Film/Show/Concert highlights

One of the all-time big box-office hits, Smokey and the Bandit stars Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason in an outrageous comedy that boasts full-throttle laughs and high-velocity thrills. Reynolds is the Bandit, a king-of-the-road trucker hero who accepts the ultimate challenge: pick up a truckload of Coors beer in Texarkana--the closest place it can be legally sold--and haul it cross-country to Atlanta in 28 hours. The reward? $80,000! The result? The wildest series of car chases and crashes ever filmed! The reason? A Texas "Smokey," Sheriff Buford T.

We could tell you what it's about. But then, of course, we would have to kill you. Robert Redford leads an all-star cast in one of the most satisfying suspense films! Computer expert Martin Bishop (Redford) heads a team of renegade hackers - including a former CIA employee (Sidney Poitier), a gadgets wizard (Dan Aykroyd), a young genius (River Phoenix) and a blind soundman (David Strathairn) - who are routinely hired to test security systems.

Eddie Murphy gives the "performances" of his career playing no less than seven roles in this uproarious, Jekyll-and-Hyde comedy from Imagine Entertainment. Murphy stars as Dr. Sherman Klump, a kind, "calorically challenged" genetics professor who longs to shed his 400-pound frame in order to win the heart of beautiful Jada Pinkett. So, with one swig of his experimental fat-reducing serum, Sherman becomes "Buddy Love," a fast-talking, pumped-up, plumped down Don Juan. Can Sherman stop his buff alter ego before it's too late, or will Buddy have the last laugh?

Highly entertaining albeit thin journalism thriller, this examination of a 24-hour period in the life of a New York Post-ish tabloid focuses on a hard-working metro editor (a pitch-perfect Michael Keaton) thinking of going to a loftier job at a rival paper. Edgy, "NYC as the center of the universe" full of sweat and grit, the paper debates the hot story of the day: a racial shooting. Like most movies from Ron Howard's universe (Parenthood, Backdraft), it's always just a movie, full of dramatic, over-the-top setups instead of the genuine article.

Bill Parrish has it all - success, wealth and power. Days before his sixtieth birthday, he receives a visit from a mysterious stranger, Joe Black, who soon reveals himself as Death. In exchange for extra time, Bill agrees to serve as Joe's earthly guide. But will he regret his choice when Joe unexpectedly falls in love with Bill's beautiful daughter Susan? Directed by Martin Brest (Scent Of A Woman).

Clint Eastwood stars as former bounty hunter turned hired gunslinger Joe Kidd, who finds himself in the middle of a range war in rough and rugged New Mexico. Following an armed uprising by local Mexican revolutionaries who claim they've been cheated out of their land, Kidd is hired to quell the rebellion by a wealthy land baron (Robert Duvall) with interests in the disputed territory. But Kidd's and his employer's interests are soon at odds when he falls for a beautiful Hispanic rebel in this top-notch action-adventure from acclaimed veteran western director John Sturges.

When Havana was released in 1990, a lot of reviewers unfavorably compared it to Casablanca, and those comparisons (in addition to audience indifference) turned the film into a box-office disaster. It deserved a better fate, because, while this is certainly no masterpiece, it's an intelligent and lavishly produced film about a chapter of history--the final days of Cuba under the collapsing Batista regime--that remains largely unfamiliar to the American mainstream.

Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn star in this hilarious romantic comedy about the consequences of "stretching" the truth. When architect Newton Davis' girlfriend Becky (Dana Delany) turns down his marriage proposal, his newly-built dream house suddenly becomes nothing more than an empty monument to her rejection. That is, until a chance encounter with Gwen (Hawn) turns his life upside-down. Intrigued by Newton's story, Gwen visits the house and decides to move in on her own.

Clint Eastwood's second film as a director finds the celebrated action star returning to his familiar Old West stomping grounds and his internationally acclaimed role of "The Man With No Name". This time, The Stranger (Eastwood) mysteriously appears out of the heat waves of the desert and rides into the lawless, sin-ridden town of Lago. After making a name for himself with a string of blazing gun battles, The Stranger is hired by the townspeople to provide protection from three ruthless gunmen just out of jail.

Chevy Chase is at his hilarious best in this suspense-packed comedy thriller based on Gregory McDonald's best-seller. Irwin Fletch, a.k.a. Fletch (Chase), is an investigative reporter who's constantly changing his identity. While working on a drug expose, Fletch attracts the attention of a strange businessman (Tim Matheson) who wants to be killed so his wife will inherit more insurance. The wily Fletch senses a scam, and soon he's up to his byline in frame-ups, murder, police corruption and forbidden romance. It'll be the story of the year, if he can stay alive to meet his deadlines!