Martha Plimpton

Two old men - a white former radical, and a black retired janitor - strike up an unusual and funny friendship on a park bench in New York, where they deal with family, drug dealers, and the pitfalls of age. Old Nat Moyer is a talker, a philosopher, and a troublemaker with a fanciful imagination. His companion is Midge Carter, who is half-blind, but still the super of an apartment house. When he is threatened with retirement, Nat battles on his behalf. Nat also takes on his daughter, a drug dealer, and a mugger in this appealing version of a really 'odd couple'. —Derek Picken <dpicken@email.msn.com>

Willie Conway (Timothy Hutton) finishes the last few notes of a set at an NYC bar, and counts his tips from a glass on the piano. He takes his change and heads out into the cold winter night to take a Greyhound coach across the border for a High School reunion back where he grew up. His old twenty-something High School buddies haven't moved on with their lives. Tommy 'Birdman' Rowland (Matt Dillon) and Paul Kirkwood (Michael Rapaport) own a snow-plough business, and hire their friend Kev (Max Perlich) to lend a hand. They each have their issues - Bird, the old High School quarterback, is having an affair with his old High School sweetheart, Darian Smalls (Lauren Holly) ... who happens to be married, and has a daughter. Paul couldn't commit to his ex, Jan (Martha Plimpton), but when she moved on to be with 'Victor the meat-cutter', he is filled with jealousy and blocks her driveway with snow every night. Michael 'Mo' Morris (Noah Emmerich) is the only old buddy who has matured - he is married with 2 kids, and is content with life it seems. Mo picks up Willie from the coach station and drops him off home. He has a lonely house since his mom died - leaving behind a heart-broken old man, and Willie's wayward younger brother Bobby (David Arquette). Outside, Willie sees for the first time his young neighbor, Marty (Natalie Portman), making a snowman. After hanging out with his pals, next day he meets Marty again - who gives him some snow-shovelling advice, which breaks the ice (get it? ok, not that great) in their friendship. She likes his burns. Paul buys a ring for his ex-girlfriend Jan and proposes. But it's too little, too late. And the diamond has a brown tint to it. she flat refuses, and he is heart-broken. That night, the old friends meet at a reopened bar in town, managed by Stanley 'Stinky' Womack (a much slimmer Pruitt Taylor Vince). Already Paul argues with Birdman, who doesn't take kindly to his advice, and then the others. Next day, Marty and Willie meet again. She asks if he has a girlfriend. He tells her that he is seeing somebody - a girl called Tracy. Marty asks if they have plans to get married. Willie has been reluctant to commit, and doesn't want to stick around to hear relationship advice from a 13year old. Meanwhile, Tommy's girlfriend, Sharon (Mira Sorvino), has had another jealous fight with Tommy (she knows about Darian). She asks her friends for advice. They tell her to ditch him, but instead, as it's his birthday soon, she wants to try one more time and salvage the relationship. They reluctantly agree to help her throw a surprise party. The old friends, including Mo, are back in the bar again when in walks Stanley's cousin, Andera (Uma Thurman - what a cast!! Who was the casting agent on this one, again?!). The men all fall for her instantly. They down shots, and Willie is asked to play something. After a little warm-up, the boys break into "Sweet Caroline". Next day, Birdman and Willie are invited to a long, and random, lecture/monologue by Gina (Rosie O'Donnell) about the virtues of real women. Back home, Willie is jealous when he sees that Marty has suddenly got a boyfriend. Sharon throws the surprise birthday party for Tommy. Things are going great - until Darian shows up, drunk, and makes a move on Tommy. Sharon and her friends leave. Tommy drives Darian home, and she makes a move again but Tommy turns her down. Darian is angry, revealing her true character. Instead Tommy tries to patch things up with Sharon, but it's too late. Clearing up after the party, Willie opens up to Mo about his feelings for Marty. Mo puts him straight. Willie is having cold-feet about taking things to the next level with his girlfriend. He knows Marty will be stunning in 10 years time, but it's the beer talking. Willie and Mo head off to the frozen lake the next day with Mo's kids. Willie leaves him to it and joins Paul and Kev in an ice-fishing shack. When he leaves for air, he sees Marty skating with her friends. He goes to say 'hi'. As they talk, he hears that she has finished things with her boyfriend, Andrew, because she has found someone better - Willie. She falls into his arms. Willie is embarrassed, but a little giddy. Mo almost falls over in shock. Marty asks him to wait for her until she is 18, in 5 years time. But Willie tells her that it would be unfair to wait - she still has a lot of maturing to do and in 5 years will have forgotten about him, while he'll still be waiting. He doesn't want to be the Winnie the Pooh to her Christopher Robbin - as he knows that is how the story ended, when Christopher outgrew Pooh. She skates away. Paul somehow manages to score a date with Andera. He takes her to a bar - the same one which Jan is at the bar with Victor. Andera, as a favour, flirts with him - but when Paul tries to score a kiss she smacks him and leaves. She walks home alone, turning down an advance from Tommy on the way. Paul is still upset, and gives Willie a talk about why he prefers models - the promise of a better life. Meanwhile Tommy meets Darian in the library, who asks him to go to the reunion, where things will be like they were before. That night, Willie drowns his sorrows at the bar. He is joined by Andera. After two unsuccessful attempts to leave with him, she gives in and they go to the ice shack. Andera has a boyfriend. Willie, suddenly forgetting his feelings for Tracy -- and Marty -- says he is jealous. After another unsuccessful attempt, she leaves - and heads home to Chicago the next day. Tracy arrives from New York. She is a big hit with Willie's old man and Bobby. Willie has feelings for her again. Marty is heart-broken. Willie has kind words for her -- he wants to keep in touch whatever happens, because he knows she will grow up to be an amazing person. The guys have a pre-reunion party at Mo's. Tommy has decided to do the right thing and avoid Darian - and miss the reunion. Instead he heads down to the bar - and bumps into Steve, Darian's husband, and his frat buddies. Meanwhile Darian is at the reunion, alone. She is confronted by a man who had/has a weight problem, and says that although she was something to look at, she was as mean as a snake. After he refuses to be bought a drink, suddenly Steve opens up and tells him he knows about what has happened with his wife. They are going to settle it outside - Tommy doesn't believe Steve to be a man to fight his own battles. After a little insult he leaves ... and is followed by the four men. He gets in a few good punches, but is smacked over the head with a rock and then held while each man gets a free punch, and then kicked while he lies on the ground. He is found by the barman, who phones Mo. The boys race over to the bar to find a badly-beaten Tommy. Immediately they get back into the truck and head over to Steve's house. Steve calls his friends. Mo threatens Steve -- his friends show, but Willie thinks quickly and rams the frat boys' car into some snow. Mo is about to beat Steve when his little daughter shows up and asks what is wrong. Mo can't do it and leaves. As they leave, Darian drives towards the house to deal with the mess she has made. Tommy is taken to hospital where he need stitches and has a few broken ribs, but generally is ok. Sharon stops round and takes pity on him. That night, Paul, overcome with emotion, and having learnt that Jan and Victor are engaged, decides to clear her driveway from snow, for a change, as an act of kindness. The next day Willie stops round to check on Tommy and to say goodbye as he has decided to leave and head back to NY with Tracy. Sharon has stayed with Tommy overnight. Willie tells Tommy not to mess it up this time. Tommy is still a little reluctant to visit - he'll never leave the town. Willie and Tracy pack the car with luggage. Willie introduces Tracy to Marty, then says goodbye to Marty one last time and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Paul shows up to wave them off. Paul recognises Marty as "the little neighborhood Lolita", she has a few words for the-good-for-nothing High School buddy as well. Paul tells Willie not to forget about them, even though "nothing changes in the Ridge but the seasons!" As they pull away they run past Kev, who tells them to 'be cool forever', and then out of town to "Sweet Caroline". JT, HowDoesTheMovieEnd.com

Dorothy Parker remembers the heyday of the Algonquin Round Table, a circle of friends whose barbed wit, like hers, was fueled by alcohol and flirted with despair.

Four Buckman siblings attempt to raise their children - each in their own different style - and deal with the joys and sorrows that the process brings.

The Goonies, a group of friends living in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon, face foreclosure on their families' homes from the expanding Astoria Country Club. On one of their last days their morale sinks particularly low due to Mikey's older brother having failed his driver's license exam, thwarting their plans to "cruise the coast in style" during their "last Goonies weekend." While rummaging through the Walshs' attic, they find an old newspaper clipping, a Spanish map, and an artifact relating to a rumor of a lost but not forgotten pirate treasure somewhere in the area. Hearing the call of adventure, Mikey tries to persuade his friends to join him in search for the treasure hoarded by a pirate named One-Eyed Willie. Initially reluctant, the group eventually decides to evade the authority of Mikey's older brother, Brandon, and escape for one last "Goonie adventure". They head down the coast and stumble upon a derelict seaside restaurant that seems to match coordinates set by the map and an old doubloon, unaware that the Fratellis, a family of fugitives, are using the restaurant as their hideout. After first encountering the family, the Goonies come back after the Fratellis have left and discover their criminal intents, and send Chunk, the group's clumsy, heavy-set dreamer and teller of tall tales, to get help. However, the Fratellis return before they can leave, forcing the Goonies to use a cavern underneath the restaurant to escape. The Fratellis capture Chunk and interrogate him, learning nothing until a pack of bats burst out of the cavern beneath the restaurant. Chunk is placed in the same room with the forsaken and deformed Fratelli brother, Sloth, while the rest of the Fratellis enter the cavern and follow the Goonies' trail. As the Goonies traverse the cavern, Mikey discovers that it matches up with the map and convinces the rest of the group to continue to follow it to find the treasure. They overcome many deadly traps set by One-Eyed Willie, and eventually arrive at a large underground cavern and a lagoon where Willie's ship, the Inferno, lies waiting. While others begin to fill their pockets with the riches on the ship, Mikey finds Willie's skeleton, and reverently acknowledges him as the "first Goonie", leaving part of the treasure with him as tribute. However, as the Goonies exit the hold, they are caught by the Fratellis, who take their treasure and force the kids to walk the plank. The Goonies are saved by the timely arrival of Chunk and Sloth, now close friends, who help the rest of the group to shore. With the children no longer a threat, the Fratellis ransack the rest of the ship, including the share of the treasure Mikey left for Willie. This sets off a final booby trap, causing the cave to begin collapsing. The Goonies flee through a hole in the cave, finding themselves on a beach. Two passing policemen spot them and call in for help. The Goonies are soon reunited with their parents while the Fratellis are arrested and Chunk offers to take Sloth into his home. As Mikey frets about the end of their last adventure, Rosalita, the Walshs' maid, discovers that Mikey's marble bag contains a large handful of jewels taken from the ship. Mikey's father quickly estimates that its value is more than enough to save everyone's homes. As the families celebrate, they spot the unmanned Inferno, now free of the cave, sailing away.

After serving time for a murder he didn't commit, all Billy wants to do is to reconnect with his daughter. However, some loose ends, like the whereabouts of the stolen loot, just won't let him go.