Dana Barron Movies

Credit cards and women on skates prove to be a dangerous mixture in this comedy. Frank Hopper (Jon Bon Jovi) is a former lawyer whose career has hit the skids, and he currently lives off the largesse of his more successful sister, Leona (Nora Dunn). Frank has dozens of business ideas, but has no way to finance them, until he heads out with his friend Carl (David Faustino) one evening and fills out a questionnaire in which he jokingly states his income is a million dollars a year. Suddenly Frank's mailbox is flooded with pre-approved credit cards, and with his new line of credit, Frank launches his dream project -- a women's hockey league. But it seems that the world is not yet ready for women playing professional ice hockey, and before long Frank is 300,000 dollars in debt, with a handful of credit agencies taking him to court to get back the money he's spent so far. Frank turns to his former girlfriend Jessica (Estella Warren), now a successful lawyer, to help him stay out of jail, but it seems their work is cut out for them when they learn Jessica's very competitive former beau Norman (Cary Elwes) is prosecuting Frank's case. National Lampoon's Pucked was directed by Arthur Hiller; it was his first directorial project since 1997's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn, for which Hiller opted not to take credit. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

After four proper Vacation films, the people at National Lampoon churned out the first spin-off of the series. The direct-to-video National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure stars Randy Quaid as the lovable doofus made popular in the first and third entries in the series. Eddie and his clan are awarded a tropical vacation for the holidays, but their trip doesn't go quite as planned. With the whole family stranded on an island in the South Pacific, they're in for a Christmas like none before. Fred Willard and Ed Asner also star. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Originally released to video as Night Class, this actioner stars Sean Young as Claire Sherwood, a sexy burglar who persuades unwitting security guard Jake Franklin (Rick Peters) to help her cronies knock over the hotel where Jake works. Suspected of being the thieves' inside man, Jake is fired, whereupon he makes it his life's mission to track down the crooks and recover the stolen goods (consisting mainly of an ornament of sentimental value). At the same time, Jake hopes to qualify for the police force, undergo a rigorous training process to do so. Jake's diligence may pay off sooner than he expects: Claire and her confederates have been at each other's throats ever since the heist, and something calamitous may occur at any moment. When it began making the Lifetime cable channel rounds in early 2002, Night Class was retitled Seduced by a Thief. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Bester (Walter Koenig) doggedly pursues a murderous telepath who killed a friend of his. He takes this opportunity to provide valuable on-the-job training to a pair of rookie Psi Cops. Since the focus is on Bester, virtually none of the Babylon 5 regulars appear, with the exceptions of Jeff Conaway (Zack) and Richard Biggs (Dr. Franklyn). Best moment: the Psi Corps training film, a marvelous piece of ersatz propaganda. First broadcast on April 15, 1998, "The Corps is Mother, The Corps is Father. . ." was written by J. Michael Straczynski. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season One of the TV western The Magnificent Seven: The Series begins with a 2-hour opener, set in the early 1870s, which details how seven "fast guns" were united under the guidance of reformed gunslinger Chris Larrabee (Michael Biehn) to protect a peaceful Seminole Indian tribe from being slaughtered by an insane ex-Confederate officer and his band of brigands. Reportedly, one of the Seven was to have been killed in the pilot and replaced by actor Francis Riley as Irish expatriate Darragh O'Malley, but the producers were so impressed by the chemistry among the leading actors that it was decided to keep the original cast intact. Once their job is done, Chris and his companions--tactiturn ex-bounty hunter Vin (Eric Close), ladies' man Buck (Dale Midkiff), defrocked priest and "mad prophet" Josiah (Ron Perlman), cynical Southern con-man Ezra (Anthony Starke), former slave Nathan (Rick Worhty) and Eastern-born naïf J.D. (Andrew Kavovit)--are invided by Judge Orin Travis (Robert Vaughn) in remain a team in order to safeguard the town of Four Corners from any and all outlaws, killers and other miscreants. Travis is willing to tolerate the the Seven's unorthodox (and sometimes downright) unethical methods, so long as they get results. Likewise grateful for the Seven's presence is Travis' widowed daughter Mary (Laurie Holden, editor of "The Daily Clarion", as well as local cowgal Casey (Dana Barron). In the course of the season's 10 episodes, our heroes rescue a group of "working girls" from their brutal overseer, redeem of professional safecracker, help Mary's son (Justin Travis) overcome a traumatic experience, and contend with the arrival of Ezra's equally larcenous mother (Michelle Phillips). Also, Chris is given an important lead to the man he holds responsible for the murder of his wife and child; an evil land developer (Tim Thomerson) shows up to gyp the locals out of their property; and in the season's final episode, the Seven square off against a corrupt sheriff (Cliff DeYoung) who is running an illicit prison camp and exploiting the convict labor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The academic world proves as lethal as the "real" world during a controversy over naming the next headmaster at Cabot Cove's prep school. Throughout the process, the school and its principal rival play a number of traditional pranks on one another, presumably in the spirit of good sportsmanship. But when a professor is murdered, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) takes time off of her lecture duties at the school to put and end to the so-called "fun and games." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Directed by and starring Stephen Furst, the sequel Magic Kid 2 continues the story of the title character who in this movie gets a hit television show. His uncle helps him manage his business and his life. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A brother and sister who are sent to visit their uncle in Los Angeles go on a wild adventure. It seems that good old uncle owes some money to gangsters, and the children inevitably get tangled up in the chase. ~ John Bush, Rovi

Charles Bronson, weary and comatose, is trotted out again as the cocked crusader Paul Kersey in Death Wish 4: The Crackdown. Director Michael Winner has jumped ship for this installment, replaced by J. Lee Thompson (who has seen better days). Kersey is back in L.A. and dating attractive reporter Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz). Of course, the clock is ticking, and the gong goes off when Karen's daughter overdoses on crack. Before you can say "kaboom" the drug dealer, along with a large cast of bit players, are blown to bits by the single-minded vigilante. An enterprising publisher whose own daughter has died from a drug overdose hires Kersey to wipe out the city's two rival drug dealers and their legions of flunkies. Kersey has no trouble agreeing, and using the technique limned in Yojimbo, he methodically eliminates gang members, first from one side and then the other, until one gang's paranoia about the other gang causes the two competitors to engage in a major confrontation that impacts both groups. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The first film in the Vacation comedy franchise stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, an ad exec who becomes consumed with taking his family cross-country to Wally World, a California amusement park. Less a vacation than a descent into a peculiarly American kind of hell, the Griswolds suffer through an endless series of catastrophes, culminating in a run-in with the law. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi