Ethan Phillips Movies

Jaimie Alexander and Brian McNamara co-headline the direct-to-video supernatural horror saga Hallowed Ground. When an innocent young lady becomes unwittingly stranded in an American small town, she senses imminent danger, and in fact soon learns of the town's wretched history: it was founded by a bloodthirsty, Satanically-evil preacher with a nasty little taste for committing human sacrifices. The strange townspeople are both heirs to this legacy and accomplices in it - to such a degree that the newcomer must soon flee in terror from the clutches of the hamlet's residents and the pursuit of a possessed, animate scarecrow who wants her dead. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Dave Foley and Lea Thompson star in first-time feature filmmaker Linda Voorhees' comedy drama about a middle-class family from Omaha who slowly slide to the end of their rope during a cross-country trip to Doheny Beach. Stu and Ginger Gainor are your typical American family: Stu is the kind of guy who thrives on the status quo lest he offend anyone by rocking the boat, and Ginger is a highly motivated real estate agent with ambition to spare and an optimistic outlook for the future. Their daughter Cookie is a goth princess whose obsession for her loser boyfriend serves as a constant source of frustration for her parents, and their son Milo scarcely ventures outside of the house without his trusty GameBoy firmly gripped in sweaty palms. As Ginger's fortieth birthday approaches, the family decides that a special celebration is in order. While most years the Gainor's venture out for a week in Branson, this year they have decided to fulfill Ginger's lifelong dream of visiting Doheny Beach. Piling into a decked out SUV, the Gainors remain blissfully unaware of the chaos that lies just outside the city limits. From the constant attempts by Ginger's mother-and-sister-in-law to sabotage the trip to Kevin's parent's desire to impose themselves on the vacationing clan, one thing is for certain - this isn't going to be your typical family road trip. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Soon after being taken in by a loving new mother and father, two young former orphans do their best to keep their furry, four-legged friend - a loveable Great Dane named Chestnut - a secret from their adoptive parents and save him from a grim fate at the city pound. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The Christmas season just got a lot less joyous in this very dark comedy. Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) is a con man and a thief who teams up with his friend Marcus (Tony Cox), a midget, for a very special scam each year during the holiday season. Willie gets a job as Santa Claus at a shopping mall, his pal tags along as an elf, and they use their employee status to crack mall security and rob stores blind just before Christmas. However, there's one flaw to this plan -- Willie is a bitter, foul-mouthed and perpetually grouchy alcoholic who doesn't care for kids, and it's all he can do to keep himself from getting fired while on the job. The mall's manager (John Ritter, in his last film appearance) is certain something's wrong with the Santa he's hired, so he asks the mall's chief of security (Bernie Mac) to do some research on Willie. Meanwhile, one of the kids Willie is forced to talk to becomes a regular customer; overweight, awkward, and the frequent target of bullies, the boy manages to arouse something like sympathy from Willie, who tries to give him some advice and develops something vaguely resembling Christmas sprit along the way. Bad Santa was directed by Terry Zwigoff, who enjoyed previous success with Crumb and Ghost World. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The opening episode of Star Trek: Voyager's sixth season neatly resolves the cliffhanger set up at the end of season five -- and once the crew of the Voyager has rescued the ship's technology from the wrong hands, they resume their efforts to return to Starfleet Command in the Alpha Quadrant. This season's highlights include an episode in which the crew rescues a 300-year-old U.S. spaceship, trapped in a huge energy ball; a startling revelation regarding the Borg Collective past of crew member Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan); the introduction of a new recurring character, the adolescent Naomi Wildman (played by future Reba co-star Scarlett Pomers); and a guest appearance by the pro wrestler known as The Rock. The episode "Pathfinder" represents the first of several series appearances by former Star Trek: The Next Generation semi-regular Dwight Schultz in his familiar role as "Reg" Barclay, here establishing a communication link between Voyager and the Alpha Quadrant -- but only for 11 minutes at a time. Seven of Nine learns awful truth about her Borg past. The crew rescue a 300-year-old U.S. spaceship trapped in a huge energy ball in "One Small Step." "Collective" introduces four new recurring characters, the partially assimilated Borg children Icheb (Manu Intiraymi), Mezoti (Marley S. McClean), Azan (Kurt Wetherill), and Rebi (Cody Wetherill), with whom Seven of Nine forms a sympathetic bond. And in "Fury," former regular Jennifer Lien makes a return appearance as the Ocampan Kes. The season's traditional cliffhanger finale is sparked by a dream experienced by Seven of Nine in which all Borg Drones are allowed to regain their individuality -- a contingency that the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson) intends to prevent at any cost, including the total destruction of the Voyager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the cliffhanger finale of Star Trek: Voyager's third season efficiently resolved in the opening salvo of season four, the crew of the Voyager finds itself with a new member: Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), an earthling who in childhood had been assimilated into a Borg collective, forsaking her individuality in the process. As the season progresses, Seven of Nine's essential humanity slowly returns -- but given her Borg background, can she be trusted? Meanwhile, the Voyager bids goodbye to Ocampan crew person Kes (Jennifer Lien), who after the battle which briefly united her crew with the Borg is compelled to morph into an energy being -- but not before pushing the Voyager some 9,500 light years closer to the Alpha Quadrant. In other developments, Talaxian crew member Neelix (Ethan Phillips) ponders the significance of his existence after being snatched from the jaws of death; former antagonists B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) and Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) fall in love; and Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) faces a new threat to the well-being of herself and her crew in the form of "Species 8472." The season's most intriguing episode is "Living Witness," set in the far-distant future, in which a museum curator relates a "reconstructed" version of the Voyager's crucial intervention in the war between the Kyrians and the Vaskans. This season's cliffhanger finale finds the crew celebrating the likelihood that they will soon return to their home base -- but Janeway is curiously non-celebratory, and very grim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season three of Star Trek: Voyager begins with the titular space vessel still in the hands of the enemy Kazon, and Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and most of her crew still stranded on Hanon IV, a desolate planet that closely resembles a prehistoric Earth. Eventually extricating themselves from this situation, the crew survives to embark on innumerable other adventures in their efforts to escape the distant Gamma Quadrant and return to their Starfleet Command home base. Highlight episodes this season include the two-part "Future's End," in which the crew must alter events of the 20th century to avert catastrophe in their own time; "The Q and the Gray," in which familiar Star Trek: The Next Generation nemesis Q (John DeLancie) demands that Janeway bear him a child; "Coda," wherein Janeway comes face to face with her deceased father; "The Darkling," which finds the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) generating a hostile version of himself; and "Before & After," in which Ocampan crew member Kes (Jennifer Lien) is given a most disturbing glimpse into the future. The traditional cliffhanger ending of Star Trek: Voyager's third season finds Janeway forced to forge an alliance with our old "friends," the Borg, in order to vanquish an even more powerful enemy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While tracking down a group of Maquis terrorists, the crew of the starship Voyager is caught in a freak plasma storm and hurtled some 75,000 light years from Starfleet Command -- and thus begins the first episode, and the seven-season saga, of Star Trek: Voyager. Upon realizing her plight, Voyager captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) also discovers that a being called the Caretaker has brought both her ship and the Maquis vessel to an uncharted patch of galaxy known as the Gamma Quadrant, in hopes of finding someone who can help him keep his promise to protect a race known as the Ocampa. Before long, Janeway's crew and the Maquis must do battle with a common enemy, the Kazon, and in the ensuing battle the Caretaker dies. It is now up to Janeway and Maquis leader, Chakotay (Robert Beltran), to work together in harmony, with Chakotay becoming Voyager's first officer, and another Maquis warrior, the half-Klingon, half-human B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Biggs-Dawson), taking over as Janeway's chief engineer. Also added to the "Voyager" roster are a brace of Gamma Quadrant aliens, the Ocampan Kex (Jennifer Lien) and the Talaxian Neelix (Ethan Phillips), not to mention the ship's new Doctor (Robert Picardo), actually a holographic human manifestation of the vessel's emergency medical computer program. Rounding out the main cast is Janeway's veteran comrade-in-arms Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill); Kim (Garrett Wang), a green rookie fresh from Starfleet Academy; and the Vulcan Tuvok (Tim Russ),who had signed on the Maquis ship as a Federation spy. Season one of Star Trek: Voyager finds Janeway simultaneously trying to fulfill the Caretaker's promise and to safely guide her crew back to Starfleet Command in the Alpha Quadrant. The season's slam-bang finale is dictated by the treachery of Voyager crew person Seska (Martha Hackett), who turns out to be loyal only to the Kazon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A crime fighter created in the 1930s and popularized in movies, pulp novels, and a radio show starring a young Orson Welles, The Shadow came back to life in 1994 in this slick, well-cast production. Alec Baldwin stars as Lamont Cranston, a murderous opium dealer reformed by a Tibetan mystic, who teaches him how to use his keen mental powers to manipulate others. As penance for his past misdeeds, Cranston masquerades as a degenerate New York City playboy by day and secretly plays the heroic Shadow by night, staving off evildoers with a network of agents and a cab-driving sidekick (Peter Boyle). A greater challenge arrives when Cranston must fight Shiwan Khan (John Lone), the final descendent of Genghis Khan, who has received training from the same Tibetan master who instructed Cranston. Shiwan plans to use atomic weapons to take over New York and then the world. At the same time, Cranston meets socialite Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), and, although he's instantly enamored of her, he discovers that her psychic abilities render his secret identity vulnerable. The Shadow was directed by former music video creator Russell Mulcahy, whose feature film debut Highlander (1986) was a cult classic. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Comedian John Candy, who died during the making of this poorly received comic western, plays James Harlow, a 19th century wagon master who is heading back east with a wagon train full of oddball characters who have had their fill of Western life. They include ex-doctor Phil Taylor (Richard Lewis), kind-hearted prostitute Belle (Ellen Greene), and a bookseller, Julian (John C. McGinley). Harlow is a drunken, washed-up leader who frequently gets lost. The travelers eventually discover that he was a member of the famous Donner party, which resorted to cannibalism when stranded in the mountains. Railroad magnates try to turn back the party, figuring it's bad publicity for people out East to learn that the West is not really a paradise. The tycoons hire gunfighters and villains to stop the expedition, but local Indians protect the wagons, because they are glad to see disgruntled white settlers leaving their lands. This "backwards" western was based on a story by Jerry Abrahamson. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Now back on active duty, Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) disagrees with Detective Walker (Robert Breuler) over the guilt of a robbery-homicide suspect -- but uncharacteristically keeps his mouth shut. Though no longer moonlighting as the bodyguard of wealthy Susan Wagner (Wendie Malick), Kelly (David Caruso) nonetheless issues a harsh warning to Susan's abusive husband -- who subsequently turns up dead. Kelly's estranged wife, Laura (Sherry Stringfield), prepares to join the narcotics division of the DA's office. And Laura's neighbor Goldstein (David Schwimmer), now a neighborhood hero for his shooting of a mugger, becomes increasingly, and dangerously, paranoid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode is a showcase for actress Carolyn McCormick in the recurring Law & Order role of NYPD psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Olivet. Paul Hecht is cast as prominent gynecologist Dr. Alex Merritt, whom Olivet accuses of molesting her. Further investigation reveals that the high-profile Merritt may have also been responsible for the suicide of his wife. The case takes a bizarre twist when the presiding judge weighs Merritt's counterclaim of police harassment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Green Card fuses the template of a light romantic comedy with a classic fish-out-of-water scenario. In order to retain her beautiful rent-controlled Manhattan apartment, a beautiful, socially-conscious American woman (Andie MacDowell) has to be married, so she decides to marry a burly French composer (Gerard Depardieu), who is eager to earn a green card so he can stay and work in America. After the marriage, the couple doesn't live together, but when the government's Immigration agents begin to investigate the pair, they are forced to put up a charade to convince the authorities that they are truly in love. Of course, the charade eventually becomes reality. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide