Jenette Goldstein

As the third-season finale of 24 begins, the subway station has been shut down, and agents are searching and photographing all the male passengers who fit the profile of the terrorist. At one point, Chase (James Badge Dale) tells Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) that he's decided to transfer out of field work in order to salvage his relationship with Kim (Elisha Cuthbert), rather than develop the kind of emotional detachment that Jack says is a requirement of the job. While Tony (Carlos Bernard) is trying to defend his efforts to save Michelle's (Reiko Aylesworth) life, Michelle has a tender moment with him, and convinces Hammond (Randle Mell) to let him run tactical on the operation to catch the terrorist carrying the last vial of the virus. Gael's widow, Theresa (Kamala Lopez-Dawson), is arriving at CTU to claim his belongings, while Saunders (Paul Blackthorne) is brought in to study the photos being transmitted from the subway station. Unfortunately, the grieving Theresa sees him, realizes who he is, and shoots him before he can identify Arthur Rabens (Salvator Xuereb). Rabens manages to escape from the station, leading Jack and Chase on a high-speed pursuit, which ends when Rabens abandons his car and runs into a middle school. Jack and Chase deal with terrified teachers and students in their frantic search for Rabens. Chase finds him, and as the detonator counts down, he's forced to handcuff himself to the device in order to make sure that Rabens doesn't escape with it. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

After CIA agent Emma Wallace (Olivia D'Abo) is killed in full view of a nationwide TV audience, Sydney (Jennifer Garner) and Vaughn (Michael Vartan) are assigned to take over Emma's mission. They must determine if a new gene-splicing technology called Helix is actually some sort of weapon -- and they must also locate Emma's CIA partner, Jim Lennox (Ethan Hawke). What they do not know (but the viewer does) is that the man calling himself Lennox is a double agent. Meanwhile, the evil lookalike of the murdered Francie (Merrin Dungey) -- one of the earliest "customers" of the Helix -- makes her first move. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Greene (Anthony Edwards) confronts unforeseen perils as he flies to Indiana and back with a heart-transplant patient. Carter (Noah Wyle) treats teenaged patient Trent Larson (Blake Heron), whose parents have not informed him that he is HIV-positive. Kovac (Goran Visnjic) tries to learn the identity of the mugger he has killed. And no sooner has Benton (Eriq La Salle) returned to work than he is placed in charge of the ER. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This spectacular epic re-creates the ill-fated maiden voyage of the White Star Line's $7.5 million R.M.S Titanic and the tragic sea disaster of April 15, 1912. Running over three hours and made with the combined contributions of two major studios (20th Century-Fox, Paramount) at a cost of more than $200 million, Titanic ranked as the most expensive film in Hollywood history at the time of its release, and became the most successful. Writer-director James Cameron employed state-of-the-art digital special effects for this production, realized on a monumental scale and spanning eight decades. Inspired by the 1985 discovery of the Titanic in the North Atlantic, the contemporary storyline involves American treasure-seeker Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) retrieving artifacts from the submerged ship. Lovett looks for diamonds but finds a drawing of a young woman, nude except for a necklace. When 102-year-old Rose (Gloria Stuart) reveals she's the person in the portrait, she is summoned to the wreckage site to tell her story of the 56-carat diamond necklace and her experiences of 84 years earlier. The scene then shifts to 1912 Southampton where passengers boarding the Titanic include penniless Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), returning to Philadelphia with her wealthy fiance Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). After the April 10th launch, Rose develops a passionate interest in Jack, and Cal's reaction is vengeful. At midpoint in the film, the Titanic slides against the iceberg and water rushes into the front compartments. Even engulfed, Cal continues to pursue Jack and Rose as the massive liner begins its descent.

Cameron launched the project after seeing Robert Ballard's 1987 National Geographic documentary on the wreckage. Blueprints of the real Titanic were followed during construction at Fox's custom-built Rosarito, Mexico studio, where a hydraulics system moved an immense model in a 17-million-gallon water tank. During three weeks aboard the Russian ship Academik Keldysh, underwater sequences were filmed with a 35mm camera in a titanium case mounted on the Russian submersible Mir 1. When the submersible neared the wreck, a video camera inside a remote-operated vehicle was sent into the Titanic's 400-foot bow, bringing back footage of staterooms, furniture and chandeliers. On November 1, 1997, the film had its world premiere at the 10th Tokyo International Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The seventh Star Trek feature passed the torch to a new crew. Decades after the original "Trek," the skipper of the fourth USS Enterprise is Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who investigates a massacre at a science outpost. The only survivor is Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowall), who perpetrated the event to cover up his invention: a bomb he launches into a nearby sun, exploding it. As Soran escapes with Klingon cronies, Picard learns that Soran's plan is to summon a heavenly energy ribbon called the Nexus. Those who enter it live forever with every wish fulfilled. Attempting to stop Soran, Picard ends up inside the Nexus, where he discovers former captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), believed to have been killed in an accident 78 years earlier. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Lethal Weapon 2 reteams Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as, respectively, "loose cannon" LA detective Martin Riggs and Riggs' partner, the cautious family man Roger Murtaugh. The villain this time is a South African diplomat (Joss Ackland) who doubles as a drug dealer. Though Riggs knows what's going on thanks to characterless character witness Joe Pesci, he can't touch the villain because of "diplomatic immunity." After perils too numerous to mention, Riggs and Murtaugh shoot it out with the heavies on the deck of a South African cargo ship. Lethal Weapon 2, of course, contains as one of its comic high-points a now famous suspense scene: Mel Gibson agonizingly attempting to extricate a terrified Danny Glover from a booby-trapped toilet seat. Gibson, Glover, Donner and Joe Pesci would be reunited three years later for Lethal Weapon 3 and in 1998 for Lethal Weapon 4. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

San Francisco detective Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) is assigned to investigate the murder of a female MP at the 212-year-old Presidio army base in this crime drama. Jay must interview Lieutenant Colonel Caldwell (Sean Connery), his former commander from his military days. The two must overcome their past and present differences to track down the killer as they manage to stumble across a smuggling operation relating to the murder. Jay falls for Caldwell's pretty daughter Donna (Meg Ryan), who proves to be as forceful as her father. Highlights of the film are the chase scene through Chinatown and Connery's exceptional performance. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Big-budget special effects, swiftly paced action, and a distinct feminist subtext from writer/director James Cameron turned what should have been a by-the-numbers sci-fi sequel into both a blockbuster and a seven-time Oscar nominee. Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, the last surviving crew member of a corporate spaceship destroyed after an attack by a vicious, virtually unbeatable alien life form. Adrift in space for half a century, Ripley grapples with depression until she's informed by her company's representative, Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) that the planet where her crew discovered the alien has since been settled by colonists. Contact with the colony has suddenly been lost, and a detachment of colonial marines is being sent to investigate. Invited along as an advisor, Ripley predicts disaster, and sure enough, the aliens have infested the colony, leaving a sole survivor, the young girl Newt (Carrie Henn). With the soldiers picked off one by one, a final all-female showdown brews between the alien queen and Ripley, who's become a surrogate mother to Newt. Several future stars made early career appearances in Aliens (1986), including Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, and Reiser. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide