Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell...  (less)

warning labels on cigarettes. It was an America on the brink of social explosion and Mad Men, which tells the story of a group of Madison Avenue advertising executives in the early 1960s, captures that surface stillness perfectly, complete with the growing tension barely contained below the surface.  The show succeeds on every level. HBO famously passed on Mad Men , created by former Sopranos executive producer and writer Matthew Weiner.  AMC picked it up, and thank goodness they did. From the first episode, Season One becomes an essential, utterly addictive television- watching experience. Beautifully filmed and masterfully written , the show manages to present the period honestly but with little nostalgia, and as soon as you get over the constant smoking,...  (less)

Amy , both of which had an amiable, grungy feel to them, but now that he's a rising director who's attracting top talent and tackling bigger themes, it might behoove him to polish his filmmaking. That's the main problem with Dogma --it's an ambitious, funny, aggressively intelligent film about modern-day religion, but while Smith's writing has matured significantly (anyone who thinks he's not topnotch should take a look at Chasing Amy ), his direction hasn't. It's too bad, because Dogma is ripe for near-classic status in its theological satire, which is hardly as blasphemous as the protests that greeted the movie would lead you to believe. Two banished angels (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon) have discovered a loophole that would allow them back into heaven; problem is, they...  (less)

Criminal and the Basket Case, but by that afternoon they had become closer than any of them could have imagined. Featuring an all-star ’80s cast including Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, this warm-hearted coming-of-age comedy from writer/director John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, Weird Science) helped define an entire generation!  (less)

winter, Moonstruck 's John Patrick Shanley pulls it off. If Doubt makes for a dialogue-heavy experience, like The Crucible and 12 Angry Men , the words and ideas are never dull, and a consummate cast makes each one count. Set in 1964 and loosely inspired by actual events, Shanley focuses on St. Nicholas, a Catholic primary school that has accepted its first African-American student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster), who serves as altar boy to the warm-hearted Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Donald may not have any friends, but that doesn't worry his mother, Mrs. Miller (Viola Davis in a scene-stealing performance), since her sole concern is that her son gets a good education. When Sister James (Amy Adams) notices Flynn concentrating more of his attentions on...  (less)

Life Form from planet Melmac (voiced by Paul Fusco) becomes an integral (and unabashed) part of the Tanner family in the sitcom's second season of its four-year run (1986-1990), with many of the storylines maximizing Alf's impish onstage chemistry with Willie (Max Wright). Alf is more outspoken this year and viewers will relish the nostalgic romps through his Alien Relocation Program, Melmacian hiccups, and brief stint in a monastery. Alf hosts the David Letterman show, rides the rails with "Boxcar Willie," recites his own rendition of "Born Free," and protests his house arrest on "Alfcatraz." The storylines continue to be fresh thanks to a team of seasoned writers, several of whom are new to the show this season. Alf remains a gem in the '80s lineup of f...  (less)

this one is pretty entertaining. You could call director-writer Joel Hopkins’ film a romantic comedy, but it’s not especially robust in either of those departments. This is more of a character study, and veteran lead actors Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson are well up to the task of bringing theirs to life. Both are awkward, lonely, social misfits. Hoffman’s Harvey Shine is a bit of a schlub; his gig as a jingle composer in jeopardy, estranged from his ex-wife (Kathy Baker) and daughter (Liane Balaban), he flies to London for the latter’s wedding, only to have her tell him that she has chosen her step-father (James Brolin) rather than him to give her away. Meanwhile, Kate Walker (Thompson) spends her days trying to survey harried travelers at Heathrow Airport...  (less)

intoxicated evening. Two months and several pregnancy tests later, Ben and Alison go through a hysterically funny, anxious and heartwarming journey that leads to huge laughs in the most outrageous comedy of the year!  (less)

the late -60-early -70s; Zodiac not only killed people, but cultivated a Jack the Ripper aura by sending icky letters to the newspapers and daring readers to solve coded messages. But the film's focus isn't on the killer. We follow the reporters and detectives whose lives are taken over by the case, notably an addictive crime writer (a sartorially splendid Robert Downey Jr.), an awkward editorial cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), and a hard-working cop (Mark Ruffalo). Fincher and his brilliant cinematographer Harris Savides are deft at capturing the period feel of the city, without laying on the seventies kitsch, and James Vanderbilt's script doles out its big moments to major and minor characters alike. Fincher's confidence is in...  (less)

vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens ( sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot into a triple-overtime bonus for CGI animators. In alliance with a Transylvanian princess (Kate Beckinsale) and the Frankenstein monster (Shuler Hensley), Van Helsing must prevent Dracula from hatching his bat-winged progeny, ...  (less)

planet of Traken, where a living statue poses a deadly threat. (4 eps, 98 mins) Logopolis : The Doctor's (Tom Baker) plan to enlist the help of Logopolis's mathematicians for a small favor become sidetracked when the Master's interference leads to disaster on a universal scale. (4 eps, 98 mins) Castrovalva : The Doctor's (Peter Davison) regeneration is failing, and his last hope rests with Nyssa and Tegan, who struggle to steer the TARDIS to the remote haven of Castrovalva. (4 eps, 96 mins) DVD Features: Audio Commentary: Audio Commentary by actors Anthony Ainley, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse and writer Johnny Byrne DVD ROM Features: 1982 Doctor Who Annual, Radio Times and BBC Enterprises literature PDFs Documentary: Being Nice to Each Other: A new 3...  (less)