"apollo-13"

I’ll never forget the segment on “60 Minutes” a couple of years ago, when Morley Safer interviewed our most famous living historian, David McCullough.

Please don’t let a super-sized screen, nor that Best Picture Oscar (over “Pulp Fiction,” for crying out loud!), nor that $600 million-plus box office take convince you that “Gump" is anything but a treacly mediocrity. While it has moments of sweetness and charm, it is absurdly overrated.

It can be hard to come up with activities that satisfy and entertain everyone. That favorite family board game may get old after awhile. Once again, great, timeless movies can help.

The movies' much beloved Everyman, Tom Hanks, turns 59 today, and he seems to be mellowing beautifully.

With the coming of May, parents reflexively steel themselves for the end of the school year, and that interim period before the kids get immersed in their various summer experiences and activities.