Alexis Denisof Movies

As its final season began, Angel had already established a tone and theme for the year. In "Home," the final episode of season four, the titular vampire hero (David Boreanaz) had agreed to take over the Los Angeles branch of demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart. Vowing to put the firm's vast resources to work in the fight against evil, Angel and company effectively sold out -- with the best of intentions. Parent series Buffy the Vampire Slayer had recently spent its own final season developing an extended metaphor about the "war on terror." Now, Angel sets out to explore a subtler form of evil: the slippery slope of compromised idealism. Given the WB network's continued lack of faith in the show (the fifth season almost didn't happen and the sixth never did, despite a nice ratings bump) critics pointed out that Angel's decision to fight from within the belly of the beast served as a metaphor for the show's quest to tell compelling scripted stories on broadcast TV. Angel spent the season making compromises, so its producers had to settle for smaller budgets and self-contained episodes. They also had to bring Buffy alumnus James Marsters on board as a cast regular, despite his character's heroic death in the Buffy finale. With a ghostly Spike installed as Angel's gleefully snide conscience and rival, the writers brought in several other new and returning characters. Ditzy vampire bombshell Harmony (Mercedes McNab) stepped in as Angel's secretary and the show's central comic relief, while the smarmy Eve (Sarah Thompson) and the affable Knox (Jonathan M. Woodward) served as Wolfram & Hart's human faces.

As for the show's remaining mainstays, Angel romanced a werewolf named Nina (Jenny Mollen) and, along with Spike, came to terms with his feelings for his ex-girlfriend Buffy. (Much to fans' disappointment, though, Sarah Michelle Gellar did not reprise her signature role.) Street-smart demon hunter Gunn (J. August Richards) made a Faustian pact with Wolfram & Hart's senior partners and paid the price for his moral ambivalence. Scientist Fred (Amy Acker) found her soul shattered and her body colonized by an ancient demon named Illyria. Wesley (Alexis Denisof) went off the deep end when Illyria snuffed out his new romance with Fred. Only Lorne (Andy Hallett), the green-skinned empathic demon, got short shrift on the plot points, his presence reduced to the occasional quip or helping hand. This made room for a steady parade of guest stars. For the 100th episode, former Buffy and Angel regular Charisma Carpenter once more brought the caustic and beautiful Cordelia Chase to life. Vincent Kartheiser twice reprised his role as Angel's son, while Buffy vet Tom Lenk helped the fang gang keep tabs on their old friends from Sunnydale. The most unexpected guest of all came in the form of Christian Kane, whose scheming Lindsey McDonald resurfaced to set the stage for a finale that ended as abruptly and heroically as the series itself. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Misha (Nastassja Kinski) and Lexi (Alyson Hannigan) have a falling out with their scummy Russian boyfriends on the eve of a big heist. With the help of Helena (Jennifer Esposito), who despises her nerdy detective husband (Todd Field), the women arrange to rob the casino themselves. Which, of course, cheeses off the blood thirsty Russian ex-boyfriends. To complicate matters, Helena's husband gets in on the heist without her knowing it. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide

With evil law firm Wolfram & Hart firmly established as the chief source of villainy in Los Angeles, Angel began its second season with its first truly extended story line: the war between Angel (David Boreanaz) and his lawyerly nemeses for the soul of Darla (Julie Benz), his newly resurrected, newly human vampire consort. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer veteran and a staple in Angel flashback scenes, Benz was able to modernize her fan-favorite character and add a sympathetic thread to Darla's elegant villainy. But when evil babe Drusilla (Juliet Landau) arrived during sweeps month to re-vampirize Darla and crush Angel's soul, the story line shifted to explore the idea of hero-as-vigilante. A rift developed between Angel and his compatriots, sending the title character on a darker path and leaving his resentful friends to continue their own efforts to "help the helpless." As Wesley became the de facto leader of Angel Investigations, Alexis Denisof was finally able to play the character as something other than comic relief. Charisma Carpenter, too, slipped into something a little more heroic as her character, Cordelia Chase, struggled to control her painful visions from The Powers That Be -- and that plot device, which had begun as a supernatural version of Charlie's disembodied voice on Charlie's Angels, soon allowed the writers to add a deeper, richer dimension to Cordelia's previous mixture of sarcasm and sex appeal. Meanwhile, new series regular Gunn (J. August Richards) slowly integrated himself into the mix. And, although he wouldn't become a regular cast member until the fourth season, Andy Hallett's green-skinned, karaoke-singing demon character Lorne injected campy humor into the show's already diverse mixture of styles and tones. Crossovers with parent series Buffy the Vampire Slayer continued. However, the producers' plans to explore the rehabilitation of bad-girl slayer Faith went nowhere when actress Eliza Dushku proved unavailable for anything but a quick cameo. (She would return two seasons later.) In fact, guest-star scheduling problems caused the entire season to peak early, with the departure of longtime supporting characters Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Rohm) and Lindsay MacDonald (Christian Kane) and a fateful sexual tryst between Angel and Darla. The final four episodes introduced a completely new, Wizard of Oz-esque story line that, although hardly a hit with fans or critics, did facilitate another addition to the cast: Amy Acker as Fred, a Southern belle with a scientific bent. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt's Angel spent its first year establishing a workable premise, ensemble, and, most importantly, tone. Newly spun off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the WB network's zeitgeist-capturing (or, in Buffy-speak, "zeitgeisty") teen horror-comedy drama, Angel began its run as a tongue-in-cheek adventure series. In the pilot, "City of Angels," a chance meeting between depressed vampire-with-a-soul Angel (David Boreanaz) and fellow Sunnydale transplant Cordelia Chase (Charisma Carpenter) leads to the formation of Angel Investigations, a Los Angeles-based supernatural detective agency dedicated to "helping the helpless" -- for a nominal fee whenever possible. With his brooding good looks and his quest for redemption from evil, Angel provides the heroism and the hunkiness; money-grubbing would-be actress Cordelia, meanwhile, provides the laughs and more eye candy. Romantic angst and plot points come in the form of Doyle (Glenn Quinn), their half-demon ally. His direct line to the mysterious Powers That Be provides the firm with a steady stream of cases, while his attraction to the unattainable Cordelia makes up for the title character's limited romantic horizons. As the first season reached midpoint, however, the producers wrote Doyle out of the show and awarded his mysterious visions to Cordelia. At the same time, a new ally arrived in the form of ex-watcher Wesley Wyndham-Price (Alexis Denisof), another Buffy transplant. (This core trio would remain in place for the next three and a half years.)

Despite the cast changes, Angel retained its creature-of-the-week format for most of the season. Continuity came in the form of occasional flashbacks to Angel's demonic past; several Buffy crossovers, including a two-part story line involving Angel's friendship with rogue slayer Faith (Eliza Dushku); and the emergence of police detective Kate Lockley (Elisabeth Rohm) as the hero's reluctant ally and occasional nemesis. Future cast regular J. August Richards, as street-smart vamp-fighter Charles Gunn, arrived just as the season was wrapping up. More importantly, however, the writers began to realize the long-term plot possibilities of Wolfram & Hart, the demonic law firm introduced in the very first episode. The idea that the lawyers who run Los Angeles are not only literally evil, but also part of an interdimensional demonic conspiracy, helped shift the show's tone from light comedy and derring-do to heightened emotion and sustained suspense. A pair of warring Wolfram & Hart associates, conflicted Lindsay MacDonald (Christian Kane) and vampish Lilah Morgan (Stephanie Romanov), rescued the show's rogues' gallery from a procession of rubber masks. Meanwhile, the season finale saw the return of Darla (Julie Benz), Angel's vampiric consort, whose resurrection would drive the extended story lines of the next three seasons. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

On orders from the Mayor (Harry Groener), Faith (Eliza Dushku) retrieves the Box of Gavrok and returns it to him. Buffy soon learns of the box, an apparent accoutrement for the Ascension -- see "Graduation Day, Pt. 1." She decides to curtail the Mayor's efforts and employs Willow (Alyson Hannigan) to magically lift the supernatural protection around the box. Later, while commandeering the box, Angel (David Boreanaz) and Buffy run into some vampires, but escape with the box. Meanwhile, Faith has kidnapped Willow and the Mayor is holding her for ransom to get the Box of Gavrok back. While captured, Willow manages to sneak a look at some of the pages in the Book of Ascension. Wesley argues that holding on to the box is more important than trading for Willow, but Buffy and friends decide otherwise. As the characters near the end of their senior year, Willow and Buffy discuss attending college together in Sunnydale. ~ All Movie Guide

This seminal two-part episode features the end to the characters' high school careers. As the Mayor (Harry Groener) prepares for the Ascension, so do Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her friends -- with the help of former demon Anya (Emma Caulfield). Buffy assumes that she has to miss graduation to fight the Mayor, but is amused at finding out that he will give the commencement speech. Hoping to take Buffy's attention off the Ascension, Faith (Eliza Dushka) poisons Angel (David Boreanaz). Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) research a cure and find that Angel must drink the blood of a slayer. Nervous about battling with the Mayor, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Oz (Seth Green) grow closer. Tired of Oz's distant behavior, Willow urges him to express his panic -- which he does by kissing her. Buffy attempts to sacrifice Faith to save Angel, stabbing her -- but this, of course, is not the end of their rivalry. ~ All Movie Guide

Featuring more subterfuge than a Shakespearean comedy, the good slayer/bad slayer plot thickens as Faith (Eliza Dushka) and the Mayor (Harry Groener) plan to take away Angel's (David Boreanaz) soul. Meanwhile, Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), and the rest of the gang debate the nature of the Ascension -- which says it will make a city disappear; they all agree this would not be good! Following the Mayor's orders, Faith steals the Books of Ascension from a demon she has killed. She then goes to Angel and attempts to seduce him and turn him evil. It does not work, but Buffy comes in on them just as Faith kisses Angel. Later, unaware that Faith is working with the Mayor, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) has Buffy and Faith go look for the Books of Ascension. ~ All Movie Guide

The biblical story of Noah and the Great Flood gets a decidedly unusual retelling in this film, produced as a two-part TV movie and first aired on NBC in May 1999. Noah Jon Voight is an ordinary laborer who one day begins receiving messages from God. It seems the Lord has a special assignment for him: since God is planning on destroying the world with a massive flood, he wants Noah to build a giant ark and fill it with one male and one female of each animal on earth. So why Noah of all people? As God tells him, "You fit the bill. Good times, bad times, you believe in me." And why a 500-foot-long ark? "I think big! I made the world in seven days!" Joining Noah on the trip of a lifetime is his wife Naamah (Mary Steenburgen); those not invited along for the ride are F. Murray Abraham as Lot, Carol Kane as his wife Sarah, and James Coburn as a peddler. Some video versions run 140 minutes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this British-French comedy of manners, Parker Posey stars as Margaret, an award-winning writer of bawdy novels who's grown vaguely dissatisfied with her life in Manhattan -- and her marriage to Edward (Jeremy Northam), a junior poetry professor. Engrossed in the sexually charged 18th century French diary she's adapting for her next book, Margaret heads on a research trip to France only to discover that the chateau at which the diary was written has been turned into a nunnery full of singing sisters. Nevertheless allowing her fertile imagination to get away from her, Margaret experiences the events of the diary as a series of naughty daydreams, simultaneously becoming besotted with Martin (Patrick Bruel), the French music producer who's currently cutting an album with the nuns. When Margaret returns to New York, Martin follows, setting the stage for all sorts of romantic entanglements in Margaret's lofty social circle, which includes Till (Elizabeth McGovern), her playwright sister, and Lily, a bisexual socialite. The feature debut of documentarian Brian Skeet, Misadventures received only a belated video release in America, excised of much of its overt sexuality, including a full-frontal shot of an entire soccer team. What remained, however, was still quite sexy and grown-up. London pop combo Saint Etienne's music didn't fare as well. Although the group's 20-song soundtrack eventually came out in Japan under the title The Misadventures of Saint Etienne, only a few tracks made it into the actual film; in fact, a different subset was included in the American and continental releases. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Based on novels by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe details the exploits of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier who fights Napoleon on the battlefield and his devious wife on the home front. Sean Bean plays Sharpe, while Abigail Cruttenden portrays Jane. The personal and the political all come to a boil in "Sharpe's Waterloo," the final episode of the series. Sharpe must face Napoleon's army at Waterloo while confronting the man who has cuckolded him, Lord Rossendale. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A torrid extramarital affair sends a government official scrambling to salvage his career in this drama starring Michael Gambon and John Hannah and directed by John Strickland. Peter Moreton (Gambon) is a high-ranking government official with a lot to lose, and when his daughter purposefully reveals her father's indiscretion to a reporter she is dating, the ensuing media frenzy threatens to reveal his unseemly lifestyle to all of Britain and put an end to his privileged lifestyle. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide