiful Sarah. He lands on his feet when he buys a luxurious new home. However, when Sarah goes into labour, he takes a tumble down the stairs and lands on his head. When he comes around he discovers he is the proud father of a baby girl, but deficient in the spouse department to the tune of 1.

The Ballad of Little Jo

1993

English

6.7

♡ 11

77%

Maggie Greenwald Director

Karen Johnson as Farm Wife

Sam Robards as Jasper Hill

Heather Graham as Mary Addie

Ian McKellen as Percy Corcoran

After being thrown out of her home, a young woman decides to disguise herself as a man to survive the ruthless Wild West.

The Shadow

1994

English

6.1

♡ 45

38%

Russell Mulcahy Director

Tim Curry as Farley Claymore

Joseph Maher as Isaac Newboldt

Frank Welker as Phurba

Ian McKellen as Reinhardt Lane

Based on the 1930s comic strip, The Shadow is put up against his archenemy Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city to ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "the power to cloud men's minds", The Shadow comes blazing to the rescue with explosive results.

Last Action Hero

1993

English

6.5

♡ 122

41%

48%

Action

Adventure

breaking the fourth wall

John McTiernan Director

Charles Dance as Benedict

Ian McKellen as Death

Jean-Claude Van Damme as Jean-Claude Van Damme

Robert Patrick as T-1000

After his father's death, a young boy finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop. Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.

Gods and Monsters

1998

English

7.3

♡ 21

96%

Bill Condon Director

Jack Plotnick as Edmund Kay

Rosalind Ayres as Elsa Lanchester

Martin Ferrero as George Cukor

Ian McKellen as James Whale

It's 1957, and James Whale's heyday as the director of "Frankenstein," "Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man" is long behind him. Retired and a semi-recluse, he lives his days accompanied only by images from his past. When his dour housekeeper, Hannah, hires a handsome young gardener, the flamboyant director and simple yard man develop an unlikely friendship, which will change them forever.

A Touch of Love

1969

English

6.3

♡ 2

Waris Hussein Director

Ian McKellen as George

Roger Hammond as Mike

John Standing as Roger

Aileen Lewis as Woman in Canteen

Intellectually driven doctoral student Rosamund Stacey, while undertaking graduate work at the British Museum, becomes pregnant after a brief affair with a television newsreader. Against the advice of her best friend, Lydia, Rosamund chooses to keep the baby and adjusts her life to include both her studies and her pregnancy. However, when the baby is born, an unforeseen complication threatens the self-sufficient life Rosamund plans for herself.

The Critic

2023

English

6.0

♡ 9

51%

Anand Tucker Director

Lesley Manville as Annabel Land

Ian McKellen as Jimmy Erskine

Gemma Arterton as Nina Land

Ben Barnes as Stephen Wyley

Jimmy Erskine is the most feared theatre critic of the age. He lives as flamboyantly as he writes and takes pleasure in savagely taking down any actor who fails to meet his standards. When the owner of the Daily Chronicle dies, and his son takes over, Jimmy quickly finds himself at odds with his new boss and his position under threat. In an attempt to preserve the power and influence he holds so sacred, Jimmy strikes a Faustian pact with a struggling actress, entangling them and the boss in a thrilling but deadly web of desire, blackmail, and betrayal.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

1982

English

7.6

♡ 7

89%

Clive Donner Director

James Villiers as Baron de Batz

Ian McKellen as Chauvelin

Jane Seymour as Marguerite St. Just

Richard Morant as Robespierre

During the French Revolution, a mysterious English nobleman known only as The Scarlet Pimpernel (a humble wayside flower), snatches French aristos from the jaws of the guillotine, while posing as the foppish Sir Percy Blakeney in society. Percy falls for and marries the beautiful actress Marguerite St. Just, but she is involved with Chauvelin and Robespierre, and Percy's marriage to her may endanger the Pimpernel's plans to save the little Dauphin

Hamlet

2024

English

5.5

♡ 5

based on play or musical

Sean Mathias Director

Jenny Seagrove as Gertrude

Francesca Annis as Ghost

Ian McKellen as Hamlet

Missy Malek as Osric / Player Prologue / Sleeping Youth

A tale of revenge that has stood the test of time, Shakespeare’s classic tragedy is reimagined for the modern day as a gripping psychological thriller! Transcending the confines of the stage, the film utilises nearly every room of the Theatre Royal Windsor to transform it into the immortal Elsinore Castle, from basement dungeon to roof-top battlement.

The Magic Roundabout

2004

English

5.2

♡ 8

50%

Dave Borthwick Director

Jimmy Hibbert as Additional Voices

Robbie Williams as Dougal

Bill Nighy as Dylan

Ian McKellen as Zebedee

A shaggy, candy-loving puppy named Dougal along with a group of friends embarks on a dangerous journey in an effort to imprison their oppressor -- the evil ice sorcerer ZeeBad (Zebedee's evil twin). As the world is placed in mortal danger Zeebad who wants to turn the world to ice. Doogal and his friends must recover 3 diamonds that are needed to stop him.

Beauty and the Beast

2017

English

7.1

♡ 834

71%

Bill Condon Director

Emma Watson as Belle

Haydn Gwynne as Clothilde

Ian McKellen as Cogsworth

Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts

A live-action adaptation of Disney's version of the classic tale of a cursed prince and a beautiful young woman who helps him break the spell.

The Good Liar

2019

English

6.7

♡ 124

64%

85%

Action

based on novel or book

Bill Condon Director

Lucian Msamati as Beni

Helen Mirren as Betty McLeish

Albert Welling as German Industrialist

Ian McKellen as Roy Courtnay

Career con man Roy sets his sights on his latest mark: recently widowed Betty, worth millions. And he means to take it all. But as the two draw closer, what should have been another simple swindle takes on the ultimate stakes.

The Keep

1983

English

5.7

♡ 14

42%

electronic music score

Fantasy

Horror

nazi

ss (nazi schutzstaffel)

Michael Mann Director

Ian McKellen as Dr. Theodore Cuza

Alberta Watson as Eva Cuza

Scott Glenn as Glaeken

Sean Baker as Wehrmacht Soldier

Set during World War II, a German army garrison is sent to guard a mountain pass in a village in Romania's Carpathian mountains and sets up barracks in an ancient stone fortress. Two of the soldiers unwittingly release a mysterious entity that kills or corrupts those within its influence, drawing the attention of a Gestapo commander, a Jewish scholar, and a mysterious traveller.

Cats

2019

English

2.8

♡ 51

19%

53%

Action

based on play or musical

based on song, poem or rhyme

Tom Hooper Director

Ray Winstone as Growltiger

Ian McKellen as Gus The Theatre Cat

Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots

Idris Elba as Macavity

A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.

National Theatre Live: No Man's Land

2016

English

7.7

♡ 5

Drama

filmed theater

nt live

Sean Mathias Director

Owen Teale as Briggs

Damien Molony as Foster

Patrick Stewart as Hirst

Ian McKellen as Spooner

One summer's evening, two ageing writers, Hirst and Spooner, meet in a Hampstead pub and continue their drinking into the night at Hirst's stately house nearby. As the pair become increasingly inebriated, and their stories increasingly unbelievable, the lively conversation soon turns into a revealing power game, further complicated by the return home of two sinister younger men.

Actors

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Six Degrees of Separation

Quintessentially British

I'll Do Anything

Restoration

David Copperfield

Jack & Sarah

The Ballad of Little Jo

The Shadow

Last Action Hero

Gods and Monsters

A Touch of Love

The Critic

The Scarlet Pimpernel

Hamlet

The Magic Roundabout

Beauty and the Beast

The Good Liar

The Keep

Cats

National Theatre Live: No Man's Land