Nicholas Woodeson Movies

One man's role in the long battle to outlaw slavery in the United Kingdom sets the stage for this historical drama from director Michael Apted. In 1784, 21-year-old William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) was elected to the British House of Commons, and soon established himself as a politician with a conscience. Several years later, his close friend William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) became prime minister, and together they made a bold plan to introduce a bill banning slavery before the English legislature. Wilberforce was aided by anti-slavery activists Olaudah Equiano (Youssou N'Dour) and Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell); however, pro-slavery hard-liners Lord Tarleton (Ciarán Hinds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) spearheaded a hard-fought opposition to the legislation, and despite Wilberforce's best efforts, his bill went down in defeat. In 1797, Wilberforce left politics due to poor health and a battered spirit; staying at the country home of his friends Henry and Marianne Thornton (Nicholas Farrell and Sylvestra Le Touzel), he became acquainted with Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), a beautiful woman with progressive views. Spooner became deeply infatuated with Wilberforce, and she encouraged him not to give up on his noble goals; with her help, Wilberforce launched a second campaign to persuade England's lawmakers to end the slave trade. Amazing Grace made its North American premiere as the closing-night gala attraction at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

As the first season of Rome draws to a close, Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) and Pullo (Ray Stevenson) learn that they are heroes on the streets of the city, "symbols of brotherly love and redemption." On a trip to consecrate the land he and his wife have been given, Vorenus tells Niobe (Indira Varma) that Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) might exile him for disobeying his orders by helping Pullo. But Caesar later explains that it's politically unfeasible to punish the heroes, and if he does nothing, he'll appear weak, so, as part of a larger plan to incorporate (loyal) "plebs" and foreign citizens into the Senate, he makes Vorenus a senator. Of course, Caesar's ulterior motive is to have the "ferocious" Vorenus at his side so that no one will try to kill him. Pullo, near death, still manages to make his way from his sick bed, eager to reap the bounty of his newfound celebrity. Instead, he ends up collapsing at Vorenus' home, where Niobe assigns his care to Eirene (Chiara Mastalli), who contemplates murder. With Vorenus joined to Caesar on the Senate floor, the growing group of conspirators fears they will not have the opportunity to kill Caesar. While some would be content to poison him, or murder him in his bed, Brutus (Tobias Menzies) insists that the deed "must be done honorably." Then Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) realizes where she's heard Vorenus' name before, and sets a plot in motion to separate the hero from the dictator at the pivotal moment. While the plot is unfolding, Servilia invites Atia (Polly Walker) and Octavian (Max Pirkis) to her home, and tells them of her further plans for vengeance. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Mad Cows is a slapstick comedy about sex and the singles scene. Single and confused Maddy has just had a baby. The first day that she goes out with her baby, she gets arrested at Harrods for shoplifting. While in detention at the Holloway Prison's Mother and Baby Unit, she smuggles Jack out in her friend's handbag. She seeks help from her ex-lover Alex, who is sure he is god's gift to women. In the meanwhile, the prison psychotherapist Edwina Phelps is on Maddy's back. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Jon Amiel directed this satire on mistaken-identity thrillers and the spy genre, scripted by Robert Farrar, Tim John, and Oliver Butcher from Farrar's unpublished novel, Watch That Man. In the female lead, Joanne Whalley returned to films after a three-year absence, choosing to do so with director Amiel. Farrar's Hitchcockian-style story focuses on naive Blockbuster Video clerk Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) who travels from Des Moines, Iowa, to London to celebrate his birthday with his wealthy younger brother, James (Peter Gallagher). When he turns up on the same night that James has plans to attend a high-profile client dinner party (that he hopes will bring him millions from a German investment firm), James needs to keep Wallace away during the evening, so he gives Wallace a ticket to the participatory Theater of Life. The theater game requires Wallace to assume a character and interact with actors portraying people in dramatic situations.

At the corner phone booth, the initial call should begin the evening of innocent fun. However, the phone instructions Wallace receives are actually intended for an assassin, part of a scheme to end the current UK regime and revive the Cold War. The real assassin gets the call from the Theater of Life. Blissfully unaware, Wallace walks without fear into a complex web of intrigue involving defense ministers, call girls, and Russian hitmen. For Wallace, all the world's a stage, and he's amazed at the skill of the actors, including beautiful enigmatic Lori (Joanne Whalley) -- while Wallace's pursuers are mystified by their adversary's fearlessness in the face of threats, torture and bullets. Farrar got the idea for this comedy from a chance remark at a party: "The inspiration came from a dinner party, when somebody told me about these strange live theater performances which were all the rage in England in the '80s. The idea was to telephone for instructions if you wanted to take part. My immediate reaction was, 'Wouldn't it be fabulous if somebody got the wrong number, and it all went hopelessly wrong?'" Filming took place in London's East End (Three Mills Studios), at a variety of London locations, and just outside London at the Elstree Film Studios. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Written by British TV screenwriter, Malcolm McKay, this is the second of three movies that revolve around the concept of forgiveness. In this comedy, a dancer becomes pregnant. Discovering that her live-in boyfriend has been cheating on her, she kicks him out, but since he is not the Father of this child, his ejection really doesn't change the problem of whether or not she should keep the child. Vacillating back and forth, she imagines a dialogue with her baby. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

Embroiled in an affair with Thomas Callahan (Sam Shephard), her alcoholic professor, precocious 24-year-old Tulane University law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) writes up an insightful theory about the recent murder of two Supreme Court justices, one of whom, Abraham Rosenberg (Hume Cronyn), served as Callahan's mentor. When Callahan shares this so-called "Pelican Brief" with buddy Gavin Verheek (John Heard), an FBI lawyer, the document makes its way to White House flack Fletcher Coal (Tony Goldwyn), who believes it could topple the current administration. When Callahan is murdered and the President (Robert Culp) convinces the FBI to hold off on investigating Darby's theory, the resourceful student must go into hiding, stalked by relentless assassin Khamel (Stanley Tucci). Her only hope of escaping Callahan's fate and proving her theory lies in Washington investigative reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), who's already had one confidential source back out of sharing information about the assassinations. This John Grisham adaptation is generally faithful to the best-selling novel. Fans of HBO's Sex and the City will notice one of its future stars, Cynthia Nixon, in a small role as one of Darby's New Orleans classmates. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

Martin Landau plays legendary Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal in this made-for-cable offering from director Philip Saville. Based on Wiesenthal's book, Treat Williams plays Max, a Jewish Holocaust survivor relating his story to Simon, who has tracked down the Nazi commandant in charge of the camp where Max and his fiancee Helen (Alice Krige) were held. While Max believes Helen to be dead, they are reunited after more than twenty years by film's end. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

A notorious artistic and financial failure, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate was blamed for critically wounding the movie Western and definitively ushering out the 1970s Hollywood New Wave of young, brash, independent filmmakers. Taking a revisionist, post-Vietnam view of American imperialism, Cimino used the historical Johnson County War incident in Wyoming to create an impressionistic tapestry of Western conflict between poor immigrant settlers and rich cattle barons led by Canton (Sam Waterston) and his hired gun Nate Champion (Christopher Walken). Attempting to mediate is idealistic Harvard graduate and county marshal Averill (Kris Kristofferson), who is both Nate's friend and his romantic rival for the affections of Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert). However, war erupts, at great cost to all involved. Flush from his success with the Oscar-winning The Deer Hunter (1978), Cimino demanded creative control, and his insistence on shooting on location and building historically accurate sets and props multiplied the film's original budget to a then-astronomical $36 million. When United Artists premiered the original 219-minute version (sight unseen), they discovered that Cimino had produced an elliptical epic, compounding the box-office difficulties of making a Western without any major stars. Critics howled about Cimino's incomprehensible self-indulgence, and United Artists pulled the film after several days. Re-released five months later, 70 minutes shorter, Heaven's Gate bombed again, and MGM bought out the financially crippled United Artists. The ailing Western genre virtually vanished during the 1980s, Cimino's career never recovered, and Hollywood studios had had enough of bankrolling financially risky ventures by "auteur" directors. Heaven's Gate's reputation recovered somewhat after its video release, as it garnered praise from some viewers for such visually remarkable sequences as the Harvard dance and the final battle, as well as for David Mansfield's haunting score. Steven Bach's book Final Cut provides a full production history. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi