Charles McDougall Movies
- 2007
Power, politics, love, religion, and blasphemy - the tale of this historical family would sound impossible if it weren't true. The Tudors were one of the most controversial royal lines ever to sit on the throne of England, and their story is told through this opulent and suspenseful series produced by Showtime. The show stars Jonathan Rhys Myers as King Henry VIII, a charismatic and notoriously amorous figure with a lust for life, and for the beautiful women at court. His dutiful wife Katherine has served him lovingly for more than a decade, but the wife of a king in 1520 must do more than serve - she must produce an heir. As the young monarch contends with each advisor playing their own interest in the threat of war with France, fear over the security of the Tudor line grows steadily in his mind, so much so that when he becomes involved with the bewitching and ambitious Anne Boelyn, he sets off a chain of events that will change history - igniting an onslaught of tumult and intrigue that would rage on for years, serving as the catalyst for political divide, religious war, and romantic betrayal. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Created by Jon Harmon Feldman (whose previous credits included such worthwhile weeklies as American Dreams), the semi-serious Big Shots was pigeonholed in the trade press as a "Sex and the City for guys." The series traced the activities of four upscale male friends who regularly commiserated over their lives and careers at a posh country club. The designated "moral center" of the series was James Walker (Michael Vartan), who'd become CEO of Amerimart Industries by a fluke (his boss had been killed in a freak accident just before James was to have been fired), but who was determined to be a standard bearer of integrity both in and out of the workplace -- and to tactfully ignore the fact that his wife, Stacey (Wendy Moniz), had been having an affair with his former employer. James' best buds included Brody Johns (Christopher Titus), senior vice president of Alpha Crisis Management, who had trouble "managing" his contentious spouse, Janelle (Charisma Carpenter); Karl Mixworthy (Joshua Malina), chief exec of a huge pharmaceutical conglomerate, tolerably married to Wendy (Amy Sloan) while having an affair with hyper-possessive Marla (Jessica Collins); and Duncan Collinsworth (Dylan McDermott), top man at Reveal Cosmetics, who though long divorced somehow found it difficult to resist the sexual charms of his ex-wife, Lisbeth (Paige Turco), and whose future was jeopardized by an unfortunate one-night stand with a hooker named Dontrelle (Jazzmun), who turned out to be a transsexual. Nor did Duncan's emotional entanglements end there; he also had a lot of trouble relating to his estranged 19-year-old daughter, Cameron (Peyton List), and seemed oblivious to the fact that he was worshipped by his attractive business associate Katie Graham (Nia Long). Also in the cast was Francesca P. Roberts as therapist Dr. Seaver-Filner, who was kept solvent by the repeated visits from the Walkers and the Collinsworths. Big Shots premiered on ABC on September 27, 2007. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Vartan, Christopher Titus, (more)
- 2007
Young, handsome, and one of the most powerful men in the world, King Henry VIII of England should be pleased, but in reality, his mind weighs heavily with concern over religious division in his country, the political struggle that wages between nations, and his failure to produce a male heir. His wife, Kathrine of Aragon, has suffered numerous miscarriages and stillbirths, and the King's only legitimate child is his daughter, Mary. Katherine is an excellent queen and devoted wife, but Henry's desire to seek the extremely difficult route of divorce looms in his mind. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Thomas Boleyn lays plans to usher his daughter into the King's bed, as Katherine continues to pray feverishly for a son, while the King begins to think that Katherine's inability to bare a male heir may be God's retribution for Henry marrying his brother's wife. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- 2006
Bill (Bill Paxton) has started using Viagra to treat his impotence, and the results are quickly noticeable to Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and Nicki (Chloë Sevigny) because they have to leave the backyard so their kids won't hear Margene's (Ginnifer Goodwin) screams of passion coming from the bedroom.Nicki volunteers to talk to Bill about how thoughtless they're being, and ends up going at it with Bill herself in Margene's bedroom. Margene overhears and is horrified, leading to increasing tension between the three wives. Margene also tells Bill that she needs her own car. Bill lets Roman (Harry Dean Stanton) know that he doesn't feel their old loan agreement extends to his newly opened second store. Roman clearly sees Bill's success as part of his own personal empire, and Bill is worried that the dangerous old man might take some kind of drastic action, so he hires a security consultant to install an alarm system in his three connected houses. Bill goes to drive Frank (Bruce Dern) home from the hospital, and Frank realizes that Bill suspects that it was Lois (Grace Zabriskie) who poisoned him. Ben's (Douglas Smith) non-Mormon girlfriend, Brynn (Sarah Jones), seems eager to get physically intimate with him, and he struggles against his natural desires. Heather (Tina Majorino) makes it clear to Sarah (Amanda Seyfried) that she knows about her parents' polygamous lifestyle, and still wants to be friends with her. "I should tell you," Heather warns her, "I don't agree with polygamy." "Yeah, well," Sarah responds, "Neither do I." Seyfried, Majorino, and Kyle Gallner, who plays Jason Embry, all also had recurring roles on Veronica Mars. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
A grieving mother attempting to deal with the death of her daughter travels to the former haunts of the deceased young woman to face her grief and capture her child's true essence on this touching tale of love and loss starring Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton. Caring mother Natalie (Keaton) always treasured the intimate honesty of the relationship she shared with her kindly daughter Sara (Alexa Davalos), so when Sara is killed in a tragic car accident and Natalie discovers that her daughter wasn't the person she thought she knew, the devastation she feels is earth-shaking. Now determined to find out just who her daughter really was in life, Natalie takes a trip to the beat-up beach house where Sara spent many of her summers to speak with the friends who knew her best and finally begin the long and painful healing process. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Keaton, Tom Everett Scott, (more)
- 2006
Bill (Bill Paxton) gets Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) her own car, much to her delight. Nicki (Chloë Sevigny) is making some extremely elaborate plans for Wayne's (Keegan Holst) fifth birthday celebration. Bill is upset when he finds out she plans to invite 153 people to a fancy hotel, and he's even angrier when she tells him that Roman (Harry Dean Stanton) has agreed to pay for the event. Bill insists that the party be a small event in their home, and lets her know that her father is not welcome. The security system he's installed to protect the family from Roman causes its own problems. Margene is excited about the prospect of meeting her mother-in-law, Lois (Grace Zabriskie), for the first time, but Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) warns her not to get her hopes up. Someone, probably Alby (Matt Ross), barges into the offices of Henrickson Home Plus, and forces Wendy (Jodie Markell), a junior executive, to sign over a check for 20,000 dollars that Roman feels he's owed. Bill's partner, Don (Joel McKinnon Miller), expresses his concerns that their connection to Roman and the notorious Juniper Creek leaves them vulnerable to being exposed as polygamists, which would, among other things, destroy their business. Friendly new neighbors, Carl (Carlos Jacott) and Pam (Audrey Wasilewski), move in across the street from the Henricksons, and this is also cause for concern. On the day of the birthday party, cultures clash, as Roman shows up after all, and brings along young Rhonda (Daveigh Chase), who explains to Sarah (Amanda Seyfried) that she's in "pre-marriage placement" with Roman, a way to "get around the law" until she's 16. When Sarah asks about Rhonda's personal happiness, the girl tells her, "The greatest freedom we have is obedience." ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- 2004
One of ABC's most popular series of the 2004-2005 season, the weekly, hour-long Desperate Housewives took place on Wisteria Lane in an upscale suburban neighborhood. That Wisteria Lane was not as quiet and respectable as it appeared at first glance was brought home forcibly in the opening episode, when housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) committed suicide right in the middle of her comfortable living room. From her vantage point in the great beyond, Mary Alice served as the series' wry, all-knowing narrator, filling the viewer on the various sordid details in the lives of her four best friends. There was divorcée Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), ever-looking for love in all the wrong places and agonizing over the behavior of her daughter, Julie (Andrea Bowen). There was Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), who every day of her life kicked herself over her decision to give up her business career to care for her highly competitive husband, Tom (Doug Savant), and her irritating children. There was Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), the all-too-perfect, control-freak homemaker who eventually drove her husband, Rex (Steven Culp), to divorce court and her son, Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom), into malevolent misanthropy. And there was ex-model Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria), who despite having married into money and luxury couldn't stop herself from fooling around with teenaged gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe). Though her controlling husband, Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), was not privy to her infidelity, he had his suspicions that she was less than faithful. Prone to extreme displays of machismo, he took many measures to maintain the marriage. Weaving in and out of the proceedings was the oft-divorced Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), with whom Susan competed over the affections of supposedly widowed plumber Mike Delfino (James Denton). The sexual intrigues of Wisteria Lane were augmented (during the first season at least) by the mysterious activities of Mary Alice's husband, Paul (Mark Moses) -- including digging up the backyard swimming pool in the dead of night -- and the strange emotional outbursts of their tormented, unstable son, Zach (Cody Kasch). Created by Marc Cherry, Desperate Housewives debuted October 3, 2004. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2004
Sopranos ingenue Jamie-Lynn DiScala stars as the infamous Hollywood madam in this made-for-cable bio-flick. Produced without the participation of Heidi Fleiss herself, Call Me traces the Pandering author's progression from pampered daughter of a liberal doctor (Saul Rubinek) to headline-grabbing proprietress of a ring of pricey Tinseltown escorts. Robert Davi and Brenda Fricker co-star as the boyfriend/pimp and the old-guard madam who offer Fleiss her entrée into the oldest profession. Corbin Bernsen plays a big-time movie producer who requires high kink from "Heidi's girls" to sate his jaded sexual appetites. The script, by Norman Snider, covers Fleiss' bust but trails off after her incarceration without covering her subsequent rehabilitation as a legitimate businesswoman. Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss premiered in April 2004 on the USA network. Snider previously worked on the script for another naughty TV flick, Rated X, which starred Charlie Sheen -- one of the few high-flying Fleiss customers to be named publicly during her early-'90s legal ordeals. Fleiss was previously the subject of Nick Broomfield's documentary Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala, Robert Davi, (more)
- 2004
The reasons for suburban housewife Mary Alice Young's suicide -- in the middle of her immaculate living room -- is but one of the many puzzles posed in the opening episode of Desperate Housewives. From the afterlife, Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) narrates with amusement and bemusement the continuing activities of her best friends -- and her best friend's secrets. Of particular interest to Mary Alice (and to the viewer) is the strange nocturnal behavior of her far-from-bereaved husband, Paul (Mark Moses), not to mention the disintegrating marriage of the neighborhood's resident control freak Bree Van De Camp (Marcia Cross), and the difficulties facing Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), who is still struggling to come to terms with her decision to give up her career and devote her full time to her children and husband (Doug Savant). And can it be that Mrs. Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook) knows more about the recent indiscretions of divorcée Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) than she's letting on? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
It's Fleet Week in New York, and in between adjusting to life with Miranda's new baby and the impending arrival of thousands of young men in form-fitting uniforms, the girls have their hands full. Samantha (Kim Cattrall), for one, is finding it difficult to curb her natural behavior in the presence of an infant, especially as she is hell-bent on getting revenge on the philandering Richard (James Remar). Charlotte (Kristin Davis), single again and intent on sowing her reawakened oats, is all too eager to drop anchor with some of the Navy's finest. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is mourning the loss of both Aidan and Big, asking herself if she's used up her quota of great loves. And Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) struggles to learn the art of breastfeeding. A woebegone Carrie decides to turn to the city for love, choosing to bask in her feelings for New York rather than wallow in the loneliness of trying to date there. So when a fateful encounter with a sailor results in an invitation to the Fleet Week party, Carrie is more than a little excited. As are Charlotte and Samantha, the latter of whom has been making Richard's life a living, libelous hell, despite his repeated attempts to apologize and declare his undying love for her. At the party, Charlotte ends up flirting with an officer who is decidedly not a gentleman, while Carrie resists the charming attempts of a Southern sailor and decides to go home alone, reasoning that until she's able to step out of the past, being alone suits her well enough in the present. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2002
During their weekly breakfast, the girls are shocked and more than a little skeptical when Samantha (Kim Cattrall) announces that she's gotten back together with the philandering Richard (James Remar). Another shock awaits Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) when Steve (David Eigenberg) tells her that he wants Brady to be baptized to prevent him from burning in eternal hellfire. And Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a little shocked -- and dismayed -- to find that now that she's not in a relationship, she's running low on material for her sex column. However, salvation arrives in the form of a publisher who wants to turn her past columns into a book; what's more, the two single female representatives of the publishing house feel that Carrie is uniquely suited to give her readers a message, leading Carrie to ask herself if she's an optimist or a pessimist. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is also doing some soul-searching in the form of a self-help program designed to help students embrace their powers of self-affirmation. Meanwhile, Miranda decides to go through with Brady's baptism in order to please Steve and his slightly unhinged mother (Anne Meara), and asks Carrie to be Brady's godmother. Carrie protests, feeling she's way too cynical to be a good influence on a child, but Miranda insists, and at the baptism Carrie hopes that some of the holy water will wash away her own sins. Afterward, she returns home and dedicates her book to Charlotte -- for her unflappable optimism. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Charles McDougall's Sunday is one of two films (the other being Paul Greengrass' Bloody Sunday) that were made in 2002 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of January 30, 1972, a date commonly known as Bloody Sunday. Originally aired on BBC television network, the film attempts to give a fact-based portrayal of the events, which began as a civil rights protest in response to some Catholic leaders being jailed without due process and ended in a gruesome massacre, with 14 Catholics shot dead and 14 others injured at the hands of the British military. After its television debut, Sunday went on to win the top prize at the 2002 Method Fest Independent Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ciarán McMenamin, Barry Mullan, (more)
- 1999
A mother's love turns deadly in the wake of an organ transplant in the thriller Heart. Gary Ellis (Christopher Eccleston) is a businessman, while his wife Tess (Kate Hardie) works in television. Gary and Tess don't get along very well, largely because he's convinced she's having an affair. One day, Gary has a major heart attack, and is soon confined to a wheelchair while doctors wait for a suitable donor for a heart transplant. Tess takes this opportunity to finally start having that affair Gary's been talking about, with a writer named Alex (Rhys Ifans). One day, Gary is rushed to the hospital after Sean (Matthew Rhys), a teenage aspiring boxer, is brought to the emergency room near death. Sean dies, and his heart is transplanted to Gary. After recovery, Gary is a new man, and Tess is so delighted she gives Alex his walking papers. But then Sean's mother Maria (Saskia Reeves) enters the picture; while at first Gary wanted to know what sort of person's heart was beating in his chest, now Maria is trying to work her way into the Ellis's lives, certain her son's hopes and dreams now live on in Gary's chest. Shot in 1997, Heart didn't receive a release in Europe until 1999, though it did play several film festivals the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Eccleston, Saskia Reeves, (more)
- 1999
This omnibus film is both a tribute to 1990s Cool Britannia and an opportunity for many of Britain's best actors to step behind the camera. Set in the London's underground (AKA the Tube), the film's nine shorts depict England's most hallowed form of public transportation in wildly divergent manners, from gritty to surreal. Jude Law's "A Bird in the Hand" is a quietly affecting tale about an ailing old man, while "Horny", by Stephen Hopkins is an extended sexual fantasy imagined by a sweaty commuter enduring both the dog days of summer and his obvious arousal. Ewan MacGregor's "Bone" is a fanciful tale about a trombonist and his imagined lover on their way home from a concert, while Bob Hoskins' "My Father the Liar" is an emotionally powerful tale about a child who witnesses a suicide. But perhaps the standout segment from this film is Armando Iannucci's uproarious "Mouth", featuring a beautiful, poised woman vomiting on her fellow commuters set to Bruckner's 9th Symphony. Frank Harper appears in a number of these short works as an overly officious subway staffer. This film premiered at the London Film Festival and was later showed on the UK's BSkyB cable channel. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kelly MacDonald, Jason Flemyng, (more)
