Daniel Stern Movies

His wife convicted of a murder she swears she did not commit, a college professor plots to break her out of prison in this thriller starring Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson. John Brennan (Crowe) and his wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), were happily married and raising a family when their lives fell apart in the blink of an eye. Lara has been charged with murder, and despite every effort to prove her innocence, the judge sentences her to an extended prison sentence. Meanwhile, on the outside, John files multiple appeals while struggling to raise their children and maintain his career. Lara's future starts to look especially grim, however, after the final appeal is rejected, and she admits that she'd rather commit suicide than spend the rest of her life behind bars. Determined to save his wife after the justice system fails her, John seeks the advice of ex-convict Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), who staged his own daring prison escape, in order to draw up an airtight plan. Later, John prepares to put his life on the line for the woman he loves, and sets the plan into motion with the knowledge that one false move could be their last. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A second honeymoon in Malta turns into a life-altering experience for a bored Seattle librarian and her unadventurous, insurance salesman husband in this mature romantic comedy starring Juliet Stevenson, Tchéky Karyo, and Daniel Stern. Twenty-five years ago, Julia (Stevenson) and her passionate French lover Alex (Karyo) made a promise to meet up in the romantic Mediterranean hot spot where they exchanged their first glance. Now stuck in a marriage with a man who seems more interested in assembling jigsaw puzzles than pleasing his neglected wife, Julia takes her husband Jack (Stern) on a trip to Malta under the guise of celebrating a second honeymoon. But the truth is that Julia has been fantasizing about Alex for years, and she's determined to make good on her promise to meet him, perhaps rekindling their old flame in the process. When Alex shows up with his sexy young girlfriend (Kate Miles) in tow, Julia can't help but wonder if she and her lover have been leading the wrong lives all these years. Later, when Alex storms their holiday villa declaring his devotion to Julia for the whole world to hear, Jack makes his mission to become the lover his wife has always longed for. In order to make that transformation Jack will take lessons in dancing and loving from a passionate ex-chorus girl (Valerie Mahaffey), but when the time comes for Julia to decide between the husband she's never known and the lover she's always longed for, will his noble efforts be enough to save a failing marriage? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A cynical New York salesman (Michael Keaton) finds his scornful ways unexpectedly softened upon falling for the fiancée of his new business partner (Brendan Fraser), a Midwest transplant attempting to find his footing in the city, in screenwriter-turned-director Michael Caleo's feature directorial debut. The Bindview Company is a firm comfortably nestled in a corporate park that specializes in a highly profitable product. Ted (Keaton) is a former Northwestern University literature professor who has since found his calling in sales. When fresh-faced Ohio native Jamie (Fraser) arrives at Bindview eager to acclimate to life in the big city, cynical Ted greets the cub salesman with a palpable sense of scorn. Though Jamie is currently engaged to be married to the pretty Belisa (Amber Valletta), the bride-to-be is beginning to view her prospective spouse as something of a loser, and soon sets her sights on his reluctant mentor Ted. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A small-time loser who dreams of the big time discovers just how far wrong a good deed can take him in this black comedy. Frank Jacobs (Daniel Stern) is a guy with perennial bad luck living in a small town in Kansas, where he runs a gone-to-seed motel and is married to Helen (Patricia Richardson), a shrewish woman with a sharp tongue and little affection for her husband. Frank's great dream is to make a career for himself as a country and western singer, and while scrambling for a spot during an open mike night at a roadhouse, he makes the acquaintance of Julie (Lacey Kohl), a fellow singer who is married to past-prime C&W star Roy Baker (James Caan). After a quarrel, Roy leaves Julie by the side of the road, and Frank offers to give her a place to stay for the night. Helen is certain Julie's a home wrecker, and a serious argument erupts between Helen, Frank, and Julie; a gun goes off, and Helen is dead. Certain there's no easy way to explain Helen's death, Frank and Julie bury her in the backyard, and Frank soon finds himself having a fling with the attractive young singer. But before long, Roy arrives, eager to take Julie back whether she likes the idea or not, and matters are complicated when Helen's twin sister Wanda (also played by Richardson) arrives, determined to find out what's become of her sister. Viva Las Nowhere (also shown as Dead Simple) also stars Sherry Stringfield as another aspiring singer. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Seeing his family drifting apart, a father announces that he is planning a special vacation that will take them down the same paths followed by his famous ancestor. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Two basketball fans, whose enthusiasm overwhelms their intelligence, come up with a new but legally problematic way of helping their favorite team in this comedy. Physical education instructor Mike O'Hara (Daniel Stern) and plumber Jimmy Flaherty (Dan Aykroyd) are close friends and obsessive followers of the Boston Celtics; to them, the Celtics are everything, to the point where Mike's marriage is falling apart because his wife can't deal with his mood swings, hinged as they are on the Celtic's fortunes. One night, with the Celtics and the Utah Jazz tied at three games each in the NBA championships, Mike and Jimmy spot Lewis Scott (Damon Wayans) in a sports bar. The star player with the Jazz, Lewis is known to sink up to 50 shots a game, and his talent on the court is exceeded only by his arrogance. Emboldened by alcohol, Mike and Jimmy start buying Lewis drinks, posing as Jazz fans; the next morning, they wake up hung over to discover that they kidnapped Lewis while drunk, and he's tied to a chair in Jimmy's living room. Neither of them planned on doing anything like this and at first they think they ought to let him go. But then again, if Lewis can't play the final game of the championship series, the Celtics chances look a lot brighter. Former Celtics star Larry Bird has a cameo as himself; as do sports heroes Bill Walton and Deion Sanders. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) returns in this sequel to the original City Slickers that attempts to recapture the first film's warmth and character comedy. Despite feeling re-invigorated when we last left him, Mitch again faces a few personal dilemmas: his radio station job is going nowhere and his schlep of a brother (Jon Lovitz, replacing Bruno Kirby as the third of Mitch's cowboy threesome) has come to stay for a while. Things get really strange when Mitch is haunted by the ghost of cowboy Curly (Jack Palance), who died while leading Mitch and friends on their first cattle-herding adventure. Mitch unexpectedly finds a treasure map in the band of Curly's hat and, together with his brother and his friend Phil (Daniel Stern), heads back to the West to find Curly's lost gold mine. Along the way, they hitch up with Curly's twin brother, again played by Palance. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

John Hughes and Chris Columbus repeat their best-selling formula from the first Home Alone film with this sequel. Once again Kevin McCallister's (Macaulay Culkin) family leave him behind, only now he gets on a flight to New York instead of going with his family to Miami. Kevin manages to hail a cab and is delivered to the doorsteps of the Plaza Hotel, where, using his father's credit card, he rents out a suite and has the time of his life -- although a smarmy hotel clerk (Tim Curry) and bellboy (Rob Schneider) eye him with suspicion. But ingenious Kevin keeps them at bay, using the same tomfoolery he applied to his uncle in the first picture. He takes time out from his consumer debauch to chat with a friendly old toy-store magnate (Eddie Bracken) and pontificate to a homeless Pigeon Lady (Brenda Fricker) on the meaning of Christmas. But then he runs into his old enemies Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern).When he finds out that they plan on robbing the old man's toy store on Christmas Eve, he mans the battle stations once again, complete with electric prods, flames of fire, and sundry blunt instruments. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Comic books may come and go, but every red-blooded boy in Springfield loves "Radioactive Man," and Bart Simpson (voice of Nancy Cartwright) is no exception. When Bart discovers the local comics shop, The Android's Dungeon, has a copy of the very rare first issue of "Radioactive Man," he's desperate to have it. Unfortunately, the comic is going for $100, and Bart only has $35 in his savings. Bart tries asking his parents for the money, looking under couch cushions, and (gasp!) even doing odd jobs for elderly Mrs. Glick (voice of Cloris Leachman), but he's still far short of the asking price, so Bart pools his finances with Milhouse (voice of Cartwright) and Martin (voice of Russi Taylor) and they buy the comic together. However, the three boys soon argue over who will get to keep the book, leading to an ugly scene in Bart's tree house. Daniel Stern also joins the voice cast in a brief parody of his narration of the TV series The Wonder Years. "Three Men and a Comic Book" first aired on May 9, 1991. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Home Alone is the highly successful and beloved family comedy about a young boy named Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) who is accidentally left behind when his family takes off for a vacation in France over the holiday season. Once he realizes they've left him "home alone," he learns to fend for himself and, eventually has to protect his house against two bumbling burglars (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) who are planning to rob every house in Kevin's suburban Chicago neighborhood. Though the film's slapstick ending may be somewhat violent, Culkin's charming presence helped the film become one of the most successful ever at the time of its release. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

Made for the TNT cable network, The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson concentrates on the wartime service of major league baseball's first black player. Robinson (Andre Braugher), a star athlete at UCLA, is drafted during World War II. He hopes that his academic record will assure him entry into Officers Candidate School, but the racism inherent in the military at the time puts several roadblocks in his way. After finally making OCS, Robinson's belief in himself is strengthened tenfold--to the point that he refuses to bow to the "Jim Crow" laws regarding the seating arrangements on an Army bus, and is subsequently threatened with a court martial. Stan Shaw costars as boxing great Joe Louis, likewise a victim of prejudice during the war years (the script intimates that Louis was more willing to roll with the punches than Robinson). Ruby Dee, who played the ballplayer's wife in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, is here seen as Robinson's mother. The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson premiered on October 15, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi