Jennifer Darling

Directed by Chris Haifley, The Killer Next Door centers on Ronnie (Adam Scott), who has recently made his first, fledgling attempt at adulthood and moved out of his childhood house. Unfortunately, the move wasn't exactly a long-distance endeavor -- he lives in the guest house behind his aging mother's home, and visits her for smoking and television when he isn't busy working at a local halfway house. Things go awry when Ronnie attempts to seduce one of the rehabilitation center's residents, which coincides with his brother's release from a correctional facility. The film also features Mark Pellegrino, Aimee Graham, Brian Austin Green, and Matt Casado. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

After the critical and commercial success of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the Walt Disney Pictures animation studio embarked on their most serious and ambitious animated feature to date with this adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel Notre Dame de Paris. Quasimodo (voice of Tom Hulce) is a grotesquely deformed but kind-hearted young man who was abandoned by his parents as an infant and thrown down a well; he was rescued by the priests of Notre Dame, the massive cathedral in the heart of Paris, and he lives there, earning his keep as a bell ringer. Quasimodo has become the ward of Judge Frollo (voice of Tony Jay), an outwardly pious but deeply hateful man who treats Quasimodio with indifference and violently loathes the Gypsies who spend their days in the cathedral's courtyard. Frollo hopes to clear the Gypsies out of Paris with the help of Phoebus (voice of Kevin Kline), leader of the troops under Frollo's command. However, Phoebus does not share Frollo's racist views and harbors no ill will against the Gypsies. When Quasimodo is crowned King of the Fools after leaving Notre Dame during the annual festival of Topsy Turvy Day, the hunchback is ordered beaten by the guards as punishment, but Esmerelda (voice of Demi Moore), a hot-blooded but compassionate gypsy beauty, shows pity on him and helps free him from his chains. The lovely Esmerelda is the first woman to show kindness to the unfortunate Quasimodo, and the hunchback soon falls in love with her. However, the dashing Phoebus is also infatuated with her, and Esmerelda is attracted to Phoebus as well, though she feels a motherly affection for the hunchback. Judge Frollo finds that he also desires Esmerelda, which only inflames his hatred for the Gypsies when she refuses his proposals. Darker and less outwardly comic than most of Disney's features, The Hunchback of Notre Dame does feature comic relief in the form of Victor (voice of Charles Kimbrough) and Hugo (voice of Jason Alexander), a pair of gargoyles who befriend Quasimodo, as well as several songs from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Adventure is only limited by imagination in this exciting animated fantasy from The Goonies writer Chris Columbus. Warmly welcomed to the Kingdom of Slumberland by the king himself, young Nemo is christened heir to the throne and given a magical key that will open any door in the kingdom. Though Nemo is warned not to open the one door with the power to destroy Slumberland, temptation proves too strong and the king is kidnapped as a black cloud of nightmares washes over the formerly idyllic dreamscape. Now, if Nemo is to reverse his error and bring the king back alive, he must rally his friends and journey deep into Nightmare Land to face his ultimate fear. Will dreams ever return to Slumberland, or has Nemo's folly set into motion an irreversible, eternal echo of nightmares and chaos? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The title American Scream is likely a play on the words American Dream, which is what a young family is out for when they take off on their vacation. Unfortunately their trek to the wild outdoors finds them running into a bunch of devil worshippers who put the "Scream" in "Dream." ~ All Movie Guide

In this weak, undistinguished sequel to the successful Police Academy, Mahoney and his cohorts have now graduated from their police training and are ready to tackle real criminals. The first assignment for the enthusiastic former cadets is to halt the graffiti-scribbling antics of a local gang of marauding toughs. The new lieutenant at the station (Art Metrano) is not anxious to see them succeed -- and begins to roadblock their efforts against the graffiti artists. Not to be easily outmaneuvered, Mahoney and friends plot an appropriate revenge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

As Season Four of Eight is Enough gets under way, David Bradford (Grant Goodeve), the oldest of Sacramento journalist Tom Bradford's (Dick Van Patten) eight children, is eagerly anticipating his marriage to his attorney fiancée Janet (Joan Prather). Romance also enters the life of David's sister Susan (Susan Richardson) when she falls for charming minor-league baseball player Merle "The Pearl" Stockwell (Brian Patrick Clarke). Thus it is that the wedding ceremony becomes a double header when Susan and Merle wed on the same day as David and Janet (conveniently just in time for the Fall ratings sweeps!). Elsewhere in the Bradford household, Tom's wife Abby (Betty Buckley) studies for a PhD in Education; daughter Joannie (Laurie Walters) lands a job at a local TV station, when she meets and falls in love with coworker Jeffrey Trout (Nicholas Pryor); 18-year-old Elizabeth (Connie Newton, previously billed as Connie Needham) enters college; David establishes his own construction business; second-youngest son Tommy (William Aames) organizes a band; Tom's freewheeling sister Vivian (Janis Paige) treats the family to a Hawaiian vacation (no, they don't meet the Brady Bunch); the kids and Abby help Tom come to grips with his 50th birthday; youngest son Nicholas (Adam Rich) "jinxes" the Bradfords by breaking a chain letter; and Susan finds out that she's pregnant--just after Merle has walked out on her. New to the series this season is Michael Goodrow as Tommy's new friend Ernie, who turns out to have a serious drinking problem. As Season Four draws to a close, Susan prepares for motherhood, and Tommy throws a graduation party that gets him into hot water with the local constabulary. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Up The Sandbox is a complex and difficult film, and it is ambiguous on many points, particularly on whether the protagonist Margaret Reynolds (Barbara Streisand) is a women's liberationist, a closet lesbian, or a masochist. Based on the novel by Anne Richardson Rolphe, it follows Margaret's attempts to tell her husband that she is pregnant with yet another child. The everyday events of her life are punctuated by numerous and complex fantasy sequences which reveal her fears and her desires. It is clear that she is afraid that she and her husband Paul (David Selby) are growing apart -- and that he may be having an affair. Despite the increasingly elaborate and frantic nature of her fantasies, her disclosure, when she finally makes it, has happy results. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide