Carol Rosenthal Movies

The title of the teen musical comedy Colma: The Musical incorporates a colloquialism regionally specific to the San Francisco area: "Colma" references a northern California town once established as a necropolis and still used as a burial place. That burg serves as the setting of the picture, but here director-cinematographer-editor-choreographer Richard Wong expands the meaning of 'Colma' to characterize the small town as a place of utter boredom and spiritual death for its young residents. The teenagers at the center of the picture continue to suffer from that malaise: Rodel (scripter H.P. Mendoza, Maribel (L.A. Renigen) and Billy (Jake Moreno). The three rebel against the status quo by periodically breaking into peppy musical numbers - songs original to the film, done in the inimitable style of '80s new wave rock. The premise of the picture has each teen grappling with the pain and sorrow of a recent romantic break-up, while they attempt to figure out what to do with their lives, given perceived limited options; as the foremost character, Billy takes a part in a local theatrical production and accepts a job working for an oddball proprietor of a men's store. He also finds a new girlfriend in thesp Tara (Sigrid Sutton) but can never quite manage to shake off the lingering memories of his last paramour (Kat Kneisel). The picture packs in thirteen new songs and waxes crisp and snappy, despite its occasional sad-eyed undertones. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Paul and Jamie Buchman (Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt) have decided to hold off telling everyone that Jamie is pregnant until the couple can make a formal announcement at their Thanksgiving dinner. This plan is undermined by a number of "security leaks" in the office of gynecologist Joan Golfinos (Suzie Plakson). The ending offers six degrees of surprises thanks to an unheralded guest star. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey find the two obtuse pals battling The Grim Reaper, God, robots, great philosophical questions, and girls -- although not necessarily in that order. In this loose parody of the Terminator movies, directed by Peter Hewitt, the ultimate has happened -- at Bill and Ted University of the future, for many years now the people of the world have been "excellent to each other." But fed-up with Bill and Ted's peaceful world and even more fed up with heavy metal, the evil De Nomolos (Joss Ackland) decides to do something about it. De Nomolos creates a cyborg Bill and Ted, who travel back in time to kill the original Bill and Ted, win the Battle of the Bands and pave the way for the hellish reign of De Nomolos. In the past of 1990, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are immediately dispatched by the time-traveling cyborgs. And while the cyborgs Bill and Ted make time with the real Bill and Ted's girls (Sarah Trigger and Annette Azcuy) and prepare to take the real Bill and Ted's place in the Battle of the Bands, Bill and Ted are forced to deal with Hell ("Just like an Iron Maiden album cover"), the Grim Reaper (William Sadler), and God himself. When Bill and Ted are asked the secret of the universe, they get it right and as a reward a pair of Martians construct a set of "good" Bill and Ted robots to go head-to-head with the "bad" Bill and Ted robots at the Battle of the Bands. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The brainchild of comic actor Keenen Ivory Wayans, the Fox comedy variety series In Living Color has been described variously as the "black Laugh-In" and the "black Saturday Night Live." Whatever the case, the series garnered big laughs and bigger ratings by applying a hip, cutting-edge, Afrocentric slant on modern American culture, with freewheeling spoofs and satires of popular films, TV shows, commercials and music -- especially music. During In Living Color's first years on the air, the proceedings were dominated by Keenen Ivory Wayans and his multi-talented brothers, Damon Wayans, Kim Wayans, Shawn Wayans and (beginning with season four) Marlon Wayans. Also featured in the series' rotating repertory company were such brilliant black entertainers as David Alan Grier, T'Keyah "Crystal" Kehmah, Jamie Foxx, and Chris Rock, along with the show's "token white guy" Jim Carrey. Music was provided by some of the top R&B and rap artists in the country (Queen Latifah, Flavor Flav, and Heavy D to name but three of the many) with backup provided by the scantily-clad "Fly Girls" (one of whom was a young Jennifer Lopez). Merrily exploiting and skewering a variety of ethnic stereotypes, the series' recurring sketches and characters included "Men on Film," featuring a pair of flamboyantly gay movie critics, Blaine and Antoine ("Two snaps up"); Homey D. Clown, a dour urban kiddie entertainer ("Homey don't play that!"); SW-1 and Twist (Shawn Wayans, Leroy Casey), the show's exuberant veejays; "The Home Boys," a couple of streetwise scam artists named Wiz and Ice ("Mo' money!"), "Hey Mon," the ongoing saga of a West Indian family named the Hedleys; "The Buttmans," who looked exactly as you would expect them to look; Handi-Man, a multiple-handicapped superhero; Fire Marshall Bill (Jim Carrey), a hideously disfigured safety expert; and Wanda Wayne (played by Jamie Foxx), the ugliest, horniest gal in the 'hood. Also represented via impersonation and caricature were a number of A-list celebrities both black and white: Arsenio Hall, Oprah Winfrey, Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Kinison, Della Reese, Ray Charles, and many others. By the time In Living Color had entered its fifth season, all but one of the Wayans Brothers had left the show, following the lead of Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was unhappy with Fox's policy of censoring certain sketches and of overexposing existing episodes, thereby hurting their future profitability in syndication. Debuting April 15, 1990, In Living Color ran until August 25, 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide