Jeff Brooks

Law & Order rips another story from the headlines in the series' 13th-season opener. When a professor specializing in stem-cell research is murdered, the detectives at first suspect that the killer was a pro-life zealot. It soon develops that the actual target for extermination was the professor's wife (also murdered in the attack), who was raising money and public awareness for Muslim women's rights. Ultimately, the clues lead to a young Muslim extremist who calls himself Mousah Salim, but who is actually an American named Greg Landen (Wil Horneff). In prosecuting the case, the lawyers try to ferret out the motivation behind Landen's wild-eyed fanaticism, with surprising results. Fred Dalton Thompson joins the cast as new DA Arthur Branch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having gone back to smoking, Chandler (Matthew Perry) tries all sorts of things to quit, including a hypnosis tape (from the episode of the same title). Meanwhile, Monica's (Courteney Cox) date yields unexpected results. And Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) finds out that her half-brother Frank Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi) is in love -- and she's none too pleased with the woman in his life. Jon Favreau and Debra Jo Rupp make their first series appearances as Pete and Alice, respectively. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two unlikely friends -- a boy and a killer whale -- are reunited under potentially dangerous circumstances in this sequel to the successful family adventure Free Willy. Jesse (Jason James Richter) has finally found stability and contentment with his foster parents Glen and Annie Greenwood (Michael Madsen and Jayne Atkinson), but he is confronted with a new emotional challenge when his birth mother (a drug addict who abandoned him when he was young) dies, and his troubled half brother Elvis (Francis Capra) comes to live with the Greenwoods. Jesse also deals with new feelings when he develops a serious crush on Nadine (Mary Kate Schellhardt), the goddaughter of Randolph (August Schellenberg), an animal trainer at the theme park where Jesse helps out. But a much bigger problem is on the horizon when the safety of Willy, the killer whale he befriended and helped return to the wild, is threatened. An oil spill spoils the ocean environment where Willy and his family now live, and an unscrupulous owner of an oceanarium, Wilcox (M. Emmet Walsh), attempts to capture Willie and put him back into captivity as a performing attraction. While Free Willy featured Keiko, a trained whale who (ironically) was living in captivity when the film was shot, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home instead utilized mechanical models and digital animation to bring "Willy" to life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Legendary scientist Albert Einstein (played here by Walter Matthau) takes a break from theoretical physics to try to set up his intellectual niece with a handsome auto mechanic in this romantic comedy. The movie's central conceit is that Einstein's brilliance extends to matters of the heart, allowing him to immediately sense that Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), a bright, lower-class mechanic obsessed with Popular Science Magazine, would be perfect for his niece Catherine (Meg Ryan). Unfortunately, Catherine is already engaged to a stiff Princeton man. In order to defeat Catherine's resistance, Uncle Albert decides to help Ed pretend to be a revolutionary scientist, a charade that inevitably leads to much farcical confusion. Einstein's scientist pals are portrayed as a Greek chorus of Catskills-style kibitzers, featuring such notable perfomers as Lou Jacobi as Kurt Godel and director Gene Saks as Boris Podolsky. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

Released at the height of his popularity on Family Ties and in the wake of Back to the Future and Teen Wolf, Michael J. Fox stars in this "country boy in the big city" comedy, directed by Herbert Ross. After making the move from Kansas to New York City, Brantley Foster (Fox) secures a job in the mailroom at his uncle's large corporation. Doffing any plans of working his way up the corporate ladder the old fashioned way, Brantley begins impersonating an executive to impress a high-ranking female co-worker, played by Helen Slater. Once his oversexed aunt enters the mix, Brantley finds himself juggling two identities, two jobs, and two women. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide