Pamela Bowen Movies
- 2003
An attractive, middle-aged woman (Donna Bullock) dies while waiting in line at a self-help seminar, the apparent victim of a massive blood clot from a long-ago nose job. But it's another corpse -- an awesomely large one that falls out of its casket in the middle of the night -- that presents a headache for Federico (Freddy Rodriguez) and his new intern, Arthur (Rainn Wilson). On watch at the funeral home while Nate (Peter Krause) and Lisa (Lili Taylor) go camping with another couple, the hapless undertakers must enlist the help of Claire (Lauren Ambrose) and Russell (Ben Foster) in returning the voluminous body to its oversized coffin. Russell is on hand because, despite her decision not to date him, Claire has somehow ended up taking his virginity instead. This turn of events pleases her until David (Michael C. Hall) insinuates that Russell is gay, after all -- a notion she dismisses out of hand. Ruth (Frances Conroy), too, finds herself falling for a man of indeterminate sexual proclivities: stuffy, virginal Arthur, whose old-fashioned manners and idiosyncrasies charm her despite their large age gap. As for Nate, he's none too charmed by the constraints that new fatherhood imposes on his camping trip with his wife. Unable to get gloriously stoned or go off on walkabout like he did as a bachelor, he instead finds himself clashing with Lisa, who's freaking out about the deficiencies in their love life since she gave birth to Maya. Eventually, she and Nate reconcile with some seriously twisted al fresco sex. But Nate is haunted by a daydream about Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) stalking him. Originally broadcast April 6, 2003, on HBO, "Making Love Work" marked season three, episode six of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
This ambitious, four-hour cable miniseries stars Jeremy Sisto (taking time off from his regular series Six Feet Under) as Roman general-turned-emperor Julius Caesar. Expensively filmed in Malta and Bulgaria, the production vividly traces Caesar's rise to prominence as a brilliant military tactician (with remarkably accurate battle scenes); his complex relationships with his mentor General Pompey (Chris Noth) and his second wife Calpurnia (Valeria Golino); his ideological tiltings with Senator Cato (Christopher Walken), who advocates democracy over Caesar's dictatorial ambitions; and his bloody (but inevitable) murder at the hands of former friends and allies. Taking some dramatic license with the facts, the film is basically sympathetic to its subject, although Caesar is depicted as a flawed man, both physically and morally. Giving Caesar points for being fundamentally honorable, in full possession of his faculties, and possessing the "common touch" with the Roman citizenry, the teleplay does not shrink away from the man's violent epileptic seizures, his megalomania, his casually calculated cruelties, and his bigamous relationship with Egyptian queen Cleopatra (Samuela Sardo). Interestingly enough, however, the miniseries downplays his notorious bisexuality ("Every man's woman and every woman's man"). In his final performance, Richard Harris appears as Caesar's wily bête noire, Roman dictator Sulla. Caesar was first telecast in the U.S. on June 29-30, 2003, by the TNT cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Sisto, Richard Harris, (more)
Robert Altman takes a scalpel to Hollywood ethics in the 1990s (or the lack thereof) in his acidic satire The Player, adapted from Michael Tolkin's novel. (Tolkin also wrote the screenplay.) The film concerns a sleek and smooth Hollywood studio executive who starts receiving death threats from a disgruntled writer because he has committed the ultimate Hollywood sin -- he promised the writer he would call him back and he never did. This is particularly ironic because the studio executive, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), is considered "writer-friendly," spending his days listening to pitches from such noted screenwriters as Buck Henry, who is pushing "The Graduate, Part II" and Alan Rudolph, who is hawking a Bruce Willis action film described as "Ghost meets The Manchurian Candidate." But The Player finds Griffin's comfortable life style in danger of collapse. He is trying to find a way to unload his girlfriend (Cynthia Stevenson) whose independence and intelligence make her a poor candidate for a trophy wife. More importantly, it seems that Larry Levy (Peter Gallagher), a slippery executive from Twentieth Century Fox, is angling for his job. And then there are those nasty postcards and faxes from a screenwriter threatening to kill him. Altman cast over 65 stars in cameo roles as texture for his scabrous tale. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, (more)
- 1991
In this entry in the long-running mystery series, Perry Mason must reevaluate his legal principles when an old buddy asks him to represent the gangster suspected of murdering his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Burr, Paul Anka, (more)
- 1990
This week the focus is on another friend of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), Irish-American police detective James O'Malley (Pat Hingle). When the wife of a powerful real-estate mogul (Ron Leibman) takes a fatal header out of a window, the coroner rules it a suicide. But O'Malley isn't one to tolerate such blarney: If he says it's murder, then faith-and-begorrah, it's murder! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Rebecca (Kirstie Alley) is shocked and appalled when Sam (Ted Danson) is promoted to an executive post with the corporation that owns Cheers. She then discovers that Sam has only gotten the promotion so he can play on the company's softball team. Sam, however, is blissfully unaware of this fact, and Rebecca wonders if she can work up enough gumption and spite to tell him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Three weeks have gone by since David (Bruce Willis) and Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) have seen each other. Having retreated to her parents' house in Chicago, Maddie is more depressed than ever, prompting her mom (Eva Marie Saint) and dad (Robert Webber) to throw her a cheer-up party. Meanwhile, back in LA, David and his erstwhile buddy Bert Viola (Curtis Armstrong) have decided to forget their problems by going on a prowl for new girlfriends. Suffice to say that one of the boys is luckier than the other! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Now that he knows Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) is pregnant, David (Bruce Willis) is pressured to do the "right thing" by Maddie's overprotective father Alexander (Robert Webber). Meanwhile, our harried hero must also deal with the increasingly disgruntled employees of the Blue Moon Detective Agency. It is clear by this point that David and Maddie love each other--and also that they may very well allow false pride to impede their future happiness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
