KitCab11DGN Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold Divorced toy company executive Scott Calvin (Tim Allen of Home Improvement and the Toy Story movies) is pleased to have his son Charlie for Christmas, though the boy himself isn't happy about it. But when Santa Claus accidentally topples off the roof of the house and falls with a thud in the snow, Scott finds himself taking the merry old elf's place and earning new respect in his son's eyes. When the night ends, the reindeer take them to the north pole, and Scott discovers that by donning the fabled red suit, he's inadvertently agreed to become the next Santa Claus. The next morning he wakes up in his own bed and thinks it's all a dream—only Charlie remembers it with crystal clarity. Scott now has to deal with his suspicious ex-wife (Wendy Crewson, Air Force One) and her psychiatrist boyfriend (Judge Reinhold, Beverly Hills Cop), who both think he's playing tricks with Charlie's mind, and also with his own out-of-control body, which is putting on weight and growing a prodigious beard. The Santa Clause probably won't supplant It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street as anyone's favorite holiday film, but it's an enjoyable, straightforward family film, anchored by the affable charisma of Allen. —Bret Fetzer

KitCab11DGN Robert Benton Winner of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, Kramer vs. Kramer remains as powerfully moving today as it was when released in 1979, simply because its drama will remain relevant for couples of any generation. Adapted by director Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, this is perhaps the finest, most evenly balanced film ever made about the failure of marriage and the tumultuous shift of parental roles. It begins when Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) bluntly informs her husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman) that she's leaving him, just as his advertising career is advancing and demanding most of his waking hours. Self-involvement is just one of the film's underlying themes, along with the search for identity that prompts Joanna to leave Ted with their first-grade son (Justin Henry), who now finds himself living with a workaholic parent he barely knows. Juggling his domestic challenge with professional deadlines, Ted is further pressured when his wife files for custody of their son. This legal battle forms the dramatic spine of the film, but its power is derived from Benton's flawlessly observant script and the superlative performances of his entire cast. Because Benton refuses to assign blame and deals fairly with both sides of a devastating dilemma, the film arrives at equal levels of pain, growth, and integrity under emotionally stressful circumstances. That gives virtually every scene the unmistakable ring of truth—a quality of dramatic honestly that makes Kramer vs. Kramer not merely a classic tearjerker, but one of the finest American dramas of its decade. —Jeff Shannon

KitCab11DGN JAMES CAAN, KATHY BATES Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he's writing to stay alive! Great thriller.

KitCab11DGN Debra Chiate, Amy Heckerling This cute, 1989 comedy directed by Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) helped keep John Travolta busy during some fallow years and extended America's then-love affair with Bruce Willis, whose voice is the only part of him that appears. Kirstie Alley costars as an unwed mother in search of a suitable man to become her baby's father. Travolta is a cab driver who doesn't match her ideal, but he gets involved anyway. Half the fun comes from Willis's risible reading of the newborn's thoughts. The film was followed by two lesser sequels, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Chris Columbus This huge 1993 hit for Robin Williams and director Chris Columbus (Home Alone), based on a novel called Alias Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine, stars Williams as a loving but flaky father estranged from his frustrated wife (Sally Field). Devastated by a court order limiting his time with the children, Williams's character disguises himself as a warm, old British nanny who becomes the kids' best friend. As with Dustin Hoffman's performance in Tootsie, Williams's drag act—buried under layers of latex and padding—is the show, and everything and everyone else on screen serves his sometimes frantic role. Since that's the case, it's fortunate that Williams is Williams, and his performance is terribly funny at times and exceptionally believable in those scenes where his character misses his children. Playing Williams's brother, a professional makeup artist, Harvey Fierstein has a good support role in a bright sequence where he tries a number of feminine looks on Williams before settling on Mrs. Doubtfire's visage. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Sean Connery, Christopher Lambert, Virginia Madsen Theatrically released in 1991 as Highlander II: The Quickening, this sequel was later reedited and gained a small but loyal following (prompting a spinoff TV series), but at the time of its release critic Roger Ebert called it "the most hilariously incomprehensible movie ... almost awesome in its badness." In other words, you might find some guilty pleasure in this chaotic sequel to 1986's Highlander, in which Christopher Lambert reprises his role as Connor MacLeod, a member of the alien race known as "Immortals," banished to Earth from his home planet Zeist some 500 years ago. In the year 1999, Lambert owns a corporation that has created a shield to protect the Earth following the depletion of the ozone layer. But the shield is seized by an evil cartel, and Virginia Madsen plays a scientist who assists MacLeod in his mission to destroy the cartel. Sean Connery also reprises his role from Highlander as the Scottish Immortal named Ramirez (?!), but by the time he starts engaging in dashing swordplay you may wonder if he's wandered in from another movie altogether. —Jeff Shannon

KitCab11DGN Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Deborah Kaplan "Oh my God, I'm a trend pimp!" cries rocker Josie McCoy (Rachel Leigh Cook) when she discovers that she and her best friends Melody (Tara Reid) and Val (Rosario Dawson)—collectively known as the Pussycats—have been recruited in a plot to brainwash America's youth into a frenzy of mindless consumerism. Unbeknownst to the Pussycats, subliminal messages in their chart-topping hit "Pretend to Be Nice" are forcing kids to follow the latest prefab trends as if their lives depended on it. Josie's going to be the Next Big Thing, and to her manager (Alan Cumming) and Megarecords mogul Fiona (Parker Posey), the other Pussycats are expendable baggage in their scheme to dictate the cool quotient of teenagers everywhere.

Shrewdly concocted by codirectors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, this wildly comedic update of the Archie comic book (and early-'70s cartoon show) is a deliriously entertaining assault on pop-cultural flotsam, with a disposable boy-band (aptly named "Du Jour") and cross-product marketing ploys that perpetuate blind conformity among gullible teens. Blatant product placements dominate virtually every colorful scene as Josie gamely embraces the cultural blight it claims to criticize, but this isn't Hollywood hypocrisy. Elfont and Kaplan willfully bite the hand that feeds them, and they're having loads of fun while advocating independent opinion. Cook and her pals are more honestly sexy than Britney Spears, and they make genuinely catchy music (although Cook's vocals were dubbed). It's pure fluff, but Josie and the Pussycats was conceived in such high spirits that it's hard to imagine how it could be improved. Even the obligatory end-credit outtakes are utterly irresistible. —Jeff Shannon

KitCab11DGN Howard Deutch This hit-and-miss 1988 comedy pairs John Candy and Dan Aykroyd in a story of one family's summer vacation all but ruined by the uninvited appearance of another, more loutish family. Howard Deutch (Some Kind of Wonderful) directs from a half-hearted John Hughes script, which reduces Hughes's jokes-and-epiphanies formula (The Breakfast Club, Home Alone) to true gaudiness. On the other hand, Annette Bening makes her screen debut here. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, trailer, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Stan Dragoti When Jack Butler (Michael Keaton) loses his job at an auto factory, he expects to quickly find another. But instead, his wife Caroline (Teri Garr) starts working for an ad agency and Jack ends up taking care of the house and kids. He soon runs afoul of shopping etiquette, a voracious vacuum cleaner, and he can't even drop his kids off at school properly. He starts losing his pride and letting himself go. He stops shaving, drinks at all hours, and watches soap operas. And not only does a predatory divorcée (Ann Jillian) have her eye on him, Caroline's new boss (Martin Mull) has more than business on his mind. Will their marriage survive? What makes Mr. Mom work isn't its role-reversal premise, but its clever off-the-main-plot scenes like the obstacle course at the company picnic, where a footrace with swim fins is set to a variation on the theme to Chariots of Fire; a poker game using discount coupons for money; or a traumatic, soap-opera-influenced dream Jack has when he realizes his life is going down the toilet. This is the first starring role for Michael Keaton, who went on to star in Beetlejuice and Batman; he makes the most of both its comic and sentimental side. The script, incidentally, is written by John Hughes, who later went on to write and direct The Breakfast Club and Home Alone. —Bret Fetzer

KitCab11DGN Blake Edwards Blake Edwards's delightful Victor/Victoria may be one of the last of the great, old-style movie musical comedies—it is so good, it was turned into a hit Broadway stage musical years later. And both versions starred Edwards's wife Julie Andrews (the former Mary Poppins) in the title role—as Victor and Victoria. She's a down-and-out singer who hooks up with a flamboyantly gay theatrical veteran (Robert Preston), and together they become the toast of 1934 Paris by dreaming up a provocative nightclub act in which Victoria assumes the identity of a man in drag. So, in other words, Andrews plays a woman playing a man playing a woman ... and that's only the beginning of the sexual identity confusions that provide the fuel for this splendidly classy slapstick musical farce. (Yes, it's all those things.) James Garner, as a Chicago club owner, finds himself strangely besotted with this stylish, androgynous creature—even though he thinks Victor/Victoria is a man. Legendary Hollywood composer Henry Mancini (a longtime collaborator with Edwards) won his last Oscar for the score; Andrews, Preston, and Lesley Ann Warren, as Garner's cheeky girlfriend, were also nominated. Musical highlights include Victor/Victoria's sizzling "Le Jazz Hot" (in which Andrews shows off her incredible vocal range); another showstopper for Victor/Victoria, "The Shady Dame from Seville"; Preston's witty ode to "Gay Paree"; Warren's hilarious burlesque number, "King's Can-Can"; and a charmingly casual yet elegant side-by-side number, "You and Me," done in a small club by Preston and Andrews in tuxedos. —Jim Emerson

KitCab11DGN Paul Michael Glaser Moira Kelly (Dangerous Beauty, "The West Wing") and D. B. Sweeney (Roommates, Memphis Belle) star as polar opposites who unite on the ice for a shot at Olympic gold in this inspirational romantic comedy from acclaimed director Paul M. Glaser (The Running Man). Brimming with wit, charm and plenty of breathtaking sports action, The Cutting Edge is a real winner! She's a rich and refined pairs figure skater whose prima donna attitude has her skating solo. He's a brash, blue-collar hockey champion with a new injury and no future. With nothing in common but their dream of reaching the Olympics, Kate and Doug are each other's last resort. Reluctantly, they join forces, but its not long before the barbsand sparksstart flying as the unlikely pair skate towards the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance at a medal...and a chance at love.

KitCab11DGN Lesli Linka Glatter This obligatory girls' version of Stand by Me beginswith actors Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson, Demi Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell doing a lousy job of playing adult versions of the film's youthful protagonists. The idea is that this quartet of characters is having a reunion, which serves as a preface to the main story about school chums who make a pact to stay close and supportive through thick and thin. The trouble is that Griffith, Moore, Wilson, and O'Donnell look like they've rehearsed their scenes for no more than a few minutes, and after boring us silly there's little reason to get excited about anything else. Still, it's nice to have a supporting cast that includes Janeane Garofalo and Bonnie Hunt, while among the girls are three young actresses who have been burning up the road in recent years: Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex), Thora Birch (A Clear and Present Danger), and Gaby Hoffmann (Strike). —Tom Keogh

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KitCab11DGN Mia Goldman, Jim McBride An atmospheric and sexy crime caper, this stars Dennis Quaid as a New Orleans police detective. He's a smooth talker who butts heads with the new assistant district attorney, Ellen Barkin. She's rigid and plays by the rules; he is mildly corrupt. They soon find themselves romantically entwined, and a bit chagrined.

Director Jim McBride (Great Balls of Fire) was in top form with this 1987 sizzler. You may not remember the particulars of the plot, which concerns supposed gang killings and police corruption, because it is the romance that has staying power. Blame this on Quaid and Barkin, who send off enough sparks to light up Bourbon Street. They are not only sexy together, but endearing, which makes you want to like them as much as they like each other. —Rochelle O'Gorman

KitCab11DGN Dennis Hopper Robert Duvall plays a veteran street cop assigned to a Los Angeles gang unit. He takes a headstrong young cop (Sean Penn) under his wing as a partner and shows him the ropes on Watts's mean streets. Penn soon realizes that his testosterone-fueled ways and hair-trigger temper won't get him very far when dealing with the gang-ridden neighborhoods of L.A. Colors is a landmark movie in several respects: it helped bring director Dennis Hopper back into the spotlight after years of self-induced obscurity. Its success at the box office forced Los Angeles's gang problems into the public consciousness and prefigured the next wave of "hood" movies (Boyz N the Hood, Menace II Society, New Jack City) by several years. Though the late-'80s milieu is a bit dated, Colors is still a vivid, absorbing film. Hopper and screenwriter Michael Schiffer give all the characters a very human dimension and go to great lengths to show gang life from both the cops' and the gangsters' points of view. Wisely, they stir in elements of the cop drama, buddy movie, and action genres, leavened with a bit of humor here and there, while keeping a social conscience. Duvall is excellent as always, as the sympathetic cop, and Penn brings a great deal of depth to what could be an unlikable character. Violent, unsettling, and highly recommended. —Jerry Renshaw

KitCab11DGN Lawrence Kasdan Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 big-budget variation on John Sayles's The Return of the Seacaucus Seven finds a cluster of old college radicals—who have since gone on to sundry professions and various degrees of materialism—reuniting over the death of a friend. Both playful and thoughtful, the film represents Kasdan (Body Heat) at his most astute. The attractive cast meshes perfectly into a group of characters for which a former closeness is out of synch with their current lives, yet their warmth is enviable and inviting. The script may be a bit too glib, with many one-liners, but it is still a perfectly designed story with telling irony and no little passion. —Tom Keogh

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KitCab11DGN Anything can happen on a snow day. So it's too bad the winter's been unseasonably warm, and there's nothing that Chevy Chase—weatherman and father of three—can do about it. But what if it miraculously snowed enough to close the school? Perhaps the oldest son would have a chance to date the most popular girl in school, his sister might have more time to play with him, their mother would act more like a mom and less like a workaholic, and Chase might even be given the chance to be a respected meteorologist who didn't have to wear stupid costumes on the TV news. When the snow does fall, these dreams slowly transform into reality, of course. There are no big surprises in Snow Day, and children will enjoy its genial jokes and good-natured slapstick. Adults may get a kick out of Iggy Pop's portrayal of an ice rink manager who plays nothing but wonderfully unpopular Al Martino songs. Chris Elliott (Get a Life) also has a small role as "the creepy guy with a plow" who, because he plows the streets, is the enemy of snow day lovers everywhere. Ultimately, Snow Day is predicable family fluff. —Andy Spletzer

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KitCab11DGN From Super Bowl 1 to Super Bowl XXII, see unprecedented footage of some of footballs greatest players, coaches, and dynasties. Inlcluded interviews with coaches and more!

KitCab11DGN From the opening bomb blast outside a steamy nightclub to a last-minute escape from the president's personal jet, James Bond's third screen adventure is an exhilarating, pulse-pounding thrill-ride! Sean Connery takes command as Agent 007 and faces off wit

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KitCab11DGN Sing, dance, and play along with your favorite Disney songs! It's fun and easy as you read the on-screen lyrics and join your favorite characters in their most memorable musical moments! Now the whole family can take part in the musical enchantment of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and share the magical moments from several of Disney's most popular and best-loved films! You'll love singing along to the Academy Award®-winning Best Song "Beauty And The Beast" and "Be Our Guest," in addition to the cheery lyrics of "Chim-Chim-Cheree," the Academy Award®-winning Best Song from MARY POPPINS (1964), "Bella Notte" from LADY AND THE TRAMP, and many more unforgettable tunes performed by your favorite Disney characters!

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KitCab11DGN Brian Levant This pleasant, lightweight live-action version of the popular cartoon is about as good as you might expect. The kids should love the broad humor and the Henson Studios creatures, but like The Addams Family movies, the look and the cast are the best things going for it. Considering that the nature of the material is so sparse, the thinly plotted story works better than other TV-to-movie fare. Our fabulous Stone Age man is promoted per a calculated move by a scheming exec (Kyle MacLachlan, whose casting ensured at least one cute guy). As a comedy, the humor is one-note and flat for anyone older than 12. The special-effects creatures look wondrous, though not as seamless as in other movies, such as in Roger Rabbit. The most joyous moments come during the full-scale re-creations of the famous credits. The Flinstones provided a major launching pad for Halle Berry as a vamping secretary. —Doug Thomas

KitCab11DGN Luis Mandoki Two of Hollywood's hottest stars, Meg Ryan (SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE) and Andy Garcia (THE GODFATHER, PART III), deliver critically acclaimed performances in this inspiring motion picture hit. As Alice and Michael, Ryan and Garcia are a passionate couple whose once-stable marriage is rocked by her increasing dependence on alcohol. As they strive to overcome this challenge, they discover a renewed sense of love and commitment. Sparked by hope and ignited by riveting star performances, WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN is the must-see hit of the year — a story of fiery passion — and the enduring power of love.

KitCab11DGN Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters Carl Reiner (Where's Poppa?) brought comic Steve Martin to the screen in this mostly funny 1979 movie about a relentlessly stupid but innocent man, whom we get to know from childhood (where it never occurred to him that he was white as he was raised by a family of black sharecroppers) to romance (where he doesn't quite know what to do with Bernadette Peters). Martin is game as the moron, and this is the kind of film with funny moments people still talk about. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Des McAnuff The problem with live-action movies based on beloved cartoon characters is that humans are never as flexible, as unpredictable, or just plain as goofy as their animated counterparts. So it is with this blend of animation and live action. Rocky and Bullwinkle remain animated characters (trapped in our reality), while Boris and Natasha (Jason Alexander and Rene Russo), along with their boss, Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), are transformed from cartoons to human reproductions when they escape from rerun land. They've come to our world to take it over; the FBI springs Rocky and Bullwinkle from the second dimension to stop them. But the writing in Kenneth Lonergan's script lacks the throw-away flair of the jokes that characterized Jay Ward's much-beloved animated series of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Part of the problem is that Russo, Alexander, and De Niro are so obviously working at acting cartoonish, instead of simply being cartoons. And part is that the script rarely comes up with the kind of wonderful wordplay in which Ward specialized. The moose, as usual, gets all the best lines, but they're too few and far between to salvage this underachieving summer film. —Marshall Fine

KitCab11DGN Bruce McCulloch Molly Shannon, the latest Saturday Night Live comic to have a movie built around her, isn't exactly funny—in fact, she's a little unsettling. Her creation, the neurotic Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher, invites laughter because she's a little too close to the bone for anyone who grew up feeling ugly and unloved, which is a lot of people. Mary lives with her grandmother (Glynis Johns), who insists that Mary study business. Mary herself yearns to be famous and admired, though for what isn't exactly clear; she envisions some vague combination of singing, dancing, and acting that will make her a superstar. A talent show promises to be her ticket to stardom (the winning prize is a role in "a movie with positive moral values"), and she won't let her loser status or any hostile cheerleaders stand in her way. Meanwhile, Mary acts out dating fantasies with trees and signposts, envisions the school lunch room bursting into a Fame-like dance number, and longs for the biggest jock in school. What makes Superstar more than just a collection of bad high school memories is that, though the formulaic plot redeems Mary, the movie as a whole isn't so sure. Mary completely loses herself in her obsessive fantasies—many inspired by cheesy made-for-TV movies—but there's always someone watching, aghast, as Mary acts out her inner thoughts. Is she misunderstood or freakish? Superstar never commits to one side or the other, which makes it both comic and uncomfortable. —Bret Fetzer

