Ahmad Stoner Movies

Underachiever Cory (Ben Savage) and nerdy Minkus (Lee Norris) manage to make the school's basketball team--not the "A" squad, of course, but the "B" group. Alas, having been relegated to second-class-citizen status, the boys may never get into an actual game. . .and worse, Cory begins to feel like a "B-Team" member of his own family. It is Mr. Feeny (William Daniels), of all people, who gives Cory the pep talk that changes his attitude, yielding results that are surprising indeed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lena Horne (playing herself, of course) arrives at Hillman to dedicate a scholarship in her grandmother's name. In honor of Ms Hornes' visit, Whitley organizes a musical testimonial to the singer--haughtily refusing to let Mr. Gaines (Lou Myers) cater the affair because he isn't "classy" enough. But it is Whitley who ends up with egg on her face when Lena chooses the "modest" home-cooked dinner provided by Gaines, who turns out to be an old friend of the legendary vocalist. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking on a temporary teaching assignment at a very tough junior-high remedial class, Whitley (Jasmine Guy) discovers that her students have been deliberately failing because of peer pressure. Never one to back down from a challenge, Whitley is determined to help the youngsters succeed, even if it means relying on her own inner resources rather than the school's antiquated textbooks. Elsewhere, Dorian (Bumper Robinson) finally asks Lena (Jada Pinkett) out--with a surprise revelation attached. Featured as two of Whitley's hardcase students are Marques Houston and Jerome Jones, late of the R&B group Immature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Will (Will Smith) is asked to be best man at the wedding of his Aunt Janice (Charlayne Woodard)--only to be forbidden from attending the ceremony by his domineering mother Vy (Vernee Watson-Johnson). The reason is both simple and sad: Vy has just learned to her horror that Janice's fiance is a white man (played by future Drew Carey Show regular Diedrich Bader). Vy's anger overflows during the wedding itself, which has a profound effect on the rest of the family. (Ironically, in real life several of the cast members of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were the children of biracial parents, or were themselves in biracial relationships.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Steven Spielberg filters J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan through a distinctly 1990s sensibility in Hook. Peter Pan has become Peter Banning (Robin Williams), a 40-year-old mergers and acquisitions lawyer with a permanent scowl on his face and a cellular phone in his belt. Banning has lost any memory of being Peter Pan, and he is also in danger of losing his wife Moira (Caroline Goodall) and two children, Jack (Charlie Korsmo) and Maggie (Amber Scott). Peter and his family travel to London to visit Granny Wendy (Maggie Smith) who recalls Peter's lost youth and asks him, "Peter, dear, don't you know who you are?" With Peter's children asleep in the same bedroom where the original Peter Pan story began, there is a blinding flash. Peter comes into the room to discover a note from Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), informing Peter that he has kidnapped his children. Granny Wendy now tells him who he really is and encourages him to re-discover his happy thoughts, transform himself into the Peter Pan of the past, and go rescue his children. With the encouragement of Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts), Peter recalls the birth of his son and once again takes wing. Then it's off to Never Land to rescue his kids. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide