Zabka, William

Just One of the Guys

Though marketed as a raunchy teen sex comedy à la Porky's, Just One of the Guys is an amusing and well-acted comic riff on gender roles. Believing that she's lost a journalism contest because she's a woman, high school student Joyce Hyser disguises herself as a boy in order to see how the other half lives. Her investigation leads her to discover some interesting truths about how men and women treat each other in social and romantic situations. The screenplay by coproducers Jeff Franklin (a veteran TV scribe) and Dennis Feldman nicely balances the sex-driven gags with more character-driven material, which is well delivered by Hyser, Clayton Rohner as her eccentric pal, and especially Billy Jacoby as her perpetually aroused brother; the capable cast also includes Sherilyn Fenn and Arye Gross. Eighties music fans should also appreciate the soundtrack, which features tracks by Berlin, Lindsay Buckingham, and the Stooges. --Paul Gaita

She's 18, she's beautiful and she's about to set off an epidemic of comic hysteria when she enrolls in a new high school as JUST ONE OF THE GUYS. Stars Golden Globe nominated actress Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks").

The Karate Kid (Special Edition)

A fatherless teenager faces his moment of truth in The Karate Kid. Daniel (Ralph Macchio) arrives in Los Angeles from the east coast and faces the difficult task of making new friends. However, he becomes the object of bullying by the Cobras, a menacing gang of karate students, when he strikes up a relationship with Ali (Elisabeth Shue), the Cobra leader's ex-girlfriend. Eager to fight back and impress his new girlfriend but afraid to confront the dangerous gang, Daniel asks his handyman Miyagi (Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita), whom he learns is a master of the martial arts, to teach him karate. Miyagi teaches Daniel that karate is a mastery over the self, mind, and body and that fighting is always the last answer to a problem. Under Miyagi's guidance, Daniel develops not only physical skills but also the faith and self-confidence to compete despite tremendous odds as he encounters the fight of his life in the exciting finale to this entertaining film.

John G. Avildsen not only directed Rocky, he tried remaking it over the years in a dozen different ways. One of them was this popular 1984 drama about a new kid (Ralph Macchio) in town targeted by karate-wielding bullies until he gets a new mentor: the handyman (Pat Morita) from his apartment building, who teaches him self-confidence and fighting skills. The screen partnership of Macchio's motor-mouth character and Morita's reserved father figure works well, and the script allows for the younger man to develop sympathy for the painful memories of his teacher. But the film's real engine, as with Rocky, is the fighting, and there's plenty of that. Elisabeth Shue is on board as the girl the klutzy Macchio dreams of winning. --Tom Keogh

Back To School (Extra-Curricular Edition)

In the mid-1980s, standup comic Rodney Dangerfield underwent a renewed wave of popularity, finding a surprisingly enthusiastic baby-boomer audience. What else to do but make a movie that shows off Dangerfield's alternately knowing and boorish humor? This may not be on the AFI list of great films, but it delivers laughs aplenty in its story of a rough-edged tycoon who made his fortune in clothes for the stout and tall and decides to attend college in order to be closer to his son (Keith Gordon). There's not much plot, but lots of room for Dangerfield's one-line riffs. The goggle-eyed comic veteran displays surprising charm, enough to make his romance with professor Sally Kellerman believable. Look for cameos by late comedian Sam Kinison and author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. --Marshall Fine

Rodney Dangerfield (Caddyshack Meet Wally Sparks) makes the grade with this laugh-riot comedy that's in a class of its own! Higher education will never be the same when co-stars Sally Kellerman Robert Downey Jr. Sam Kinison Ned Beatty and more join the maniac as he takes on the brainiacs! Thornton Melon's (Dangerfield) son is a college misfit so Thornton's lending some fatherly support...by enrolling as a fellow freshman! Who cares if the owner of the "Tall and Fat" clothing empire never finished high school? Thornton's pockets are deep enough to buy a ticket to class...and hire NASA to do his homework! But when he ticks off his professorand then steals his girlfriendThornton takes things just a little too far. Now he'll have to hit the booksinstead of his bank accountor go back to being the world's wealthiest dropout! "Dangerfield is sensational" (The Hollywood Reporter) in this howlingly funny comedy that scores an A+!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616083135 Manufacturer No: M108313

Smiley Face

Slacker actress Jane F is having a bad day that is getting more outrageous by the minute. Jane s misadventures begin when she treats herself to a batch of cupcakes left unattended by her psycho roommate (Danny Masterson) that prove not as innocent as they appear. She then bums a ride from her roommate s friend (John Krasinski)and attempts to cross town so she can repay an unforgiving drug dealer attend an audition and somehow replace the precious cupcakes. Enjoy the wild journey as Jane s efforts to get through her day prove an arduous task of epic proportions.System Requirements:Running Time: 85 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF ERRORS Rating: R UPC: 687797112897 Manufacturer No: FLP-11289

National Lampoon's European Vacation

After winning a tour package in a game show, the bickering Griswald family carve a trail of destruction through England (where they knock over Stonehenge), France, Germany, and Italy. Somehow Ellen (Bevery D'Angelo), the mom, gets kidnapped by gangsters, leading to a car chase that reunites the family, despite their differences. It's hard to believe that National Lampoon's European Vacation is only the second of the Vacation movies; it has the exhausted pallor of the last of a long series of sequels, drained of all zest or original ideas. The charmless smirk of Chevy Chase, mechanical in its idiocy, hangs over European Vacation like a death mask. It's hard to believe that this hack was once the funny and sexy hero of Foul Play. D'Angelo keeps her chin up and gives the movie whatever class it may have; she deserves better. --Bret Fetzer

When the Griswalds win a free two-week vacation in Europe they have no idea of the havoc they will create.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 4-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVD

Back to School

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 24-JUN-2003
Media Type: DVD

In the mid-1980s, standup comic Rodney Dangerfield underwent a renewed wave of popularity, finding a surprisingly enthusiastic baby-boomer audience. What else to do but make a movie that shows off Dangerfield's alternately knowing and boorish humor? This may not be on the AFI list of great films, but it delivers laughs aplenty in its story of a rough-edged tycoon who made his fortune in clothes for the stout and tall and decides to attend college in order to be closer to his son (Keith Gordon). There's not much plot, but lots of room for Dangerfield's one-line riffs. The goggle-eyed comic veteran displays surprising charm, enough to make his romance with professor Sally Kellerman believable. Look for cameos by late comedian Sam Kinison and author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. --Marshall Fine

The Karate Kid

John G. Avildsen not only directed Rocky, he tried remaking it over the years in a dozen different ways. One of them was this popular 1984 drama about a new kid (Ralph Macchio) in town targeted by karate-wielding bullies until he gets a new mentor: the handyman (Pat Morita) from his apartment building, who teaches him self-confidence and fighting skills. The screen partnership of Macchio's motor-mouth character and Morita's reserved father figure works well, and the script allows for the younger man to develop sympathy for the painful memories of his teacher. But the film's real engine, as with Rocky, is the fighting, and there's plenty of that. Elisabeth Shue is on board as the girl the klutzy Macchio dreams of winning. --Tom Keogh

Epoch

Canterville Ghost / Power Within 2-DVD Pack

Canterville Ghost
Virginia, a 16-year-old living with her family in an English castle, befriends Sir Simon, a 400-year-old ghost, who confides that he is doomed to haunt the castle forever, unless a "Golden Girl" will travel to the Other World to plead his case before the Angel of Death...

The Power Within
Stan Dryer (Ted Jan Roberts, A Dangerous Place, Magic Kid I & II) is a normal high school teenager until one day a mysterious old man, "Master Yung," appears to him and forces a mystical ring of power on Stan's hand. Yung dies and Stan finds himself with powers he's only dreamed of having. The only catch is he's being stalked at every turn by evil "Vonn," (William Zabka, Karate Kid I & II) possessor of the twin ring of power. When Vonn kidnaps Stan's girlfriend, Stan must fight a horde of Ninjas with the help of Yung as a spirit guide. In a life and death struggle with Vonn, Stan loses the ring and must learn if the power exists in the ring or if...THE POWER is WITHIN.

Python

Anaconda had the grace to be campily bad; Python, a flagrant rip-off, just sucks. A military transport carrying a whopper of a snake crashes somewhere in the mountains near a sweet little town, where two brothers live. One of them is an avid cyclist who's come back after his father's death to help his brother with the family business--a metal-engraving company that, for some reason, has enormous vats of acid. The snake starts eating people; when their semidigested remains are found, suspicion falls on the cyclist, because only he would have access to the acid necessary to burn the victims to the bone in this disgusting manner. (It's a particularly tacky detail that a lesbian couple are the first victims of the enormous, phallic snake.) Anyhow, some special unit of the government comes in, including our supposed stars Casper Van Dien (with a cheesy mustache and a cheesier accent) and Robert Englund (of Nightmare on Elm Street fame). In various incomprehensible action sequences, they prove to be incompetent, and it's only our stalwart bicyclist and a sturdy young deputy who save the day. Python is terribly written, terribly acted, and terribly directed and features mediocre special effects (the snake is never the same size from scene to scene). Jenny McCarthy has a cameo, for those who care about such things. --Bret Fetzer

Scientist Dr. Anton Rudolph (Englund) has engineered the perfect killing machine - the world's first massive, genetically enhanced python. Mistakenly unleashed in a small American town, this unstoppable creature with a voracious appetite is raging out of control. As the massive python gobbles up the locals one by one, it's up to Special Agent Parker (Van Dien) to conquer nature's ulitmate terror. If you enjoyed movies like Lake Placid and Anaconda, you'll eat up PYTHON.