Bill Ratner Movies
- 2005
Producer Seth MacFarlane wastes no time biting the hand that feeds him in this first episode Family Guy's fourth season. Mocking the fact that the series had been cancelled by Fox in 2002, only to be brought back by public demand, the season opener finds Peter Griffin casually rattling off a list of titles of unsuccessful TV series which Fox had inflicted on the public during that two-year hiatus. The episode itself was inspired by the brouhaha over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, though in form and content it looks more like a Hitchcock thriller. While on their second honeymoon, Peter and Lois sneak a peak at the sequel to Gibson's "Jesus" film, The Passion of the Christ II: Crucify This. The couple ends up destroying the film, thus incurring the wrath of two movie-loving priests. Meanwhile back in Quahog, it is up to Brian and Stewie to dole out punishment when Chris is caught with booze at the high school dance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Bill Cosby's gang of childhood pals evolve from standup comedy to an animated cartoon series to real life in this family-friendly comedy. Doris (Kyla Pratt) is a teenager who doesn't fit in with most of her classmates at school, has been depressed since the death of her grandfather, and is disturbed by her foster sister's willingness to remake herself in order to be popular. One of Doris' few solaces comes from watching reruns of the animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and one day while watching the show she starts to cry, with a tear dropping into her remote. The tear draws big-hearted (and just plain big) Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson) from the animated universe into Doris' real world in hopes of cheering her up and helping her deal with her problems. As Fat Albert and his pals -- Rudy (Shedrack Anderson III), Bucky (Alphonso McAuley), Mushmouth (Jermaine Williams), Weird Harold (Aaron A. Frazier), Dumb Donald (Marques B. Houston), and Bill (Keith D. Robinson) -- adapt to the three-dimensional world and try to teach Doris to believe in herself, they learn that traveling back to the animated world is harder than they thought, which becomes alarming when they start to fade away. The real world also poses some new dilemmas for Fat Albert when he falls in love with Doris' foster sister, Lauri (Dania Ramirez). Bill Cosby co-authored the screenplay for Fat Albert, using his full name, William H. Cosby Jr., and collaborating with Charles Kipps; the project was begun with Forest Whitaker as director, who left midway through shooting, with Joel Zwick taking over in his place. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kenan Thompson, Kyla Pratt, (more)
- 1984
Acknowledging the excellent response to the syndicated 1983 cartoon miniseries G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Hasbro Toys commissioned a sequel, G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra, which aired the following year. The plot is set in motion when the evil organization Cobra steals the laser core from the cannon of the G.I. Joe team. With this element, Cobra creates the Weather Dominator, wreaking havoc upon the earth's atmospheric and ecological balance. The Joes manage to neutralize the Dominator with an energy feedback, whereupon the machine's three most vital components are scattered to various parts of the world. For the balance of the story, both the Joes and the Cobras struggle to recover those precious components. Several new characters (and potentially marketable action figures) were introduced in the course of the story, notably the villainous Zartan and the Drednoks. As with the first G.I. Joe cartoon project, this one was offered as either a two-hour "movie" or as a five-part miniseries, its individual episodes bearing the titles "In the Cobra's Pit," "The Vines of Evil," "The Palace of Doom," "Battle on the Roof of the World," and "Amusement Park of Terror." Written by Ron Friedman, G.I. Joe: The Revenge of Cobra first aired in the United States from September 10 through 14, 1984. One year later, the daily G.I. Joe series proper was entered in syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
