Andy Milder

"Houston, we have a problem." Those words were immortalized during the tense days of the Apollo 13 lunar mission crisis, and the suspense, fear, and excitement of those days are captured in Ron Howard's epic recreation of the 1970 crisis. When the commander of the original mission Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), bows out due to possible exposure to measles, astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. Even though the outcome, in which all three astronauts miraculously survived, is historical fact, the film derives suspense from the situation itself and from the actions of the heroic astronauts and the men on the ground. Howard's taut direction, a solid ensemble of players, and eye-opening special effects all add to the overall impact of the film, which has been hailed as one of Hollywood's best historical dramas. In 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 116 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Bette Midler stars as a Martha Raye-type entertainer during the World War II era in this big-budget nostalgia piece. Midler plays big-band singer Dixie Leonard, who is chosen to perform at an overseas USO Christmas show by her uncle Art Silver (George Segal), a comedy writer for famed comedian Eddie Sparks (James Caan). Dixie is shuttled to London, where she is thrown on-stage with Eddie, who takes an immediate dislike to her. But her performance is a sensation, and the audience can't stop howling at Dixie's smart one-liner comebacks to Eddie. Dixie is catapulted to stardom, and the repartee between Eddie and Dixie becomes the stuff of legend. The two spar together through World War II, the McCarthy era, and Vietnam. But Dixie stops speaking to Eddie when he fires a writer for being a communist sympathizer and, later, she doesn't speak to him again after he arranges for a reunion between her and her son on the battlefields of Vietnam. Finally, Dixie, now an old woman, is cajoled to appear on a television awards show to reunite with a now decrepit Eddie, age 91. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In the style of the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, I Love Trouble depicts the developing romance of two rival reporters who reluctantly fall for each other while competing for a major scoop. Old hand Peter Brackett (Nick Nolte) and aspiring newcomer Sabrina Peterson (Julia Roberts) first meet when they are both assigned to cover a mysterious train crash. The pair immediately develops a connection despite their professional rivalry, and they decide to work together. Sensing something fishy about the crash, they look deeper and are soon fighting to expose a wide-ranging conspiracy, while also struggling to outmaneuver and out-charm each other along the way. Co-creators Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, who previously found success harking back to 1940s comedy in Father of the Bride, borrow heavily from His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and other screwball classics. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

More TV animation from the folks at DC Comics, The Legion of Super Heroes concerned a group of crimefighters from the 31st century who at the outset of the series traveled backward some 1,000 years to enlist the legendary Superman in their battle against such villains as the Emerald Empress and the Fatal Five. Unfortunately, the futuristic Legion traveled a bit too far back, and thus met Superman when he was still the youthful Clark Kent, as yet unaware of his "Man of Steel" destiny. Despite this setback, the crimefighters whisked Clark to their own time, there to indoctrinate him in the duties and powers of superheroism, and to clue him in as to what his own career had in store for him. Taking their marching orders from the Mission Monitor Board on behalf of the United Planets, the Legion numbered such members as field leader Lightning Lad (aka Garth Ranzz of the planet Winath), who was able to summon up lightning bolts; Saturn Girl (aka Irma Ardeen of the moon of Titan), who practiced telepathy and mind control; Bouncing Boy (aka Chuck Taine of Earth), capable of inflating himself to monstrous proportions; Phantom Girl (aka Tinya Wazzo), a "Princess Leia" type from the extra-dimensional world of Bgztil, who could pass through solid matter; Timber Wolf (aka Brin Londo of the planet Zunn), a "Wolverine"-style lycanthrope; Brainiac 5, the youngest and smartest of the group, whose robotic powers embraced the ability to transform into weapons, vehicles, and the like; and the self-explanatory Triplicate Girl. Though fast action was the order of the day, the series possessed a refreshingly hip, comic slant, typical of the work of main designer and producer James Tucker. Legion of Super Heroes joined the CW's "Kid's WB" Saturday-morning cartoon lineup on September 23, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Murphy (Candice Bergen) thinks she's found the perfect Christmas present for Avery (Dyllan Christopher) in the form of an overpriced mail-order item called "Der Wunder Blocken." But when Avery tells a department store Santa that he'd really like to receive the year's hottest and hardest-to-get toy, the "Power Ninja Demon", a frantic Murphy embarks upon a last-minute shopping frenzy. Meanwhile, Corky (Faith Ford) broods over the fact that circumstances have conspired against her planned visit to her Louisiana home town. Rescue comes for both Murphy and Corky from an unexpected--and very distant--source. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A woman discovers that a part of her family history may be more complicated -- and more famous -- than she ever imagined in this comedy. Thirtysomething Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston), who has spent most of her adult life in New York City, is flying home to California with her long time boyfriend, Jeff Daly (Mark Ruffalo), for the wedding of her annoyingly perky younger sister, Annie (Mena Suvari). While Sarah and Jeff have recently announced they're engaged to be married, Sarah has been having second thoughts, and she isn't excited about the prospect of spending time with the family where she's always felt like the odd duck. As Sarah tries to decide what she should do with her personal and professional lives, she turns to her sharp-tongued and still youthful grandmother, Katharine (Shirley MacLaine), for advice, and Katharine shares a little-known bit of family history -- that Sarah's now-deceased mother left her father, Earl (Richard Jenkins), a few days before their wedding and ran off with another man for several days before coming back and marrying Earl. However, after hearing this Sarah is also treated to some long-simmering local gossip about a young man who ran off with a bride-to-be after he was seduced by her mother...and that the story became the basis for the hit movie The Graduate. Sarah begins to wonder, was Katharine the real-life Mrs. Robinson of this story? And if it's true, who was the man who had affairs with Sarah's mother and grandmother? Was it dashing and wealthy family friend Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), who has also turned Sarah's head? Rumor Has It... was produced from an original screenplay by Ted Griffin; Griffin was originally set to direct the film, but shortly after production began he was replaced, with Rob Reiner taking over the project. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) is unpleasantly surprised when Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) evinces a willingness to hand over important Voyager technology to the untrustworthy R'Kaal Collective. She explains that, after years of attempting to return to Earth, she no longer wants to endanger the lives of her crew, and thus sees no need to hold on to the precious technology. Though the Doctor (Robert Picardo) insists that, according to her last checkup, Janeway is still mentally sound, Chakotay begins to suspect that the Captain isn't quite "herself" -- and he's right! The highlight of this penultimate Star Trek: Voyager adventure is the Doctor's surprising gift for mimicry. "Renaissance Man" first aired on May 16, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Weeds exposes the dirty little secrets that lie behind the pristine lawns and shiny closed doors of homes in the fictional town of Agrestic, California.