Bridget Fonda

In Aroostook County, Maine, Fish and Game officer Walt Lawson is scuba diving in Black Lake when he is suddenly attacked and bitten in half by an unknown creature. The next day, Sheriff Hank Keough, Fish and Game officer Jack Wells, and American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Kelly Scott go to the lake to investigate the incident with mythology professor and crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr joining them. After Kelly and Hank's canoe is flipped over, they discover a severed human toe and a moose head. Meanwhile, Hank's deputy, Burke, has his head bitten off when his boat is attacked while Wells and Cyr are diving. The following day, as Hank and Hector argue, a large brown bear arrives, but a gigantic 30 ft (9.1 m) long saltwater crocodile leaps out of the water, snatches the animal in its jaws, and drags it into the lake. After finding Burke's severed head, Jack, Kelly, and Hank witness Delores Bickerman, an elderly hermit living near the lake, feeding a blindfolded dairy cow to the giant crocodile. She reveals that she has been feeding the reptile for years after the crocodile followed her husband Bernie home and eventually killed him two years ago when he got between the croc and a runaway horse. Afterwards, she was placed under house arrest for initially lying to the police. Hector decides to take Deputy Sharon Gare on a trip in his helicopter and unexpectedly lands it in the crocodile's territory. While he is scuba diving, he is confronted by the creature, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Later, Jack and Hank plan to allow Florida Fish and Game to kill the crocodile when they arrive, but Hector suggests instead that he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it into unconsciousness. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal and they use one of Bickerman's cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait. After a few hours, the crocodile soon appears and rears up as it lunges at its prey. Hector pulls up and loses the animal, but crashes the helicopter into the lake. The crocodile comes on land and begins to pursue Jack, Kelly, and the group. Kelly is knocked into the lake by the crocodile's tail, but she makes it into the helicopter in time. The crocodile catches up to Kelly and prepares to make its move, but is itself trapped in the helicopter. Jack grabs a gun and shoots it, but the firearm turns out to be a tranquilizer rifle. As Hector comes out of the water, another crocodile attacks and bites him, but Hank blows it up with his grenade launcher. Soon after, Florida Fish and Game officers arrive, where they load the neutralized crocodile onto a truck and take it to Portland, Maine to figure out what to do with it. One week later, Bickerman is shown feeding bread crumbs to many baby crocodiles, revealing the two adults were actually a mating pair. The surviving adult crocodile is later seen tied to the back of a flatbed trailer, speeding down a road somewhere.

A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.

This complex 1996 drama directed by Harold Becker (Sea of Love) attempts to explore big-city corruption and the flexibility of what's right and wrong in the political arena. John Cusack plays the senior aide to mayor John Pappas (Al Pacino), a popular and seasoned politician whose administration is threatened when what seems to be an accidental shooting of a child reveals a nest of corruption and lifelong personal debts. This tests Cusack's loyalty to the man he thought he knew. Pacino turns in a finely textured performance as a man who has his own lofty ideals, but whose pragmatism sets in motion a series of events with tragic results. Cusack admirably captures the essence of someone polished and savvy at his job but must cope with fundamental disillusionment. This political thriller suffers at times from a lack of focus, but still offers an insightful and poignant treatise on the quagmire of politics in the modern age and the human toll it sometimes exacts.

In New York City, an elderly woman and her granddaughter are walking through Central Park, looking for a memorial statue. As they seat themselves for a rest, the grandmother recounts a story about Nome, Alaska. In 1925, a wolfdog named Balto (Kevin Bacon of Footloose) lives on the outskirts of Nome with his adoptive father, a Russian snow goose named Boris, and two polar bears, Muk and Luk. Balto is ridiculed by dogs and humans alike for his half-breed heritage. His only friends in town are a young girl named Rosy and her red husky Jenna whom Balto has a crush on. He is challenged by the town's favorite sled dog Steele, a fierce and arrogant Alaskan Malamute, and his teammates, Nikki, Kaltag, and Star. That night, Rosy and all the children in Nome are stricken with diphtheria. Severe winter weather conditions prevent medicine from being brought by air or sea from Anchorage, and the closest rail line ends in Nenana. After authorization to transport the antitoxin by rail is given by the Governor of Alaska in Juneau, a dog race is held to determine the best-fit dogs for a sled dog team to get the medicine. Balto enters and wins, but is disqualified after Steele exposes his wolf-dog heritage. The team departs that night with Steele in the lead and picks up the medicine successfully. On return, deteriorating conditions leave the disoriented team stranded at the base of a steep slope with the musher knocked unconscious. When the news reaches Nome, Balto sets out in search of them with Boris, Muk, and Luk. On the way, a huge grizzly bear attacks them, but Jenna, who followed their tracks, intervenes. The bear pursues Balto out onto a frozen lake, where it falls through the ice and drowns. Muk and Luk save Balto from a similar fate but Jenna is injured and cannot continue. Balto instructs Boris and the polar bears to take her back home while he continues alone. Balto eventually finds the team, but Steele refuses his help and attacks him until he loses his balance and falls off a cliff. Balto takes charge of the team, but they lose their way again since Steele had sabotaged the trail by creating false markers. Balto falls while attempting to save the medicine from falling down a cliff. Back in Nome, Jenna explains Balto's mission to the other dogs as Steele returns, lying that the team including Balto, is dead. Jenna sees through his deception and she assures Balto will return with the medicine. Using a trick Balto showed her earlier, Jenna places broken colored glass bottles on the outskirts of town and shines a lantern on them to simulate the lights of an aurora, hoping it will help guide Balto home. When Balto regains consciousness, he is ready to lose hope, until a large white wolf appears. Noticing the intact medicine crate nearby, he realizes that his part-wolf heritage is a strength and not a weakness, and drags the medicine back up the cliff to the waiting team. Balto's advanced senses filter out the false markers Steele had created. After encountering further challenges through an ice bridge, an avalanche, and an ice cavern, and losing only one vial, Balto and the sled team finally return to Nome. A pity-playing Steele is abandoned by the other dogs who realize the truth about him. Reunited with Jenna and his friends, Balto earns respect from both the dogs and the humans. He visits a cured Rosy, who thanks him for saving her. Back in the present, the elderly woman and her granddaughter finally find the statue of Balto and she explains that the Iditarod trail covers the same path that Balto and his team took from Nenana to Nome. The woman, who is actually Rosy, repeats the same line "Thank you, Balto. I would have been lost without you". She walks off to join her granddaughter and her Siberian Husky Blaze. The Balto statue stands proudly in the sunlight.

Policeman Charlie Lang (Nicolas Cage) is a kind and generous man who loves his job and the Queens borough of New York City where he lives. Bo (Wendell Pierce) is Charlie's partner and together they work to maintain the peace in their neighborhood. Charlie is a good listener and loved kids. Charlie only wanted to help the community and never shied away from helping where he could (helping a blind man cross the street, teaching kids how to play baseball, catching petty thieves, delivering a baby on the public bus and so on) His wife Muriel (Rosie Perez) works in a hairdressing salon and, unlike Charlie, is selfish, greedy and materialistic, constantly complaining about their situation in life. Muriel hated Queens. Waitress Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda) is bankrupt because her husband Eddie (Stanley Tucci), whom she could not yet afford to divorce, emptied their joint checking account and spent all the money without her permission, while also leaving her with a credit card debt of over $12,000. The court holds her responsible for the entire bill; moreover, Yvonne's boss docks her pay for the time she spent in court, even though Yvonne gave ample notice. Charlie meets Yvonne when she waits on him at the diner where she works. Since Charlie has cash to cover the bill but doesn't have enough money to pay the tip. So, he promises to give her either double the tip or half of his prospective lottery winnings the next day. Yvonne is sure that she will never see Charlie again in her life. Charlie wins a $4 million share of $64 million (in 21 annual payments) in the lottery the next day (as 16 other people picked the same numbers) and keeps his promise, despite the protests of his wife. Muriel sees this as an opportunity to become a spokesperson for her favorite beauty products. Muriel asks Charlie to do the right thing for them, but he is adamant that he gave Yvonne his word. Charlie returns to the diner and asks Yvonne to choose if she wants double the tip or half of the lottery (without telling her that he won the lottery). Yvonne goes for the split of the lottery and Charlie reveals that it is $4 million. Yvonne believes that Charlie is making fun of her string of bad luck, but he convinces her that they won $4 million in the New York State Lottery. For Charlie, a promise is a promise. Charlie and Yvonne become stars almost immediately. Yvonne buys the diner she was working in and promptly fires her ex-boss. She sets up a table with Charlie's name at which people who cannot afford food can eat for free. In another development, Charlie becomes a hero for foiling an attempted robbery at a grocery store but gets wounded in the process. Following a commendation, he takes mandatory leave from the NYPD. At a gathering on a chartered boat for the lottery winners and other members of high society, Muriel gets to know the newly rich Jack Gross (Seymour Cassel). She flirts with him and develops a strong liking for him, which is mutual. Both Yvonne and Charlie miss the cruise because he had to go and make change for her taxi driver and bond over dinner. Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne spend a lot of time together, on one occasion paying for the train journeys of passengers of the subway, and on another treating the children of his neighborhood to a day out at Yankee Stadium, about which there is a media report. Muriel gets fed up with Charlie's constant donations and overall simplicity and throws him out of their apartment, asking for a divorce. That same evening, Yvonne leaves her apartment after her husband shows up and threatens to stay until he gets $50,000 from her. Quite innocently, Charlie and Yvonne run into each other at the Plaza Hotel and, unintentionally, end up spending the night together. During divorce proceedings between Muriel and Charlie, Muriel demands all the money that Charlie won for herself. Charlie doesn't mind giving his share of the money but Muriel also wants the money he gave Yvonne, and Charlie's steadfast unwillingness to do so causes Muriel to take the case to court. The jury decides in her favor. Yvonne, feeling guilty at costing Charlie all his money, runs out of court in tears and tries to keep away from him. But the cop, by now hopelessly in love with the waitress, finds her at the diner and tells her that the money means nothing to him, and they declare their love for each other. While ruminating about their future at the diner and considering a possible move to Buffalo, they are gracious enough to provide a hungry and poor customer some soup, which he eats at the Charlie Lang Table. The poor customer is none other than the disguised undercover photojournalist Angel Dupree (Isaac Hayes), who takes photos of the couple and in the next day's newspapers publicly eulogies their willingness to feed a hungry and poor man even in their darkest hour. Just as Charlie and Yvonne are moving out of town, the citizens of New York City, no doubt touched by the generosity of the couple, send "the cop and the waitress" thousands of letters with tips totaling over $600,000, enough to help pay their debts. After Muriel gets remarried, her new husband Jack Gross flees the country with all the money from their checking account, revealing himself to be a con man. She then has no option but to move in with her mother in the Bronx and go back to her old manicure job. Eddie Biasi, now divorced from Yvonne, ends up becoming a taxi driver. Charlie happily returns to the police force and Yvonne reclaims the diner. At the film's end, Charlie and Yvonne get married and begin their honeymoon by taking off from Central Park in a hot air balloon that bears the New York Post headline "Cop Weds Waitress".

The story concerns a small group of 20-somethings who live and work in Seattle. Some of them are friends, even close friends, while others are acquaintances who inhabit the periphery of the plot. Linda Powell works for an organization that deals with environmental concerns. She meets a young U-Dub (Univ of Washington) student, Luiz, who is a foreigner. She's flattered by the attention and the two begin dating. Linda is quite happy, telling a friend that the relationship feels new and exciting and that she and Luiz don't seem to be hindered by the usual problems that couples faced or that she faced in the past. She goes so far as to give him the remote control for her garage parking space, saying he's always welcome. At a later point, Luiz tells her he's having problems with his student visa and has to leave the country for a few days to straighten it out. Linda goes out to a rock club with her friend and spots Luiz at the bar with another woman. Linda leaves upset, being consoled outside by her friend. We're introduced to Steve Dunne while he talks to the audience in his kitchen. Steve lives in an east side apartment building where several of the story's other characters live. Steve laments a recent breakup with a girlfriend and relates a few anecdotes about his own life like the time a doctor tried to explain how couples have children or how his father told him "Have fun, stay single", when Steve was only eight years old. Steve works for a firm that does city planning and hopes that one day his ambitious personal product of building a luxurious commuter train for the city's workforce may be a way to solve the problems of pollution and traffic problems created by drivers. By chance, Steve sees Linda in a rock club and approaches her. Over the din of the live band, Alice in Chains, he tries to convince her he's not a sleazy guy looking only for sex by saying that he doesn't have an "act". She counters, saying that "not having an act *is* [his] act." Steve walks away rejected. A few days later, while at a magazine rack with his friend Dave, Steve bumps into Linda again and the two have a conversation. They go on a date and seem to enjoy each other's company, however, Steve, feeling somewhat doubtful and insecure, doesn't call her back for four days. He still convinces her to give him one more chance and while talking at Steve's apartment, Steve tries to give her the remote to his garage parking space. Linda is immediately defensive, saying she has to leave, reminded of how she gave her remote to Luiz. She goes home and as she's settling in, Steve rings her doorbell. Overwhelmed, Linda jumps into his arms and kisses him, taking him upstairs to her place. The two have sex and become more serious about each other. After a few weeks, Linda drops a bomb: her period is late. Steve buys several home pregnancy tests and the results come back positive. Steve asks her to marry him. Linda has her doubts and leaves her answer ambiguous. While driving, Linda runs a red light and is violently broadsided by a pickup truck. She goes into shock after a few moments and wakes up in a hospital room with minor injuries, however she has lost the baby. Depressed, she decides to tell Steve she's going to Alaska for a few weeks for her job. The two don't acknowledge it right away, but they're breaking up. Steve becomes very depressed but still soldiers on with work. One of the mayor's aides gets him lunch with the mayor where Steve can pitch his commuter train. The mayor coldly rejects the proposal outright, saying he's seen such ideas before and that Seattlelites love their cars too much. Steve becomes more depressed than ever, quits his job and holes up in his apartment which soon becomes a nightmare of strewn trash and unopened mail. Janet, one of his neighbors and a good friend, visits him and tells him that he needs to snap out of his depression before it consumes him. She gives him a secret knock to let him know she'll be checking up on him in the future. Steve begins to clean up his place and look for another job. While waiting for a response to one of his applications, Janet's secret knock sounds at the door. He opens it to find Linda standing there. She's willing to give their relationship another try. Janet Livermore is a 23-yr-old who works in a downtown coffee shop. She has a boyfriend, Cliff Poncier, the lead singer of a local rock/punk band called Citizen Dick. Cliff works three jobs between gigs, is very dedicated to getting his band a recording contract (even though they're not very popular in the Seattle music scene and often receive negative reviews both for live performances & a recently recorded album) and isn't very attentive to Janet, who's crazy about him. Janet becomes somewhat obsessed with her breast size, especially since Cliff decorates the walls of his apartment with posters of big-breasted women. She asks Cliff if her breasts are too small & he gives her an honest "Sometimes." She makes an appointment with a plastic surgeon and the two work out a computer model of what size she'd like to be. When she goes for the procedure, Steve takes her and she tells him what she's looking for in a man; someone who has their own place, a steady job, is responsible and appreciates her and who'll say "God bless you" when she sneezes. Steve tells her it's a "tall order" and she says she's narrowed the list down considerably to someone who will say "God bless you" when she sneezes. She later puts Cliff to that test, issuing a fake sneeze while sitting next to him and he coldly hands her a box of tissues asking her not to get him sick before his next gig. The doctor surprises her with what he calls a first of his career: he tells her he thinks she doesn't need the surgery and that if Cliff can't appreciate her for who she is then he doesn't deserve her. He also tells her he's attracted to her but she very kindly turns him down, saying he's a doctor and handsome and should be able to attract lots of beautiful women. Janet decides to break up with Cliff and makes the best of her single life, regrouping and enjoying her solitude. Cliff tries to win her back by placing rose petals arranged in her name in her kitchen and putting a new stereo in her car. (When Cliff demonstrates how the remote works, he turns the volume up so loud that it shatters all the windows in the car.) Another of Steve's neighbors, Debbie, is also looking for love and romance and uses a gift certificate she'd gotten from her friends for a video dating service -- they originally got it for her as a gag gift. A budding socialite, Debbie has the video made (the director is played by Tim Burton in a cameo) and receives videos from several candidates, some of whom are desperate, others who are pretentious. She narrows the field to one guy, Jamie, who is a bike riding enthusiast and seems genuine. Debbie goes a overboard, buying an expensive bike, a gaudy riding outfit and makes a date with Jamie at a posh waterfront restaurant. On the big day, however, Debbie goes to the wrong location of the restaurant and misses Jamie entirely. She rides home to see if Jamie left any messages and finds him there talking happily with her roommate Pam, whom he knew from college. Debbie is immediately jealous and accuses Pam of stealing her date. Since Pam has never been very fond of Debbie, the two start a loud argument that Jamie overhears. Debbie demands that Pam pay her money equivalent to the cost of the video. Jamie decides to retreat from them both. Spurned, Debbie takes a vacation she'd been planning in Cabo San Lucas. On the flight down she sits next to a precocious pre-teen boy who hits on her. When the flight lands, she meets the boy's single father who compliments her gaudy earrings and Debbie is immediately floored. The two hit it off and begin a long distance relationship that seems promising. Cliff helps Debbie move out when she and Stu decide to move in together. Cliff eventually realizes that he can only win Janet back if he treats her better. He leaves a message on her answering machine, singing a new song he'd written for her. He meets her in the elevator of the building when they're both going out for the evening. He compliments her, sounding very sincere. When she suddenly sneezes, he says "Bless you". The two of them embrace passionately. The film ends with an overhead shot of the apartment building that zooms out to show the Seattle skyline with dozens of young voices chattering about love, relationships and complaints.

A young doctor on his way across the country to a job interview crashes his car in a small town and is sentenced to work for several days at the town hospital. Benjamin Stone is a young doctor driving to L.A., where he is interviewing for a high-paying job as a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He gets off the highway to avoid a traffic jam, but gets lost and ends up crashing into a fence in the small town of Grady. He is sentenced to 32 hours of community service at the local hospital. All he wants is to serve the sentence, get his car fixed and get moving, but gradually the locals become attached to the new doctor, and he falls for the pretty ambulance driver, Lou. Will he leave? —Sami Al-Taher <staher2000@yahoo.com> A young male doctor stumbles in a small town as he is on his way to a job interview. He is stuck there and ordered to work at the town hospital. During his time, he gets to know the whole town and the true definitions of multiple things along the way. —RECB3