KitCab11DGN Bill Melendez The Peanuts gang takes the field in this all-new animated video. Everyone's gearing up for the big punt-pass-kick contest. What's at stake? A brand new bike and a trip to the Super Bowl! Who's the new myster girl who has Linus and Charlie Brown competing for her attention? What about Snoopy ? Can his coaching lead Woodstock and his all-bird team to victory against the rest of the animal kingdom? Find out as you laugh along with the entire Peanuts gang you've enjoyed for years in "You're In the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown".

KitCab11DGN Charles A. Nichols, Iwao Takamoto This animated feature based on the popular E.B. White book for children—about the special relationships between Wilbur the pig, Charlotte the spider, and Templeton the rat—is a straight adaptation from the page, with songs added. Endearing, heartbreaking, and ultimately wise, it may not please all of those with a strong attachment to the book, but it works all the same. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Phillip Noyce Lightly enjoyable but a disappointment in the context of author Leslie Charteris's popular character, the Saint—who has been played by several actors, most notably George Sanders—this 1997 film is more in keeping with the requirements of high-octane contemporary action than it is the requirements of a particular legacy. Val Kilmer plays Simon Templar, the mercenary spy, who is hired to steal a fusion formula but falls in love with the scientist (Elisabeth Shue) who cooked it up. Kilmer's portrayal bears little resemblance to Charteris's rakish hero, and the film itself becomes increasingly improbable and ponderous the longer it goes on. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Robert DeNiro Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone—the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather—and built around it a stunning sequel to his Oscar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little Italy. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread the family's business into pre-Castro Cuba. As memorable as the first film is, The Godfather II is an amazingly intricate, symmetrical tragedy that touches upon several chapters of 20th-century history and makes a strong case that our destinies are written long before we're born. This was De Niro's first introduction to a lot of filmgoers, and he makes an enormous impression. But even with him and a number of truly brilliant actors (including maestro Lee Strasberg), this is ultimately Pacino's film and a masterful performance. —Tom Keogh

k7dg Brian De Palma This sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess, Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. Scarface is a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia. —Jeff Shannon

KitCab11DGN Donald Petrie A sweet and sassy comedy about the bonds of sisterhood, Mystic Pizza offers the opportunity to see some solid young actors early in their careers. Three sisters of blue-collar Portuguese descent work in a pizzeria in the coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut. Each has her own unique romantic entanglements. One is the fast girl in town (Julia Roberts), who falls for a rich kid but wonders if she'll ever be accepted; one is the lifelong local girl (Lili Taylor) in love with her fisherman boyfriend (Vincent D'Onofrio) but scared of what marriage will do to their sex lives; and the youngest sister (Annabeth Gish) dreams of going to Yale but during a summer of baby-sitting has an affair with a married man. Through it all each sister depends on the others regardless of the complications. It's the alluring charm of the three disparate leads that makes Mystic Pizza the delightful experience it is. —Robert Lane

KitCab11DGN John Robins Benny Hill was always best at quasi-silent slapstick, so it's no surprise that some of the best stuff on The Best of Benny Hill seems to owe more to the work of Mack Sennett and Fatty Arbuckle than to mainstream TV comedy. It may also be no coincidence that, unusually, this release began life in the cinema. There's some classic material on offer here: the extended opening item, "Lower Tidmarsh Hospital," for example, almost transcends buffoonery to become social comment, but best of all is the sketch which features Hill as a chat-show host (people really used to wear matching shirts and ties) attempting to deal with a West End star and starlet, the former monosyllabic, the latter catastrophically plastered. Among the other items featured, the knowing send-up of the pretentiousness of avant-garde French cinema is also very funny, while the short linking items include a wicked parody of Alan Whicker and a sideswipe at barely literate actresses ("What's that in the road? A head?"). Fans will be pleased to know that Hill's regular supporting cast, including Patricia Hayes, Nicholas Parsons and Rita Webb, are all present. —Roger Thomas

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KitCab11DGN Joel Schumacher A collective vanity piece for the so-called Brat Pack of the 1980s, this coming-of-age movie—written and directed by Joel Schumacher (A Time to Kill)—is a largely unbelievable ensemble piece about college grads having trouble getting a lift-off into adulthood. As in John Hughes's Breakfast Club—which has a lot of casting overlap with this film—each actor plays a rather narrow type with problems common to his or her classification. Some (as with Rob Lowe's seemingly doomstruck character) are more absurd than others. But absurdity isn't the issue in this movie; a general sense of indulgence is. Schumacher not only presumes an undeserved mystique about this cast, but he also exploits it and comes up empty. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Peter Segal The late Chris Farley teams up with his Saturday Night Live pal David Spade for this road comedy about a perpetual screwup, Tommy Callahan Jr. (Farley), who tries to save the auto-parts store owned by his late father (Brian Dennehy). The latter's dry-witted number cruncher (Spade) reluctantly joins the loud, awkward, but well-meaning Tommy in the mission, which is threatened behind the scenes by his dad's widow (Bo Derek). The film is sporadically funny, but as with most movies starring TV comics, some vital energy in the stars seems unnaturally suppressed. Still, the film is worth a visit if you want to turn off your brain awhile. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Tom Shadyac The 1994 box-office hit that turned comedy maniac Jim Carrey into Hollywood's first $20-million man, this gag-filled no-brainer stars Carrey as the titular rubber-faced gumshoe who tracks down lost pets for his heartbroken clients. Ace's latest case involves the apparent kidnapping of the Miami Dolphins' team mascot, Snowflake the dolphin (natch). His investigation is a source of constant aggravation for Miami police lieutenant Lois Einhorn (Sean Young), who turns out to be packing more than a pistol under her skirt. Friends fans will appreciate the presence of Courtney Cox, who remains admirably straight-faced as the Dolphins' publicist and Ace's would-be girlfriend, but of course it's Carrey who steals the show with shameless abandon. One viewing may suffice for a lot of people, but Carrey's hyper antics have made Ace Ventura: Pet Detective one of the bestselling videos of the 1990s. —Jeff Shannon

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KitCab11DGN Tom Shadyac Jim Carrey is back in top form after his disastrous outing in The Cable Guy. As a lawyer who becomes physically unable to tell a lie for 24 hours after his son makes a magical birthday wish, Carrey learns a few brutal truths about the real meaning of life. There is very little plot, but Carrey's rubbery contortions and slapstick trickery provide just enough humor to keep you interested in this breezy bit of escapism. Not aided in this film by pets or animation, Carrey manages to do amazing and unique things with very simple props. He is also more in control of his acting than before. He is still over the top, but remains believable in some of the lower-energy scenes. An added plus is that the comedy is not as coarse as we've come to expect from him. —Rochelle O'Gorman

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KitCab11DGN Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's 1981 resurrection of the Saturday-matinee adventure genre was deservedly popular, and kicked off a successful trilogy. Set in 1936, this first feature introduces Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer whose quests for rare antiquities frequently find him running from one menace or another. Raiders finds Dr. Jones in the middle of a Nazi plot to use the mysterious powers of the Ark of the Covenant to win the war. Karen Allen plays the love interest with an old-fashioned "man's woman" appeal (she can drink anybody under the table and is free with her fists). The constant, cliffhanger appeal of the movie is great fun—one is always wondering how Indy will get out of one scrape after another—and Ford's career got a big boost with his self-effacing but masculine portrayal of the hero. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Bob Spiers The Spice Girls have plenty of personality, and that helps make up for the lapses in inspiration that keep their feature debut from being a truly good movie and potential cult piece. As with Richard Lester's Hard Day's Night, Spice World is about a few days in the collective life of the all-female British group; and the banter is suggestively representative of how the Girls all speak to one another. But the value of individual scenes is woefully inconsistent, reaching a low point in a dumb sequence when a gaggle of extraterrestrials hit them up for autographs. Fortunately, the film is full of great people, or in some cases good people doing great things: Richard E. Grant, Roger Moore, Alan Cummings, Mark McKinney, and tons of cameos from the likes of Elton John, Elvis Costello, and Bob Hoskins. You don't have to be 11 years old and female to get some enjoyment out of this movie, but it might help. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Andy Tennant Take away the Fairy Godmother, and what have you got left from the Cinderella fable? The story of a girl for whom a bad stroke of luck is no match for her internal strength and purity of heart. Drew Barrymore plays Cinderella's alleged inspiration, Danielle, in this romantic drama that purports to tell the "facts" behind the Grimm brothers' story. One of three daughters of a man (Jeroen Krabbé) who dies and leaves her fate in the hands of a conniving stepmother (Anjelica Huston), Danielle is cast into the lowly role of a servant. Meanwhile, her sisters are evaluated as possible mates for a French prince (Dougray Scott), but he's far more intrigued with Danielle's intelligence and beauty—not to mention her way with a sword and fist. Directed by Andy Tennant (who directed Barrymore in TV's The Amy Fisher Story), Ever After has that rare ability to win the heart and mind of a viewer simply by being committed to its own innocence, particularly where Barrymore's luminous performance is concerned. A contemporary take on an old, virtually forgotten Hollywood convention—the costume adventure with middling artistic ambition but real audience appeal—Ever After is a surprisingly delightful film. —Tom Keogh

KitCab11DGN Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas Elliott Classic sci-fi film! Never goes out of style!

KitCab11DGN Terrance Young

KitCab11DGN Robert Zemeckis Dr. Emmett Brown: Then tell me, "future boy," who is president in the United States in 1985?
Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan.
Dr. Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor?! Who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?

Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis topped his breakaway hit Romancing the Stone with this joyous comedy with a dazzling hook: what would it be like to meet your parents in their youth? Billed as a special-effects comedy, the imaginative film (the top box-office smash of 1985) has staying power because of the heart behind Zemeckis and Bob Gale's script. High schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox, during the height of his TV success) is catapulted back to the '50s where he sees his parents in their teens, and accidentally changes the history of how Mom and Dad met. Filled with the humorous ideology of the '50s, filtered through the knowledge of the '80s (actor Ronald Reagan is president, ha!), the film comes off as a Twilight Zone episode written by Preston Sturges. Filled with memorable effects and two wonderfully off-key, perfectly cast performances: Christopher Lloyd as the crazy scientist who builds the time machine (a DeLorean luxury car) and Crispin Glover as Marty's geeky dad. Followed by two sequels. —Doug Thomas

KitCab11DGN Robert Zemeckis This 1992 black comedy by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Back to the Future trilogy) features some of the most eye-popping special effects of the '90s in its story of a narcissistic star (Meryl Streep) who steals the husband (Bruce Willis) of another woman (Goldie Hawn) and continues her rivalry with her even after death. A magic potion keeps both women going despite the punishment of murderous bullets and fatal plunges, and the joke is that even as they rot they remain vain about appearances. Though he's fashioned a one-note movie, Zemeckis gets a lot of mileage out of such impressive sights as Hawn walking around with a hole in her chest the size of a basketball, and Streep—her head and arms twisted 180 degrees—moving like a broken crab. It's weird, it's sick, it's hilarious, and the stars push the whole project to a classy entertainment. Isabella Rossellini is great as a scantily clad witch who sells the immortality brew. The DVD release has a full-screen presentation, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, optional Spanish subtitles, and Dolby sound. —Tom Keogh