Julie Kavner Movies

Ernest Borgnine stars as an underdog farmer who stands up to a land developer in the stirring drama Barn Red. He is joined by a Native American former employee named Lydia (Kimberly Norris Guerrero), and the two take on the town to keep the land untouched. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Judy Berlin allows the audience to take a glimpse of a day at once strange and ordinary with the residents of Babylon, Long Island. Judy (Edie Falco) is an aspiring actress who is quitting her job as a "pilgrim" in a local historical museum's display to take her chances in Los Angeles. Her mother is a gifted but bitter schoolteacher (Barbara Barrie) who has long loved principal Arthur Gold (Bob Dishy) from afar. However, Arthur has a wife, Alice (Madeline Kahn), who's more than a bit eccentric and has driven him to distraction. Arthur and Alice have a son, David (Aaron Harnick), who like Judy has showbiz aspirations (he wants to be a filmmaker), though unlike Judy he has no idea of what to do about it; when Judy and David meet, could romance be lurking around the corner? First-time director Eric Mendelsohn has equipped this offbeat comic drama an outstanding cast, which also includes Julie Kavner, Anne Meara, and Novella Nelson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Looking to boost sales, Costington's Department Store invents a new holiday, Love Day, which prompts Springfield residents to buy one another gifts such as "Sir Loves-A-Lot, the bear who loves to love." However, all those boxes and wrapping paper mean plenty of trash, and Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta), typically late in taking the trash out to the curb, curses the sanitation workers when they don't pick up his rubbish. The angry garbage men refuse to pick up the Simpsons' trash until Homer apologizes, which he's highly reluctant to do. Eventually, Marge (voice of Julie Kavner) apologizes on her husband's behalf, which leads to an angry confrontation between Homer and Ray Patterson (voice of Steve Martin), Springfield's sanitation commissioner. Homer decides to put Patterson out of business by running for sanitation commissioner himself, and after making a number of ridiculous promises and slandering his opponent, Homer wins the office. However, Homer's ambitious plans cause him to blow through his annual sanitation budget in less than a month, and to cover up his mistakes, he starts accepting dangerous waste from other cities until Springfield's landfills are overflowing. First aired on April 26, 1998, "Trash of the Titans" also features a guest appearance from Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen of the rock group U2 as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) makes the sobering discovery that his current age put him at the halfway point of a normal human life expectancy, he becomes deeply depressed and is convinced he's wasted his life. Hoping to lift Homer's spirits, his family puts together a reel of home movies documenting some of his more remarkable exploits; unimpressed, he asks who invented movies in the first place, and when he discovers Thomas Edison dreamed up moving pictures as well as the light bulb, the phonograph, and dozens of other useful items, Homer is inspired to become an inventor. Quitting his job, he sets up a workshop in the basement in hopes of creating useful new items. However, Homer's first batch of new products -- including a make-up gun, an electric hammer, and a combination toilet and easy chair -- fails to impress, and he thinks he's washed out again until he comes up with a chair that has extra hinged back legs which keep it from tipping over backwards. The family is convinced Homer's finally come up with a winner until someone spots a photo of Edison with just such a chair; determined to avoid being branded a failure again, Homer and Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright) head to the Edison Museum in Michigan in order to destroy the great inventor's original chair so Homer can claim it as his own. Featuring a voice cameo from William Daniels (reprising his role as K.I.T.T., the car from Knight Rider), The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace first aired on September 20, 1998. Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Tracey Takes On...Sex, Romance, Fantasy is a 78-minute collection of skits from the HBO comedy series Tracey Takes On, starring Tracey Ullman as several over-the-top characters. Meet young feminist Hope Finch, lesbian championship golfer Midge Dexter, elderly makeup artist Ruby Romaine, and sexaholic Linda Grainger. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Tracey Takes On...Fern & Kay is a 50-minute collection of skits from the HBO comedy series Tracey Takes On, starring Tracey Ullman as the characters Kay Clark and Fern Rosenthal. Kay is a dowdy bank teller who has spent her life taking care of her invalid mother. Fern is a Jewish housewife from Long Island who lives in Florida with her husband, Harry. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Assembled by the same team responsible for "The Hallmark Hall of Fame", this TV adaptation of Neil Simon's hit play Jake's Woman stars Alan Alda, recreating his Broadway role as Simon-esque writer Jake. Mired in an unhappy marriage with current spouse Maggie (Anne Archer), Jake tries to cope with his wife's insistence on a trial separation by conjuring up images of the other women in his life: his late wife Julie (Mira Sorvino), his confused daughter Molly (Kimberly Williams), his neurotic sister Karen (Julie Kavner) and his analyst Edith (Joyce Van Patten). Putting his literary skills to good use, Jake carries on imaginary conversations with these ladies, hoping that they will help him sort out his problems. The trouble begins when the spectres of Jake's Women begin showing up without his bidding, insisting upon debating and arguing with the poor fellow even as he tries to pursue a new romance with his current flame Sheila (Lolita Davidovich). Neil Simon's Jake's Women (the official title) first aired March 3, 1996 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Waylon Smithers (voice of Harry Shearer) awakes with a brutal hangover, convinced that in a drunken haze he attempted to kill C. Montgomery Burns (also voiced by Shearer), his employer, mentor, and secret love. However, after being taken in by the police, it's discovered that Smithers actually shot elderly eccentric Jasper (also voiced by Shearer) in his wooden leg. So who did attempt to take Mr. Burns' life? Jazz great Tito Puente (who provides his own voice) is let off the hook after he reveals his own revenge against Burns in the form of a "slanderous mambo," and all eyes turn to the Simpson family when a test of the bullet reveals evidence of the family's DNA. The likely suspects appear to be Homer (voice of Dan Castellaneta), enraged that Burns could not remember his name; Lisa (voice of Yeardley Smith), angry that Puente lost his teaching position after Burns stole oil reserves from the local elementary school; and Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright), who pledged to get revenge after Burns' oil put his dog in the animal hospital. Burns finally comes to his senses and reveals that a member of the Simpson family did indeed shoot him -- but not the one anyone expected. Answering the questions raised by the cliffhanging Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part One), which closed out the sixth season of The Simpsons, "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" kicked off season seven when it first aired on September 17, 1995. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The second film to be made from Woody Allen's successful stage comedy (following a 1969 feature starring Jackie Gleason), Don't Drink the Water is a made-for-television adaptation directed by and starring Allen himself. The fish-out-of-water premise remains the same: Allen plays Walter Hollander, a caterer from New Jersey who takes his family on vacation to a fictional Eastern European country. The trip turns sour when, thanks to a series of misunderstandings involving some inopportune snapshots, they are accused of espionage. The family goes on the run, taking refuge in the American Embassy. There, with the help of a wily young diplomat, they try to figure out a way to return to America without sparking an international incident. Though this version is set 25 years later than the original film, the changes are mostly cosmetic: the visual style is hand-held and more frantic, and the script replaces numerous references to the Cold War with a few glancing nods to present-day politics. Another notable change, the addition of an opening montage parodying newsreels, was reportedly the result of network pressure after Allen's initial cut proved too short for the planned time slot. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

After sneaking away from a school field trip to a box factory, Bart Simpson (voice of Nancy Cartwright) makes his way to the television studio where his hero, Krusty the Clown (voice of Dan Castellaneta), tapes his show. When Krusty throws a star fit after not being served the Danish he demanded, Bart steals one for him from newsman Kent Brockman (voice of Harry Shearer), and the grateful clown gives Bart a job as his assistant. Bart soon discovers that being Krusty's assistant means doing the errands no one else is willing to do ("Now I need you to go clean out my toilet . . . Eew! I don't know what I was thinking last night!"), but when Sideshow Mel falls ill, Bart is given a small part in a sketch. Bart muffs his entrance, then tries to cover by saying "I didn't do it." The line gets a big laugh, and Krusty brings Bart back again to say the line several more times. Soon Bart is famous as "The I Didn't Do It Boy," but he grows tired of being known only for his catch phrase. He soon discovers, though, that his fans aren't all that interested in watching him expand his repertoire. "Bart Gets Famous" first aired on February 3, 1994. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Homer Simpson (voice of Dan Castellaneta) and his alcoholic friend Barney Gumble (also voiced by Castellaneta) sneak out of work and take a tour of the Duff Brewery, where they help themselves to the copious free samples of Duff Beer, Duff Lite, Duff Dry, Duff Dark, and Raspberry Duff. On his way home, Homer gets picked up for drunk driving, causing him to lose his license and to attend Alc-Anon meetings under a court order. He pledges to give up drinking for thirty days, in part to get his license back and in part to please Marge (voice of Julie Kavner), who is worried about Homer's fondness for alcohol, but Homer finds that going a month without beer is harder than he expected. Meanwhile, after Bart (voice of Nancy Cartwright) destroys a giant tomato that Lisa (voice of Yeardley Smith) was growing for a science fair project, she gets an idea for a new project -- an experiment in which she'll prove an ordinary hamster is smarter than her brother. Duffless was first aired on February 18, 1993. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After C. Montgomery Burns (voice of Harry Shearer) is found guilty of dumping toxic waste from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in a city park, he's fined $3 million, which he pays at once, in cash. With a sudden and unexpected budget surplus, the good people of Springfield are trying to decide what to do with the money when smooth-talking salesman Lyle Lanley (voice of Phil Hartman) convinces the town that what they need is a monorail system. Marge Simpson (voice of Julie Kavner), however, is against the idea and has reason to believe that Lanley is pulling a fast one on the city, even though Homer (voice of Dan Castellaneta) has already enrolled in monorail conductor's school. Marge discovers that the monorails Lanley constructed in other cities were not only faulty but dangerous, and she must race back to Springfield before someone gets hurt and before Lanley gets away with the money. Leonard Nimoy makes a guest appearance as a celebrity attending the monorail dedication (whom Mayor Quimby mistakes for one of the Little Rascals). "Marge Vs. The Monorail" first aired on January 14, 1993. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide