Philip Smith

Running on Empty -- (Japanese with English subtitles) The beautiful Azami is tired of her penniless and lazy boyfriend, Hideji. Determined to break up with him, she must first get back all the money she has given him over the years. She hatches a plot in which she fakes her own kidnapping to get Hideji to pay a ransom. Things get hilariously complicated when all parties involved act to their own agendas.

Starting Over -- A middle aged woman is faced with a crisis when she is informed that she will lose her job after 25 years of service.

The love story continues. Ryan O'Neal returns as Oliver Barrett IV in Oliver's Story, based on Erich Segal's follow-up novel to Love Story. Candice Bergen (TV's Murphy Brown) brings elegant charm to the role of Marcie Bonwitt, a recently divorced career woman. The two are a perfect match-equally rich and beautiful, equally independent and yet vulnerable from their respective losses, and equally shy about commitment to another person. Through his relationship with Marcie, Oliver begins to affirm life and the possibility of another love.

River Phoenix rose to stardom -- and an Academy Award-nomination -- in this poignant drama from director Sidney Lumet ("The Verdict," "Dog Day Afternoon"). Ex-radicals Judd Hirsch ("Independence Day," "Taxi") and Oscar, Golden Globe and Emmy-winner Christine Lahti (TV's "Chicago Hope," "Swing Shift") have raised their family in hiding, constantly moving and changing aliases to flee facing charges from an inadvertent crime they committed as war protestors 15 years earlier. As their eldest son (Phoenix) comes of age, he is torn between running with his beloved fugitive parents, or developing his musical talents and pursuing his own life, which includes new girlfriend (Martha Plimpton, "The Mosquito Coast," "Goonies"). Nominated for two Oscars and 4 Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture, Actress and Director, Siskel & Ebert call this "...one of Lumet's best films...one of the best movies of the year...the acting in this film is wonderful," while the Los Angeles Times praises this as "...one of those rare films likely to mean as much to teens as it does to their parents...uncommonly tender, funny and lifelike...a major American film."