Jonathan Bernstein Movies

After having been outmatched in the live-action family film department by rival Nickelodeon in recent years, Disney jumps back into the kid-friendly fray with this comedy about a seventh grader (Alex D. Linz) who's mercilessly picked on by his school's bullies and by his principal (Larry Miller). When his parents (Nora Dunn and Robert Carradine) inform Max that they're moving at the end of the week, he takes the opportunity to exact several forms of creative revenge on his many tormenters. When it subsequently turns out that the Keebles aren't leaving town after all, little Max is left to the mercy of those he's just humiliated. Max Keeble's Big Move is the second feature film from Tim Hill, the nephew of famed director George Roy Hill (The Sting). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Dolly Parton stars in this light-hearted story as Ruby Diamond, a singer who unexpectedly dies in an auto wreck and finds herself meeting the man at the pearly gates. Ruby discovers she did not rack up enough good deed points to enter the kingdom of Heaven, but she's given a second chance to come back to Earth and help others in hopes of proving she deserves angel status after all. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Telemovie mainstays Richard Crenna and Patty Duke (who co-starred in the 1982 sitcom It Takes Two) reteamed for this 1996 prime-time docudrama. Crenna is John Porter, a husband and father whose emotional isolation from his wife (Duke) and children springs from his own ingrained fear of mortality. When the Porters' twentysomething daughter, Sarah, is kidnapped, crisis pulls the family together in a desperate attempt to find the young woman before time runs out. It also forces John to overcome his fear of intimacy and connection, by reaching out to his family at an intensely difficult time. This feature, unsurprisingly, was based on a true story. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this drama, the daughter of an Appalachian miner is determined to get revenge against the cruel mine owner who destroyed her family with his greed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This comedy makes fun of teen comedies as it chronicles a Midwestern town's feverish preparations for a big weekend party. Much of the story centers around the mad scramble for both youngsters and adults to find appropriate dates. The story was penned by Saturday Night Live alumni Al Franken and Tom Davis. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Lynne Littman has created an effective, understated portrayal of the cost of a nuclear war in human terms, in a film as far removed from the fake hyperbole of action and disaster movies as the natural world is from cartoons. Set in the small California town of Hamlin, the Wetherly family and their everyday concerns open the story. The trivia that fills their secure, ordinary existence disappears when a TV show is interrupted with the announcement that nuclear bombs have exploded in the major cities on the East Coast, and then the entire scene is erased in an increasingly white, blank movie screen -- meant to show that nuclear blasts have been detonated in California as well. Over 1000 people die in the first month from radiation sickness, but the mother in the Wetherly family (Jane Alexander) displays great inner strength as she cares for orphaned children the family has taken under its wing and goes on sustaining those that remain in her own family. At one point, she quietly conveys to her daughter the happiness of intimacy between two adults, knowing her daughter will not live to experience adult love. As these individuals and the children cope with day-to-day existence, there is never any intrusion of overt horrors, the focus remains on the individuals and the way in which they adjust to the inevitable. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two giants of American TV comedy--Dick Van Dyke and Sid Caesar--were teamed for the first (and thus far last) time in Found Money. Forced into early retirement, bank executive Max Shepherd (Van Dyke) befriends bank guard Sam Green (Caesar) who likewise has been given the sack. Since both men have been cheated of their pensions, Max and Sam plot an intricate revenge. They will use their combined "inside" know-how to rob the bank, then cleanse themselves of perfidy by redistributing the wealth to the needy. Originally telecast December 19, 1983, Found Money was directed by former Dick Van Dyke contributor Bill Persky; it was co-written by actor Richard Sanders, of WKRP in Cincinnati fame. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The overemphatic acting of Robby Benson was something of an endurance test to certain critics of the 1980s, but even these carpers were impressed by Benson's outstanding performance in The Chosen. Set in the Brooklyn of the 1940s, the film elucidates the friendship between two young Jews of differing factions. Benson is Hassidic, while Barry Miller is a Zionist. Though separated ideologically, the boys find a common bond through their love of stickball. Rod Steiger costars as Benson's rabbi father, delivering a performance virtually devoid of the mannered stridency that has marred many of his more recent film work. Based on a novel by Chaim Potok, The Chosen has become an annual Hannukah-season TV attraction in many cities; years after its release, the film served as the basis for a short-lived Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide