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The first film was a precious gem. The sequel is as well, and worth every minute of the 17 years we had to wait. It is one laugh after another from the first scene to the last. The cast is perfect, not only the returnees but the recasts. SPOILER! Bonnie Bedelia has one of the best monologues in movie history as she schools a bunch of fake Christians in their own church on the bible that clearly none of them including the preacher seem to know. A perfectly sordid sequel indeed. Del Shores did it again! 10 out of 10.

Michael Bowen plays an innocentish young man who hitchhikes a thousand miles to visit his absentee millionaire father (the creepy Ray Wise) at a sprawling, windmill-powered ranch and ends up tangled in the dangerous web of his young, scheming and seductive stepmother from hell (the yummy Clare Wren), thus causing trouble for the already dysfunctional family. An edgy, stylish and exciting drama that received no promotion and was sent straight to VHS and cable TV--where I first saw it. It is beautifully written, smartly acted, and tightly directed from a script that keeps you biting your nails. I cannot believe the reviewers who disliked it ever actually saw it. It is an undiscovered classic.

OK, it's not Shakespeare. Gay man repeatedly meets lonely single woman. He is an asshole. She is a magnet for verbal abuse. His lover has died. She is 30 today and still lives at home, has been fired, and dreams of freedom from her parents--irritating Italian NY mother and father who rarely opens his mouth. His boyfriend has left strict instructions via tape to take a trip to Denton, Texas, north of Dallas (hence the title), and bury his childhood belongings which are with an aunt who was like a mother. Sentimental. Charming. Certainly quirky. Both lead performers are excellent. Some of the supporting cast members are not really actors and are less than trained and talented, which gives one a convincing feel of small Texas towns people and New Yorkers who live simple lives. I liked this movie. It is low budget and high quality, fun and frustrating, silly and serious. One character just disappears: a motel owner's hunky son who is seeking freedom from his own mother and finding himself in bed with our heroine seeking freedom of hers. He could have had more of a role at the end. The ending is a surprise and is somehow perfect. Robin Fletcher

This new drama premiered Sunday, 9-24-06 on ABC. Reunited from their STEEL MAGNOLIAS coupling are Sally Field as the matriarch and Tom Skeritt the patriarch (with a lot of secrets) of several adult children. Calista Flockhart, returns home for the first time in years, now a snoddy but likable Republican TV pundit. One son is a gay lawyer, one is a war-haunted drug addict. By the end of the episode, we have a family dinner where no one fights, a grandfather talking to his non-precocious granddaughter, and a tragic poolside incident that brings the family together and sets the tone for the series' future. Tense, realistic, well written drama may in the beginning only have had a chance because it follows DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, but in recent weeks it has come into its own and the audience has stuck behind it loyally. Flockhart is great as the rebellious daughter who went to NY, witnessed the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001, and then returns home to argue with Mom, Fields. Balthazar Getty is excellent as one of the sons and does as fine a job here as he did in his pilot guest appearance on GHOST WHISPERER. However, the breakout star of this series is, inarguably, the incredible David Annable. Who does not empathize with the young war vet who enlisted after 9/11 for sister Calista (Kitty), but returns from Afghanistan haunted, aching and turns to drugs to kill that pain? In the November episode, "Mistakes Were Made, Pt. 1" Annable's Justin is threatened with prison if he does not return to active military duty. He goes to the lawyer brother, and says, "I can't go back...I can't watch any more people die!" We all feel his pain, so current with other soldiers recently in the news who have become conscientious objectors. Watch his eyes and arm movements. This actor is perfect. His brother may not be able to help him, so Justin then meets with a shady drug dealer who can get him a passport to Mexico. Later, however, he has overdosed and is found by his family. The horror of it was flawless, not melodramatic, not overacted, with perfect directing and scoring of music. We cannot wait to see what happens next on the show--or with Annable, a 26-year-old actor posed for superstardom. The rest of the cast all lend great support. And of course Field is in near-perfect form for her first fulltime TV series role since the 1960s. Welcome back, Sally. Viewers should check in to see BROTHERS AND SISTERS. It may be the best new drama of the decade.

One of the first season's episodes marked the ONLY visit to KNOTS LANDING by DALLAS' favorite teenager, the rebellious daughter of Gary and Valene Ewing. Lucy has discovered that her long-divorced parents have not only remarried in secret but have moved away from J.R. and Texas to a Southern California beach town, planning to tell her when they know they will remain remarried. She flies out west for a visit. She is relatively cold at first to Gary, who shows great concern at her free-spirited independence. She resents that her alcoholic gambler father was not concerned about her welfare for the first 17 years of her life, and often turns to her mother while all but avoiding her father. However, by the end of the episode, Lucy is running on the beach hand-in-hand with her parents, all forgiven to the series' memorable and beautiful Emmy-winning score. The acting, directing and editing are great. All the major and some minor characters have plenty to do in this episode--even the often overlooked Kenny and Ginger Ward and Diana Fairgate. Too bad Lucy did not make more guest appearances. In fact, by the seventh season there was talk of her rejoining KNOTS, to which she allegedly declined for a return to DALLAS--a show which gave her no major storyline in its last years. She disappeared for good in 1990, perhaps wishing she had went back to the spin off.

Warning: spoilers. The best episode of the series guest-starred Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck as Toni (think of a female Charlie, but not anonymous). She is a friend of Charlie who runs an all-male detective agency populated by three hunks (Bruce Bauer, Stephen Shortridge from "Welcome Back Kotter" and Bob Seagreen, the 1968 Olympic winner from "Soap"). Her boys are hired by Charlie and Boz to protect the Angels. This was a pilot for a possible spin-off of the series, which did not get picked up by the network. The guys are handsome, the action good. The chemistry was boiling, as the Angels tried to escape from some determined guys. It had promise, but rather than taking a given such as this, the network four years later gave "Dynasty II: The Colbys" to Stanwyck several years later--and she quit, calling the scripts "the worst crap" she has ever read.

This was a well-made pilot for the exceptional TV drama that lasted an incredible, and then unprecedented, 14 years from 1979-1993. "Annie," played by Karen Allen, is the rebellious teenage daughter of series saint Sid Fairgate (Don Murray). She is making his life--and that of his wife, Karen (Michele Lee)--hell by the time this episode begins at the end of the first week during her planned two-week visit. Moving next door amidst this tense melodrama is Gary and Val Ewing (Ted Shackleford and Joan Van Ark), brother and sister-in-law of evil J. R. Ewing of "Dallas." The Ewings have remarried and left Dallas, hoping at some future point to bring their teenage daughter Lucy to their new home on the cul-de-sac of beachside Knots Landing, California. Like Annie, who was kept from her father since she was a baby but a cold mother, Gary and Val did not see Lucy for about as many years thanks to J.R.'s schemes. So Val attempts to comfort Annie as she wishes she could comfort Lucy. The directing is tight, the almost Jazz-like musical composition perfectly accompanies each dramatic scene. Karen is portrayed almost as something of a potential villainess here, though in later episodes she softens and becomes something of a saint herself. Sid is shown in his underwear. Teenage Annie smokes after sex in her father's bed with a boy. The show broke some ground there, and in later episodes. Alas, the show has its concerns: Annie, beyond this episode, is mentioned only two more times: when Lucy visits on episode six and again a few episodes later when her mother, Sid's ex-wife, visits to resolve legalities regarding Annie. Then she is never mentioned again. Sid, in fact, dies during the third episode of season three, but neither Annie nor her mother (played by Claudette Nevins) shows for the funeral. So Annie joins the fascinating ranks of the forgotten children of TV series--a list including Richie Cunningham from "Happy Days," Eugene Barkey from "The Big Valley," and the Maxwell children from "V: The Series," TV's innocent children who simply disappear and are never mentioned again. Robin Fletcher, Denton, Texas

The sitcom was initially the highest-rated new series of 1978-1979 TV series, appearing on schedule in January 1979 (tying with "Mork and Mindy" for that honor). However, unlike the Orsonian goofball, "Angie" was the victim of a massive revamp during its second season and a victim of constant schedule shuffling--moved from night to night, time slot to time slot, repeatedly for months, by ABC until viewers lost interest in searching for it, then abandoned the ship. The only rats here, however, were the ABC executives who, like all network suits, failed to realize the damage that instability does to a potential hit series with immediate high ratings, a lovable heroine, a cast of crazies and the audience. I truly miss this show one-quarter of a century later. Robin Fletcher

This Australian-made flick is horrifying. It's similar in style and format to "Hostel," which was released a few weeks after but has grossed far more money, but "WC" is a little better. The cast is perfect. The story is not about three horny men chasing tail in a former Russian state but rather two women and a man traveling through the Outback when they encounter car trouble and a friendly mechanic willing to help them--if he can take them and their car back to his camp and... Bloody, tragic, horror with heart and without heart, it is oddly but true. Unlike "Hostel," whose characters may leave viewers feeling less sympathetic for them because of who and what they are and what they do, these kids are lovable, kind humans out to have a good time, not out to hurt anyone--who get hurt by someone who is not so kind. See it at the theater so that you can get the full effect. Directed in part with style and cues from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2000 remake), "Traffic," and "Go." Robin Fletcher, Texas

You probably have not seen this film, but if you ever have the opportunity to, I highly recommend it. Set in Atlanta, Ga., the "DBC" could have been a silly low-budget piece of crap starring a man some have called a "has-been singer" ...but somehow it comes off as a hilarious character study based on some real-life situations and people -- the daily horrors experienced by fast food and restaurant deliverers. I cannot give away too much here out of fear of blacklist, but you will love this film if: 1) you like to hear jokes about baby boomers, 2) if you hate talking gorillas (and the kitschy cheese of other people forced to wear animal suits in sweltering heat so their bosses can hope to attract drivers to eat...), and 3) if you love Shawn Mullins--yes, the singer of 1998's perfect tearjerker "Lullabye" ("Everything's gonna be all right, rock-a-bye...")who just might turn out to be one hell of a great actor. Mullins is perfect as a chain-smoking neurotic mess of a man named Tigg, who gets chased by, among other gag-inspiring things, a psychotic man(iac) with a powerful leaf-blower. You'll laugh until you are dizzy! I saw it about a year ago at a film fest, and have wanted to see it again. Hopefully, it will make it to DVD soon... Rob Fletcher, Denton, Texas

I found this to be an interesting, character-driven drama with excellent actors, a neat setting, and a pace that kept me watching.

Writer-director Dylan McCormick makes a good debut with this film, which I saw at Tribeca Film Festival. Some walked away calling it the best romance film of the year, some called it a "chick flick" or a "schlock for jock" film. I say it is neither.

Actor Fred Weller plays the son of a famed writer who refuses to follow in his talented father's footsteps and forgoes his talent by earning his living as a carpenter and bartender in a college community. Sean decides to go to New York to find Molly, his true soul mate, a painter. She is played by Greer Goodman. Also along for the ride is Sean's sidekick, Lyl, an alcoholic and much of this serious film's comic relief, as played by Regg Rogers; and several other interesting supporting characters and actors.

"Four Lane Highway" is a treat for the female film fan who likes romance, the patient man who likes character drama, and the indie film love such as myself who likes a slow pace where characters develop, where not everything is explained by a director who holds our hands, and some portion of the plot and drama is left to the viewer's imagination--we get to decide some part of who is whom and what is what, in fact. And Jeff Branson (a relatively new actor who currently stars on the ABC daytime serial "All My Children") is a gem!

This has been an incredible year for the makers of independent films and for us indie fans. We have been treated to a much deserved documentary on the great white shark of the conservative American political scene by Michael Moore and the great white of conservative media (Rupert Murdock). Now, "Open Water," the great white shark of low-budget, high quality independent not-quite-fact non-documentary films, proves that the third time is, indeed, the charm. If you believe the teaser trailer, the film is based on three factual incidents, especially that of Americans Tom and Elieen Lonergan, who in 1998 paid for a dive off the coast of Australia and, through a series of simple errors by the careless boat crew, were abandoned. Though their bodies were never found, some of their equipment was. The boat captain went on trial but was not convicted of any crime; his lawyer, in fact, proved to be something of a shark himself, sinking so low as to theorize that the Mr. Lonergan plotted to commit suicide. (FYI: the plot worked, the jury found him "Not guilty.") This film never goes that far into the story, fortunately. Rather, the audience get 15 minutes of their personal lives, from home to plane flight to hotel...to the boat ride into hell. The clever director throws us into the next 24 hours of their lives during one hour of our time--one intense, terrifying hour, the only one the average moviegoer can tolerate. As the couple endures frustration, aggravation, dehydration, thunder and lightning, frightening noises that may or may not be sounding ("ala "Blair Witch" paid its homage), jellyfish stings, and the appearance of possible shark fins, the end result is likely the scenario of the Lonergans, who experience the isolation and the mounting fear of watching and waiting for the ultimate and final attack by the ever increasing number of sharks that have encircled them. Meanwhile, the audience endures growing tension, fingernail biting, heartbeating and heartbreaking horror, as we watch the husband go into permanent shock, the wife make a gut-wrenching pair of choices, and the denouement build to an ending we cannot imagine--their drama unfolds to a must-see during-the-credits ending that is as much a tribute to the divers in the opening scene of "Jaws 2" as it is to the Lonergans, and also to a Hitchcock, who somewhere must be smiling at the irony, the black comedy, and the cliffhanger of sorts. In fact, director Chris Kentis has commented on how he would like to make a prequel to "Jaws" based on Robert Shaw's haunting monologue as Quint recalls the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis which left some 1,000 seaman adrift in the shark-infested Pacific Ocean waters for a week. Kentis might get to make this film someday soon, for "Open Water" will no doubt be the last big hit of the summer, and the director and cast will certainly gain sudden stardom for this film.