Starring: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when it won none. The digital video disc requires flipping to play the whole movie.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Collins Director: Penny Marshall

Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple) gives one of her earliest and finest film performances as Terry Doolittle, a computer programmer who unwittingly becomes embroiled in an international espionage scheme, forced to outmaneuver the CIA and KGB in this riotous 1986 Cold War comedy. Doolittle, the outspoken and irreverent employee of an international bank, is working overtime one evening when her terminal receives an encrypted message pleading for help from Jumpin- Jack Flash, code name for a British spy (Jonathan Pryce) trapped in Eastern Europe. At first reluctantly and then audaciously, Doolittle becomes privy to his predicament and essential to his escape while delivering a steady stream of ribald one-liners and witty slapstick-whether it-s her Mick Jagger impersonation, police station meltdown, or infamous dress-caught-in-the-paper-shredder escapade at the British Consulate ball. A host of supporting talent includes Annie Potts, Jon Lovitz, Jim Belushi, the late Phil Hartman, and Stephen Collins (who shines as Marty, the mole), yet the film belongs to Whoopi. Though the plot is far-fetched and often flimsy, Penny Marshall (in her directorial debut) gives Goldberg enough latitude to showcase her immense talent in a role she obviously relishes-and audiences will too. Rated R for extreme profanity and mature themes.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Goldthwait Director: Hugh Wilson

Burglar may not be one of Whoopi Goldberg's best outings, but it does offer her several opportunities to cut loose as a comedian. She plays a bookshop owner with a shady past who is being blackmailed by a crooked cop and must perform one last heist. Naturally, everything goes wrong and a handsome lothario winds up dead. Whoopi must find his murderer before the police find her. There are a couple of unexpected twists to this formulaic tale though Hugh (First Wives Club) Wilson's direction can't always navigate the tonal shifts between comedy and murder mystery. But Whoopi holds it all together with strong assistance from a stellar cast including Bob Goldthwait, John Goodman, Anne DeSalvo, and Lesley Ann Warren. Goldthwait, who plays a dog groomer and Whoopi's wacked-out best friend, has several priceless moments featuring his squeaky-door crazy-man vocal delivery. Goodman and DeSalvo, both crackerjack comic actors, don't have nearly enough to do while Warren plays a curvaceous dentist and the ex-wife of the murder victim who seems to have suspect written all over her.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Sam Elliott Director: Tom Holland

Rita Rizzoli is a narcotics cop with a plethora of disguises. When a drug shipment is hijacked, the thieves don't know that the drug is unusually pure and packs of 'Fatal Beauty' begin turning up next to too many dead bodies. Mike works for the original owner of the drugs and tries to tell himself that since he does not handle the drugs, he is 'clean'. Mike becomes Rita's constant companion as the drug hijackers (who are nearly psychotic and very well armed) are hunted, while more and more bodies continue to turn up.

Starring: James Belushi, Jim Mapp Director: Andrei Konchalovsky

A retarded man get help from a sociopathic woman when tries to reunite with his dying father, who years earlier disowned him.

Starring: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore Director: Jerry Zucker

Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are the passionate lovers whose romance is undone when the latter is murdered during a bungled hit arranged by a rival. The clever concept by screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (director of My Life) extends outward into comedy (Swayze's character communicates through a sassy medium played by Whoopi Goldberg, who won an Oscar for this role), horror (the afterlife is populated by hell-bound demons and the like), and romantic complications (a handsome suitor, played by Tony Goldwyn, comes on to Moore while Swayze's spirit is still hanging around). Directed by Jerry Zucker, previously best known for codirecting Airplane! and similar broad comedies, Ghost is a careful balancing act of strong commercial elements, but at heart it is a timeless Hollywood tearjerker that easily gets under one's skin.

Starring: Sissy Spacek, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Richard Pearce

This underrated 1990 film directed by Richard Pearce (Country, Leap of Faith) features exceptionally nuanced performances by both Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter) and Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost) in a story set against the backdrop of the emerging civil rights movement of the 1950s South. Spacek plays a Southern socialite who becomes gradually enlightened by the plight of her housekeeper, played by Whoopi Goldberg, as she struggles to raise her family amid the increasing turmoil, prejudice, and violence around her. A well-done treatment of an important period of American history, The Long Walk Home is an effective and accurate period drama. It is also an opportunity to see fine, understated performances by two very popular actresses in an earnest and socially conscious setting.

Starring: Sally Field, Kevin Kline Director: Michael Hoffman

Though this movie did decent box-office business, it was never as funny as it should have been or as clever as it thought it was. The film is set behind the scenes at The Sun Also Sets, a soap opera starring Sally Field that is suffering a ratings slump. To lure the audience back, the producers resurrect a dead character, played by Kevin Kline, with whom Field was once a lover of but is now at odds (and helped exile to dinner theater, where he is first glimpsed playing Willy Loman). Written by Andrew Bergman and Robert Harling, the script has its funny moments but never manages to string them together, despite a cast that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr., Cathy Moriarty, and Carrie Fisher.

Starring: JoAnne Astrow, Joy Behar Director: Gail Singer

I have seen this video several times and each time I like it even more. As a young female comic just starting out in the business, this tape has been an invaluable resource for me, not to mention highly entertaining. If you're looking for just another tape of stand-up then this isn't it. However, if you're interested in learning about female comics and looking at this male-dominated field from a female perspective, then I highly recommend Wise Cracks. It's several years old, but still very relevant. Some of the comics are professionals, many of whom have gained even more fame since the release of this film. Other comics are amateur, but all of them represent the very real world of women in comedy, from all levels of talent. Watch for the thinly veiled reference made by a pre-out Ellen regarding her sexual orientation. All this and more! Wise Cracks is a dumb title, but it's worth watching.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith Director: Emile Ardolino

Whoopi Goldberg plays a Reno lounge singer who hides out as a nun when her villainous boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) goes gunning for her. Maggie Smith is the mother superior who has to cope with Whoopi's unorthodox behavior, but the cute script turns the tables and shows how the latter energizes the stodgy convent with song and attitude. A real crowd-pleaser and a perfect vehicle for Goldberg, this is a happy experience all around.

Starring: Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi Director: Robert Altman

A wicked satirical fable about corporate backstabbing--and actual murder--in the movie business, The Player benefits from director Robert Altman's long and bitter experience working within, and without, the Hollywood studio system. Rising young executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is tormented by threats from an anonymous writer. The pressure and paranoia build until Griffin loses control one night and semi-accidentally kills screenwriter David Kahane (Vincent D'Onofrio), who may or may not be the source of the threats. From that point, Griffin's life and career begin to fall apart. In keeping with the ironic spirit of the film itself, Altman's scathingly funny attack on the moral bankruptcy of Hollywood was embraced by many of the same people it was intended to savage, and restored the director to commercial and critical favor. Michael Tolkin adapted the screenplay from his own novel, and the movie is studded with cameos by famous faces, many of whom appear as themselves. The digital video disc includes a commentary track with Altman and Tolkin, some deleted scenes, a documentary about Altman, and a key to help identify more than 50 of the picture's big-name cameos.

Starring: Leleti Khumalo, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Darrell Roodt

Academy Award(R)-winning star Whoopi Goldberg (Best Supporting Actress -- GHOST) lights up the screen in her latest hit -- the exhilarating and entertaining SARAFINA! In a world where truth is forbidden, an inspiring teacher (Whoopi Goldberg) dares to instill in her students lessons not found in schoolbooks. In doing so, she challenges their freedom and hers. Applauded by critics and audiences everywhere, this upbeat and powerful story promises to stir your emotions and make your spirits soar!

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson Director: Gene Quintano

An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. A "Lethal Weapon" style cop team tries to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the "Wilderness Girls" cookie drive.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson Director: Richard Benjamin

An independent black woman conceives a child with the help of a spermbank. When her daughter discovers the truth 18 years later and attempts to learn who her anonymous father is, he turns out to be a car dealer who also happens to be white.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy Director: Bill Duke

Whoopi Goldberg returns in a gratuitous, poorly written sequel that contrives a reason to get her character back into Maggie Smith's convent. The "socially conscious" plot finds Goldberg being asked to relate to a bunch of street kids and pull them together into a choir. Since a bad guy is needed, the script grabs that old chestnut about a rich guy (James Coburn) preparing to close down the convent's school, and runs with it. The film is slow and unconvincing from start to finish, although costars Mary Wickes and Kathy Najimy get some good laughs, and the music is pretty spirited.

Starring: Eric Stoltz, Mary-Louise Parker Director: Daniel Algrant

Naked in New York is a likable, intimate look at the young couple Jake and Joanne (Eric Stoltz and Mary-Louise Parker), who meet in college and slowly see their lives pull apart. A romantic comedy with a New York attitude, it's a more realistic version of Reality Bites. A struggling playwright with a rich imagination, Jake has a laziness factor that's holding him back, and, in part, that's the underlying feeling of the movie: Things just happen. But it's a great showcase for the underappreciated Parker (Fried Green Tomatoes) and for Tony Curtis as an off-Broadway producer. In addition to the hugely likable cast are many catchy cameo appearances.

Starring: Jean Boht, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Arnold Schwartzman

This production is an excellent choice for any person wanting to experience the emotions of the Holocaust. This Documentary does a good job of covering the rest of the war in Europe as well.

Starring: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff

Not an ideal choice for younger kids, this hip and violent animated feature from Disney was nevertheless a huge smash in theaters and on video, and it continues to enjoy life in an acclaimed Broadway production. The story finds a lion cub, son of a king, sent into exile after his father is sabotaged by a rivalrous uncle. The little hero finds his way into the "circle of life" with some new friends and eventually comes back to reclaim his proper place. Characters are very strong, vocal performances by the likes of Jeremy Irons, Nathan Lane, and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific, the jokes are aimed as much (if not more) at adults than kids, the animation is sometimes breathtaking, and the music is more palatable than in many Disney features. But be cautious: this is too intense for the Rugrat crowd. --Tom Keogh

How good-looking is the DVD restoration of Disney's popular animated film? Take a look at the serviceable but dull film clips incorporated in the plethora of extras and compare them to the vivid gorgeousness of the film presentation. This "special edition" also adds a 90-second song ("Morning Report") that originated in the lavish stage musical. To Disney's credit, the original theatrical version is also included, both restored and featuring two 5.1 soundtracks: Dolby Digital and a new Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, which does sound brighter. As with the Disney Platinum line, everything is thrown into the discs, except an outsider's voice (the rah-rahs of Disney grow tiresome at times). The excellent commentary from the directors and producer, originally on the laser disc, is hidden under the audio set-up menu.

The second disc is organized by 20-minute-ish "journeys" tackling the elements of story, music, et cetera, including good background on the awkward Shakespearean origins at Disney where it was referred as "Bamlet." The most interesting journey follows the landmark stage production, and the kids should be transfixed by shots of the real African wildlife in the animal journey. Three deleted segments are real curios, including an opening lyric for "Hakuna Matata." Most set-top DVD games are usually pretty thin (DVD-ROM is where it's at), but the Safari game is an exception--the kids should love the roaring animals (in 5.1 Surround, no less). One serious demerit goes to the needless and complicated second navigation system that is listed by continent, but just shows the same features reordered.

Starring: Travis Tedford, Kevin Jamal Woods Director: Penelope Spheeris

Spanky and the members of the He-Man Woman Haters Club find out that Alfalfa has been courting Darla. After a trial they sentence him to forget about her and other girls forever. Alfalfa is having trouble with his punishment, partularly since the new rich kid is moving in on his territory, and he works to win her back. Meanwhile Butch and Woim are trying to steal the gang's prized go-cart for the big derb coming up. The gang has monetary problems too, since they need to build a new clubhouse, but are having a hard time raising the money.

Starring: Noreen Hennessey, Lucy Webb Director: Jessie Nelson

Ray Liotta plays a 1950s jingle composer whose wife dies, leaving him to raise their grieving young daughter (Tina Majorino) alone. Dad hires an African-American housekeeper (Whoopi Goldberg), who helps fill the gap in the child's life--and then Dad's life--and soon an interracial relationship crossing the social mores of the era is underway. Written and directed by Jessie Nelson, the film is a spot-on recreation of '50s suburbia without gratuitous kitsch. Liotta is perfect as a working man of the day, given to white shirts and narrow ties; Goldberg gives one of her finest performances as the levelheaded Corrina; and little Majorino is heartbreakingly effective. But the film entirely bears the stamp of one person, and that's Nelson, who has a wonderfully witty eye and a sophisticated but sensitive approach to the crosscurrents of emotion at play in this story.

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes Director: David Carson

There were only two ways for "classic Trek" cast members to appear in a movie with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: either Capt. Kirk and his contemporaries would have to be very, very old, or there would be some time travel involved in the plot. Since geriatric heroes aren't very exciting (despite a welcomed cameo appearance by the aged Dr. McCoy), Star Trek: Generations unites Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a time-jumping race to stop a madman's quest for heavenly contentment. When a mysterious energy coil called the Nexus nearly destroys the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise-B, the just-retired Capt. Kirk is lost and presumed dead. But he's actually been happily trapped in the timeless purgatory of the Nexus--an idyllic state of being described by the mystical Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) as "pure joy." Picard must convince Kirk to leave this artificial comfort zone and confront Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), the madman who will threaten billions of lives to be reunited with the addictive pleasure of the Nexus. With subplots involving the android Data's unpredictable "emotion chip" and the spectacular crash-landing of the starship Enterprise, this crossover movie not only satisfied Trek fans, but it also gave them something they'd never had to confront before: the heroic and truly final death of a beloved Star Trek character. Passing the torch to the Next Generation with dignity and entertaining adventure, the movie isn't going to please everyone with its somewhat hokey plot, but it still ranks as a worthy big-screen launch for Picard and his stalwart crew.

Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Canan J. Howell Director: Pixote Hunt, Maurice Hunt

A blend of live-action and animation, this film centers on a fearful young boy (Macaulay Culkin) afraid to experience life because he's calculated the odds of an accident for every known activity. Chased by bullies, he winds up at the local library, where a bump on the head sends him into an animated universe, where his best friends are walking, talking books voiced by, among others, Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg. The Pagemaster (Christopher Lloyd) points the way to the exit, but the boy must first traverse the adventures of literary history, encountering everyone from Dr. Jekyll to Captain Ahab to Long John Silver. The animation is middling, but a worthy message makes this better children's entertainment than you'd expect. How can you fault a movie that encourages kids to pick up a book?

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker Director: Herbert Ross

This female-bonding film takes your basic soap opera and twists it inside out. Although director Herbert Ross draws superb performances from his actresses, he occasionally wallows in that maudlin, Hollywood melodrama in which close-ups are crucial. Remember, this is the man who directed Steel Magnolias. However, Ross also does something you don't expect: he makes you fall in love with his characters. Whoopi Goldberg is a down-on-her luck singer who hopes to start over in Los Angeles. Mary-Louise Parker is the realtor whose life is going nowhere. After Goldberg answers Parker's ad in the paper for a companion to drive to LA, these two completely different women grudgingly find themselves emotionally involved. Drew Barrymore enters the picture on the first leg of the trip when Goldberg insists on visiting her. After battling with her drug-dealing boyfriend, the flighty, sexy Barrymore throws in with them. During their trek west, the women learn to take life as it lands on them while recognizing true friendship. The film is enlightened in that it accepts the complications and blurred family ties of the '90s. At the heart of the story is the realization that people can expand past expected boundaries. The movie gels in other areas as well. The all-female soundtrack is powerful and works to underscore, not overpower, certain scenes. The same can be said of the supporting cast, specifically Anita Gillette and James Remar.

Starring: Lily Tomlin, Tony Curtis Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

Author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) wrote Lily Tomlin's narration for this superb documentary, based on a book by the late Vito Russo, about Hollywood's treatment of homosexual characters in the 20th century. Never pointing a finger at anyone in the film community, The Celluloid Closet presents clips from more than 100 mainstream features (including The Children's Hour, Advise and Consent, The Boys in the Band, and The Hunger) that speak loudly in their respective images of gays and lesbians. The film makes a persuasive case for patterns of sexual mythology in Hollywood, such as presenting homosexuals repeatedly as tragic, helpless figures redeemed only through death or as back-street monsters cavorting in the shadows. Things change, of course, and clips from more recent films by gay and lesbian filmmakers suggest a more vital, diverse, autobiographical approach. There are lots of great interviews with screenwriters (Gore Vidal), filmmakers (John Schlesinger), actors (Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg), and others to enunciate the major themes.

Starring: Elizabeth Perkins, Whoopi Goldberg Director: David Anspaugh

A young widow still grieving over the death of her husband finds herself being comforted by a local housepainter.

Starring: John Kassir, Dennis Miller Director: Gilbert Adler

First on the bill is DEMON KNIGHT (1995). On the surface, this one's a typical tale of good-versus-evil, with a noble agent of Heaven working to protect mankind from an evil Demon who, with the help of his minions, seeks to throw a veil of darkness over the universe and oppress mankind in the process. Trite, yes, but a good script, a talented cast (including Billy Zane as the wonderfully smarmy Demon), and high production values raise this one a notch or two above the average morality play. The weakest element of the film is the Crypt-Keeper wraparound, which has too much of the TV show's cheesy feel (though it does feature an uncredited cameo by John Larroquette, whom hardcore genre fans know to be the opening narrator for 1974's original TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE). The story proper was drawn from a script originally written independently of the TV series--which is probably why it rises head and shoulders above it--and many of its elements read like a homage to George Romero's classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) more than as an offspring of the series or the comics that inspired it.

The second feature is BORDELLO OF BLOOD (1996). Many fans and critics have panned this one as an bromidic and therefore unworthy follow-up to DEMON KNIGHT, and while it is true that many of the story elements are worn vampire-movie cliches, the film certainly delivers what having TALES FROM THE CRYPT in the title promises to genre fans. The plot involves a beautiful redheaded super-vampiress who is manipulated by a smug, ingratiating Christian evangelist into running a vampire brothel that serves to lure society's undesirables to their doom. Chris Sarandon riotously chews the scenery as the perverse proselytizer, and SNL alum Dennis Miller delivers lots of laughs as a cynical PI hired to locate a teenage victim of the whoring vamps. The film's biggest fault is probably the gratuitous T&A and the misogynistic undertones, but considering that 50% of the mainstream film industry's target audience is horny teenage males, such elements are hardly surprising. In other words, BORDELLO OF BLOOD is admittedly not high cinema, but there are loads of things to keep genre fans interested, and its overall tone is more in line with the TV show that spawned it than was its predecessor, DEMON KNIGHT.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Armin Mueller-Stahl Director: Jonathan R. Betuel

A wise-cracking police officer is forced to team up with her new partner, a sixty-five million year-old talking Tyrannosaurus Rex! Hillarious adventures follow as this unlikely duo tries to save the planet Earth from extinction.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Langella Director: Steve Rash

Eddie is a New York limo driver and a fanatical follower of the New York Knicks professional basketball team. The team is struggling with a mediocre record when, in mid-season, "Wild Bill" Burgess, the new owner, as a public relations gimmick, stages an 'honorary coach' contest, which Eddie wins. The fans love it, so "Wild Bill" fires the coach and hires her. She takes the bunch of overpaid prima donnas that make up the team and turns them around. But the owner hopes to move the team, now the darling of the New York fans, to St. Louis. He may OWN the team, but it BELONGS to the city and the fans!

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Gerard Depardieu Director: Norman Jewison

Doing for orphaned children what Ghost did for grieving lovers, Bogus is a sweet-natured fantasy that's sure to have some viewers reaching for a Kleenex. With The Sixth Sense still three years in his future, Haley Joel Osment plays 7-year-old Albert, whose happy life is disrupted when his mother (Nancy Travis) is killed in a traffic accident. Her will stipulates that Albert be placed in the custody of his mom's little-known half-sister, Harriet (Whoopi Goldberg), a New Jersey restaurant-supply owner who's anything but motherly. That's when Albert invents Bogus (Gerard Depardieu), an imaginary friend who springs to life from a coloring book drawing--clearly the product of Albert's need for love and companionship. It's easy to see why director Norman Jewison was drawn to the challenge of this delicate, charmingly cast fantasy/drama whimsically written by Alvin Sargent (Oscar®-winner for Ordinary People), and there are some lovely moments that capture a fleeting sense of wonder. But like the similar fantasy Three Wishes, the magic is lightweight and it doesn't always work. Your best bet is to just surrender to the sentiment, and don't be surprised if you shed a tear or two.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Dianne Wiest Director: Donald Petrie

Whoopi Goldberg (SISTER ACT I & II, EDDIE) handles business her own way in this outrageous comedy hit! Whoopi plays a fast-track executive who starts her own company after a back-stabbing co-worker (Tim Daly, TV's WINGS) nabs her promotion. But when she's locked out of the stuffy corporate world, she invents a dazzling male business partner to sell her ideas! Her wacky plan soon spins wildly out of control, however, when her bogus "associate" becomes Wall Street's hottest financial whiz -- and Whoopi herself must impersonate him! With Dianne Wiest (THE BIRDCAGE) in a hilarious supporting cast, THE ASSOCIATE is a comedy treat you're sure to love!

Starring: Alec Baldwin, James Woods Director: Rob Reiner

Rob Reiner, who used to be more interested in personal style as a filmmaker, continues to duck behind bland movies about important ideas with this based-on-fact film about the embattled white prosecutor (Alec Baldwin) who brought racist killer Byron De La Beckwith (James Woods) to justice after 30 years of failed attempts. Charged with the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Beckwith slimes up the film pretty well via Woods's somewhat showy performance, while Baldwin generously assumes the usual cliches surrounding reluctant heroes. Whoopi Goldberg is at her most stately as Evers's widow. The whole self-important production is dogged by the obvious thought that it might have played better (and to far more people than it did in theaters) on television.

Starring: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Matt Dillon Director: Kenny Hotz, Spencer Rice

While my initial reason for buying this movie stemmed from watching the hilarious Kenny vs Spenny show I found that Pitch was a deeper look at the 2 men- Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice, and their plight in Hollywood. If you are looking for the same sort of jousting against one another as on KvsS you will not find it here although the squabbles in the movie seem to forshadow what was to come. The movie is great, and it shows just how hard it is to do ANYTHING in the 'biz.' The ending left me feeling for the guys but as any K & S fan would know, the discouragement they faced in Pitch did not stop them. We got Kenny vs Spenny and I am looking forward to see Kenny's newest movie "The Papal Chase." I think this movie belongs in the collection of any fan of Kenny & Spenny.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Director: Hugh Munro Neely

By the age of seventeen, Mary Pickford had become the first actress to achieve international superstardom. By the time she was thirty, she was the first and only woman ever to own a major movie studio, the only woman to be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood and the first actress to have complete control in making her films. With comedic talents equal to Keaton, Lloyd or Chaplin, the tragic range of Gish and Swanson and business acumen to rival any Hollywood mogul, Mary Pickford was the consummate movie star of the 20th Century. "Mary Pickford: A Life on Film" is the definitive documentary on the most powerful woman in the history of cinema. Hosted and narrated by Whoopi Goldberg.

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Arthur Hiller, Alan Smithee

Subtitled An Alan Smithee Film (referring to a long-standing pseudonym for a director who disowns a film), this 1998 satire is notable chiefly for having the same thing happen in real life, as director Arthur Hiller (Love Story) took his name off the picture after clashing with screenwriter and producer Joe Eszterhas (Showgirls, Basic Instinct). The plot of Eszterhas's farce has to do with a filmmaker who really is named Alan Smithee, played by Eric Idle (Monty Python's The Meaning of Life). After signing on to direct a big-budget blockbuster at the behest of a sleazy producer (Ryan O'Neal), Smithee realizes he has lost control of the film and decides to remove his name and publicly destroy the project. Along the way he encounters a host of celebrities in cameos, including the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Sylvester Stallone, Jackie Chan, and rappers Chuck D and Coolio, all of whom become involved in Smithee's doomed film. Meant as an insider's take on the machinations of Hollywood from one of its most prominent screenwriters, Burn Hollywood Burn is a cheerfully over-the-top send-up of modern moviemaking and the equally outlandish characters involved.

Starring: Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs Director: Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back stars Angela Bassett as a 40-year-old, Manhattan stock trader and single mom whose static life gets a jolt during a vacation with her pal (Whoopi Goldberg) in Jamaica. Sparks fly when Bassett meets a 20-year-old stud (Taye Diggs) who has an ambivalent career path but a great body and lots of sexual energy to burn. After some prodding by Goldberg's warm-funny secondary character, Bassett gets it on with the fellow--and proceeds to worry about what she's doing with a man half her age. The film is most enjoyable in its sunny, exotic early scenes and becomes more formulaic once the unlikely couple transports their will-we-stay-together-or-won't-we tensions back to the Big Apple. But director Kevin Rodney Sullivan goes out of his way to make a movie unabashedly thick with fantasy and wish-fulfillment for female audiences (it's Diggs who reveals a lot more flesh than the regal Bassett). This is a Saturday-night movie all around.

Starring: John Goodman, Whoopi Goldberg Director: William R. Kowalchuk

Competing with the time-tested, 1964 original Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, with the abominable snowman, the misfit toys, the lovably clunky motion, and Burl Ives as narrator, is no easy task. So this feature-length, animated musical skirts a straight squaring-off of versions. The story line is a bit more complex, with the abominable snowman's antagonist role played by the Whoopi Goldberg-voiced Ice Queen, Stormella, and Rudolph's running buddies depicted as a polar bear (excellently voiced by Bob Newhart) and, not surprisingly, a cutesy doe, Zoey. The animation is first-rate and completely convincing, making this new Rudolph ideal for the discriminating 3- to 7-year-old viewer. Stormella looks for all the world like a hybrid of King Triton and Ursula, the Sea Witch from Disney's The Little Mermaid. As for the story, none of it is either heavyhanded on the good versus evil front for the younger set, or so sappy that it's intolerable for adults. As with so many animated features this decade, the presence of seasoned actors with experience in comedy makes for dialogue that's entertainingly nuanced. Since there are moments of tension and conflict, the comic relief is important and unmistakable, even for younger viewers. The themes are the same as the original, and the ultimate embrace by Santa (done well by John Goodman) of Rudolph's difference still packs a good lesson.

Starring: David Spade, Whoopi Goldberg Director: Igor Kovalyov, Norton Virgien

The first theatrical film from the popular Nickelodeon TV series became the surprise hit of the 1998 holiday box-office crunch, trouncing the highly competitive kids market. The key ingredient to the Rugrats' success is the writing. Venturing into their first theatrical movie, the pals--including the intrepid diaper-wearing Tommy Pickles, the nervous Chuckie, the twins Lil and Phil, and the wonderfully prissy Angelica--garble English into funny prose ("I want those fugitives back in custard-y!") and use movie references in their fantasy life. The opening here is a dead-on spoof of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The big news for the movie is that Tommy gets a new baby brother, named Dylan (or Dil for short). The rest of the film has no real plot but is a series of adventures as the clan gets lost in the forest riding an inventive Reptar wagon that is the '90s equivalent of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Parents search for the kids, the kids learn new lessons, everyone goes home happy. The Rugrats Movie is not as wildly appealing as A Bug's Life but is far goofier and wackier with its animation. There's also a tremendous sense of joy that is often missing from cartoons these days, and the songs used in the film-- from such diverse musicians as Busta Rhymes, Iggy Pop, Lisa Loeb, Lou Rawls, Beck, and Devo--add to the fun. It's an acquired taste, but the creators' first efforts to take the 10-minute TV sketches into an 80-minute feature pay off.

The video contains a short (Winslow Doc) from Nickelodeon's series CatDog. Although the animation is similar, one can only hope the series does not reach the popularity of Rugrats.

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams Director: Ulu Grosbard

Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) is at her high school reunion when her 3-year-old son disappears from his brother's care. The little boy never turns up, and the family has to deal with the devastating guilt and grief that goes along with it. Nine years later, the family has relocated to Chicago. By a sheer fluke, the kid turns up, living no more than two blocks away. The authorities swoop down and return the kid to his biological parents, but things are far from being that simple. The boy grew up around what he has called his father, while his new family are strangers to him; the older son, now a teenager, has brushes with the law and behavioral problems. His adjustment to his lost brother is complicated by normal teenage churlishness, and the dad (Treat Williams) seems to expect everything to fall into place as though the family had been intact all along. It's a tightrope routine for actors in a story like this, being careful not to chew the scenery while at the same time not being too flaccid or understated. For the most part, the members of the cast deal well with the emotional complexity of their roles. Though the story stretches credulity, weirder things do happen in the real world. The family's pain for the first half of the film is certainly credible, though the second half almost seems like a different movie. Whoopi Goldberg plays the detective assigned to the case; casting her is a bit of a stretch, but she makes it work. All in all, a decent three-hanky movie in the vein of Ordinary People.

Starring: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie Director: James Mangold

Based on Susanna Kaysen's acclaimed journal-memoir, Girl, Interrupted bears inevitable resemblance to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and pale comparison to that earlier classic is impossible to avoid. The mental institution settings of both films guarantee a certain degree of dejà vu and at least one Oscar winner (in this case, Angelina Jolie), since playing a loony is any actor's dream gig. Unfortunately, director James Mangold seems to have misplaced the depth and delicacy of his underrated debut, Heavy, despite a great deal of earnest effort by everyone involved. It's easy to see why Winona Ryder chose to star in (and executive-produce) this nearly worthy adaptation of Kaysen's book, since it's a strong vehicle for female casting and potent drama. Mangold certainly got the former; whether he succeeded with the latter is not so clear.

To be sure, Ryder conveys the confusion and chaos that signified Kaysen's life during nearly 18 months of voluntary institutionalization beginning in 1967. But the film seems too eager to embrace the cliche that the "crazies" of the Claymoore women's ward are saner than the war-torn world outside, and lack of narrative focus gives way to semipredictable character study. Susanna (Ryder) is labeled with "borderline personality disorder," a diagnosis as ambiguous as her own emotions, and while Jolie chews the scenery as the resident bad-girl sociopath, Ryder effectively conveys an odyssey from vulnerable fear to self-awareness and, finally, to healing. The ensemble cast is uniformly superb, making this drama well worthwhile, even as it treads familiar territory. If it ultimately lacks dramatic impact, Girl, Interrupted makes it painfully clear that the boundaries of dysfunction are hazy in a world where everyone's crazy once in a while.

Starring: Rene Russo, Jason Alexander Director: 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.

Starring: Joe Mantegna, Peter Coyote Director: Michael Browning

A series of mishaps and misfortunes over $1 million in cash leads to murder, mayhem and greed.

Starring: LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith Director: Doug McHenry

Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J lead a strong cast in Kingdom Come, one of those the-whole-family-comes-together comedy-dramas that celebrate the transcendent power of love. When the surly patriarch of the family dies, relatives descend upon his widow (Goldberg): his recovering alcoholic son Ray (Cool J) and his wife Lucille (Vivica Fox from Independence Day), who have been unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant; the incompetent other son Junior (Anthony Anderson, Big Momma's House) and his jealous wife Charisse (Jada Pinkett Smith) and their three rambunctious boys; the over-religious sister (Loretta Devine) and her shiftless son; and assorted other eccentric characters who generally turn the reception and funeral into a series of squabbling indignities--the kids even wrap the hearse in toilet paper. The movie's script is modest at best and loaded with forced plot points--to no one's surprise, all problems are resolved in an orgy of forgiveness--but the cast handles the material with sincerity and grace. Goldberg rises to the top as the stoic Mama Rae, lacing her bland lines with a dry and biting wit. Cedric the Entertainer (The Original Kings of Comedy) and singer Toni Braxton round out the cast.

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Bridget Fonda Director: Henry Selick

Brendan Fraser plays the best-looking cartoonist you'll ever see in Monkeybone. Stu (Fraser) has created an animated character named Monkeybone, who sprang from his repressed sexual anxieties. He's just sold his animated series to a cable channel, and is being bombarded with proposals for toys and other marketing extravaganzas, when he and his girlfriend Julie (Bridget Fonda) get into a car wreck and Stu falls into a coma. But comas are much more complicated than you might expect: Stu finds himself in Down Town, where lives a mixture of other people in comas and figments of these people's imaginations. Naturally, Monkeybone himself is there, and he and Stu quickly start fighting like cats and dogs. When Stu realizes that his sister, due to a pact they once made, is preparing to pull the plug on him, Stu makes a deal with Hypnos, the god of sleep, to help him steal a golden ticket from Death himself (or herself, as Death is played by Whoopi Goldberg). Sound complicated? Well, from there it only gets more ornate. Monkeybone is a bit of a mess, but it's never boring, and every now and then it roars to amazingly dynamic life. Fraser is excellent, and the strong supporting cast includes Giancarlo Esposito (Do the Right Thing), Rose McGowan (Scream), Dave Foley (Brain Candy), and Saturday Night Live's Chris Kattan as a gymnast with a broken neck who... well, it's a bit complicated to explain. A crazy quilt of a movie, chock-full of delirious ideas and inspired moments.

Starring: Breckin Meyer, Jenica Bergere Director: Jerry Zucker

Modeled after 1963's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Jerry Zucker's Rat Race lacks the irreverence of Zucker's 1980 hit Airplane! but has enough chuckles to make it an agreeable time-killer. Like Mad, Mad, Mad..., it employs a huge ensemble of comedy stalwarts, assembled by an eccentric hotelier (pearly-toothed John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to New Mexico for a $2 million jackpot. With a backstage gambling subplot, Rowan Atkinson's Italian-geek lunacy, Seth Green's slacker antics, and some nicely understated work from SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas, the movie has almost as many highlights as clunkers, and Zucker's embrace of easy gags and traditional slapstick will tickle anyone's old-fashioned funny bone. Other ingredients are hopelessly stale: Whoopi Goldberg's frantic mugging, Cuba Gooding's latter-day Stepin Fetchit, "mature" humor that compromises the movie's broad appeal, and the assumption that crashing vehicles are inherently hilarious. Lamentable decisions, perhaps, but Rat Race maintains a pleasantly altruistic spirit.

Starring: Tom Berenger, Jacqueline Kim Director: Sönke Wortmann

Three washed-up actors must deliver the most convincing performances of their lives as part of a dangerous plot designed to finance their triumphant comeback.

Starring: Patricia Arquette, Rosanna Arquette Director: Rosanna Arquette

Rosanna Arquette informally interviews several contrasting actresses about how they cope with being a woman in the entertainment industry. The chauvenism of male crew is discussed, the pretentiousness / stereotyping of female characters in American film now. Interviews include those with Alley Sheedy, Martha Plimpton, Debra Winger, Emmanual Beart, and Rosanna's sister, Patricia Arquette -among others. Although a documentary this film seems affected, Arquette never has an argument, never says anything bad about another actress, in fact, complimenting just about everyone of them as being her favourite actress.

Starring: Christian Taylor, Lindy Heymann Director: Lindy Heymann, Christian Taylor

With dry humor, the mockumentary Showboy turns a portrait in self-delusion into the pursuit of a dream. A British documentarian wants to make a short movie about Christian Taylor, a writer on the cable series Six Feet Under--only she arrives just as Christian is abruptly fired while the show is shooting in Las Vegas. Humiliated and depressed, Christian stays in Vegas and starts pursuing jobs as a chorus boy; he tells the documentarian that he's doing research for a screenplay. Showboy plays its cards very close to the chest; the agents, dance teachers, and casting directors that Christian meets with could well be genuine--the deadpan performances never wink at the camera. The humor springs from a mixture of embarrassing awkwardness and the fundamental absurdity of life in Las Vegas. With cameos by Whoopi Goldberg, Siegfried and Roy, and Alan Ball (creator of Six Feet Under).

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes Director: Stuart Baird

The sacrifice of a beloved character is just one of many highlights in Nemesis, the 10th feature in the lucrative Star Trek franchise. Enigmatically billed as the beginning of "A Generation's Final Journey," this richly plotted Next Generation adventure maintains the "even number rule" regarding Trek's feature quality, and it's one of the best in the series. It hits its brisk stride when Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his Enterprise-E crew encounter Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a younger clone of Picard, rejected by the Romulans as the human weapon of an abandoned conspiracy. Raised on the nocturnal Romulan sister planet Remus, Shinzon now plots revenge against Romulus and Earth but needs Picard's blood to carry out his scheme. A wedding, a childlike "duplicate" Data named B-4 (Brent Spiner), spectacular space battles, and uncommon acts of valor make this a tautly-paced action thriller, poised to pass the franchise (but not quite yet) to a new generation of Starfleet personnel. Die-hard Trekkers will not be disappointed.

Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett Director: Ed Bell, Edward Bell

The material used for this beautifully made HBO documentary dates back to the 1930s, when journalists conducted thousands of interviews with former slaves who'd been emancipated at the end of the Civil War. A selection of these faithfully transcribed "slave narratives" are vividly read (acted, really) here by a host of distinguished performers, ranging from Samuel L. Jackson to Oprah Winfrey, from Don Cheadle to Angela Bassett, with narration by Whoopi Goldberg. Since there's obviously no film available from the slave period, the producers use artfully edited photos, file footage, some atmospheric new film, and shots of the performers in action to bring the material to life. Add all of that to the DVD bonus features (text bios of individual slaves and a couple of lengthy audio segments), and you have a moving record of bitter, weary, yet resilient and quietly proud people living with memories that never would, or could, fade.

Starring: Ashley L. Anderson, Camille Anderson

Pauly Shore, one-time MTV personality and faded comic star of Bio-Dome and Jury Duty, wrote and directed this satire about his own career decline and (fictional) attempt to revive Hollywood's interest by faking his suicide. The fun of this movie is in never being quite sure how much of the story is based on Shore's real-life status as a has-been, and how much is inspired by public assumptions about his near-disappearance from the entertainment scene. In any case, watching Shore's dubious run as a stand-up comedian and actor wind down has, in Shore's own telling, some very funny moments, including a scene in which cash-rich, prop comic Carrot Top buys the former Wiezel's house and another in which Shore tries to secure the services of a Heidi Fleiss escort for $84. Lots of celebrity cameos here (Shore obviously still has show-business friends), including Ben Stiller, Britney Spears, Bill Maher, Charlie Sheen, Tom Sizemore, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Starring: Paul Bates, Brenda Blethyn Director: LeVar Burton

A young girl learns the true meaning of friendship from one of Santa's reindeer in BLIZZARD, an enchanting holiday film the whole family will cherish. When her family moves, Katie is sad to leave her friends and ice skating lessons behind. But then she meets Blizzard, a reindeer with special powers, who helps her realize her potential. Although Blizzard risks being banished from Santa-s village, they band toghether to overcome their obstacles. Both Katie and Blizzard are able to share the greatest gift of all: friendship.

Starring: Raymond Bouchard, Martin Cloutier Director: Daniel Robichaud

Starring: Chris Albrecht, Jason Alexander Director: Paul Provenza

Comedy veterans and co-creators Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza capitalize on their insider status and invite over 100 of their closest friends--who happen to be some of the biggest names in entertainment, from George Carlin, Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Carey to Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Saget, Paul Reiser and Sarah Silverman--to reminisce, analyze, deconstruct and deliver their own versions of the world's dirtiest joke, an old burlesque too extreme to be performed in public, called "The Aristocrats."

Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Hayden Panettiere Director: Frederik Du Chau

In the middle of a raging thunderstorm, a traveling circus accidentally leaves behind some very precious cargo--a baby zebra. The gangly little foal is rescued by horse farmer Nolan Walsh, who takes him home to his young daughter Channing. Once a champion thoroughbred trainer, Walsh has given up horse training for a quiet life with Channing on their modest Kentucky farm. The little zebra, or "Stripes," as Channing calls him, is soon introduced to the farm's misfit troupe of barnyard residents, led by a cranky Shetland Pony named Tucker and Franny, a wise old goat who keeps the family in line. The group is joined by Goose, a deranged big-city pelican who's hiding out in the sticks until the heat dies down in Jersey. The un-aptly named bloodhound Lightening keeps a lazy eye on goings-on at the farm - in between naps. The Walsh farm borders the Turfway Racetrack, where highly skilled thoroughbreds compete for horse racing's top honor, the ultra-prestigious Kentucky Crown. From the first moment Stripes lays eyes on the track, he's hooked--he knows that if he could just get the chance, he could leave all those other horses in the dust. What he doesn't know is--he's not exactly a horse. But with characteristic zeal, he devotes himself to training for the big time, with a little help from Tucker, who has coached a host of champion racehorses in the past.