Alan Poul Movies

A single woman opts for artificial insemination after dating for years and failing to find the right guy, only to see the man of her dreams breeze into her life just as she learns she's pregnant. Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) is well aware that her biological clock is ticking, but she just can't find the type of guy she'd want to settle down and start a family with. Eventually, she makes the decision to become a single mother. The very same day that Zoe is artificially inseminated, however, she meets Stan (Alex O'Loughlin), a single charmer whom she thinks would make a great father. While at first Zoe struggles to hide her condition from Stan, before long there's no denying the truth and she decides to spill the beans. Much to her surprise, Stan responds enthusiastically, announcing that he's in it for the long haul. Over the course of the next nine months, Zoe and Stan enter into a whirlwind romance, begin drawing up wedding plans, and mapping out the rest of their lives together. But will their burgeoning relationship collapse under the stress of all this weight, or was it simply meant to be that Zoe and Stan would both find each other at such a crucial turning point in each other's lives? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

As the split between Antony and Octavian worsens, Cicero aligns with the latter. Meanwhile, Vorenus attempts to quell a burgeoning gang-war. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Wills have been drawn up for Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn), Nicki (Chloë Sevigny), and Margene (Ginnifer Goodwin) determining who will get custody of their children if they die. It's supposed to be relatively simple, according to "wife order," but the wives have other ideas. Margene privately asks Barb if she can leave her children to Barb instead of Nicki, while Nicki secretly makes arrangements to have her kids sent to Juniper Creek in the event of her death. When these maneuvers come to light, it naturally increases the tensions between the sister-wives, tensions that are exacerbated by Barb's being named a finalist in the statewide Mother of the Year contest. Bill (Bill Paxton) gets a public accolade of his own when he's invited to join the Salt Lake Leadership League. He sees it as a great opportunity for his business, but others warn him that being involved in such a public organization will increase his risk of exposure. Ernest Holloway (John Ingle) agrees to sell Bill his shares in the UEB, which will give Bill access to a seat on the council. Roman (Harry Dean Stanton) finds out that the two are meeting, and takes swift and brutal action against Ernest. Rhonda (Daveigh Chase) comes from Juniper Creek to stay with the family while she competes in a local drama competition. Sarah (Amanda Seyfried), whom Rhonda horrifyingly describes as her "step-niece and granddaughter-in-law," and Heather (Tina Majorino) spend some time with Rhonda, and are increasingly horrified by the girl's ignorance of the outside world. Ben (Douglas Smith) is overcome by feelings of remorse after having sex with Brynn (Sarah Jones), and begins trying to avoid her. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Mark Antony (James Purefoy) is running things in Rome while Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) chases down Pompey (Kenneth Cranham) and his allies in Greece. But soon, word reaches Antony that the battle has turned against Caesar, who orders Antony and whatever troops he can muster to join him in Greece in what seems a hopeless cause. Pompey sends a messenger to Antony (living in Pompey's house) to let him know that Pompey will reward him if he sits out the battle, while Atia (Polly Walker) tries to convince Antony to marry her and seize power in Rome. Antony bides his time reaching a decision. Meanwhile, Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is having problems at home. Lyde (Esther Hall), Niobe's (Indira Varma) sister, is worried over her missing husband, and has moved in with the couple. Niobe seems more concerned about her well-being than the state of her marriage. After listening to the frustrated, lovelorn, drunken Vorenus complaining through the night, Pullo (Ray Stevenson) tells Lyde that he's heard that her husband was murdered, and pointedly tells her, in front of Niobe, to get on with her life. Pullo, assigned with schooling Octavian (Max Pirkis) in the "manly arts," takes the young man to an upscale brothel. Atia, concerned that she'll be on the losing side of the battles in Greece, gets Ocatvian out of town, and sends Octavia (Kerry Condon) to Servilia (Lindsay Duncan) with some "gifts" as a gesture of friendship. Servilia sees through the ploy, but treats Octavia kindly, telling the girl she's blameless for what her mother has done. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Although Six Feet Under often dwells on death -- such as this week's depiction of a scenic designer named Kevin Lamb (Dennis Christopher) who stages his lover's funeral as a miniature opera -- "Nobody Sleeps" also revolves around the birthday of the Fisher matriarch. Electrified by her daring, naughty new friend Bettina (Kathy Bates), Ruth (Frances Conroy) loosens up a little and actually has some fun on her special day. Part of that is thanks to Lisa (Lili Taylor), who, despite the objections of husband Nate (Peter Krause), manages to throw a lovely and somewhat rowdy party for her mother-in-law. Even David (Michael C. Hall) has fun, despite his continuing troubles with Keith (Mathew St. Patrick), which have been thrown into sharp relief by Kevin's elaborate tribute to his late partner. The only person to miss the festivities is Claire (Lauren Ambrose). She's busy having the night of her life getting drunk and talking trash with her pal Russell (Ben Foster), her art teacher Olivier (Peter MacDissi) and one of Olivier's big-wig artist friends. A drunken Nate, also enjoys some rambling conversation -- with the taunting specter of his stultified father (Richard Jenkins), whom Nate fears he's becoming. Originally broadcast March 23, 2003, on HBO, "Nobody Sleeps" marked season three, episode four of the made-for-cable drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A clan of funeral directors buries people and digs up its own family skeletons in this alternately hilarious and disturbing weekly drama created by American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball and broadcast on HBO, home of the similarly grown-up Sex and the City and The Sopranos. Just as the NBC drama Law & Order always starts with a crime, Six Feet Under begins each episode with a death. In the series premiere, we learn that patriarch Nathaniel Fisher (Richard Jenkins) owns and operates a suburban Los Angeles funeral home called Fisher and Sons, although the older of his two boys, Nate Jr. (Peter Krause), has long since flown the coop to Seattle (where he works in a food co-op) to stay far away from his family. On the way to pick Nate up from the airport for a holiday visit in a brand-new hearse, Nathaniel dies in a horrific traffic accident -- providing the first of many corpses Fisher and Sons will bury over the course of the show's first season. As the series progresses, this highly repressed family's problems compete for screen time with the grief of their clients, whose deceased loved ones include a yuppie swindler, a Latino gang member, an innocent toddler, and a couple of old ladies.

As for the family itself, it consists of high-strung widow Ruth (Frances Conroy), who began an affair shortly before her husband's death; uptight younger son David (Michael C. Hall), who gave up law school and the chance to be open about his homosexuality in order to please his father and take over the straight-laced family business; kid sister Claire (Lauren Ambrose), whose experiences with sex and drugs overshadow her intelligence and sensitivity; and the easygoing, sometimes flaky Nate, who decides to move home, help with the funeral parlor, and begin a romance with enigmatic massage therapist Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). In addition to Jenkins, who appears frequently as the ghost, or at least the memory, of Nathaniel Fisher, the supporting cast of Six Feet Under includes Freddy Rodriguez as a restorative artist who loves truly gruesome challenges; Garrison Hershberger as the corporate robber-baron who wants to take over Fisher and Sons; Jeremy Sisto as Brenda's bipolar brother and Nate's nemesis; and Ed Begley Jr., Mathew St. Patrick, and Eric Balfour as the romantic interests of various family members. As soon as it began its 13-episode inaugural season on June 3, 2001, Six Feet Under earned a deafeningly-positive critical reaction matched only by its popularity with the viewers who flock to HBO for its edgy, commercial-free, original programming. Although the show was criticized by some for its shallow political correctness, it earned almost universal praise for its mixture of black humor, offbeat soap-opera theatrics, and mournful beauty. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Love, sex, and food combine in this sensuous romantic comedy. Isabella (Penelope Cruz) is a master chef who suffers from severe motion sickness, requiring her to be in control of her movements at all times. This need extends to the bedroom, but her husband Tonino (Murilo Benicio), who owns the restaurant where she works, doesn't like to make love in the fashion suggested by the title. This is hardly the only thing about their relationship that she finds stifling, and when Isabella discovers Tonino in bed with another woman, she leaves for America, where with the help of cross-dressing friend "Monica" (Harold Perrineau Jr.), she becomes a star as the host of a TV cooking show, Passion Foods Live. Woman on Top was the first American film from Venezuelan director Fina Torres. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Armistead Maupin calls the three-story wooden house at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco "my homestead, my Tara." He began his portrait of Barbary Lane life during the '70s in a daily newspaper serial, expanding the material into a series of six novels. PBS aired the original TV miniseries in 1994, but threats and pressures prompted PBS to drop their plans for a follow-up, leaving an unresolved cliffhanger for four years. Several members of the original PBS cast were reunited for this six-part Showtime sequel (adapted from Maupin's second novel in the series), set in San Francisco of 1977. It picks up the threads of the story six weeks after the point where the PBS miniseries ended. When Mary Ann Singleton (Laura Linney), hoping for romance, and her cynical gay friend Michael (Paul Hopkins) take a Mexican cruise, Mary Ann meets amnesia victim Burke Andrew (Colin Ferguson) and Michael runs into his former lover, Dr. Jon Fielding (William Campbell). Michael's roommate Mona Ramsey (Nina Siemaszko), in a purple haze of pot and angel dust, answers phones at a Reno brothel owned by Mother Mucca (Jackie Burroughs). Mona learns about her lineage and also about Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), the former Mr. Madrigal. Rich widow Frannie (Diana LeBlanc) finds a cure for her depression at the rural resort Pinus, where society ladies celebrate their 60th birthdays with youthful houseboys. Beauchamp Day (Thomas Gibson) is married to Frannie's pregnant daughter DeDe (Barbara Garrick), but Beauchamp isn't the father. Locations include San Francisco, Montreal (substituting for some areas of San Francisco), and Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Premiered June 7, 1998 on Showtime. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Mario Van Peebles wrote, produced, and starred in this follow-up to his 1993 Western Posse. Chance (Van Peebles) is a cavalry scout in the old west who accidentally gives his battalion wrong directions going into a battle. Not being a forgiving bunch, the soldiers beat Chance, tar and feather him, and leave him to die in the desert. However, Chance is found by Buck (Paul Lazar), who asks him if he's the young god Icarus, who fell to Earth after flying too close to the sun. It seems that Buck is an inmate at an insane asylum that's part of a nearby convent; Chance is brought back to the convent, where the nuns nurse him back to health. Chance learns that the Mother Superior (Jean Speegle Howard) is in poor health, and she asks Chance to lead the nuns and their charges to a safer mission 100 miles across the arid plains. Mother Superior dies only a few hours later, and the cruel Sister Drexel (Rusty Schwimmer) takes charge of the flock. Not eager to take her abuse, Chance goes his own way, but when he encounters the disturbed men of the convent, led by the self-proclaimed President (Rene Auberjonois), he realizes that he must help them if they are to survive. Los Locos was also distributed as Los Locos: Posse Rides Again, though while both are set in the old West and star Mario Van Peebles, he does not play the same character and the two films have no narrative connection. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

While investigating an infidelity case, an unconventional private detective discovers a far-reaching conspiracy in the magical world of 1950s Hollywood -- and in this film, the word "magical" is meant literally. Director Paul Schrader's comic mystery, originally made for cable, is set in an alternate universe where witchcraft is commonplace and magic just another modern convenience. The magic trend is particularly prominent in Hollywood, where detective H. Phillip Lovecraft is considered unusual for preferring to do things the old-fashioned, non-magical way. Still, Lovecraft is successful enough to be hired by famed movie star Kim Hudson, who suspects that she's being cheated on by her husband, wealthy producer N. G. Gottleib. It seems like a cut-and-dry case, until Gottleib winds up dead, the victim of a magic spell. Lovecraft's subsequent investigation finds this murder is part of a conspiracy centering around a secret, magic-run brothel and somehow involving Senator Lance Crockett, a McCarthy-like conservative leading a popular campaign to outlaw magic. When Crockett frames one of Lovecraft's friends as the witch responsible for Gottleib's death, it is up to Lovecraft to reveal the truth before his friend is burned at the stake. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Under scrutiny by his superiors for allegedly dipping into confiscated drug money, New York vice cop Michael Douglas can expect no sympathy from his ex-wife, who is gouging him for alimony. Douglas gets a chance to redeem himself when he is assigned to escort Japanese mob boss Yusaku Matsuda back to his own country to stand trial. Upon arriving in Osaka, Douglas and his partner Andy Garcia are tricked into releasing their prisoner. Now on the outs with both the American and Japanese police authorities, Douglas is forced to deal with the Yakuza-the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia-to retrieve the elusive Matsuda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide