The two-disc edition of Sin City easily makes the earlier single-disc theatrical-cut release obsolete by including the regular theatrical cut on the first disc, recutting the movie into four extended segments on the second disc (separated by story line), then piling on an impressive load of bonus features. But there's a catch. Billed as "Recut, Extended, Unrated," with "over 20 minutes" of new footage, the new set's four separate stories are extended by only about 6.5 total minutes of movie action (see details below in "What's New"); the rest of the added running time is the splashy new title shots (named by the title of the story or book) and the four minutes of credits that run at the end of each segment. Each addition makes the movie even closer to the comic books, and these extended segments are generally preferable to the theatrical equivalents (unfortunately, there's no Play All option), but don't expect the same impact as Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings extended editions. And although this version is unrated, the only risqué addition is a bit of violence from Miho that's no worse than the rest of the crazy violence in the film.

How Are the Bonus Features?
Robert Rodriguez has always loved DVDs, so the bonus features are extensive. On the first disc, there is somehow room for the theatrical cut of the film with its DTS track (the extended versions have only Dolby 5.1), two commentary tracks, an alternate audio track with a live audience in Austin, Texas, an interactive map of characters and locations, and 47 minutes of featurettes covering Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino, cars, costumes, props, and special effects. The first commentary is Rodriguez and Miller discussing the concepts and the cast. The second commentary is mostly by Rodriguez, but Tarantino drops in briefly for the scene he directed (with Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro in the car), as does an enthusiastic Bruce Willis for his segment.

The Tarantino scene gets a lot of attention on the second disc as well, in a 14-minute take in which he can be heard coaching the actors. Also on the disc are Rodriguez's usual "flic school (among the topics is how scenes were created by merging footage of actors who never actually met), footage of Bruce Willis's band performing in Austin at the time of the shooting, and another Rodriguez cooking school (this time it's breakfast tacos). But the most interesting feature is the "green screen version" of the film: the entire film as it was shot in front of the green screen, sped up to play in only 12 minutes. You can see the actors (in color!) interacting only with the props and each other. Last, there's a DVD-sized complete comic book of The Hard Goodbye.

What's New in the Extended Version?
"The Customer Is Always Right" (the opening sequence with Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton) has no new footage, but now goes straight into the one-minute epilogue with Hartnett and Alexis Bledel that closed the theatrical cut. "The Hard Goodbye" (with Mickey Rourke as "Marv" ) has two new sequences totaling about two minutes: Marv encounters his mother and finds his gun, and talks to Weevil in the club. In "The Big Fat Kill" (with Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro), some short dialogue is restored, along with another wicked slice by Miho (Devon Aoki)—about a minute total. "That Yellow Bastard" (with Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba) has about 3.5 new minutes: there are more visitors to Hartigan's hospital bed, including his wife and a nurse; Carla Gugino's Lucille character comes to assist Hartigan when he wants to get out of jail (probably the best addition); and Mr. Shlubb and Mr. Klump have some more lines. —David Horiuchi

"The Bride" (Uma Thurman) gets her satisfaction—and so do we—in Quentin Tarantino's "roaring rampage of revenge," Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Where Vol. 1 was a hyper-kinetic tribute to the Asian chop-socky grindhouse flicks that have been thoroughly cross-referenced in Tarantino's film-loving brain, Vol. 2—not a sequel, but Part Two of a breathtakingly cinematic epic—is Tarantino's contemporary martial-arts Western, fueled by iconic images, music, and themes lifted from any source that Tarantino holds dear, from the action-packed cheapies of William Witney (one of several filmmakers Tarantino gratefully honors in the closing credits) to the spaghetti epics of Sergio Leone. Tarantino doesn't copy so much as elevate the genres he loves, and the entirety of Kill Bill is clearly the product of a singular artistic vision, even as it careens from one influence to another. Violence erupts with dynamic impact, but unlike Vol. 1, this slower grand finale revels in Tarantino's trademark dialogue and loopy longueurs, reviving the career of David Carradine (who plays Bill for what he is: a snake charmer), and giving Thurman's Bride an outlet for maternal love and well-earned happiness. Has any actress endured so much for the sake of a unique collaboration? As the credits remind us, "The Bride" was jointly created by "Q&U," and she's become an unforgettable heroine in a pair of delirious movie-movies (Vol. 3 awaits, some 15 years hence) that Tarantino fans will study and love for decades to come. —Jeff Shannon

Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, Vol. 1 is trash for connoisseurs. From his opening gambit (including a "Shaw-Scope" logo and gaudy '70s-vintage "Our Feature Presentation" title card) to his cliffhanger finale (a teasing lead-in to 2004's Vol. 2), Tarantino pays loving tribute to grindhouse cinema, specifically the Hong Kong action flicks and spaghetti Westerns that fill his fervent brain—and this frequently breathtaking movie—with enough cinematic references and cleverly pilfered soundtrack cues to send cinephiles running for their reference books. Everything old is new again in Tarantino's humor-laced vision: he steals from the best while injecting his own oft-copied, never-duplicated style into what is, quite simply, a revenge flick, beginning with the near-murder of the Bride (Uma Thurman), pregnant on her wedding day and left for dead by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (or DiVAS)—including Lucy Liu and the unseen David Carradine (as Bill)—who become targets for the Bride's lethal vengeance. Culminating in an ultraviolent, ultra-stylized tour-de-force showdown, Tarantino's fourth film is either brilliantly (and brutally) innovative or one of the most blatant acts of plagiarism ever conceived. Either way, it's hyperkinetic eye-candy from a passionate film-lover who clearly knows what he's doing. —Jeff Shannon

Luc Besson Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman and Danny Aiello star in Leon: The Professional, a go-for-broke thriller about a professional assassin whose work becomes dangerously personal. Calling himself a "cleaner", the mysterious Leon (Reno) is New York's top hitman. When his next-door neighbors are murdered, Leon becomes the unwilling guardian of the family's sole survivor - 12-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman), but Mathilda doesn't just want protection; she wants revenge. Training her in the deadly tricks of his trade, Leon helps her track the psychotic agent (Oldman) who murdered her family.

Steven Kemper, Christian Wagner, John Woo Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/20/2008 Run time: 140 minutes Rating: R

Masahiro Hirakubo, Danny Boyle With its hallucinatory visions of crawling dead babies and a grungy plunge into the filthiest toilet in Scotland, you might not think Trainspotting could have been one of the best movies of 1996, but Danny Boyle's film about unrepentant heroin addicts in Edinburgh is all that and more. That doesn't make it everybody's cup of tea (so unsuspecting viewers beware), but the film's blend of hyperkinetic humor and real-life horror is constantly fascinating, and the entire cast (led by Ewan McGregor and Full Monty star Robert Carlyle) bursts off of the screen in a supernova of outrageous energy. Adapted by John Hodge from the acclaimed novel by Irving Welsh, the film was a phenomenal hit in England, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) the U.S. For all of its comedic vitality and invigorating filmmaking, the movie is no ode to heroin, nor is it a straight-laced cautionary tale. Trainspotting is just a very honest and well-made film about the nature of addiction, and it doesn't pull any punches when it is time to show the alternating pleasure and pain of substance abuse.

Troy Duffy After two Irish brothers in South Boston accidentally kill members of the mafia and are treated like heroes, they decide they have been called upon by

Tony Goldwyn Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 14-APR-2009
Media Type: Blu-Ray

Michael Mann When Al Pacino and Robert De Niro squarer off, HEAT sizzles. A tale of a brilliant L.A. cop (Pacino) following the trail from a deadly armed robbery to a crew headed by an equally brilliant master thief (De Niro). Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman co-star.

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen A web of blackmail, infidelity, and espionage develops when a computer disc containing an ex-CIA agent's memoirs winds up in the possession of two fit

Roderick Jaynes, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen UPC:786936750034
DESCRIPTION: Violence and mayhem erupt after a man stumbles upon a bloody crime scene, a stash of heroine and $2 million in cash in Miramax Films No Country For Old Men. Acclaimed filmmakers The Coen Brothers deliver their most viscerally compelling and ambitious film yet in this gripping crime saga in which money is as irresistible as bad choices are inevitable, and where every decision has potentially catastrophic consequences. Adapted from the novel by Pulitzer prize-winning author, Cormac McCarthy and starring an acclaimed cast led by Academy Award® winner Tommy Lee Jones, this mesmerizing game of cat and mouse will have you on the edge of your seat until the nail biting end.

Guy Ritchie When jewel thief, Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro), takes a slight detour to London on route to delivering a huge stolen diamond to his boss in New York, he unwittingly sets off an avalanche of sinister and comic events that wind their way through the rough and tumble worlds of bare-knuckle boxing, Irish gypsies, pawn shops, pig farming and... a stray dog. Snatch, Guy Ritchie's brilliant follow up to his critically acclaimed Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, exposes us to his hip and helter-skelter view of London's gangster underbelly. Ritchie's characteristic fast-paced and constantly twisting story features a madcap ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters, including Jason Statham, an unlicensed boxing promoter; Stephen Graham, his bumbling Sidekick; Alan Ford, the local underworld kingpin; Dennis Farina, Franky's no-nonsense boss; Vinnie Jones, a legendary thug; Rade Sherbedgia, a psycho double-crossing Russian; and Brad Pitt, in a hilarious turn as a fast-talking gypsy bare-knuckle boxer.

Guy Ritchie Streetwise charmer Eddie (Nick Moran) enters the biggest card game of his life with the savings of his three best friends: Tom (Jason Flemyng), Bacon (Jason Statham) and Soap (Dexter Fletcher). But he leaves the table owing his underworld boss Hatchet Harry half a million and has a week to come up with the money. Now Eddie and his friends must outsmart and outgun all types of lowlifes on their way to pay off Harry before time runs out.

David Frankel Based on the hilarious best-selling novel, this sinfully funny movie starring Academy Award(r) winner Meryl Streep* and Anne Hathaway is "sensationally entertaining in every way" (maxim). As assistant to impossibly demanding New York fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly (Streep), young Andy Sachs (Hathaway) has landed a job that "a million girls would die for." Unfortunately, her heaven-sent appointment as Miranda's personal whipping girl just might be the death of her!

Quentin Tarantino

Paul Walker, Devon Aoki, Rob Cohen, John Singleton, Justin Lin

Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Quentin Tarantino Although Quentin Tarantino has cherished Enzo G. Castellari's 1978 "macaroni" war flick The Inglorious Bastards for most of his film-geek life, his own Inglourious Basterds is no remake. Instead, as hinted by the Tarantino-esque misspelling, this is a lunatic fantasia of WWII, a brazen re-imagining of both history and the behind-enemy-lines war film subgenre. There's a Dirty Not-Quite-Dozen of mostly Jewish commandos, led by a Tennessee good ol' boy named Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who reckons each warrior owes him one hundred Nazi scalps—and he means that literally. Even as Raine's band strikes terror into the Nazi occupiers of France, a diabolically smart and self-assured German officer named Landa (Christoph Waltz) is busy validating his own legend as "The Jew Hunter." Along the way, he wipes out the rural family of a grave young girl (Melanie Laurent) who will reappear years later in Paris, dreaming of vengeance on an epic scale.

Now, this isn't one more big-screen comic book. As the masterly opening sequence reaffirms, Tarantino is a true filmmaker, with a deep respect for the integrity of screen space and the tension that can accumulate in contemplating two men seated at a table having a polite conversation. IB reunites QT with cinematographer Robert Richardson (who shot Kill Bill), and the colors and textures they serve up can be riveting, from the eerie red-hot glow of a tabletop in Adolf Hitler's den, to the creamy swirl of a Parisian pastry in which Landa parks his cigarette. The action has been divided, Pulp Fiction-like, into five chapters, each featuring at least one spellbinding set-piece. It's testimony to the integrity we mentioned that Tarantino can lock in the ferocious suspense of a scene for minutes on end, then explode the situation almost faster than the eye and ear can register, and then take the rest of the sequence to a new, wholly unanticipated level within seconds.

Again, be warned: This is not your "Greatest Generation," Saving Private Ryan WWII. The sadism of Raine and his boys can be as unsavory as the Nazi variety; Tarantino's latest cinematic protégé, Eli (director of Hostel) Roth, is aptly cast as a self-styled "golem" fond of pulping Nazis with a baseball bat. But get past that, and the sometimes disconcerting shifts to another location and another set of characters, and the movie should gather you up like a growing floodtide. Tarantino told the Cannes Film Festival audience that he wanted to show "Adolf Hitler defeated by cinema." Cinema wins. —Richard T. Jameson

David Fincher FIGHT CLUB - Blu-Ray Movie

Chow Yun-Fat, Li Li, Ang Lee Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is so many things: an historical epic on a grand scale, an Asian martial-arts flick with both great effects and fantastic fighting (choreographed by The Matrix's guru Yuen Wo Ping), a story of magic, revenge and power played with a posse of star-crossed lovers thrown in for good measure. Set during the Qing dynasty (the late 19th century), the film follows the fortunes of righteous warriors Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien (Asian superstars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh, respectively) whose love for one another has lain too long unspoken. When Li Mu Bai's legendary sword Green Destiny is stolen by wilful aristocrat's daughter Jen (exquisite newcomer Zhang Ziyi), who has been trained in the way of the gangster by Li Mu Bai's arch-rival Jade Fox, the warriors must fight to recover the mystical blade. The plot takes us all across China, from dens of iniquity and sumptuous palaces to the stark plains of the Western desert. Characters chase each other up walls and across roof and treetops to breathtaking effect, and Tan Dun's haunting, Oscar-winning East-West inflected score. Directed by Taiwanese-born Ang Lee and co-written by his longtime collaborator American James Schamus, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon joins the ranks of the team's slate of high-quality, genre-spanning literary adaptations. Although it superficially seems like a return to Ang's Asian roots, there's a clear throughline connecting this with their earlier, Western films given the thematic focus on propriety and family honour (Sense and Sensibility), repressed emotions (The Ice Storm) and divided loyalties in a time of war (Ride with the Devil). Nonetheless, a film this good needs no prior acquaintance with the director's oeuvre; it stands on its own. The only people who might be dismissive of it are jaded chop-socky fans who will probably feel bored with all the romance. Everyone else will love it. —Leslie Felperin

Denzel Washington, Yul Vazquez, Ridley Scott Denzel Washington, Yul Vazquez, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Ruby Dee, Joe MortonDirector: Ridley Scott

　　1999年，澳门回归中国前。澳门司警马振成（杜汶泽饰）因惹上是非遭停职，警察生涯即将终结。马振成与伙计仍然夜蒲，盲打误撞遇上一名神秘少女张碧欣（梁洛施饰）。张碧欣随之跟着马振成回家，醉酒醒来的马振成以为自己与对方有了一夜情，再加上碧欣声称是他与初恋情人分手后生下的女儿，更加令马振成错愕不已。
　　碧欣因欠租数月以致无家可归，其心爱的狗狗伊莎贝拉亦被无良业主赶走，下落不明。身为父亲的马振成希望能弥补以往的责任，其后碧欣坚决要与马振成同住，令一向放浪的马振成生活顿起变化。
　　为求自保，马振成企图以身犯险令自己得以脱罪，他的好友杜Sir（黄秋生饰）亦屡劝无效。张碧欣欢欣鼓舞地准备与父亲落草，对着同校男生也难掩得意之色。然而渐渐地马振成从张碧欣身上，体会到什么是责任。   

Gabriele Muccino An irs agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/17/2009 Starring: Will Smith Rosario Dawson Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13

Edward Zwick

Peyton Reed Carl Allen decides to lift himself out of feeling blue by embracing life and saying "Yes" to everything for one year.

Donna tries to put the horror of her past behind her on the night of her senior prom, but the deranged psychopath who killed her family three years ag

Ridley Scott The CIAs hunt is on for the mastermind of a wave of terrorist attacks. Roger Ferris is the agencys man on the ground, moving from place to place, scrambling to stay ahead of ever-shifting events. An eye in the sky a satellite link watches Ferris. At the other end of that real-time link is the CIAs Ed Hoffman, strategizing events from thousands of miles away. And as Ferris nears the target, he discovers trust can be just as dangerous as it is necessary for survival. Leonardo DiCaprio (as Ferris) and Russell Crowe (as Hoffman) star in Body of Lies, adapted by William Monahan (The Departed) from the David Ignatius novel. Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Black Hawk Down) directs this impactful tale, orchestrating exciting action sequences and plunging viewers into a bold spy thriller for our time.

Cecilia Dazzi, Cristiano Lucarelli, Francesca Antonelli, Francesca Ferrazzo, Francesco Apolloni, Luca Angeletti, Michela Quattrociocche, Raoul Bova, Rossella Infanti, Veronica Logan, Federico Moccia Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Behind the scenes, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: Niki and her girlfriends are in their last year of high school. Though they must take their finals, they are always into some sort of mischief. Alex, a man of almost thirty-seven, has just been dumped by his long-time girlfriend. A round him revolves a complex, entertaining world: his parents, his married sisters and their children and his three friends each of them already married, but with various distinctive characteristics. Alex has a high-level job at an advertising agency, but the arrival of a driven young go-getter threatens his position in the firm. And that would be the least of it, if he had not met Niki in the morning. Niki is a smart, pretty girl. There is only one problem. She is seventeen. Twenty years younger than Alex. But starting with their morning encounter, nothing will ever be the same &.

Antoine Fuqua WORKING UNDERCOVER IS A JOB. AND AN ATTITUDE. A MAD DOG NARCO COP BLURS THE LINE BETWEEN COP AND CRIMINAL AS HE MENTORS AN IDEALISTIC ROOKIE PARTNER DURING HIS TRAINING DAY. SPECIAL FEATURES: NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE: STUNNING ALTERNATE ENDING: SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH, FRENCH AND SPANISH: AND MUCH MORE.

Mike Judge Follows the adventures of corporate employees who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/20/2009 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R

Roland Emmerich One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with a determinded band of survivors, uniting for one last strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all mankind.

Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark. Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home. Crooked cops. Sexy dames. Desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge. Others lust after redemption. And then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses to care. Their stories — shocking, suspenseful and searing — come to the fore in a new motion picture from co-directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, and special guest director Quentin Tarantino.

Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R

Frank Darabont Studio: Castle Rock Hm Video Release Date: 12/02/2008 Run time: 142 minutes Rating: R

マイケル・ベイ Robert & alfred are rival magicians. When alfred performs the ultimate magic trick robert tries desperately to find out the secret of the trick. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Starring: Hugh Jackman Michael Caine Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg13

Tony Scott Hard-drinking, burnt-out ex-CIA operative John Creasy (Washington) has given up on life—until his friend Rayburn (Oscar winner Christopher Walken) gets him a job as a bodyguard to nine-year-old Pita Ramos (Dakota Fanning). Bit by bit, Creasy begins to reclaim his soul, but when Pita is kidnapped, Creasy unleashes a firestorm of apocalyptic vengeance against everyone responsible.

Ridley Scott Xander cage is an extreme sports athelete recruited by the government on a special mission. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Vin Diesel Samuel L Jackson Run time: 127 minutes Rating: R

Wong Kar-Wai Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 12/16/2008 Run time: 164 minutes Rating: R

Andrew Stanton The highly acclaimed director of FINDING NEMO and the creative storytellers behind CARS and RATATOUILLE transport you to a galaxy not so far away for a new cosmic comedy adventure about a determined robot named WALL-E. After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, the curious and lovable WALL-E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. Join them and a hilarious cast of characters on a fantastic journey across the universe. Transport yourself to a fascinating new world with Disney-Pixar's latest adventure, now even more astonishing on DVD and loaded with bonus features, including the exclusive animated short film BURN-E. WALL-E is a film your family will want to enjoy over and over again.

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/20/2007 Rating: R

Len Wiseman Twelve years after Die Hard with a Vengeance, the third and previous film in the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard finds John McClane (Bruce Willis) a few years older, not any happier, and just as kick-ass as ever. Right after he has a fight with his college-age daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a call comes in to pick up a hacker (Justin Long, a.k.a. the "Apple guy") who might help the FBI learn something about a brief security blip in their systems. Now any Die Hard fan knows that this is when the assassins with foreign accents and high-powered weaponry show up, telling McClane that once again he's stumbled into an assignment that's anything but routine. Once that wreckage has cleared, it is revealed that the hacker is only one of many hackers who are being targeted for extermination after they helped set up a "fire sale," a three-pronged cyberattack designed to bring down the entire country by crippling its transportation, finances, and utilities. That plan is now being put into action by a mysterious team (Timothy Olyphant, Deadwood, and Maggie Q, Mission: Impossible 3) that seems to be operating under the government's noses.

Live Free or Die Hard uses some of the cat-and-mouse elements of Die Hard with a Vengeance along with some of the pick-'em-off-one-by-one elements of the now-classic original movie. And it's the most consistently enjoyable installment of the franchise since the original, with eye-popping stunts (directed by Len Wiseman of the Underworld franchise), good humor, and Willis's ability to toss off a quip while barely alive. There was some controversy over the film's PG-13 rating—there might be less blood than usual, and McClane's famous tag line is somewhat obscured—but there's still has plenty of action and a high body count. Yippee-ki-ay! —David Horiuchi

Beyond Live Free or Die Hard
Live Free or Die Hard on DVD
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Stills from Live Free or Die Hard (click for larger image)

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Quentin Tarantino Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 137 minutes Rating: R

Quentin Tarantino UPC:786936715545
DESCRIPTION: Kill Bill: Volume 1, the critically acclaimed film from groundbreaking writer and director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown), now packs even more of a punch in high definition on Blu-ray disc! Uma Thurman (Pulp Fiction), Lucy Liu (Charlie s Angels, Chicago) and Vivica A. Fox (Two Can Play That Game) star in this astonishing, action-packed motion picture about brutal betrayal and an epic vendetta. Four years after taking a bullet in the head at her own wedding, The Bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and decides it s time for payback...with a vengeance! Determined to finish the kill-or-be-killed fight she didn t start, she hunts down her former boss, Bill (David Carradine), and the deadly squad of international assassins who perpetrated the bloody attack. END

Will Smith, Dash Mihok, Francis Lawrence Will Smith stars in the third adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic science-fiction novel about a lone human survivor in a post-apocalyptic world dominated by vampires. This new version somewhat alters Matheson's central hook, i.e., the startling idea that an ordinary man, Robert Neville, spends his days roaming a desolated city and his nights in a house sealed off from longtime neighbours who have become bloodsucking fiends. In the new film, Smith's Neville is a military scientist charged with finding a cure for a virus that turns people into crazed, hairless, flesh-eating zombies. Failing to complete his work in time, and after enduring a personal tragedy, Neville finds himself alone in Manhattan, his natural immunity to the virus keeping him alive. With an expressive German shepherd, his only companion, Neville is a hunter-gatherer in sunlight, hiding from the mutants at night in his Washington Square town house and methodically conducting experiments in his ceaseless quest to conquer the disease.

The film's first half almost suggests that I Am Legend could be one of the finest movies of 2007. Director Francis Lawrence's extraordinary, computer-generated images of a decaying New York City reveal weeds growing through the cracks of familiar streets that are also overrun by deer and prowled by lions. It's impossible not to be fascinated by such a realistically altered cityscape, reverting to a natural environment, through which Smith moves with a weirdly enviable freedom, offset by his wariness over whatever is lurking in the dark of bank vaults and parking garages. Lawrence and screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman wisely build suspense by withholding images of the monsters until a peak scene of horror well into the story. It must be said, however, that the computer-enhanced creatures don't look half as interesting as they might have had the filmmakers adhered more to Matheson's vampire-nightmare vision. I Am Legend is ultimately noteworthy for Smith's remarkable performance as a man so lonely he talks to mannequins in the shops he frequents. The film's latter half goes too far in portraying Smith's Neville as a pitiable man with a messianic mission, but this lapse into pathos does nothing to take away from the visual and dramatic accomplishments of its first hour. —Tom Keogh

阿部記之

Zene Baker, David Ross Shirley Lyner is your typical suburban student. She studies hard and baby-sits in her spare time to save money for college. But when Gail and Michael Beltran ask her to sit for them, her normal life will become wilder than she could ever imagine. Shirley and Michael begin a dangerous affair and he pays her a big tip to stay quiet. With her new found money and power Shirley decides to take her babysitting service to a whole other level when one of Michael s married buddies learns of his arrangement. With a calendar filled with student-babysitters and more married fathers than she and her friends can manage Shirley's life begins unravelling into a world of sex, money and greed. For this babysitter, getting into college is the least of her problems.

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly, Anne Fletcher Katherine Heigl (Knocked up TV's Grey's Anatomy) lights up the screen in this charming romantic comedy from the screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada." Heigl stars as Jane a romantic completely selfless woman who has been a bridesmaid in no less than 27 weddings. Unfortunately her own happy ending seems to be nowhere in sight. Until her younger sister Tess captures the heart of Jane's boss — on whom Jane has a secret crush inspiring Jane to change her "always-a-bridesmaid" destiny.System Requirements:Running Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/ROMANTIC COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543515975 Manufacturer No: 2251597

Sean Penn This is the true story of Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch). Freshly graduated from college with a promising future ahead McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people — a fearless risk-taker who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature.System Requirements:Running Time: 148 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/COMING OF AGE Rating: R UPC: 097363481249 Manufacturer No: 348124

Alexander Payne ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY WINNER OF 2 GOLDEN GLOBES, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE (COMEDY / MUSICAL)

In this intoxicating, intelligent comedy, director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) serves up "one of the best movies of the year" (Entertainment Weekly) about the ups, downs and sideways journeys of life. A wine-tasting road trip through California's famed Central Coast takes an unexpected detour as Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) hit the gas en route to their mid-life crisis. The comically mismatched pair soon find themselves drowning in wine, women... and laughter!

Nana Djordjadze In a sleepy little town in Russia, a mop-haired teenaged nymphet named Sybille arrives to spend her vacation with her aunt. Sybille is struck with the overwhelming sense that both her aunt and the town of Krasnyje Utki have nothing to offer her and are down right dull. Sybille soon changes this reality. She falls in love with a man twenty-six years her senior and infuses the little town with her love potion. But Sybille must pay a price: the son of the man she loves is in love with her, and will stop at nothing to get her. Before the season is through, Sybille owes a young man 100 kisses. By the time she leaves, the town will be wide-awake. Oscar nominee Nana Djordjadze directs this laconic comedy by Iraklij Kvirikadze. Set against a backdrop of absurd and funny sexual complications as can only happen in a slightly bungling Russia, the film paints an intense, tongue-in-cheek picture of a post-Soviet reality. 27 MISSING KISES combines the magic of South American story-telling with the hard-hitting poetry of modern East European cinema.

One key point: if you can get over the natural gag reflex of seeing hundreds of rodents swarming over a restaurant kitchen, you will be free to enjoy the glory of Ratatouille, a delectable Pixar hit. Our hero is Remy, a French rat (voiced by Patton Oswalt) with a cultivated palate, who rises from his humble beginnings to become head chef at a Paris restaurant. How this happens is the stuff of Pixar magic, that ineffable blend of headlong comedy, seamless technology, and wonder (in the latter department, this movie's views of nighttime Paris are on a par with French cinema at its most lyrical). Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) doesn't quite keep all his spinning plates in the air, but the gags are great and the animation amazingly expressive—Remy's shrugs and nods are nimbler than many flesh-and-blood actors can manage. Refreshingly, the movie's characters aren't celebrity-reliant, with the most recognizable voice coming from Peter O'Toole's snide food critic. (This fellow provides the film's sole sour note—an oddly pointed slap at critics, those craven souls who have done nothing but rave about Pixar's movies over the years.) Brad Bird's style is more quick-hit and less resonant than the approach of Pixar honcho John Lasseter, but it's hard to complain about a movie that cooks up such bountiful pleasure. —Robert Horton

Just when he's needed most, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), that witty and wily charmer of a pirate, is trapped on a sea of sand in Davy Jones' Locker. In an increasingly shaky alliance, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) begin a desperate quest to find and rescue him. Captain Jack's the last of the nine Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court who must come together united in one last stand to preserve the freedom-loving pirates' way of life. From exotic Singapore, to World's End and beyond, from Shipwreck Island, to a titanic battle, this adventure's filled with over-the-edge action, irreverent humor and seafaring myth and magic. Everything has led to this twisting, turning, wild swashbuckling ride in this final chapter of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy

There bank tellers. One goal: knock the place over. Each has their own idea. Sheila (Silverstone) wants to break into the ATM. Stuart plans to "borrow" some money for the weekend and head to Vegas. And woods (Harrelson) has a scheme involving a duck, a dog, and a safety deposit box. The ultimate inside jobs, plotted by three people with nothingto lose.

Christopher McQuarrie The big selling point for The Way of the Gunis the fact that it was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the guy who wrote The Usual Suspects. Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe star as two low-rent criminals who fall into a plan to kidnap a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) who is carrying a baby for a very wealthy couple. The duo are immediately in over their heads, and their kidnapping plot brings to light the dark and hidden tendrils of the old man's family structure. It also brings on lots of gunfights and lots of blood. McQuarrie creates some good action sequences (particularly the slow-moving car "chase" through the alleys), but that only serves to emphasize the one major weakness of the film: the script. Though it's chock full of macho declarations, shootouts, and "surprise" revelations, the core story is ultra-predictable. That wouldn't be so bad if there were any characters to care about, but only a supporting performance from James Caan elicits any kind of sympathy. This is merely a movie based on violent movies, with no additional commentary. Then again, McQuarrie does do a nice job with much of the action. Though nowhere near as good as The Usual Suspects, particularly in its story, The Way of the Gunis a promising debut for McQuarrie as a director. —Andy Spletzer

Ridley Scott Thelma & Louiseis a feminist manifesto writ large on the big screen, a smart and funny gender reversal of the standard Hollywood buddy formula, a road movie extraordinaire, with characters who became instant cultural icons. No matter how you define it, Ridley Scott's 1991 box-office hit pinched a nerve and made the cover of national news magazines for tweaking gender politics like no movie before or since. Callie Khouri's screenplay overhauls the buddy formula with its story about two best friends (Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis) who embark on a liberating adventure that turns into an interstate police chase after a traumatic incident makes both women into fugitives; they are en route to a destiny they could never have imagined. The perfect casting of Sarandon and Davis makes Thelma & Louisea movie for the ages, and Brad Pitt became an overnight star after his appearance as the con-artist cowboy who gives Davis a memorable (but costly) night in a roadside motel. —Jeff Shannon

Francis Ford Coppola In this third film in the epic Corleone trilogy, Al Pacino reprises the role of powerful family leader Michael Corleone. Now in his 60's, Michael is dominated by two passions: freeing his family from crime and finding a suitable successor. That successor could be fiery Vincent (Andy Garcia)... but he may also be the spark that turns Michael's hope of business legitimacy into an inferno of mob violence.

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone—the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather—and built around it a stunning sequel to his Oscar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little Italy. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread the family's business into pre-Castro Cuba. As memorable as the first film is, The Godfather IIis an amazingly intricate, symmetrical tragedy that touches upon several chapters of 20th-century history and makes a strong case that our destinies are written long before we're born. This was De Niro's first introduction to a lot of filmgoers, and he makes an enormous impression. But even with him and a number of truly brilliant actors (including maestro Lee Strasberg), this is ultimately Pacino's film and a masterful performance. —Tom Keogh

Francis Ford Coppola Traces the story of the Corleone family's rise and near fall from the pinnacle of power in the world of organized crime, and the passage of power from father to son.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

Steven Spielberg The story of oskar schindler a black marketeer during hitlers regime. While he exploited the labor camp workers he also saved more than a thousand jews. He compiled a list and brought as many as he could to work in his factory rather than face certain death in the concentration camps. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Liam Neeson Ben Kingsley Run time: 196 minutes Rating: R Director: Steven Spielberg

Milos Forman One of the key movies of the 1970s, when exciting, groundbreaking, personal films were still being made in Hollywood, Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nestemphasized the humanistic story at the heart of Ken Kesey's more hallucinogenic novel. Jack Nicholson was born to play the part of Randle Patrick McMurphy, the rebellious inmate of a psychiatric hospital who fights back against the authorities' cold attitudes of institutional superiority, as personified by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). It's the classic antiestablishment tale of one man asserting his individuality in the face of a repressive, conformist system—and it works on every level. Forman populates his film with memorably eccentric faces, and gets such freshly detailed and spontaneous work from his ensemble that the picture sometimes feels like a documentary. Unlike a lot of films pitched at the "youth culture" of the 1970s, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nestreally hasn't dated a bit, because the qualities of human nature that Forman captures—playfulness, courage, inspiration, pride, stubbornness—are universal and timeless. The film swept the Academy Awards for 1976, winning in all the major categories (picture, director, actor, actress, screenplay) for the first time since Frank Capra's It Happened One Nightin 1931. —Jim Emerson

Jacques Perrin Documentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.———— 40 minute interview with Narrator Jacques Perrin - 53 minute making of...

Jacques Perrin Un village perdu du Dolpo, dans le nord-ouest de l'Himalaya, à cinq mille mètres d'altitude. Le vieux chef charismatique Tinlé, dont le fils aînévient de mourir, refuse de laisser la conduite de la caravane de yaks au jeune Karma, qu'il accuse d'être responsable de la mort de son fils. Karma brave les oracles du chaman et la colère de Tinlé et, avant la date tiruelle, lève la caravane, suivi par les jeunes du village.——————-An aging chief's last stand, lessons for the new, and the education of a young chief-to-be played against harsh Nature in Nepal's Dolpo. When his son dies returning from Tibet's salt lakes, Tinle blames Karma, his son's friend, refuses to give Karma his blessing as the new chief, and organizes a rival caravan to take the salt to lower Nepal to trade for grain. He, a few old men, his son's widow, his grandson, and his second son, a monk, set out on the arduous journey. Fearing storms, Karma has led his caravan out of the village before the auspicious day ordained by the lamas. Tinle's group catches Karma's before the final pass; the two stubborn men lock wills with Tinle's grandson watching.

Jacques Perrin A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching. Un voyage sur une planète inconnue: la Terre redédouverte à l'échelle du centimètre. Ses habitants: des créatures fantastiques, les insectes et autres animaux de l'herbe et de l'eau. Ses paysages: forêts impénétrables, des touffes d'herbe, gouttes de rosée grosses comme des ballons... Il s'agit d'explorer cette terre nouvelle une simple prairie durant une journée d'été; un jour, une seule journée, c'est l'équivalant d'une saison dans le micro monde, un pan entier de vie lorsque, comme les insects, on a une existence qui se mesure en semaines...

Frank Darabont John Coffey is not like the other death-row prisoners. He absorbs the pain of inmates and guards alike, heals their ailments, rights their wrongs. John Coffey works supernatural miracles. But will this falsely convicted gentle giant stave off his own execution? Tom Hanks leads a powerful ensemble that includes Michael Clarke Duncan as Coffey in this powerful, uplifting tale reuniting The Shawshank Redemption s two major creative forces: filmmaker Frank Darabont and author Stephen King.

System Requirements:

Starring: Tom Hanks, David Morse, Bonnie Hunt, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Graham Greene (II), and Sam Rockwell. Directed By: Frank Darabont. Running Time: 188 Min., Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Warner Home Video.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Martin Scorsese Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film," Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political, and societal anxiety. Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realized characters ever committed to film. Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity. He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences. This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film's lasting power and importance. —Jeff Shannon

Luc Besson French director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) broke the commercial taboo against female-driven action movies with this seminal, seductively slick film about a violent street punk (Anne Parillaud) trained to become a smooth, stylish assassin. Though it amounts, in the end, to little more than disposable pop, the film has a cohesiveness in style and tone—akin to the early James Bond films—that gives it a sense of integrity. Parillaud is compelling both as a wild child and chic-but-lethal pro (trained in good manners by none other than Jeanne Moreau). Tchéky Karyo is also good as the cop mentor who develops feelings for her. —Tom Keogh

Giuseppe Tornatore Giuseppe Tornatore's beautiful 1988 film about a little boy's love affair with the movies deservedly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film and a Special Jury Prize at Cannes. Philippe Noiret plays a grizzled old projectionist who takes pride in his presentation of screen dreams for a town still recovering from World War II. When a child (Jacques Perrin) demonstrates fascination not only for movies but also for the process of showing them to an audience, a lifelong friendship is struck. This isn't just one of those films for people who are already in love with the cinema. But if you are one of those folks, the emotional resonance between the action in Tornatore's world and the images on Noiret's screen will seem all the greater—and the finale all the more powerful. —Tom Keogh

Alfred Hitchcock A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio (with Citizen Kane, Only Angels Have Wingsand Trouble in Paradiserunning neck and neck). Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo(1958) and the stark horror of Psycho(1960), North by Northwest(1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. Which is not to say that this is just "Hitchcock Lite"; seminal Hitchcock critic Robin Wood (in his book Hitchcock's Films Revisited) makes an airtight case for this glossy MGM production as one of The Master's "unbroken series of masterpieces from Vertigoto Marnie." It's a classic Hitchcock Wrong Man scenario: Grant is Roger O. Thornhill (initials ROT), an advertising executive who is mistaken by enemy spies for a U.S. undercover agent named George Kaplan. Convinced these sinister fellows (James Mason as the boss, and Martin Landau as his henchman) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and meets a sexy Stranger on a Train (Eva Marie Saint), with whom he engages in one of the longest, most convolutedly choreographed kisses in screen history. And, of course, there are the famous set pieces: the stabbing at the United Nations, the crop-duster plane attack in the cornfield (where a pedestrian has no place to hide), and the cliffhanger finale atop the stone faces of Mount Rushmore. Plus a sparkling Ernest Lehman script and that pulse-quickening Bernard Herrmann score. What more could a moviegoer possibly desire? —Jim Emerson

Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet The title credit for Delicatessenreads "Presented by Terry Gilliam," and it's easy to understand why the director of Brazilwas so supportive of this outrageously black French comedy from 1991. Like Gilliam, French codirectors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have wildly inventive imaginations that gravitate to the darker absurdities of human behavior, and their visual extravagance is matched by impressive technical skill. Here, making their feature debut, Jeunet and Caro present a postapocalyptic scenario set entirely in a dank and gloomy building where the landlord operates a delicatessen on the ground floor. But this is an altogether meatless world, so the butcher-landlord keeps his customers happy by chopping unsuspecting victims into cutlets, and he's sharpening his knife for a new tenant (French comic actor Dominque Pinon) who's got the hots for the butcher's nearsighted daughter! Delicatessen is a feast (if you will) of hilarious vignettes, slapstick gags, and sweetly eccentric characters, including a man in a swampy room full of frogs, a woman doggedly determined to commit suicide (she never gets its right), and a pair of brothers who make toy sound boxes that "moo" like cows. It doesn't amount to much as a story, but that hardly matters; this is the kind of comedy that springs from a unique wellspring of imagination and inspiration, and it's handled with such visual virtuosity that you can't help but be mesmerized. There's some priceless comedy happening here, some of which is so inventive that you may feel the urge to stand up and cheer. —Jeff Shannon

Sergio Leone This movie has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. —Marshall Fine

Sam Mendes Marking the feature film directorial debut of award-winning theatre director Sam Mendes this funny moving and shocking journey through life in suburban America follows the trials and tribulations of Lester (Kevin Spacey) and Carolyn (Annette Bening) an upper-middle class couple whose marriage - and lives - are slowly unraveling. Lester s wife hates him his daughter Jane regards him with contempt and his boss is positioning him for the ax. So Lester decides to make a few changes in his life; the freer he gets the happier he gets which is even more maddening to his wife and daughter. But Lester is about to learn that the ultimate freedom comes at the ultimate price. Winner of five Academy Awards: Best Picture Director Actor Screenplay and Cinematography.System Requirements:Starring: Kevin Spacey Annette Bening Thora Birch Chris Cooper Peter Gallagher Mena Suvari and Wes Bentley. Directed By: Sam Mendes. Running Time: 122 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2000 Universal Distribution Corp.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 667068538229 Manufacturer No: 65382

Darren Lynn Bousman Saw IIbrings back many features of the original Saw: elaborate sadistic scenarios designed to "test" the victims' will to live; Tobin Bell as the Machiavellian (yet doomed) serial killer Jigsaw; Shawnee Smith as Amanda, a survivor of one of Jigsaw's "games", forced to play again; Dina Meyer (Starship Troopers), whose role as a detective is considerably expanded; and the stunningly godawful dialogue of screenwriter Leigh Whannel. The set-up this time is even more preposterous than before, as a rough-and-tumble cop named Eric (Donnie Whalberg, Band of Brothers) watches, on video monitors, his son trapped in a house filled with nerve gas and a handful of other victims, all of whom are mysteriously connected. Eric has captured Jigsaw, but the implacable killer refuses to reveal where the cop's son is being held... unless Eric will play by Jigsaw's rules. Fans of Sawwill love Saw II, as the tortures are more gruesome than before; viewers who found Saweither detestable or laughable won't like Saw IIeither, as the characters rarely behave like actual people (even when a moment's explanation would solve a conflict, no one bothers to communicate, even though their lives are on the line). It's a festival of body fluids, agonized grimaces, and shrieks of pain—and if that's your thing, this is your movie. —Bret Fetzer

James Wan Adam (Leigh Whannell) wakes up in a dank room across from Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) and the body of a guy who has blown his own brains out. Not a happy place, obviously, and it gets worse when both men realize that they've been chained and pitted against one another by an unseen but apparently omniscient maniac who's screwing with their psyches as payment for past sins. Director James Wan, who concocted this grimy distraction with screenwriter Whannell, has seen Sevenand any number of other arty existential-psycho-cat-and-mouse thrillers, so he's provided Sawwith a little flash, a little blood, and a lot of ways to distract you from the fact that it doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. Wan and Whannell (who's not the most accomplished actor, either) pile on the plot twists, which after some initially novel ideas become increasingly juvenile. Elwes works hard but looks embarrassed, and the estimable Danny Glover suffers as the obsessed detective on the case. The denouement will probably surprise you, but it won't get you back the previous 98 minutes.—Steve Wiecking

Darren Lynn Bousman The first Sawpicture actually had an idea behind it, to say nothing of the ingenuity of its low-budget production; making a silk purse out of a bloody, maggot-ridden human ear, as it were. With Saw III, the franchise pretty much settles into gore for gore's sake, as it explores newer and better ways to traumatize the body—and the audience. Events from Saw IIare sewn up at the beginning of the film, and a detective on the trail of mad killer Jigsaw is quickly trussed up and subjected to one of the villain's sadistic games (this one has escape possible only by means of a key sitting in the bottom of a beaker of acid). Then we catch up with Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) himself, as he awaits death from his debilitating illness; once again he's tended by helper Shawnee Smith. The movie follows parallel plots: Jigsaw blackmails a doctor (Bahar Soomekh) into keeping him alive, and tortures a vengeful soul (Angus Macfayden) into recognizing the futility of revenge. Original Sawcreators James Wan and Leigh Whannell worked on the script of this one, and it fully buys into the series mythology, referring backwards to previous events and, for all we know, preparing us for future installments. But if future installments are as pointlessly repugnant as this one, there's not much to look forward to. —Robert Horton

Paul McGuigan How boring it is to label a movie Tarantino-esque anymore. The thing is, when it comes to an offering like Lucky Number Slevin, the shoe fits, and the result is anything but boring. Gruesome killings, arid wit, self-reflexive pop culture references, an A-list cast, and style-heavy production values abound, which gives the proceedings an epoxy bond that seals the Q.T. homage factor. Josh Hartnett—who spends a lot of buffed-up time with his shirt off—is Slevin Kelevra, a hapless fellow visiting his New York friend Nick. But Nick has disappeared, which sets off a mistaken-identity thrill ride when two goons grab Slevin (he's in Nick's apartment so he must be Nick) and take him to their crime lord boss, the Boss (Morgan Freeman). The Boss doesn't care about Slevin's wrong-man protests; he just wants the $96,000 Nick owes him. In one of many offers he can't refuse, Slevin has to agree to murder the son of the Boss's felonious arch rival, the Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) or take the bullet himself. But Slevin turns out to be no ordinary patsy. Thrown into the ingeniously designed production, clever plot twists, and academic nods to Bond, Hitchcock, and obscure old cartoons are Lucy Liu as a sexy coroner, Stanley Tucci as an obsessed cop, and Bruce Willis as a wily hit man with his finger in many pots. With so much visual and narrative trickery, there's almost too much to absorb in one viewing of this convoluted jigsaw puzzle of revenge and entertaining mayhem. Lucky Number Slevinisn't quite up to par with similarly brainy thrillers like Mementoand The Usual Suspects, but the prospect of seeing it again in order to get your bearings is just as appealing.—Ted Fry

"I bought a car. Turned out to be an alien robot. Who knew?" deadpans Sam Witwicky, hero and human heart of Michael Bay's rollicking robot-smackdown fest, Transformers. Witwicky (the sweetly nerdy Shia LaBeouf, channeling a young John Cusack) is the perfect counterpoint to the nearly nonstop exhilarating action. The plot is simple: an alien civil war (the Autobots vs. the evil Decepticons) has spilled onto Earth, and young Sam is caught in the fray by his newly purchased souped-up Camaro. Which has a mind—and identity, as a noble-warrior robot named Bumblebee—of its own. The effects, especially the mind-blowing transformations of the robots into their earthly forms and back again, are stellar.

Fans of the earlier film and TV series will be thrilled at this cutting-edge incarnation, but this version should please all fans of high-adrenaline action. Director Bay gleefully salts the movie with homages to pop-culture touchstones like Raiders of the Lost Ark, King Kong, and the early technothriller WarGames. The actors, though clearly all supporting those kickass robots, are uniformly on-target, including the dashing Josh Duhamel as a U.S. Army sergeant fighting an enemy he never anticipated; Jon Voight, as a tough yet sympathetic Secretary of Defense in over his head; and John Turturro, whose special agent manages to be confidently unctuous, even stripped to his undies. But the film belongs to Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and the dastardly Megatron—and the wicked stunts they collide in all over the globe. Long live Transformers! —A.T. Hurley

More Than Meets the Eye

The Original Movie

Transformers Mania

The Soundtrack

TransformersImage Gallery (click for larger image)

John Woo The brainy, paranoid science fiction of writer Philip K. Dick has inspired one visionary classic (Blade Runner) and two above-average action movies (Total Recalland Minority Report). Paycheckaspires to follow in their footsteps: An engineer (Ben Affleck, Chasing Amy) routinely agrees to have his memory erased after every job so that he doesn't know what he's done. But after the biggest job of his life, he discovers that not only has he refused a $90 million paycheck, he's sent himself an envelope full of things he doesn't recognize—and he doesn't remember doing any of this. As he unravels the plot, he discovers he's also fallen in love (with Uma Thurman, Kill Bill) and invented a dangerous device for his former boss (Aaron Eckhart, Erin Brockovich). Affleck is bland, the script ruins a cunning idea, and the direction—from the normally dynamic John Woo (Face/Off)—plods along, aimless and bored. —Bret Fetzer

Billy Wilder Sabrina is charming, humorous and aglow with some of Hollywood's greatest stars. Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Audrey Hepburn star in a Cinderella stroy directed by renowned filmmaker Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot). Bogie and Holden are the mega-rich Larrabee brothers of Long Island. Bogie's all work, Holden's all playboy. But when Sabrina, daughter of the family's chauffer, returns from Paris all grown up and glamourous, the stage is set for some family fireworks as the brothers fall under the spell of Hepburn's delightful charms.

黒澤明 時は戦国時代。夜盗化した野武士の横暴に苦しむ農民たちは、侍を雇って村をまもろうとする。かくして集められた7人の男たちの活躍をダイナミックに描いた、巨匠・黒澤明監督の堂々3時間30分に及ぶ、古今東西の映画史上永遠に残る名作中の名作。

合戦シーンのすさまじさとリアルさは言うに及ばず（三船敏郎が「1本の刀では5人も斬れん」とストックの刀を用意するところはゾクゾクした）。7人の個性的面々のキャラクターの見事な描き分けもすばらしい。個人的には、リーダー格の志村喬のおおらかな威厳と、無口な剣の達人・宮口精二のニヒリズム、ユーモラスな加東大介が好みだ。農村の自衛を描いていることから、公開時は自衛隊礼讚映画といった批判の声もあがったが、無論今ではそんな無粋（ぶすい）なことを言う者はいない。（的田也寸志）

Len Wiseman

Renny Harlin Directed by Renny Harlin, the 1990 sequel, Die Hard 2 (unofficially referred to as Die Harder), doesn't match the level of the original, but it's still an exciting thrill ride with some terrific action sequences. One year after the Nakatomi incident, McClane (Willis) is awaiting his wife's (Bedelia) plane to arrive at Dulles Airport when he stumbles onto a plot to paralyze the entire airport, including all the planes trying to land. It's up to McClane to take on the cadre of bad guys despite all the bureaucrats standing in his way, and before the planes run out of fuel and crash to the ground. The cast includes William Sadler as rogue military man Col. Stuart, Dennis Franz as the latest bureaucratic cop to get in McClane's way, Richard Thornburg as the annoying reporter from the original movie, John Amos as a special-forces commander, early-in-their-career John Leguizamo and Robert Patrick as terrorists, and future politician and Law and Order actor Fred Thompson as the head of air traffic control. —David Horiuchi

John McTiernan Bruce Willi stars as New York City Detective John McClane, newly arrived in Los Angeles to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged wife (Bonnie Bedelia). But as Mclane waits for his wife's office party to break up, terrorist take control of the building. While the terrorist leader, Hans gruber (Alexander Godunov) round up hostages, McClane slips away unnoticed. Armed with only a service revolver and his cunning, McClane launches his own one-man war. A crackling thriller from beginning to end, Die Hard explodes with heart-stopping suspense.

Giuseppe Tornatore When 12-year-old Renato, riding through his small Italian town on his new bicycle, sees the voluptuous Malèna, little does he know he's launching on an infatuation that will carry him through the tumultuous days of World War II. Malènabegins as an enraptured depiction of Renato's adolescent mind—the way he stares, hypnotized, at Malèna's garters pressing through the material of her tight skirt, or his frustrated rebellion against the indignity of wearing short pants—but soon transforms into a portrait of small-town prejudice. Malèna's looks spark lust and envy in the townspeople; when her husband dies in combat, the gossip only intensifies, to the point that Malèna is dragged into court to defend herself against accusations of adultery. When the women of the town refuse to sell her edible food at the market, Malèna has little choice but to become what she's been unjustly accused of being. At the end, a twist of fate turns this tale of longing and jealousy into a heartbreaking love story. Monica Bellucci exudes the can't-help-it eroticism that makes Malèna such a lightning rod for everyone's desires; she's like a more zaftig Isabelle Adjani. The movie seems to wander at times, but the ending has a powerful emotional impact. From the director of Cinema Paradiso. —Bret Fetzer

David Frankel This clever, funny big-screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's best-seller takes some of the snarky bite out of the chick lit book, but smoothes out the characters' boxy edges to make a more satisfying movie. There's no doubt The Devil Wears Pradabelongs to Meryl Streep, who turns in an Oscar-worthy (seriously!) strut as the monster editor-in-chief of Runway,

an elite fashion magazine full of size-0, impossibly well-dressed plebes. This makes new second-assistant Andrea (Anne Hathaway), who's smart but an unacceptable size 6, stick out like a sore thumb. Streep has a ball sending her new slave on any whimsical errand, whether it's finding the seventh (unpublished) Harry Potter book or knowing what type she means when she wants "skirts." Though Andrea thumbs her nose at the shallow world of fashion (she's only doing the job to open doors to a position at The New Yorkersomeday), she finds herself dually disgusted yet seduced by the perks of the fast life. The film sends a basic message: Make work your priority, and you'll be rich and powerful... and lonely. Any other actress would have turned Miranda into a scenery-chewing Cruella, but Streep's underplayed, brilliant comic timing make her a fascinating, unapologetic character. Adding frills to the movie's fun are Stanley Tucci as Streep's second-in-command, Emily Blunt (My Summer of Love) as the overworked first assistant, Simon Baker as a sexy writer, and breathtaking couture designs any reader of Voguewould salivate over. — Ellen A. Kim

Beyond The Devil Wears Prada

The Devil Wears Prada: A Novel

The Devil Wears PradaSoundtrack

Prada Handbags

Stills from The Devil Wears Prada(click for larger image)

Lars von Trier Masterpiece or masquerade? Lars von Trier's digicam musical split the critics in two when it debuted at Cannes in 2000. There were those who saw it as a cynical shock-opera from a manipulative charlatan, others wept openly at its scenes of raw emotion and heart-rending intensity. There is, however, no in-between. Dancer in the Darkis that rarest of creatures, a film that dares to push viewers to the limits of their feelings.

In her first and most probably last screen performance (she has foresworn acting after her bruising on-set rows with von Trier), brittle Icelandic chanteuse Björk plays Selma, a Czech immigrant living in a folksy American small town with her young son, Gene. Selma is going blind and so will Gene if she does not arrange an important operation for him. To cover the expense, Selma works every hour she can, cheating on her eye tests so she can keep working at the local factory long after her vision has become too unreliable to work safely. She sublets a house from a local cop, Bill (David Morse), and his wife, Linda (Cara Seymour). When nearly bankrupt Bill asks Selma for a loan, she refuses, but he later returns and steals the money, which she demands back in a furious confrontation. In the ensuing melee, Bill is fatally shot and Selma is arrested and put on trial. Will justice prevail?

Von Trier's passionate, provocative film runs all our emotional resources dry with suspense, giving us occasional flashes into Selma's gold heart and mind with superb song-and-dance numbers she conjures to banish the nightmare (Björk also wrote the score). At some two-and-a-half hours, it's not for lightweights, but anyone bored with today's smug, "ironic" cinema will relish this as an astonishing assault on the senses and a stark reminder of von Trier's uncompromising talent. —Damon Wise

Steven Soderbergh Winner of the Palm d'Or and Best Actor awards at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, sex, lies, and videotape transformed the independent film industry and turned writer-director Steven Soderbergh into the envy of aspiring filmmakers everywhere. Sly, seductive, and coolly intelligent, the movie explores the sexual shenanigans and personal preoccupations of its four central characters, revolving around a selfish lawyer (Peter Gallagher) who responds to his wife by having an affair with her free-spirited sister (Laura San Giacomo). But when the lawyer's college roommate (James Spader) arrives for an unexpectedly extended visit, the neglected wife (Andie MacDowell) is surprisingly responsive to his seductive hobby of videotaping women as they describe their sexual fantasies. It's his way of compensating for impotence, but the curious wife considers this a sexual challenge, and Soderbergh turns sex, lies, and videotape into a fascinating chamber piece that puts a decidedly different spin on the consequences of infidelity. Balanced on a risky and finely tuned performance by Spader, the film delivers frisky passion and emotional intrigue, and yet much of its allure is found in the exchange of secrets and the hidden mysteries of sexual desire. —Jeff Shannon

Richard Shepard A fast-paced edgy film about a hitman (Brosnan) who suddenly finds himself as the mark and the salesman (Kinnear) he befriends in a Mexican bar and recruits to help him.System Requirements:Running Time: 97 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 796019791496 Manufacturer No: 79149

Ken Loach Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country Damien (Cillian Murphy) abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother Teddy in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As the Irish freedom fighters bold tactics bring the British to a breaking point both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But despite the apparent victory civil war erupts and families who fought side by side find themselves pitted against one another putting their loyalties to the ultimate test. System Requirements:Run Time: 127 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 796019802529 Manufacturer No: 80252

Bryan Singer Ever since this convoluted thriller dazzled audiences and critics in 1995 and won an Oscar for Christopher McQuarrie's twisting screenplay, The Usual Suspectshas continued to divide movie lovers into opposite camps. While a lot of people take great pleasure from the movie's now-famous central mystery (namely, "Who is Keyser Söze?"), others aren't so easily impressed by a movie that's too enamored of its own cleverness to make much sense. After all, what are we to make of a final scene that renders the entire movie obsolete? Half the fun of The Usual Suspectsis the debate it provokes and the sheer pleasure of watching its dynamic cast in action, led (or should we say, misled) by Oscar winner Kevin Spacey as the club-footed con man who recounts the saga of enigmatic Hungarian mobster Keyser Söze. Spacey's in a band of thieves that includes Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, and Benicio Del Toro, all gathered in a plot to steal a large shipment of cocaine. The story is told in flashback as a twisted plot being described by Spacey's character to an investigating detective (Chazz Palmintieri), and The Usual Suspectsis enjoyable for the way it keeps the viewer guessing right up to its surprise ending. Whether that ending will enhance or extinguish the pleasure is up to each viewer to decide. Even if it ultimately makes little or no sense at all, this is a funny and fiendish thriller, guaranteed to entertain even its vocal detractors. —Jeff Shannon

Krzysztof Kieslowski Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Polish (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Polish (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: The Double Life of Véronique is the story of two young women who are — in some mysterious and irresolvable way — the same woman leading two different yet interconnected lives. Those familiar with Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's later "Three Colors" trilogy of Blue, White, and Red will recognize his fascination with accidental happenings and chance encounters, as well as Irène Jacob (from Red) whose performance as both Veronika and Veronique won the 1991 Cannes Film Festival award for best actress. Veronika and Véronique are born on the same day in 1966, one in Poland, the other in France. They grow up separately, unaware of each other's existence, but with the vague and rarely expressed feeling that they are "not alone." The story begins in Poland, where Veronika (like Véronique) is a talented vocalist and music student who wins a prestigious singing competition and is given the chance to perform with a local symphony. On the night of the concert, while singing a duet onstage, Veronika loses consciousness and dies. Véronique is emotionally wounded by the loss of her double and decides to end her singing career. The film charts the effect of Veronika's death on Véronique and on her dispassionate and unsatisfying relationships with men, especially her father. She is led to puppeteer and children's book author Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), whose puppet shows and stories are dramatic variants on her own mysterious problem. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, 2-DVD Set,

Gregory Hoblit Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins and Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling are brilliant in this "exceptionally suspenseful nail-biter" (Rex Reed) that's so smart it "doesn't let go, even after the final twist" (Gene Shalit, "Today"). Ted Crawford (Hopkins) brutally murders his wife and calmly waits for the police to arrest him. With the weapon and a signed confession in hand, Deputy D.A., Willy Beachum (Gosling), believes a conviction is a slam dunk; that is until the case completely unravels. Now, with little evidence, Beachum goes head to head with the cunning Mr. Crawford in a desperate search for the truth and the answer to one burning question: How is this guy getting away with murder?

Roman Polanski Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm award at the 2002 Cannes film festival, The Pianistis the film that Roman Polanski was born to direct. A childhood survivor of Nazi-occupied Poland, Polanski was uniquely suited to tell the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew and concert pianist (played by Adrien Brody) who witnessed the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, miraculously eluded the Nazi death camps, and survived throughout World War II by hiding among the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto. Unlike any previous dramatization of the Nazi holocaust, The Pianiststeadfastly maintains its protagonist's singular point of view, allowing Polanski to create an intimate odyssey on an epic wartime scale, drawing a direct parallel between Szpilman's tenacious, primitive existence and the wholesale destruction of the city he refuses to abandon. Uncompromising in its physical and emotional authenticity, The Pianiststrikes an ultimate note of hope and soulful purity. As with Schindler's List, it's one of the greatest films ever made about humanity's darkest chapter. —Jeff Shannon

Alejandro Lozano Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: Fans of man-eating midgets, incompetent criminals, and violent ex-luchadors will find plenty to cheer about in director Alejandro Lozano's vibrant and comedic thriller that was awarded 'Favorite Movie,''Favorite Actor,' and 'Most Bizarre Sex Scene' at Mexico's 2006 MTV Movie Awards. Oscar Cabos is a wealthy entrepreneur who is well known for his violent temper. When two men kidnap the unconscious Oscar as another team of criminals embark on their own quest to capture the despised millionaire, the chaos that erupts leads all involved on a wild chase through the streets of Mexico City. Highly stylized and endlessly energetic, Lozano's non-stop joy ride is certain to appeal to Quentin Tarantino fans and lovers of extreme international cinema alike. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Trailer(s),

Ken Annakin Bernhard Wicki Darryl F. Zanuck The Longest Dayis Hollywood's definitive D-day movie. More modern accounts such as Saving Private Ryanare more vividly realistic, but producer Darryl F. Zanuck's epic 1962 account is the only one to attempt the daunting task of covering that fateful day from all perspectives. From the German high command and front-line officers to the French Resistance and all the key Allied participants, the screenplay by Cornelius Ryan, based on his own authoritative book, is as factually accurate as possible. The endless parade of stars (John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton, to name a few) makes for an uneasy mix of verisimilitude and Hollywood star-power, however, and the film falls a little flat for too much of its three-hour running time. But the set-piece battles are still spectacular, and if the landings on Omaha Beach lack the graphic gore of Private Ryanthey nonetheless show the sheer scale and audacity of the invasion. —Mark Walker

Michael Bay

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 28 WEEKS LATER is sequel to the successful 28 Days Later.The film pick up six months after the Rage virus has spread throughout the city of London. The United States Army has restored order and is repopulating the quarantined city when a carrier of the Rage virus enters London and unknowingly re-ignites the spread of the deadly infection wreaking havoc on the entire population. The virus is not yet dead and this time it's more dangerous than ever!!System Requirements:Running Time: 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/ZOMBIES Rating: R UPC: 024543469902 Manufacturer No: 2246990

Closer in spirit to a police procedural than a gory serial-killer flick, David Fincher's Zodiacprovides a sleek, armrest-gripping re-invention of the crime film. It surveys the investigation of the Zodiac killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the late -60-early -70s; Zodiac not only killed people, but cultivated a Jack the Ripper aura by sending icky letters to the newspapers and daring readers to solve coded messages. But the film's focus isn't on the killer. We follow the reporters and detectives whose lives are taken over by the case, notably an addictive crime writer (a sartorially splendid Robert Downey Jr.), an awkward editorial cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), and a hard-working cop (Mark Ruffalo). Fincher and his brilliant cinematographer Harris Savides are deft at capturing the period feel of the city, without laying on the seventies kitsch, and James Vanderbilt's script doles out its big moments to major and minor characters alike. Fincher's confidence is infectious; the movie glides through its myriad details with such dexterity that even the blind alleys and red herrings seem essential. The well-chosen cast includes unexpected people popping up all over: Anthony Edwards as a lunch-bucket homicide cop; Charles Fleischer as a mysterious suspect; Elias Koteas and Donal Logue as small-town policemen whose districts are hit by Zodiac; Chloe Sevigny as Gyllenhaal's sweet-natured wife; Brian Cox as the media-friendly lawyer Melvin Belli, so famous he once appeared on Star Trek; and the mighty John Carroll Lynch, as a supremely creepy suspect. The film is based on non-fiction books by Robert Graysmith (he's portrayed by Gyllenhaal), although Fincher and co. did extensive research on their own. The result is a propulsive whodunit without (thus far) an ending, but the uncertainty makes the film even more intriguing. —Robert Horton

Beyond Zodiac

The Zodiac (2005)

Curse of the Zodiac (2007)

The Novel

Stills from Zodiac(click for larger image)

Guy Ritchie Gambler and conman Jake Green (Jason Statham) always ran with a bad crowd and it cost him seven years of his life when he took the rap for mean Dorothy Macha (Ray Liotta) and wound up in jail. After his release, Jake becomes unbeatable at the tables using a formula for the ultimate con that he learned from two mysterious fellow prisoners. Now he is ready to take his revenge. Macha is plotting to eliminate his ruthless rival, Lord John, and has staked his credibility on a huge drug deal with the all-powerful Sam Gold. Jake visits Macha at his casino and humiliates him publicly in a game of chance. Macha fearing more of the same medicine sends his goons to "take care of" Jake. His life is saved by enigmatic Zach (Vincent Pastore) who, with his equally inscrutable partner Avi (André Benjamin), offers Jake protection. Against his better judgment, Jake accepts. He soon finds himself playing the very last game he wants to be playing, and there is danger at every turn. But the biggest danger of all comes from a totally unexpected source.

Guy Ritchie Trouble begins when boxing promoter, Turkish and his sidekick Tony get involved with jewel thieves and gangsters looking to fix fights.
Item Type: DVD Movie
Item Rating: R
Street Date: 07/03/01
Wide Screen: yes
Director Cut: no
Special Edition: no
Language: ENGLISH
Foreign Film: noSubtitles: no
Dubbed: no
Full Frame: yes
Re-Release: no
Packaging: Sleeve

Steven Soderbergh George Clooney is one, Brad Pitt is two, Matt Damon three... well, let's just assume there are 13 collaborators in this installment of Steven Soderbergh's profitable caper franchise. We're back in Las Vegas for Ocean's Thirteen, where the boys plot to shut down the brand-new venture of a backstabbing hotelier (Al Pacino) because the guy double-crossed the now-ailing Reuben (Elliott Gould). If you look at the plot too closely, the entire edifice collapses (hey, how about those Chunnel-digging giant drills?), but Soderbergh conjures up a visual style that swings like Bobby Darin at the Copa. Other than the movie-star dazzle, the main reason to see the film is Soderbergh's uncanny feel for how the widescreen frame can float through the neon spaces of Vegas or sort through groups of characters sitting in hotel rooms talking (he shot the film himself, under his pseudonym Peter Andrews).

The film doesn't give enough time to goofballs Casey Affleck and Scott Caan (whose riffs made Ocean's Twelveworth seeing), although it provides comic stuff for a fun roster of actors, including Eddie Izzard, David Paymer, and Bob ("Super Dave") Einstein. Meanwhile, Ellen Barkin makes a fetching assistant for Pacino, and Pacino himself, his hair dyed Trumpian orange, is content to gnaw on some ham for the duration. Biggest puzzle about the two sequels is why George Clooney seems content to retreat from centerstage. Still, his Hemingwayesque conversations with Pitt are an amusing form of male shorthand, and even as the movie overstays its welcome during a long finale, Clooney's easy sense of cool makes it all seem acceptable. —Robert Horton

The John Woo gangster classic that started it all, a romantic, violent, swirlingly stylish melodrama about dueling brothers—with a mesmerizing lead performance by Hong Kong's favorite actor, Chow Yun-Fat. In repose, Chow's sleepy magnetism recalls the glory days of Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen, and Takakura Ken; when he's stepping high, Chow has a unique, ebullient star presence, a man who embraces life so unselfconsciously that he becomes vulnerable to all kinds of suffering and heartache (he endures masochistic megadoses of violence here). The sequence in which Chow's Mark avenges his betrayed best friend—-by blasting his way into, and then out of, a Chinese restaurant, twin .45s blazing—-is a swashbuckling standout. Woo's film technique may have been more polished in later efforts, but Tomorrowhas a direct emotional power that is still unique. Kung fu star of the 1970s, Ti Lung is also terrific here as the 40ish established mobster, relied upon by all, who allows conflicting loyalties toward Mark and toward his younger brother, now a cop, to undermine the stability of his position. —David Chute

John Woo "I won't give you nothing, man; I give you shit," sneers charismatic superstar Chow Yun Fat, speaking English (with a De Niro accent) in his role as a New York restaurateur who won't knuckle under to the (Italian) mob. Chow plays the twin brother of the character he played in the original Tomorrow, the ultraviolent, ultraromantic ultrapopular Hong Kong gangster melodrama. And the blatancy of that device is a fair indication of the sequel's shortcomings—and of its screwy charm: this is a film that knows no shame. The bond between the natural siblings played by Ti Lung (as a reformed mobster) and Leslie Cheung (as a hot shot cop) still resonate tellingly. As a good-guy ex-thug driven batty by the slaying of his only daughter, real-life Cinema City studio chief Dean Shek gets to play a garishly extended "mad scene," foaming at the mouth, chewing on soup bones. A later episode in which a dying man crawls to a phone booth to call his wife (and newborn daughter) in the hospital must also be some kind of lurid first in the soap sweepstakes. The final 15 minutes could be the bloodiest single shoot-out sequence ever committed to celluloid. The story line hasn't been shaped to any particular purpose here, but the images have a golden Godfather-like glow, and this faintly anachronistic, all-stops-out wish-fulfillment approach to moviemaking still has a lot of power. —David Chute

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Tom Tykwer

Robert Rossen Writer-director Robert Rossen and character actors Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge (in her film debut) took home Oscars (for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively) for this excellent adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Crawford stars as Willie Stark, a charismatic populist Southern politician (inspired by the real Louisiana Governor Huey Long) who belies his "man of the people" roots as he ruthlessly maneuvers, lies, and deals his way into the halls of power. John Ireland is his right-hand man, Jack Burden, a newsman turned political flack who hangs on to Stark's early idealism even in the face of Stark's most reprehensible acts of corruption. McCambridge is Stark's cool mistress come calculating assistant. The immediacy of the drama is due in part to a documentary-like style, notably in the scenes on the campaign trail where Stark sways crowds with his folksy rhetoric and estimable charm. Joanne Dru and John Derek also costar. Rossen's savage screenplay and firm direction give the film a powerful punch, but it's Crawford's blustery charm and oversized performance that carry the picture. —Sean Axmaker

Alex and Marcus are a couple whose story is told over the course of a fateful evening in a series of long takes. An emotional odyssey that unspools in reverse from gut-wrenching violence to sweetly observed moments of sublime tenderness.

System Req

Oliver Stone Oliver Stone would like to have the last word on America's media culture of voyeurism and violence, but whatever he's trying to say in this grisly, unconventional movie comes across terribly garbled. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play traveling serial killers who become television celebrities when a Geraldo-like personality (Robert Downey Jr.) turns their madness into the biggest story in the country. Stone extensively rewrote an original script by Quentin Tarantino, and he employs a mosaic of different film stocks, video, and pop pastiches to create a sense of blurred lines between visual phenomena. (The background on Lewis's character's life as an abused child, for instance, is presented as a sitcom starring Rodney Dangerfield.) But the result of these experiments is a pompous, even amateurish effort at grasping the reins of a real-life national debate. One almost wants to tell Stone to sit down and raise his hand next time if he thinks he has something to say. The controversial director would like Natural Born Killersto be nothing less than a monumental achievement, but it's one of the emptier entries in his filmography. —Tom Keogh

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Tarantino presents the premiere of the JACKIE BROWN COLLECTOR'S SERIES DVD, complete with your favorite award-winning movie, all-star cast, and never-before-seen footage. What do a sexy stewardess (Pam Grier), a street-tough gun runner (Samuel L. Jackson), a lonely bail bondsman (Academy Award®-nominee Robert Forster), a shifty ex-con (Robert DeNiro), an earnest federal agent (Michael Keaton), and a stoned-out beach bunny (Bridget Fonda) have in common? They're six players on the trail of a half million dollars in cash! The only questions are ... who's getting played ... and who's gonna make the big score! Combining an explosive mix of intense action and edgy humor, Tarantino scores again with the entertaining JACKIE BROWN!

Quentin Tarantino With this thrilling, must-see movie event, writer and director Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION) completes the action-packed quest for revenge begun by The Bride (Uma Thurman) in KILL BILL VOL. 1! Having already crossed two names from her Death List, The Bride is back with a vengeance and taking aim at Budd (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), the only survivors from the squad of assassins who betrayed her four years earlier. It's all leading up to the ultimate confrontation with Bill (David Carradine), The Bride's former master and the man who ordered her execution! As the acclaimed follow-up to the instant classic VOL. 1 — you know all about the unlimited action and humor, but until you've seen KILL BILL VOL. 2, you only know half the story!

Quentin Tarantino The acclaimed fourth film from groundbreaking writer and director Quentin Tarantino (PULP FICTION, JACKIE BROWN), KILL BILL VOLUME 1 stars Uma Thurman (PULP FICTION), Lucy Liu (CHARLIE'S ANGELS, CHICAGO), and Vivica A. Fox (TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME) in an astonishing, action-packed thriller about brutal betrayal and an epic vendetta! Four years after taking a bullet in the head at her own wedding, The Bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and decides it's time for payback ... with a vengeance! Having been gunned down by her former boss (David Carradine) and his deadly squad of international assassins, it's a kill-or-be-killed fight she didn't start but is determined to finish! Loaded with explosive action and outrageous humor, it's a must-see motion picture event that has critics everywhere raving!

David Fincher "'Fight Club' pulls you in, challenges your prejudices, rocks your world and leaves you laughing" (Rolling Stone). Brad Pitt ("12 Monkeys", "Seven"), Edward Norton ("Primal Fear," "American History X") and Helena Bonham Carter ("Mighty Aphrodite," "A Room With A View") turn in powerful "performances of which movie legends are made" (Chicago Tribune) in this action-packed hit. A ticking-time-bomb insomniac (Norton) and a slippery soap salesman (Pitt) channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until a sensuous eccentric (Bonham Carter) gets in the way and ignites an out-of control spiral toward oblivion.

Tony Scott When FBI agent Carlin (Denzel Washington) tries to prevent a terrorist attack using a top secret government time shifting device, the action is explosive. Denzel Washington teams up with blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer and renowned director Tony Sc

関口現

Abbas Kiarostami Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for this contemplative film about a Muslim, Mr. Badi (Homayon Ershadi), who drives around the barren hills outside Tehran, flagging down passersby and offering good money for a simple job that he's hesitant to explain. He's planning his suicide and seeks someone to perform something of a symbolic eulogy. Most of his subjects refuse (personal morality aside, suicide is forbidden to Muslims), but he finds an elderly taxidermist (Abdolrahman Bagheri) who agrees only because he needs the money for an ill child. Yet the old man gently pleads with him to choose life, to embrace the joys of earthly existence, to remember the taste of cherries. Though initially greeted with critical acclaim, A Taste of Cherryreceived poor distribution in the U.S. The meandering, deliberately paced drama is composed of long conversations and long silences, and the camera is locked in the car for entire sequences, staring at the protagonists in still closeups with the dusty landscape rolling past the windows of the Land Rover in the background. Kiarostami's film is not for everyone, but if you can embrace the quiet power and grace of his deceptively simple style, the film becomes a remarkably rich celebration of human dignity and resilience. By the astonishing conclusion we can see past Badi's age-etched face to the soul peering out from behind his sad eyes. —Sean Axmaker

David Fincher There are no rules in the game. And that will make life very difficult for Nicholas Van Orton, a successful businessman who is always in control. Van Orton lives a well-ordered life until an unexpected birthday gift from his brother destroys it all.

サブ 第１作の『弾丸ランナー』に続いて、俳優出身のサブ監督が放つ第２作。郵便局員の沢木（堤真一）は、ヤクザとなった友人に「何かドキドキすることないのか？」と言われて、郵便局のルーティーンワークに埋もれる自分に疑問を抱くようになる。

彼は郵便物を抜き取り、自分のアパートでそれを開封するようになる。その中で彼が見つけたのは、不治の病の少女（遠山景織子）の手紙だった。郵便配達員と少女の交流に、彼を追う警察とヤクザ、殺し屋が絡んでの大追走劇が始まる。殺し屋役の大杉漣がいい味を出している。さわやかなラブストーリーからスパイ映画のパロディ、そして自転車での追跡劇と盛りだくさんのストーリーを勢いでまとめあげている。（堤昌司）

Nanni Moretti

Clint Eastwood Thematically ambitious and emotionally complex, Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathersis an intimate epic with much to say about war and the nature of heroism in America. Based on the non-fiction bestseller by James Bradley (with Ron Powers), and adapted by Million Dollar Babyscreenwriter Paul Haggis (Jarheadscreenwriter William Broyles Jr. wrote an earlier draft that was abandoned when Eastwood signed on to direct), this isn't so much a conventional war movie as it is a thought-provoking meditation on our collective need for heroes, even at the expense of those we deem heroic. In telling the story of the six men (five Marines, one Navy medic) who raised the American flag of victory on the battle-ravaged Japanese island of Iwo Jima on February 23rd, 1945, Eastwood takes us deep into the horror of war (in painstakingly authentic Iwo Jima battle scenes) while emphasizing how three of the surviving flag-raisers (played by Adam Beach, Ryan Phillippe, and Jesse Bradford) became reluctant celebrities - and resentful pawns in a wartime publicity campaign - after their flag-raising was immortalized by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in the most famous photograph in military history.

As the surviving flag-raisers reluctantly play their public roles as "the heroes of Iwo Jima" during an exhausting (but clearly necessary) wartime bond rally tour, Flags of Our Fathersevolves into a pointed study of battlefield valor and misplaced idolatry, incorporating subtle comment on the bogus nature of celebrity, the trauma of battle, and the true meaning of heroism in wartime. Wisely avoiding any direct parallels to contemporary history, Eastwood allows us to draw our own conclusions about the Iwo Jima flag-raisers and how their postwar histories (both noble and tragic) simultaneously illustrate the hazards of exploited celebrity and society's genuine need for admirable role models during times of national crisis. Flags of Our Fathersdefies the expectations of those seeking a more straightforward war-action drama, but it's richly satisfying, impeccably crafted film that manages to be genuinely patriotic (in celebrating the camaraderie of soldiers in battle) while dramatizing the ultimate futility of war. Eastwood's follow-up film, Letters from Iwo Jima, examines the Iwo Jima conflict from the Japanese perspective. —Jeff Shannon

Beyond Flags of Our Fathers

Other World War II DVDs

Essential DVDs by Director Clint Eastwood

Flags of Our Fathersby James Bradley

Stills from Flags of Our Fathers(click for larger image)

Or, if you prefer, I See Wet People. M. Night Shyamalan's attempt at a newfangled mythology—about a depressed apartment superintendent (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a sea-nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) who may hold the key to humanity's hopeful future—is intriguing enough to capture the imaginations of children and adults who haven't lost sight of their innocent sense of wonder. Cynics, on the other hand, will likely scoff at Shyamalan's awkward fantasy, which includes one victim—a film critic—widely interpreted as Shyamalan's revenge against reviewers who panned The Village. Shyamalan originally improvised this melancholy fantasy as a bedtime story for his children; unfortunately, it still feels mostly half-baked and ultimately ineffective due to a number of plot holes and inconsistencies that a writer as talented as Shyamalan should've been able to avoid. For those wishing to learn more about the film's troubled history, and Shyamalan's petulant split from Disney studios, The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Taleis an interesting read. —Jeff Shannon

Alejandro González Iñárritu Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the moroccan desert touching off an interlocking story involving six different families. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/27/2009 Starring: Brad Pitt Cate Blanchett Run time: 143 minutes Rating: R

Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer. Armed with only her imagination, Ofelia discovers a mysterious labyrinth and meets a faun who sets her on a path to saving herself and her ailing mother. But soon, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur, and before Ofelia can turn back, she finds herself at the center of a ferocious battle between good and evil.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Feature Audio Commentary by Director Guillermo del Toro
Theatrical Trailer:Theatrical teaser, Theatrical trailer

Jon Turteltaub Like a Hardy Boys mystery on steroids, National Treasureoffers popcorn thrills and enough boyish charm to overcome its rampant silliness. Although it was roundly criticized as a poor man's rip-off of Raiders of the Lost Arkand The Da Vinci Code, it's entertaining on its own ludicrous terms, and Nicolas Cage proves once again that one actor's infectious enthusiasm can compensate for a multitude of movie sins. The contrived plot involves Cage's present-day quest for the ancient treasure of the Knights Templar, kept secret through the ages by Freemasons past and present. Finding the treasure requires the theft of the Declaration of Independence (there are crucial treasure clues on the back, of course!), so you can add "caper comedy" to this Jerry Bruckheimer production's multi-genre appeal. Nobody will ever accuse director Jon Turtletaub of artistic ambition, but you've got to admit he serves up an enjoyable dose of PG-rated entertainment, full of musty clues, skeletons, deep tunnels, and harmless adventure in the old-school tradition. It's a load of hokum, but it's funhokum, and that makes all the difference. —Jeff Shannon

Stanley Donen Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model—not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. —Tom Keogh

Ridley Scott A big-budget summer epic with money to burn and a scale worthy of its golden Hollywood predecessors, Ridley Scott's Gladiatoris a rousing, grisly, action-packed epic that takes moviemaking back to the Roman Empire via computer-generated visual effects. While not as fluid as the computer work done for, say, Titanic, it's an impressive achievement that will leave you marveling at the glory that was Rome, when you're not marveling at the glory that is Russell Crowe. Starring as the heroic general Maximus, Crowe firmly cements his star status both in terms of screen presence and acting chops, carrying the film on his decidedly non-computer-generated shoulders as he goes from brave general to wounded fugitive to stoic slave to gladiator hero. Gladiator's plot is a whirlwind of faux-Shakespearean machinations of death, betrayal, power plays, and secret identities (with lots of faux-Shakespearean dialogue ladled on to keep the proceedings appropriately "classical"), but it's all briskly shot, edited, and paced with a contemporary sensibility. Even the action scenes, somewhat muted but graphic in terms of implied violence and liberal bloodletting, are shot with a veracity that brings to mind—believe it or not—Saving Private Ryan, even if everyone is wearing a toga. As Crowe's nemesis, the evil emperor Commodus, Joaquin Phoenix chews scenery with authority, whether he's damning Maximus's popularity with the Roman mobs or lusting after his sister Lucilla (beautiful but distant Connie Nielsen); Oliver Reed, in his last role, hits the perfect notes of camp and gravitasas the slave owner who rescues Maximus from death and turns him into a coliseum star. Director Scott's visual flair is abundantly in evidence, with breathtaking shots and beautiful (albeit digital) landscapes, but it's Crowe's star power that will keep you in thrall—he's a true gladiator, worthy of his legendary status. Hail the conquering hero! —Mark Englehart

Pier Paolo Pasolini

岩井俊二 神戸に住む渡辺博子は、2年前に山で死んだ恋人の藤井樹に宛てた手紙をポストに投函したが、驚くことにその返事が届けられてきた。その手紙の主は、樹と同姓同名で彼のクラスメートでもあった、女性の藤井樹。やがて博子と樹の文通が始まる。

俊英、岩井俊二監督の長編映画デビュー作であり、ロマンティックでミステリアスなラブストーリーの秀作である。博子と樹の2役を中山美穂がムーディに好演し、女優としておおいにステップアップした。回想でつづられる樹（柏原崇）と少女時代の樹（酒井美紀）のノスタルジックで淡い恋のやりとりは、劇中の白眉ともいえよう。さまざまなアイテムを効果的に用いた演出、淡い色彩の映像、メロディアスな音楽などのスタッフワークも光る、心洗われる逸品だ。（的田也寸志）

David Lean

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Krzysztof Kieslowski Premier film de la trilogie colorée – suivront Blancet Rougeen 1994 – Bleu, œuvre particulièrement émouvante, s'interroge sur la signification de la liberté, à travers le portrait d'une femme qui, après avoir brutalement perdu son mari, célèbre compositeur, renonce à tout, avant de reprendre peu à peu goût à la vie.

Cristallin et extrêmement sophistiqué, ce film de l'auteur de La Double Vie de Véroniquereste avant tout un film sensoriel : un bruitage inouï – le crash inaugural, le voisinage parisien ; une lumière totalement maîtrisée, irradiée par le bleu du souvenir et de la mémoire, dominent une réalisation particulièrement élaborée qui laisse la part belle aux acteurs et à la musique. Jamais Juliette Binoche n'était parue aussi harmonieuse et sereine ; jamais l'univers sonore du compositeur attitré de Kieslowski, Zbiegniew Preisner, n'avait trouvé pareil équivalent visuel.

Lion d'or à Venise en 1993, le film permet également à Juliette Binoche d'accéder à la reconnaissance internationale, en recevant le prix de la meilleure actrice à Venise la même année et le César de la meilleure interprète féminine en 1994. —Sylvain Lefort

Byron Haskin Strap on your pantaloons and prepare to travel with Jim Hawkins and Blind Pew to one of the most famous fictional islands in history. Walt Disney's 1950 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling masterpiece has held up extremely well, with action and characterizations that feel freshly minted (although it's unlikely that the Mouse of today would sanction the high level of booze flowing throughout the picture). Great fun, with nary a wasted frame and, in the character of Robert Newton's much-imitated Long John, one of cinema's most boisterously crowd-pleasing villains ever. (Proving that you can't keep a good—er, bad man down, Newton would return with director Byron Haskins for the enjoyable sequel, Long John Silver.) Watching this classic is like having a flashback to some perfect Technicolor childhood. —Andrew Wright

Alfred Hitchcock When American writer Mark Halliday visits the very married Margot Wendice in London, he unknowingly sets off a chain of blackmail and murder. After sensing Margot's affections for Halliday, her husband, Tony Wendice, fears divorce and disinheritance, and plots her death. 

Knowing former school chum Captain Lesgate is involved in illegal activities, Tony blackmails him into conspiring to kill Margot. When she kills Lesgate in self-defense, Tony implicates her as being guilty of premeditated murder. Halliday must out-stratagize Tony to save Margot's live.

Running Time: 105 min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Danny Boyle With its hallucinatory visions of crawling dead babies and a grungy plunge into the filthiest toilet in Scotland, you might not think Trainspottingcould have been one of the best movies of 1996, but Danny Boyle's film about unrepentant heroin addicts in Edinburgh is all that and more. That doesn't make it everybody's cup of tea (so unsuspecting viewers beware), but the film's blend of hyperkinetic humor and real-life horror is constantly fascinating, and the entire cast (led by Ewan McGregor and Full Montystar Robert Carlyle) bursts off of the screen in a supernova of outrageous energy. Adapted by John Hodge from the acclaimed novel by Irving Welsh, the film was a phenomenal hit in England, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) the U.S. For all of its comedic vitality and invigorating filmmaking, the movie is no ode to heroin, nor is it a straight-laced cautionary tale. Trainspottingis just a very honest and well-made film about the nature of addiction, and it doesn't pull any punches when it is time to show the alternating pleasure and pain of substance abuse. —Jeff Shannon

Stefen Fangmeier In his homeland of Alagaesia, a farm boy happens upon a dragon's egg — a discovery that leads him on a predestined journey where he realized he's the one person who can defend his home against an evil king.

黒澤明 無気力な日々を過ごしてきた公務員の渡辺（志村喬）は、ガンで後半年の命と知らされ、恐れおののき、嘆き悲しんだ末、市役所に懇願する人々の願にこたえて公園を作ろうと努力していく…。
   黒澤明監督が、人間の尊厳を高らかにうたい上げたヒューマン・ドラマの傑作。そこにはどんな者であれ、人はここまで高められるのだという希望と同時に、ルーティンワークに甘んじる体制社会、およびそこに安住する人々への痛烈な批判も込められている。黒澤映画のいぶし銀、志村喬の代表作。自由奔放にふるまう部下のとよ（小田切みき）との交流の数々もせつなく印象的だ。後半、いきなり主人公の葬式シーンへと飛躍し、周囲の者が彼について回想し始めていくという構成も、実に大胆かつ秀逸。最期に主人公が公園で歌う流行歌『ゴンドラの歌』は、本作の功績によって今ではスタンダードな名曲として讃えられている。（的田也寸志）

King Vidor SPRUCED UP ADAPTATION OF LEO TOLSTOY'S EPIC NOVEL ABOUT THE LIFEOF A RUSSIAN FAMILY DURING THE WAR OF 1812.

George Cukor A WIDESCREEN EDITION OF THE PERENNIAL FAMILY FAVORITE AS DR.HENRY HIGGINS MEETS HIS MATCH IN A FLOWER GIRL WHO BLOOMS INTOTHE BELLE OF HIGH SOCIETY.

William Wyler A YOUNG PRINCESS, TIRED OF THE CONSTRAINTS HER POSITION BRINGS, RUNS AWAY. SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE MAN WHO BEFRIENDS HER IS AREPORTER OUT FOR A STORY.

Audrey Hepburn, Peppard, George Winner of two Oscars®, the romantic comedy that sparkles like diamonds! From the opening strains of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's haunting, Oscar®-winning song "Moon River," you'll once again be under the alluring spell of that madcap, carefree New York playgirl known as Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in this 24-carat romantic comedy based of Truman Capote's best-selling novella. George Peppard is the struggling and "sponsored" young writer who finds himself swept into Holly's dizzying, delightfully unstructured lifestyle as she determinedly scours Manhattan for a suitable millionaire to marry. The sparkling special features on this Anniversary Edition DVD only add to the luster of director Blake Edwards' timeless film classic. Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney co-star; Mancini won an additional Academy Award® for his enthralling musical score.

Billy Wilder A married man, left alone during a hot summer, fantasizes madly about the impossibly gorgeous woman living in the upstairs apartment. When the woman is Marilyn Monroe, such fantasies are the stuff of epics, and The Seven Year Itchis a memorable laugh machine. Tom Ewell, repeating his role from George Axelrod's Broadway hit, plays the itchy protagonist, whose vivid imagination gets the better of him. When Monroe finally comes downstairs and becomes friends (confiding, among other things, that she keeps her undies in the icebox in this hot weather), imagination meets reality in a merciless attack on the male libido. Ewell's crack timing is matched by Monroe's zesty comic flair, and the scene in which her white dress is blown skyward by a passing subway train has entered the encyclopedia of great movie images. Director Billy Wilder adapted the play with Axelrod; if the film is not one of Wilder's signature works (Some Like It Hotand The Apartmentwould soon follow), it is nevertheless a smoothly crafted comedy. —Robert Horton

Andrew Davis The Guardianoffers satisfying entertainment with a no-nonsense combination of Hollywood formula and good old-fashioned star power. While honoring the men and women who serve as rescue swimmers for the U.S. Coast Guard, this predictable yet appealing drama is a well-crafted showcase for Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher, who bring welcome depth and dimension to their formulaic roles. It's basically Top Gunfor the Coast Guard, with Costner playing a legendary rescuer haunted by recent tragedy and the impending break-up of his marriage, and Kutcher as the hot-shot recruit whose bravado is tested when Costner takes over a grueling 18-week basic training course, where a 50% attrition rate ensures that only the best will make the grade. There's nothing particularly inventive about Ron L. Brinkerhoff's screenplay, but it's intelligently written and well-directed (by The Fugitivehelmer Andrew Davis) as it shows how seasoned veteran and troubled but talented trainee build mutual respect while sorting through the trauma of accidents that left each of them as sole survivors, tormented by self-doubt and guilt.

Bolstered by a strong supporting cast including Neal McDonough, John Heard, Sela Ward and Clancy Brown, The Guardianis a bit on the long side (137 minutes), but it never feels slow, and a romantic subplot (with Kutcher wooing a schoolteacher played by Melissa Sagemiller) blends nicely with thrilling ocean-rescue sequences incorporating a seamless blend of CGI and footage shot in a 750,000-gallon water tank. Music fans will welcome the scene-stealing appearance of veteran singer Bonnie Bramlett as the owner of a jazz/blues club near the training base, where The Guardianserves up yet another staple of its genre: the barroom brawl. Although Hurricane Katrina prevented The Guardianfrom being filmed in New Orleans in 2005, real-life footage during the closing credits makes it clear that the Coast Guard was essential in Katrina's aftermath, and this rousing drama pays overdue tribute to those who risk there lives (to quote the Coast Guard's motto) "so that others may live."—Jeff Shannon

Jean-François Richet

Frank Marshall Brutal cold forces two antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008 Starring: Paul Walker Jason Biggs Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e., a video store in Manhattan Beach, California) and turned Hollywood on its ear in 1992 with his explosive first feature, Reservoir Dogs. Like Tarantino's mainstream breakthrough Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs has an unconventional structure, cleverly shuffling back and forth in time to reveal details about the characters, experienced criminals who know next to nothing about each other. Joe (Lawrence Tierney) has assembled them to pull off a simple heist, and has gruffly assigned them color-coded aliases (Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. White) to conceal their identities from being known even to each other. But something has gone wrong, and the plan has blown up in their faces. One by one, the surviving robbers find their way back to their prearranged warehouse hideout. There, they try to piece together the chronology of this bloody fiasco—and to identify the traitor among them who tipped off the police. Pressure mounts, blood flows, accusations and bullets fly. In the combustible atmosphere these men are forced to confront life-and-death questions of trust, loyalty, professionalism, deception, and betrayal. As many critics have observed, it is a movie about "honor among thieves" (just as Pulp Fiction is about redemption, and Jackie Brown is about survival). Along with everything else, the movie provides a showcase for a terrific ensemble of actors: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Christopher Penn, and Tarantino himself, offering a fervent dissection of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" over breakfast. Reservoir Dogs is violent (though the violence is implied rather than explicit), clever, gabby, harrowing, funny, suspenseful, and even—in the end—unexpectedly moving. (Don't forget that "Super Sounds of the Seventies" soundtrack, either.) Reservoir Dogs deserves just as much acclaim and attention as its follow-up, Pulp Fiction, would receive two years later. —Jim Emerson

Antoine Fuqua While it offers nothing new to the military action genre, Tears of the Sundistinguishes itself with fine acting, expert craftsmanship, and seriousness of purpose. Its familiar "extraction mission" plot is essentially similar to that of Black Hawk Down, involving a crack team of U.S. Special Ops commandos struggling to rescue innocent missionaries amidst the bloody horror of Nigerian ethnic cleansing. With Bruce Willis as their grizzled, no-nonsense commander, the skillful team enters a hot zone that gets even hotter when their "package"—an American national (Monica Bellucci) who runs the isolated mission—demands that 70 Nigerian villagers be included in the rescue. Willis's uneasy conscience leads him to defy orders and expand his mission, and in an ambitious follow up to Training Day, director Antoine Fuqua escalates tension and strike-force with considerable emotional impact. Originally considered as a potential entry in Willis's Die Hardseries, and released on the eve of America's war with Iraq, Tears of the Sunadmirably avoids jingoism with its rousing story of personal good vs. political evil. —Jeff Shannon

大岛渚

Tony Scott Jingoism, beefcake, military hardware, and a Giorgio Moroder rock score reign supreme over taste and logic in this Tony Scott film about a maverick trainee pilot (Tom Cruise) who can't follow the rules at a Navy aviation training facility. The dogfight sequences between American and Soviet jets at the end are absolutely mechanical, though audiences loved it at the time. The love story between Cruise's character and that of Kelly McGillis is like flipping through pages of advertising in a glossy magazine. This designer action movie from 1986 would be all the more appalling were it not for the canny casting of good actors in dumb parts. Standouts include Anthony Edwards—who makes a nice impression as Cruise's average-Joe pal—and the relatively unknown Meg Ryan in a small but memorable appearance. —Tom Keogh

Francis Ford Coppola With dizzying cinematic tricks and astonishing performances, Francis Coppola's 1992 version of the oft-filmed Dracula story is one of the most exuberant, extravagant films of the 1990s. Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, as the Count and Mina Murray, are quite a pair of star-crossed lovers. She's betrothed to another man; he can't kick the habit of feeding off the living. Anthony Hopkins plays Van Helsing, the vampire slayer, with tongue firmly in cheek. Tom Waits is great fun as Renfield, the hapless slave of Dracula who craves the blood of insects and cats. Sadie Frost is a sexy Lucy Westenra. And poor Keanu Reeves, as Jonathan Harker, has the misfortune to be seduced by Dracula's three half-naked wives. There's a little bit of everything in this version of Dracula: gore, high-speed horseback chases, passion, and longing.

Rod Lurie The Last Castlerides high on a wave of American patriotism, respectful of military service and protocol, and primed to ignite anyone's passion for justice against corrupted ideals. This intense prison drama begins when a court-martialed three-star general (Robert Redford) is sentenced to military prison for defying a presidential command. The prison's warden (James Gandolfini) is a jealous martinet who's never seen combat, and when the jailed general seizes command of the prison to protest the warden's abuse of power, The Last Castleerupts toward a classic showdown between integrity and cowardice. Former critic and West Point graduate Rod Lurie (The Contender) directs this intimate battle with manipulative skill, appealing more to emotions than intelligence, but his stellar cast keeps the action on track, and a potent script returns flag-waving to its rightful place of honor. —Jeff Shannon

Nadira Babbar, Martin Henderson, Aishwarya Rai A clash of cultures in the spirit of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, this modern musical retelling of Jane Austen's classic PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is a hilariously entertaining tale of one girl's unlikely search for love! Sparks immediately fly as a love/hate relationship ignites between a small-town beauty (international star Aishwarya Rai) and a wealthy American (Martin Henderson — THE RING, TORQUE) who's visiting her modest Indian village. In a swirl of music, dance, and comic misunderstandings, these opposites continue to attract and repel each other in a riotous romance that spans three continents! Featuring Naveen Andrews (TV's LOST, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) and a memorable performance from top recording artist Ashanti — love will eventually conquer all in this acclaimed treat from the director of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM!

Philadelphiawasn't the first movie about AIDS (it followed such worthy independent films as Parting Glancesand Longtime Companion), but it was the first Hollywood studio picture to take AIDS as its primary subject. In that sense, Philadelphiais a historically important film. As such, it's worth remembering that director Jonathan Demme (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs) wasn't interested in preaching to the converted; he set out to make a film that would connect with a mainstream audience. And he succeeded. Philadelphiawas not only a hit, it also won Oscars for Bruce Springsteen's haunting "The Streets of Philadelphia," and for Tom Hanks as the gay lawyer Andrew Beckett who is unjustly fired by his firm because he has AIDS. Denzel Washington is another lawyer (functioning as the mainstream-audience surrogate) who reluctantly takes Beckett's case and learns to overcome his misconceptions about the disease, about those who contract it, and about gay people in general. The combined warmth and humanism of Hanks and Demme were absolutely essential to making this picture a success. The cast also features Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas (as Beckett's lover), Joanne Woodward, and Robert Ridgely, and, of course, those Demme regulars Charles Napier, Tracey Walter, and Roger Corman. —Jim Emerson

Luke Greenfield While it suffered a nearly unanimous beating from critics, The Girl Next Doorattracted more than a few loyal defenders during its brief box-office lifespan. It pales when compared to its teen-comedy role model (the 1983 classic Risky Business), but you've got to admit that anymovie about a teenager whose new next-door neighbor is a 19-year-old former porn star has bona fide cult-movie potential. To its credit, this rather schizoid blend of sleaze and comedy boasts an engaging pair of costars in Emile Hirsch (as the smitten, voyeuristic virgin) and 24's Elisha Cuthbert (as his sexy new house-sitting neighbor). And there are some good laughs in a script that takes unexpected turns when we learn that Cuthbert's character is trying to leave her porn-star past behind, to the chagrin of her pimp-like producer (Timothy Olyphant, in a scene-stealing role). Faring somewhat better than he did with the Rob Schneider non-comedy The Animal, director Luke Greenfield clearly recalls the turbulence that goes hand-in-hand with being young, horny, and confused. There's honesty and even (dare we say it?) maturity to be found in this raging-hormone fantasy, even if it's partially buried in a convoluted plot that's appalling or appealing, depending on your tolerance for good-natured prurience. —Jeff Shannon

Simon West The smartest thing about the remake of When a Stranger Callsis that it strips the original 1979 version to its bare essentials as a primal exercise in stormy-night terror. While taking the original film's suspenseful first act and expanding it into an 87-minute cat-and-mouse game, screenwriter Jake Wade Wall adds a few clever updates involving cellphones and home-security services, as well as the maze-like menace of a lavish modern home that serves as the setting for mayhem when cute teenager Jill (Camilla Belle, in the role originated by Carol Kane) takes on a babysitting job that she may live to regret. Someone is stalking her in the big, expensive glass palace that her employers call home (a splendid set designed by Jon Gary Steele), and that creepy voice on the phone (belonging to Lance Henriksen, master of doom-laden threat) should've been her first clue to grab the pair of terrified kids she's supposed to be protecting and leave the house ASAP. But no, the script, the overwrought score, and the uninspired direction of Simon West (Con-Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) insist that poor Jill be put through a Halloween-like night from hell, complete with a black cat as an omen of nasty things to come. Kudos to Wall and West for attempting to generate horror through suggestion (by keeping the homicidal stalker mostly off-screen), but let's face it: the original film is hardly a classic (its TV-movie sequel, When a Stranger Calls Back, is considerably better), and the remake takes too long to yield minimal rewards. Maybe Jill should've just unplugged the phone. —Jeff Shannon

Julio Medem

Cameron Crowe

Joel Coen After the tight plotting and quirky intensity of Fargo, this casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen (Ethan and Joel) brothers seems like a bit of a lark, and the result was a box-office disappointment. The good news is, The Big Lebowskiis every bit a Coen movie, and its lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hairnetted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins? The plot—which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name—is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. Be sure to watch with snacks in hand, because The Big Lebowskimight give you a giddy case of the munchies. —Jeff Shannon

Victor Fleming Mervyn LeRoy King Vidor When it was released during Hollywood's golden year of 1939, The Wizard of Ozdidn't start out as the perennial classic it has since become. The film did respectable business, but it wasn't until its debut on television that this family favorite saw its popularity soar. And while Oz's TV broadcasts are now controlled by media mogul Ted Turner (who owns the rights), the advent of home video has made this lively musical a mainstay in the staple diet of great American films. Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz—the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)—have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades. The film's still as fresh, frightening, and funny as it was when first released. It may take some liberal detours from the original story by L. Frank Baum, but it's loyal to the Baum legacy while charting its own course as a spectacular film. Shot in glorious Technicolor, befitting its dynamic production design (Munchkinland alone is a psychedelic explosion of color and décor), The Wizard of Ozmay not appeal to every taste as the years go by, but it's required viewing for kids of all ages. —Jeff Shannon

James Mangold With an ace up its sleeve, Identity does for schizophrenia what The Silence of the Lambs did for fava beans and a nice chianti. On the proverbial dark and stormy night, this anxiety-laced thriller offers a tasty blend of And Then There Were None and Psycho, with a dash of Sybil for extra spice and psychosis. Things go from bad to worse when 10 unrelated travelers converge at an isolated motel and proceed to die, one by one, with no apparent connection... until they discover the common detail that's drawn them into this nightmare of relentless trauma. Even as it flunks Abnormal Psychology 101, Michael Cooney's screenplay offers meaty material for a superior ensemble cast including John Cusack and Rebecca DeMornay (who wins the Janet Leigh prize in a bitchy comeback role). Director James Mangold pivots the action around one character (played by his Heavy star, Pruitt Taylor Vince, in eye-twitching cuckoo mode), and half the fun of Identity comes from deciphering who's who, what's what, and who'll be the next to die. —Jeff Shannon

Cameron Crowe Elizabethtownhas all of the elements of a great Cameron Crowe movie, but none of the Cameron Crowe vision that made Almost Famouswork. It's mostly a series of sweet moments, each capped with the right song at the right time; in fact, the soundtrack is the real star of the movie, and the right song is all there is to piece together a film that is much less than the sum of its parts.

From the start of Elizabethtown, big contrasts are evoked: death and life, success and failure are side by side, so we're told. When the movie starts, Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom) is experiencing failure and death in spades: the shoe he spent eight years designing for Mercury (a thinly-veiled copy of Nike) has been recalled, costing his company $972 million dollars. On the verge of a suicide attempt, he learns his father has died, and Drew flies to Kentucky to retrieve the body to Oregon for cremation. On the red-eye to Louisville he meets Claire Colburn (Kirsten Dunst), a perky flight att'ndant with a charming flair for cute lines ("I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember," she chirps). Once in Elizabethtown, Drew tries to plan a memorial while dealing with relatives who have their own agenda in addition to his manic family back in Oregon, all while facing the reality that in a few days he'll be known nationally as one of his industry's most legendary failures. Yet still he manages to connect with Claire on an all-night cell phone conversation—complete with the requisite watching of the sunrise—and to strike up a furtive romance.

So we now have death and life side by side. But despite these dramatic shifts, what sets up to be a roller coaster ride of a film flattens out to a milquetoast middle ground with no real life of its own. Drew Baylor has suffered two tragic personal losses in the course of one day, but you wouldn't know it from Bloom's lethargic performance. There's not much to Claire either. Her whole character is made up mostly of cutesy quotable lines and mysterious little smirks. In the end, Elizabethtownis a film that doesn't know what it wants to be, and unfortunately there's no payoff, other than a few memorable lines and a great soundtrack. —Dan Vancini

Neil Jordan

John Woo At his best, director John Woo turns action movies into ballets of blood and bullets grounded in character drama. Face/Offmarks Woo's first American film to reach the pitched level of his best Hong Kong work (Hard-Boiled). He takes a patently absurd premise—hero and villain exchange identities by literally swapping faces in science-fiction plastic surgery—and creates a double-barreled revenge film driven by the split psyches of its newly redefined characters. FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta) must play the villain to move through the underworld while psychotic terrorist Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) becomes a perversely paternal family man while using every tool at his disposal to destroy his nemesis. Travolta vamps Cage's tics and flamboyant excess with the grace of a dancer after his transformation from cop to criminal, while Cage plays the sullen, bottled-up agent excruciatingly trapped behind the face of the man who killed his son. His attempts to live up to the terrorist's reputation become cathartic explosions of violence that both thrill and terrify him. This is merely icing on the cake for action fans, the dramatic backbone for some of the most visceral action thrills ever. Woo fills the screen with one show-stopping set piece after another, bringing a poetic grace to the action freakout with sweeping camerawork and sophisticated editing. This marriage of melodrama and mayhem ups the ante from cops-and-robbers clichés to a conflict of near-mythic levels. —Sean Axmaker

Michael Curtiz Scott Benson (II) A truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablancastill wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband. Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt are among what may be the best supporting cast in the history of Hollywood films. This is certainly among the most spirited and ennobling movies ever made. —Tom Keogh

Jerry Zucker Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are the passionate lovers whose romance is undone when the latter is murdered during a bungled hit arranged by a rival. The clever concept by screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin (director of My Life) extends outward into comedy (Swayze's character communicates through a sassy medium played by Whoopi Goldberg, who won an Oscar for this role), horror (the afterlife is populated by hell-bound demons and the like), and romantic complications (a handsome suitor, played by Tony Goldwyn, comes on to Moore while Swayze's spirit is still hanging around). Directed by Jerry Zucker, previously best known for codirecting Airplane!and similar broad comedies, Ghostis a careful balancing act of strong commercial elements, but at heart it is a timeless Hollywood tearjerker that easily gets under one's skin. —Tom Keogh

Martin Campbell The Zorro brand of hot-blooded derring-do returns with The Legend of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the roles that brought them stardom with The Mask of Zorro. Now married for ten years and parents to young rascal Joaquim (charming Adrian Alonso, perhaps being set up for a future Son of Zorro), dashing swordsman Alejandro (Banderas, a Spaniard playing a Mexican) and sultry spitfire Elena De La Vega (Zeta-Jones, a Welshwoman playing a Spaniard) abruptly divorce, sending Alejandro on a drunken binge—which only gets worse when he learns Elena is being wooed by the mysterious Armand (Rufus Sewell, a Brit playing a Frenchman). Little does Alejandro know that Elena has ulterior motives, and that a worldwide conspiracy and a secret weapon will soon threaten the integrity of the U.S. The Legend of Zorrohas way too much plot, leaving room for only two genuinely preposterous donnybrooks and a handful of lackluster brawls. Banderas and Zeta-Jones flash a bit of their considerable charisma, but by and large they (and the movie as a whole) are on autopilot. Not awful, but lacking any real spark. —Bret Fetzer

Alejandro Agresti Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock pair up again in what could be described as the anti-Speed: The Lake House, a sweet, relaxed-paced, whimsical romance. When Alex Wyler (Reeves, The Matrix) moves into an unusual glass house on stilts over a lake, he discovers a note from the previous tenant in the mailbox—but no one's lived in the house for years. He replies and soon discovers that he's corresponding with a doctor named Kate Forster (Bullock, Miss Congeniality) who's writing from two years in the future. Their correspondence turns romantic and their paths cross in unexpected ways, but when they try to truly connect, danger looms. Though the plot of The Lake Housesounds potentially static, the movie is skillfully structured and, despite some truly awful dialogue, will exert an emotional pull on anyone willing to embrace the device of the time-travelling mailbox. What the movie really demonstrates, though, is the genuine rapport between Bullock and Reeves; Reeves, though handsome, has a wooden presence—but in his few scenes with Bullock, his stiffness transforms into a palpable yearning. On-screen chemistry is slippery and hard to define, but these two have it. —Bret Fetzer

When three thirtysomething friends with woman troubles (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn) decide to form a fraternity, it's supposedly to save Wilson from losing his house, which the nearby college is trying to claim for academic purposes. But really, Ferrell and Vaughn are desperate to return to the reckless, feckless days of beer bongs and hot chicks, and they drag Wilson along with them as they throw themselves into gathering frat pledges of all ages. Old Schoolcould have been just another string of bad jokes hanging on a flimsy plot, but the script and the cast have a jovial energy and just enough grounding in reality—at least, up until the obligatory beat-the-system ending, but by that point you'll forgive the excesses of this silly, cheerful, and frequently funny movie. Featuring Jeremy Piven and Juliette Lewis, with cameos by Snoop Dog, Andy Dick, and others. —Bret Fetzer

Anthony Minghella Freely adapted from Charles Frazier's beloved bestseller, Cold Mountainboasts an impeccable pedigree as a respectable Civil War love story, offering everything you'd want from a romantic epic except a resonant emotional core. Everything in this sweeping, Odyssean journey depends on believing in the instant love that ignites during a verybrief encounter between genteel, city-bred preacher's daughter Ada (Nicole Kidman) and Confederate soldier Inman (Jude Law), who deserts the battlefield to return, weary and wounded, to Ada's inherited farm in the rural town of Cold Mountain, North Carolina. In an epic (but dramatically tenuous) case of absence making hearts grow fonder, Inman endures a treacherous hike fraught with danger (and populated by supporting players including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and others) while the struggling, inexperienced Ada is aided by the high-spirited Ruby (Renée Zellweger), forming a powerful farming partnership that transforms Ada into a strong, lovelorn survivor. The film's episodic structure slightly weakens its emotional impact, and it's fairly obvious that director Anthony Minghella is striving to repeat the prestigious romanticism of his Oscar®-winning hit The English Patient. For the most part it works, especially in the dynamic performances of Zellweger and Kidman, and the explosive 1864 battle of Petersburg, Virginia, is recreated with violent, percussive intensity. Those who admired Frazier's novel may regret some of the changes made in Minghella's adaptation (the ending is particularly altered), but Cold Mountainremains a high-class example of grand, old-fashioned filmmaking, boosted by star power of the highest order. —Jeff Shannon

Doug Liman Freely adapted from Robert Ludlum's 1980 bestseller, The Bourne Identity starts fast and never slows down. The twisting plot revs up in Zurich, where amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), with no memory of his name, profession, or recent activities, recruits a penniless German traveler (Run Lola Run's Franka Potente) to assist in solving the puzzle of his missing identity. While his CIA superior (Chris Cooper) dispatches assassins to kill Bourne and thus cover up his failed mission, Bourne exercises his lethal training to leave a trail of bodies from Switzerland to Paris. Director Doug Liman (Go) infuses Ludlum's intricate plotting with a maverick's eye for character detail, matching breathtaking action with the humorous, thrill-seeking chemistry of Damon and Potente. Previously made as a 1988 TV movie starring Richard Chamberlain, The Bourne Identity benefits from the sharp talent of rising stars, offering intelligent, crowd-pleasing excitement from start to finish. —Jeff Shannon

Paul Greengrass

Florent Emilio Siri You get two hostage crises for the price of one in Hostage, an overwrought but otherwise involving thriller grounded by Bruce Willis's solid lead performance. Making a dramatic pit-stop on his way to Die Hard 4, Willis plays a traumatized former Los Angeles hostage negotiator, now working as a nearly-divorced police chief in sleepy Ventura County, California. Willis suddenly finds himself amidst two potentially deadly stand-offs when a trio of hapless teenagers seize hostages in the fortress-like home of an accountant (Kevin Pollack) whose connections to organized crime result in Willis struggling to rescue his estranged wife and daughter, who are being held hostage by faceless thugs at an undisclosed location. Having directed two of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cellvideo games, director Florent Siri brings plenty of slick, competent filmmaking to Willis's desperate dilemma, and the film boasts a gritty, graphic style that draws attention away from implausible plot twists. The bothersome, over-the-top performances by the teenaged villains also slightly compromise this gloomy but emotionally gripping adaptation of Robert Crais's novel, named as one of Amazon.com's best books of 2001. —Jeff Shannon

Steven Spielberg Despite super effects, a huge budget, and the cinematic pedigree of alien-happy Steven Spielberg, this take on H.G. Wells's novel is basically a horror film packaged as a sci-fi thrill ride. Instead of a mad slasher, however, Spielberg (along with writers Josh Friedman & David Koepp) utilizes aliens hell-bent on quickly destroying humanity, and the terrifying results that prey upon adult fears, especially in the post-9/11 world. The realistic results could be a new genre, the grim popcorn thriller; often you feel like you're watching Schindler's List more than Spielberg's other thrill-machine movies (Jaws, Jurassic Park). The film centers on Ray Ferrier, a divorced father (Tom Cruise, oh so comfortable) who witnesses one giant craft destroy his New Jersey town and soon is on the road with his teen son (Justin Chatwin) and preteen daughter (Dakota Fanning) in tow, trying to keep ahead of the invasion. The film is, of course, impeccably designed and produced by Spielberg's usual crew of A-class talent. The aliens are genuinely scary, even when the film—like the novel—spends a good chunk of time in a basement. Readers of the book (or viewers of the deft 1953 adaptation) will note the variation of whom and how the aliens come to Earth, which poses some logistical problems. The film opens and closes with narration from the novel read by Morgan Freeman, but Spielberg could have adapted Orson Welles's words from the famous Halloween Eve 1938 radio broadcast: "We couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night, so we did the best next thing: we annihilated the world."—Doug Thomas

War of the Worldsat Amazon.com

The Soundtrack

The War of the Worlds(1953)

War of the Worlds - The Complete First Season(TV series)

Classic Sci-Fi Movies and Their Remakes

Aliens Invade on DVD

The Prog-rock Opera (no kidding)

Andrew Niccol THIS CHARTS THE RISE & FALL OF YURI ORLOV, FROM THE EARLY 80S IN LITTLE ODESSA, SELLING GUNS TO MOBSTERS IN HIS LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD, INTO THE EARLY 90S, WHERE HE FORMS A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP WITH AN AFRICAN WARLORD & HIS PSYCHOTIC SON.

Luc Besson Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylized thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikitaand Subwayto the production, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar. —Tom Keogh

Peyton Reed The combined star power of Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, Swingers) and Jennifer Aniston (Bruce Almighty, The Good Girl) makes The Break-Upa high-profile romantic comedy. Gary (Vaughn) and Brooke (Aniston) find that their brittle relationship may have reached the breaking point—but neither is willing to give up the condo they co-own. As their fighting grows increasingly bitter, neither is sure if they're fighting to get out of the relationship or to save it. The Break-Upis an odd combination of realistic scenes that capture the harsh yet human ways that lovers can hurt each other, and broad comic scenes with a more farcical edge. Both types of scenes are entertaining on their own terms—the movie is never boring—but they don't fully mesh, and as a result it's hard to engage emotionally with either Gary or Brooke. But the sterling supporting cast—including Jon Favreau (Wimbledon), Cole Hauser (The Cave), Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy), John Michael Higgins (A Mighty Wind), Justin Long (Dodgeball), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Vincent D'Onofrio (Happy Accidents), and the ever-delirious Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives)—give every scene they're in a boost of comic energy. An uneven but enjoyable movie that may suffer from viewers having overly high expectations due to Vaughn and Aniston's celebrity. —Bret Fetzer

Robert Zemeckis Shot back-to-back with Back to the Future II, this final chapter in the series is less hectic than that film and has the same sweet spirit of the first, albeit in a whole new setting. This time, Michael J. Fox's character ends up in the Old West of 1885, trying to prevent the death of mad scientist Christopher Lloyd at the hands of a gunman. Director Robert Zemeckis successfully blends exciting special effects with the traditions of a Western, and comes up with something original and fun. —Tom Keogh

Robert Zemeckis Critics and audiences didn't seem too happy with this inventive, perhaps too clever sequel to the popular 1985 comedy about a high school kid (Michael J. Fox) who travels into the past and has to bring his parents together (or lose his own existence). Director Robert Zemeckis and cast bent over backwards to add layers of time-travel complication to this follow-up, and while it surely exercises the brain it isn't necessarily funny in the same way that its predecessor was. It's well worth a visit, though, just to appreciate the imagination that went into it, particularly in a finale that has Fox's character watching his own actions from the first film. —Tom Keogh

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a masterpiece. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people's homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess's dark, satirical social commentary. We watch Alex transform from a free-roaming miscreant into a convict used in a government experiment that attempts to reform criminals through an unorthodox new medical treatment. The catch, of course, is that this therapy may be nothing better than a quick cure-all for a society plagued by rampant crime. A Clockwork Orangeworks on many levels—visual, social, political, and sexual—and is one of the few films that hold up under repeated viewings. Kubrick not only presents colorfully arresting images, he also stylizes the film by utilizing classical music (and Wendy Carlos's electronic classical work) to underscore the violent scenes, which even today are disturbing in their display of sheer nihilism. Ironically, many fans of the film have missed that point, sadly being entertained by its brutality rather than being repulsed by it. —Bryan Reesman

Robert Zemeckis Dr. Emmett Brown: Then tell me, "future boy," who is president in the United States in 1985?

Marty McFly: Ronald Reagan. 

Dr. Brown: Ronald Reagan? The actor?! Who's vice president? Jerry Lewis?

Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis topped his breakaway hit Romancing the Stonewith this joyous comedy with a dazzling hook: what would it be like to meet your parents in their youth? Billed as a special-effects comedy, the imaginative film (the top box-office smash of 1985) has staying power because of the heart behind Zemeckis and Bob Gale's script. High schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox, during the height of his TV success) is catapulted back to the '50s where he sees his parents in their teens, and accidentally changes the history of how Mom and Dad met. Filled with the humorous ideology of the '50s, filtered through the knowledge of the '80s (actor Ronald Reagan is president, ha!), the film comes off as a Twilight Zoneepisode written by Preston Sturges. Filled with memorable effects and two wonderfully off-key, perfectly cast performances: Christopher Lloyd as the crazy scientist who builds the time machine (a DeLorean luxury car) and Crispin Glover as Marty's geeky dad. Followed by two sequels. —Doug Thomas

Gore Verbinski Hamilton Luske From producer Jerry Bruckheimer (PEARL HARBOR) comes PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL, the thrilling high-seas adventure with a mysterious twist. The roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow's (Academy Award(R) Nominee Johnny Depp) idyllic pirate life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and later attacks the town of Port Royal, kidnapping the governor's beautiful daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightley). In a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl, Elizabeth's childhood friend Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) joins forces with Jack. What Will doesn't know is that a cursed treasure has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead. Rich in suspense-filled adventure, sword-clashing action, mystery, humor, unforgettable characters, and never-before-seen special effects, PIRATES is a must-have epic on the grandest scale ever.

Gore Verbinski Take the first Pirates of the Caribbeanfilm, add a dash of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seaand a lot more rum. Shake well and you'll have something resembling Dead Man's Chest, a bombastic sequel that's enjoyable as long as you don't think too hard about it. The film opens with the interrupted wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), both of whom are arrested for aiding in the escape of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in the first film. Their freedom can only be obtained by getting Captain Jack's compass, which is linked to a key that's linked to a chest belonging to Davy Jones, an undead pirate with a tentacle face and in possession of a lot of people's souls. If you're already confused, don't worry—plot is definitely not the strong suit of the franchise, as the film excels during its stunt pieces, which are impressively extravagant (in particular a three-way swordfight atop a mill wheel). It may help to know that Dead Man's Chest was filmed simultaneously with some of Pirates 3, so don't expect a complete resolution (think more The Empire Strikes Back) or the movie will feel a lotlonger than it really is.

Bloom shows a tad bit more brawn this time around, but he's still every bit as pretty as the tomboyish Knightley. (Seriously, sometimes you think they could swap roles.) Bill Nighy (Love, Actually) weighs in as Davy Jones and Stellan Skarsgård appears as Will's undead father. But the film still belongs wholly to Depp, who in a reprise of his Oscar-nominated role gets all the belly laughs with a single widened eyeliner-ed gaze. He still runs like a cartoon hen and slurs like Keith Richards—and he's still one of the most fascinating movie characters in recent history. —Ellen A. Kim

More Piratesat Amazon.com

Johnny Depp DVDs

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Tim Burton Once upon a time in a castle high on a hill lived an inventor whose greatest creation was named Edward. Although Edward had an irresistible charm, he wasn t quite perfect. The inventor s sudden death left him unfinished, with sharp shears of metal for hands. Edward lived alone in the darkness until one day a kind Avon lady took him home to live with her family. And so began Edward s fantastical adventures in a pastel paradise known as Suburbia.

System Requirements:

Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Vincent Price, Kathy Baker, and Anthony Michael Hall.

Directed By: Tim Burton.

Running Time: 100 Min., Color.

This film is presented in "Widescreen" format.

Copyright 2000 Twentieth Century Fox.

Format: DVD MOVIE

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John Hamburg Opposites are forced to attract in Along Came Polly, a dose of featherweight fluff that could've been better and could've been worse—surely no pairing of Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston can be a complete waste of time, right? Faint praise indeed, but fans of these mainstream funny-folk will enjoy this movie as a lazy-weekend distraction. Ben's a newlywed insurance risk-assessment analyst whose wife (Debra Messing, in a throwaway role) betrays him on their honeymoon. His uptight, play-it-safe lifestyle (which includes acute aversion to germs and irritable bowel syndrome) makes him seemingly incompatible with the spontaneous, free-spirited Polly (Aniston), but writer-director John Hamburg (whose writing credits include the previous Stiller hits Meet the Parentsand Zoolander) is determined to give them at least the appearanceof romantic potential. No such luck. You will, however, get a few laughs from supporting players Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bryan Brown, and Alec Baldwin. —Jeff Shannon

Vera Belmont Marquise is a drama about the rise and fall of a beauteous actress. As cheerfully portrayed by Sophie Marceau, the eponymous heroine is an engagingly ribald, but perhaps rather too modern, character. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and the mistress of the celebrated Racine, who wrote roles especially for her; but her fate, in the end, is a tragic one.

Kevin Reynolds Revenge rarely gets sweeter than it does in The Count of Monte Cristo, a rousing, impeccably crafted adaptation of Alexandre Dumas père's literary classic. Filmed countless times before, the story is revitalized by director Kevin Reynolds (rallying after Waterworld) and screenwriter Jay Wolpert, who wisely avoid the action-movie anachronisms that plagued 2001's dubious Dumas-inspired The Musketeer. Leading a superior cast, Jim Caviezel (Frequency) expresses a delicate balance of obsession and nobility as Dantes, the wrongly accused Frenchman who endures 13 years of prison and torment, then uses a hidden treasure to finance elaborate vengeance on those who wronged him. Memento's Guy Pearce is equally effective as Dantes's betraying nemesis, and Richard Harris tops his Harry Potterwizardry with a humorous turn as Dantes's fellow prisoner and mentor. Filmed on stunning locations in Ireland and Malta, The Count of Monte Cristoeasily matches Rob Royfor intelligent swashbuckling entertainment. —Jeff Shannon

Joe Wright (IV) Literary adaptations just don't get any better than director Joe Wright's 2005 version of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. The key word here is adaptation, because Wright and gifted screenwriter Deborah Moggach have taken liberties with Austen's classic novel that purists may find objectionable, but in this exquisite film their artistic decisions are entirely justified and exceptionally well executed. It's a more rural England that we see here, circa 1790 (as opposed to Austen's early 19th century), in which Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) is one of several sisters primed for marriage, with an anxious mother (Brenda Blethyn) only too desperate to see her daughters paired off with the finest, richest husbands available. Elizabeth is strong-willed and opinionated, but her head (not to mention her pride and prejudice) lead her heart astray when she meets the wealthy Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), whose own sense of decency and discretion (not to mention hispride and prejudice) prevent him from expressing his mutual affection. They're clearly meant for each other, and as Knightley's performance lights up the screen (still young enough to be girlishly impertinent, yet wise beyond her 20 years), Austen's timeless romance yields yet another timeless adaptation, easily on par with the beloved BBC miniseries that has been embraced by millions since originally broadcast in 1995. Individual tastes will vary as to which version should be considered "definitive," but with a stellar supporting cast including Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland, this impeccable production achieves its own kind of perfection. —Jeff Shannon

Tony Scott Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) is a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after a chance meeting with a college buddy (Jason Lee) at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the lawyer, he's just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman's assassination. Hot on the tail of this tape is a ruthless group of National Security Agents commanded by a belligerently ambitious fed named Reynolds (Jon Voight). Using surveillance from satellites, bugs and other sophisticated snooping devices, the NSA infiltrates every facet of Dean's existence, tracing each physical and digital footprint he leaves. Driven by acute paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a clandestine former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman) and Enemy of the Statekicks into high-intensity hyperdrive. Teaming up once again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gundirector Tony Scott demonstrates his glossy style with clever cinematography and breakneck pacing. Will Smith proves that there's more to his success than a brash sense of humour, giving a versatile performance that plausibly illustrates a man cracking under the strain of paranoid turmoil. Hackman steals the show by essentially reprising his role from The Conversation—just imagine his memorable character Harry Caul some 20 years later. Most of all, the film's depiction of high-tech surveillance is highly convincing and dramatically compelling, making this a cautionary tale with more substance than you'd normally expect from a Scott-Bruckheimer action extravaganza. —Jeremy Storey

Wayne Kramer Trying to explain the wildly accelerated plot of this non-stop action thriller would be like convincing Quentin Tarantino to retell the saga of The Sopranosin 15-minutes or less. Don't misunderstand, Running Scaredwastes little time on the nuanced details that make the violent, narratively precise, and intricately characterized world of The Sopranosso stylish and compelling. But boy, does it have style to spare, not to mention plenty of violence, narrative, and a cast of characters that all engage in a heady battle for your attention. Paul Walker has the unenviable task of fleshing out the role of a low-level mob flunky who's assigned to get rid of a gun that was involved in a bloody drug deal gone bad. When he botches even that little job, it's not just his wife who gets mad at him. Creepily threatened kids, put-upon women who save the day, and an array of pimps, hookers, sleazy gangsters and dirty cops straight ouuta central casting are all part of the intricate jumble of the story (not to mention bullet-time close-ups and a nifty scene that imparts the inherent danger of hockey pucks in a whole new light). It's hard to believe this outlandish piece of ultraviolence came from writer/director Wayne Kramer, the same creative mind that gave us the smooth little caper flick The Cooler. Don't think about that too hard though. Considering the madcap rush of Running Scared's wicked fun and inspired lunacy, you won't have the time to anyway. —Ted Fry

Academy Award® nominee Greg Kinnear (Best Supporting Actor, As Good As It Gets, 1997; The Matador) and James Caveizel (The Passion Of The Christ) light up the screen in this riveting psychological thriller that delivers nerve-jarring suspense like The Usual Suspects and Memento. Five strangers wake up in a locked warehouse with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Now they are forced on a journey together to discover who is good — and who is evil — in order to stay alive. Watch in real time as facts are revealed, the unknown becomes known...and this stunningly unpredictable motion picture leads you down a path of twists and turns that may uncover the truth. Also starring Joe Pantoliano (HBO's The Sopranos), Bridget Moynaghan (I, Robot), Jeremy Sisto (HBO's Six Feet Under) and Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan).

Gerard Krawczyk A gang of thieves calling themselves the Santa Claus Gang are wreaking havoc, and the police can't keep up. Police Captain Gilbert is distracted by a Chinese reporter writing a story on his squad, detective Emilien's wife has just announced that she's pregnant, and taxi driver Daniel is in the midst of a relationship crisis. After a string of mistakes in which the thieves outsmart the police time and time again with a reporter there to record it all, Daniel and his super-taxi pitch in. C'est décembre à Marseille. Daniel rajoute des option à son taxi et Lili voit rouge. Le commissaire est aveuglé par sa stagiaire nippone et son enquête piétine. Émilien voit des pères Noël partout et Pétra s'impatiente. De Marseille à Tignes, de la Cannebière aux pistes de ski, l'aventure continue...

Gérard Krawczyk - Le "Making of" de Taxi 2 - film, scènes, bande-annonce, extras - version originale française, version pleine écran & version scope - Dolby Stereo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Le ministre de la défense japonais en visite dans notre pays pour tester le savoir-faire français en matière de lutte anti-terroriste et signer "le contrat due siècle" avec l'État français, est enlevé par un gang de Yakusas. Daniel et Emilien vont être embarqués malgré eux dans de nouvelles aventures pour retrouver cet invité de marque et s'assurer qu'il ne rate pas son rendez-vous. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Japanese ambassaor is visiting Marseilles to view the city police's anti-gang tactics. During the visit, however, he is kidnapped by a group working for the Japanese yakuza. Young officer Emilien is determined to rescue the ambassador and officer Petra (his girlfriend), who was also kidnapped, and restore the honor of his department. Once again, speed demon taxi-driver Daniel (from the first Taxi movie) is called upon to save the day with his high-speed driving skills.

Kerry Conran While setting a milestone in the progress of digital filmmaking, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrowresurrects a nostalgic fantasy world derived from a wide variety of vintage inspirations. It's a dazzling dream for anyone who appreciates the look and feel of golden-age sci-fi pulp magazines, drawing its unique, all-digital design from such diverse sources as Howard Hawks adventures, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buck Rogers, Blackhawkcomics, The Third Man, cliffhanger serials, and the action-packed Indiana Jones franchise. Writer-director Kerry Conran's feature debut is also guaranteed to inspire digital dreamers everywhere, suggesting a paradigm shift in the way CGI-dominated movies are made. It's a giddy adventure for the young and young-at-heart, in which ace pilot "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan (Jude Law) and intrepid reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) must save the world from a mad scientist whose vision of the future has tragic implications for all humankind. Angelina Jolie drops in for a glorified cameo, but it's the ultra-fortunate neophyte Conran who's the star here. His clever riff on The Wizard of Ozis a marvel to behold, and the method of its creation is nothing less than revolutionary. —Jeff Shannon

Gérard Pirès (Original French Version) In Marseilles (France), Daniel, an ancient pizza delivery boy, changes job to become a taxi driver, but his dream is to become an F1 pilot. Caught by the police for a huge speed infraction, he will help Emilien, a loser inspector on the track of German bank robbers, so he doesn't lose his license and his job. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Daniel, ex-livreur de pizzas devenu chauffeur de taxi est un fou du volant. Son taxi c'est un bolide en puissance et quand il réveille les tigres qui sommeillent sous le capot, il échappe même aux radars. Hélas, lorsque son taxi croise la route d'Emilien, un policier recalé pour la huitième fois à son permis de conduire, Daniel est bien obligé, s'il veut garder un volant entre les mains, d'accepter le marché qu'Émilien lui propose : l'aider à démanteler un gang allemand de braqueurs de banques qui écume les succursales de la ville à bord de puissants véhicules. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Le film, le film par chapitres - La bande-annonce - Stéréo - Formats: 4/3 1.33:1 et 16/9 2.35:1 - Zone 1

Guy Ritchie Cockney boys Tom, Soap, Eddie, and Bacon are in a bind; they owe seedy criminal and porn king "Hatchet" Harry a sizable amount of cash after Eddie loses half a million in a rigged game of poker. Hot on their tails is a thug named Big Chris who intends to send them all to the hospital if they don't come up with the cash in the allotted time. Add into the mix an incompetent set of ganja cultivators, two dimwitted robbers, a "madman" with an afro, and a ruthless band of drug dealers and you have an astonishing movie called Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Before the boys can blink, they are caught up in a labyrinth of double-crosses that lead to a multitude of dead bodies, copious amounts of drugs, and two antique rifles.

Written and directed by talented newcomer Guy Ritchie, this is one of those movies that was destined to become an instant cult classic à la Reservoir Dogs. Although some comparisons were drawn between Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino, it would be unfair to discount the brilliant wit of the story and the innovative camerawork that the director brings to his debut feature. Not since The Krays has there been such an accurate depiction of the East End and its more colorful characters. Indicative of the social stratosphere in London, Ritchie's movie is a hilarious and at times touching account of friendships and loyalty. The director and his mates (who make up most of the cast) clearly are enjoying themselves here. This comes across in some shining performances, in particular from ex-footballer Vinnie Jones (Big Chris) and an over-the-top Vas Blackwood (as Rory Breaker), who very nearly steals the show. Full of quirky vernacular and clever tension-packed action sequences, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a triumph—a perfect blend of intelligence, humor, and suspense. —Jeremy Storey

Leo McCarey The worlds most eligible bachelor is set to marry a heiress but unfortunately for his bride-to-be. While hes travelling alone on a luxury liner he meets another and realizes hes engaged to the wrong woman. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 03/02/2004 Starring: Cary Grant Cathleen Nesbit Run time: 115 minutes

Stanley Donen Decades before the Hollywood film industry became famous for megabudget disaster and science fiction spectaculars, the studios of Southern California (and particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were renowned for a uniquely American (and nearly extinct) kind of picture known as The Musical. Indeed, when the prestigious British film magazine Sight & Soundconducts its international critics poll in the second year of every decade, this 1952 MGM picture is theAmerican musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It's not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds; it's also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry's uneasy transition from silent pictures to "talkies." Kelly plays debonair star Don Lockwood, whose leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) has a screechy voice hilariously ill-suited to the new technology (and her glamorous screen image). Among the musical highlights: O'Connor's knockout "Make 'Em Laugh"; the big "Broadway Melody" production number; and, best of all, that charming little title ditty in which Kelly makes movie magic on a drenched set with nothing but a few puddles, a lamppost, and an umbrella. —Jim Emerson

Jane Campion Based on Susanna Moore's popular novel, In the Cutcenters on Frannie (Meg Ryan), an emotionally stifled English teacher who gets steamy with sultry Malloy (Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count On Me), a cop who's investigating a series of brutal murders—but Frannie soon suspects that Malloy may be the killer. As a psychological thriller, In the Cutis heavier on psychology than thrills; the story is a skeleton that director Jane Campion (The Piano, An Angel at My Table) cloaks in one of the most nightmarish visions of urban life since Taxi Driveror Seven, accompanied by lots of explicit sex. The movie's dark tone will put some viewers off, but Ruffalo's effortless magnetism serves him well; no woman in the audience will question how quickly Ryan falls into bed with him. Also featuring Jennifer Jason Leigh and an uncredited Kevin Bacon. —Bret Fetzer

Peter Weir The whole world is watching—literally—every time Truman Burbank makes the slightest move. Unbeknownst to him, in this hauntingly funny film by Peter Weir, his entire life has been an unending soap opera for consumption by the rest of the world. And everyone he knows—including his mother, his wife, and his best friend—is really an actor, paid to be part of his life. In this intriguing and surprisingly touching 1998 film, writer Andrew Niccol imagines an ultimate kind of celebrity, then sees it brought to life with comic intensity and emotional honesty by Jim Carrey in what may be the performance of his career. Carrey has exceptional support from Laura Linney and Ed Harris, but it's his show, in a portrayal that demonstrates just what kind of range Carrey is capable of. —Marshall Fine

Richard Linklater How well you respond to Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darklydepends on how much you know about the life and work of celebrated science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. While it qualifies as a faithful adaptation of Dick's semiautobiographical 1977 novel about the perils of drug abuse, Big Brother-like surveillance and rampant paranoia in a very near future ("seven years from now"), this is still very much a Linklater film, and those two qualities don't always connect effectively. The creepy potency of Dick's premise remains: The drug war's been lost, citizens are kept under rigid surveillance by holographic scanning recorders, and a schizoid addict named Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is facing an identity crisis he's not even aware of: Due to his voluminous intake of the highly addictive psychotropic drug Substance D, Arctor's brain has been split in two, each hemisphere functioning separately. So he doesn't know that he's also Agent Fred, an undercover agent assigned to infiltrate Arctor's circle of friends (played by Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder, Rory Cochrane, and Robert Downey, Jr.) to track down the secret source of Substance D. As he wears a "scramble suit" that constantly shifts identities and renders Agent Fred/Arctor into "the ultimate everyman," Dick's drug-addled antihero must come to grips with a society where, as the movie's tag-line makes clear, "everything is not going to be OK."

While it's virtually guaranteed to achieve some kind of cult status, A Scanner Darklylacks the paranoid intensity of Dick's novel, and Linklater's established penchant for loose and loopy dialogue doesn't always work here, with an emphasis on drug-culture humor instead of the panicked anxiety that Dick's novel conveys. As for the use of "interpolated rotoscoping"—the technique used to apply shifting, highly stylized animation over conventional live-action footage—it's purely a matter of personal preference. The film's look is appropriate to Dick's dark, cautionary story about the high price of addiction, but it also robs performances of nuance and turns the seriousness of Dick's story into... well, a cartoon. Opinions will differ, but A Scanner Darklyis definitely worth a look—or two, if the mind-rattling plot doesn't sink in the first time around. —Jeff Shannon

Mark Neveldine Brian Taylor Action anti-hero Jason Statham is competing with himself to make the most relentless, non-stop action flick imaginable. In Crank, Statham stars as a hit man named Chev Chelios who's been poisoned by some Chinese toxin; the only way to stave it off is to keep his adrenalin flowing, which requires him to drive at top speeds through crowded traffic, start fights in bars, and run pell-mell down hospital corridors while wearing one of those humiliating smocks that tie in the back. In other words, Crankis high-end pop-trash, filled with many preposterous/ingenious stunts and over-the-top performances (Dwight Yoakam, Sling Blade, is downright droll as a doctor offering Chev assistance), marred by an unpleasant attitude towards women (Amy Smart, Outside Providence, will not look back on this as one of her signature roles). This is a movie for the audience who enjoyed Transporterand Transporter 2but wanted Statham's perpetual scowl to become a kind of theatrical mask, a perpetual signifier of intensity that begs—nay, demands—that everything around it rise to a mutual level of absurdity. Fans of Luc Besson (Leon/The Professional, District 13) will find Crankto be simpatico. —Bret Fetzer

Joachim Roenning Espen Sandberg First screened in Europe and scheduled for limited release in the U.S., Bandidascan now be viewed by all fans of the visually stunning duo, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek. Set in Mexico 1888, Bandidas

is a Western spoof about two women, Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) and Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek), who seek to avenge the tragedies befallen both their fathers under robber baron, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam). Jackson, employed by the Bank of New York, is sent to Mexico to buy land and open banks to the detriment of local culture. Jackson kills Sara's corrupt father, Don Diego, while bandits burn down Maria's home. The two ladies band together for the community's cause. Under the tutelage of Bill Buck (Sam Sheperd), Sara and Maria develop bank robbery skills. When criminologist, Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn), hunts them, they convert him with their strong moral sense and good looks. Like any Thelma and Louise-ish tale of women who take charge, Maria and Sara are foil characters who eventually become an invincible, sisterly team. This comedy is built around their bickering. For Sara, with European education and penchant of designer clothing, Maria is a hick who lacks refinement, yet Maria, horse whisperer, can fire a gun. The slapstick is overkill, for example when Sara wonders whether a bandana is Gucci or Prada. However, viewers will love Penelope Cruz on horseback and the two actresses practice-kissing their foe in a brothel. Bandidasis a light film with some laughs and mucho sex appeal. — Trinie Dalton

Beyond Bandidas

More Films from Salma Hayek

More Films from Penelope Cruz

More Comic Westerns

Stills from Bandidas

Mel Gibson Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning 1995 Braveheartis an impassioned epic about William Wallace, the 13th-century Scottish leader of a popular revolt against England's tyrannical Edward I (Patrick McGoohan). Gibson cannily plays Wallace as a man trying to stay out of history's way until events force his hand, an attribute that instantly resonates with several of the actor's best-known roles, especially Mad Max. The subsequent camaraderie and courage Wallace shares in the field with fellow warriors is pure enough and inspiring enough to bring envy to a viewer, and even as things go wrong for Wallace in the second half, the film does not easily cave in to a somber tone. One of the most impressive elements is the originality with which Gibson films battle scenes, featuring hundreds of extras wielding medieval weapons. After Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky, Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight, and even Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, you might think there is little new that could be done in creating scenes of ancient combat; yet Gibson does it. —Tom Keogh

Mike Nichols Four extremely beautiful people do extremely horrible things to one another in Closer, Mike Nichols' pungent adaptation of Patrick Marber's play that easily marks the Oscar-winning director's best work in years. Anna (Julia Roberts) is a photographer who specializes in portraits of strangers; Dan (Jude Law) is an obituary writer struggling to become a novelist; Alice (Natalie Portman) is an American stripper freshly arrived in London after a bad relationship; and Larry (Clive Owen) is a dermatologist who finds love under the most unlikely of circumstances. When their paths cross it's a dizzying supernova of emotions, as Nichols and Marber adroitly construct various scenes out of their lives that pair them again and again in various permutations of passion, heartbreak, anger, sadness, vengeance, pleading, deception, and most importantly, brutal honesty. It's only until you're more than halfway through the movie that you'll have to ask yourself exactly why you are watching such a beautifully tragic tale, as Closeris basically the ickiest, grossest, most dysfunctional parts of all your past relationships strung together into one movie. Ultimately, it falls to the four actors to draw you deeper into the story; all succeed relatively, but it's Law and Owen whose characters will cut you to the quick. Law proves that yet again he's most adept at playing charming, amoral bastards with manipulative streaks, and Owen is nothing short of brilliant as the character most turned on by the energy inherent in destructive relationships—whether he's on the giving or receiving end. —Mark Englehart

Tom Shadyac Bestowing Jim Carrey with godlike powers is a ripe recipe for comedy, and Bruce Almightydelivers the laughs that Carrey's mainstream fans prefer. The high-concept premise finds Carrey playing Bruce Nolan, a frustrated Buffalo TV reporter, stuck doing puff-pieces while a lesser colleague (the hilarious Steven Carell) gets the anchor job he covets. Bruce demands an explanation from God, who pays him a visit (in the serene form of Morgan Freeman) and lets Bruce take over while he takes a brief vacation. What does a petty, angry guy do when he's God? That's where Carrey has a field day, reuniting with his Ace Venturaand Liar, Liardirector, Tom Shadyac, while Jennifer Aniston gamely keeps pace as Bruce's put-upon fiancée. Carrey's actually funnier beforehe becomes Him, and the movie delivers a sappy, safely diluted notion of faith that lacks the sincerity of the 1977 hit Oh, God!Still, we can be thankful that Carrey took the high road and left Little Nickyto Adam Sandler. —Jeff Shannon

Michael Radford

There's an extra coat of hot wax on Pixar's vibrant, NASCAR-influenced comedy about a world populated entirely by cars. Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) is the slick rookie taking the Piston Cup series by storm when the last race of the season (the film's high-octane opening) ends in a three-way tie. On the way to the tie-breaker race in California, Lightning loses his way off Route 66 in the Southwest desert and is taught to stop and smell the roses by the forgotten citizens of Radiator Springs. It's odd to have such a slim story from the whizzes of Pixar, and the film pales a bit from their other films (though can that be a fair comparison?).

Nonetheless, Cars is another gleaming ride with Pixar founder John Lasseter, who's directing for the first time since Toy Story 2. There's the usual spectrum of excellent characters teamed with appropriate voice talent, loads of smooth humor for kids and parents alike, knockout visuals, and a colorful array of sidekicks, including a scene-stealing baby blue forklift named Guido. Lightning's plight is changed with the help of former big-city lawyer Sally Carrera (Pixar veteran Bonnie Hunt), the town's patriarch Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), and kooky tow truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy). The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to break the 100-minute barrier, but had enough story not to suffer; Cars, at 116 minutes (including some must-see end credit footage), is not as fortunate, plus it never pierces the heart. Trivia fans should have bonanza with the frame-by-frame DVD function; the movie is stuffed with in-jokes, some appearing only for an instant. Ages 5 and up. —Doug Thomas

Steve Pink Justin Long has been hovering on the edges of movies like The Break-Upand Dodgeball, providing little comic bursts that are often funnier than the rest of the movie. In Accepted, Long plays Bartleby Gaines, a fast-talking slacker who, when he gets rejected by every college he applied to, invents a phony college to get his parents off his back. Unfortunately, the website his best friend creates is too effective—hundreds of other rejects apply and are accepted. Instead of revealing the hoax, Gaines decides to forge ahead and let the students create their own curriculum, little suspecting that their school is obstructing the expansion plans of the nearby snobbish college. Acceptedis much better than you might expect, given the low bar set by most campus comedies; it aims for, and sometimes achieves, the blend of slapstick and social satire that Animal Houseembodied. Long proves to be a charming leading man without losing his quirky comic sense and the supporting cast is consistently entertaining, particularly stand-up comedian Lewis Black, who delivers a variety of sardonic rants about society. Accepted's critique of conformism is glib—you wish they'd given it a little more bite—but it's still valid and a pleasant sliver of substance in an otherwise vapid genre. —Bret Fetzer

Barry Chu

Gil Junger

More remake than sequel, Men in Black IIsafely repeats everything that made Men in Blackthe blockbuster hit of 1997. That's fine if you loved the original's fresh humor, weird aliens, and loopy ingenuity, but as sequels go, it's pure déjà vu. Makeup wizard Rick Baker is the only MIBalumnus who's trying anything new, while director Barry Sonnenfeld and costars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (as alien-fighting agents Jay and Kay, respectively) are on autopilot with an uninspired screenplay. The quest of a multitentacled alien—on Earth in the form of Lara Flynn Boyle—for the light of Zartha requires Jay to deneuralize Kay, whose restored memory contains the key to saving the planet. The tissue-thin premise allows all varieties of special effects—mostly familiar, with some oddly hilarious new stuff tossed in for good measure. Certainly enjoyable as a popcorn distraction, but the MIBmagic has worn a bit thin. —Jeff Shannon

Barry Sonnenfeld This imaginative summer comedy from director Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty) is a lot of fun, largely on the strength of Will Smith's engaging performance as the rookie partner of a secret agent (Tommy Lee Jones) assigned to keep tabs on Earth-dwelling extraterrestrials. There's lots of comedy to spare in this bright film, some of the funniest stuff found in the margins of the major action. (A scene with Smith's character being trounced in the distance by a huge alien while Jones questions a witness is a riot.) The inventiveness never lets up, and the cast—including Vincent D'Onofrio doing frighteningly convincing work as an alien occupying a decaying human—hold up their end splendidly. —Tom Keogh

Brutal and breathtaking, Sin Cityis Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.

Read our interview with Frank Miller.

Based on three of Miller's immensely popular and immensely gritty books (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard), Sin Cityis unquestionably the most faithful comic-book-based movie ever made. Each shot looks like a panel from its source material, and director Rodriguez (who refers to it as a "translation" rather than an adaptation) resigned from the Directors Guild so that Miller could share a directing credit. Like the books, it's almost entirely in stark black and white with some occasional bursts of color (a woman's red lips, a villain's yellow face). The backgrounds are entirely digitally generated, yet not self-consciously so, and perfectly capture Miller's gritty cityscape. And though most of Miller's copious nudity is absent, the violence is unrelentingly present. That may be the biggest obstacle to viewers who aren't already fans of the books and who may have been turned off by Kill Bill(whose director, Quentin Tarantino, helmed one scene of Sin City). In addition, it's a bleak, desperate world in which the heroes are killers, corruption rules, and the women are almost all prostitutes or strippers. But Miller's stories are riveting, and the huge cast—which also includes Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Michael Clarke Duncan, Devin Aoki, Carla Gugino, and Josh Hartnett—is just about perfect. (Only Bruce Willis and Michael Madsen, while very well-suited to their roles, seem hard to separate from their established screen personas.) In what Rodriguez hopes is the first of a series, Sin Cityis a spectacular achievement. —David Horiuchi

More Sin Cityat Amazon.com

The Graphic Novels and Books

Films by Robert Rodriguez

From Graphic Novel to Big Screen

The Soundtrack

Films by guest director Quentin Tarantino

Crime on DVD

David Fincher

Paul Haggis Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crasheven got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents—black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian—is downright amazing. A politically nervous district attorney (Brendan Fraser) and his high-strung wife (Sandra Bullock, biting into a welcome change of pace from Miss Congeniality) get car-jacked by an oddly sociological pair of young black men (Larenz Tate and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges); a rich black T.V. director (Terrence Howard) and his wife (Thandie Newton) get pulled over by a white racist cop (Matt Dillon) and his reluctant partner (Ryan Phillipe); a detective (Don Cheadle) and his Latina partner and lover (Jennifer Esposito) investigate a white cop who shot a black cop—these are only three of the interlocking stories that reach up and down class lines. Writer/director Paul Haggis (who wrote the screenplay for Million Dollar Baby) spins every character in unpredictable directions, refusing to let anyone sink into a stereotype. The cast—ranging from the famous names above to lesser-known but just as capable actors like Michael Pena (Buffalo Soldiers) and Loretta Devine (Woman Thou Art Loosed)—meets the strong script head-on, delivering galvanizing performances in short vignettes, brief glimpses that build with gut-wrenching force. This sort of multi-character mosaic is hard to pull off; Crash rivals such classics as Nashvilleand Short Cuts. A knockout. —Bret Fetzer

Stills from Crash (click for larger image)

Although billed as "The Motion Picture,"Saiyuki: Requiem(2001) is actually an OAV that continues the popular broadcast series. Sanjo Genzo and his motley crew, Sha Goyjo, Cho Hakkai, and Son Goku, are once again en route to India when they meet Horan, a young woman fleeing a monster that proves unusually difficult to kill. To thank them for her rescue, Horan invites the quartet back to the extravagant palace of her "master," Go Dogan. After a sumptuous dinner that delights Goku, the wanders retire to their rooms, where they're visited by murderous doppelgangers of each other. Naturally, Sanjo discovers the source of the evil and dispatches Dogan with a little assistance from his companions. The story contains few surprises, but the four adventurers provide the special brand of quarrelsome cool that won the series so many fans. (Rated 15 and older: nudity, violence, grotesque imagery, tobacco use) —Charles Solomon

Roland Emmerich In Independence Day, a scientist played by Jeff Goldblum once actually had a fistfight with a man (Bill Pullman) who is now president of the United States. That same president, late in the film, personally flies a jet fighter to deliver a payload of missiles against an attack by extraterrestrials. Independence Dayis the kind of movie so giddy with its own outrageousness that one doesn't even blink at such howlers in the plot. Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Dayis a pastiche of conventions from flying-saucer movies from the 1940s and 1950s, replete with icky monsters and bizarre coincidences that create convenient shortcuts in the story. (Such as the way the girlfriend of one of the film's heroes—played by Will Smith—just happens to run across the president's injured wife, who are then both rescued by Smith's character who somehow runs across them in alien-ravaged Los Angeles County.) The movie is just sheer fun, aided by a cast that knows how to balance the retro requirements of the genre with a more contemporary feel. —Tom Keogh

Asian exclusive DVD (NTSC/Region 0) of award winning 1997 film directed by William Nicholson & starring Sophie Marceau & Stephen Dillane. 'Fireflight' tells the story of a Swiss governess who has an affair with a British aristocrat to pay off her father's debts by having the Englishman's child. Original English dialog. 104 minutes.

Robert Mulligan Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbirdis quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity, and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defense of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. Universal's Collector's Edition DVD gives this classic all the respect it deserves, offering the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio, a full-length commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula, informative production notes, and an exclusive documentary about the making of this all-time great American film. Consider this a must for any respectable DVD library. —Jeff Shannon

Michael Cristofer Original Sinbelongs in the "so bad it's good" category of languid potboilers, offering enough nudity, sexual chemistry, and far-fetched plotting to make it an enjoyable lazy-day diversion. Based on Cornell Woolrich's novel Waltz into Darkness(previous filmed by François Truffaut as Mississippi Mermaid) and set in turn-of-the-century Cuba, the film traces a tailspin of amorous obsession when coffee plantation owner Luis (Antonio Banderas) discovers that his American mail-order bride (Angelina Jolie) is not the plain wife he'd expected, but a beautiful, scheming thief who's after his fortune. The movie asserts that love is truly blind, but absurd twists of plot make Luis appear more stupid than passionate. Writer-director Michael Cristofer fared better with Jolie in Gia; here, he's made another good-looking film about beautiful people, but its plot just can't be taken seriously. —Jeff Shannon

Like a pumpkin that transforms into a carriage, some very shrewd casting (and the charisma of Julia Roberts, in particular) morphed this story of a Hollywood whore into a Disneyfied Cinderellastory—and a mainstream megahit. This is the movie that made Roberts a star; the charm of her personality helping tremendously to carry viewers over the rough spots in the script (which was originally a cynical tale about prostitution called 3000—after the amount of money Richard Gere's character pays the prostitute to stay with him for the week). Gere is the silver-haired Wall Street knight who sweeps streetwalker Roberts into a fantasy world of room service at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel and fashion boutique shopping on Rodeo Drive. The supporting cast is also appealing, including Laura San Giacomo as Roberts's hooker pal, Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager, Jason Alexander, Ralph Bellamy, and Hank Azaria. Now, is this something you want your sons and daughters to see? That's entirely up to you. —Jim Emerson

Nora Ephron The director and stars of 1998's You've Got Mailscored a breakthrough hit with this hugely popular romantic comedy from 1993, about a recently engaged woman (Meg Ryan) who hears the sad story of a grieving widower (Tom Hanks) on the radio and believes that they're destined to be together. She's single in New York, he lives in Seattle with a young son, but the cross-country attraction proves irresistible, and pretty soon Meg's on a westbound flight. What happens from there is ... well, you must have been living in a cave to have let this sweet-hearted comedy slip below your pop-cultural radar. There's little complexity or depth to writer-director Nora Ephron's cheesy tale of a romantic fait accompli, and more than a little contrivance to the subplots that threaten to keep Hanks and Ryan from actually meeting. But the purity of star chemistry here is hard to deny, and this may be the first film to indicate the more serious and sympathetic side of Hanks that is revealed in later roles. With its clever jokes about "chick movies" and repeated homage to the classic weeper An Affair to Remember, this may not be everybody's brand of amorous entertainment, but it's got an old-Hollywood charm that appeals to many a movie fan. —Jeff Shannon

Elia Kazan Looking for a benchmark in movie acting? Breakthrough performances don't come much more electrifying than Marlon Brando's animalistic turn as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.Sweaty, brutish, mumbling, yet with the balanced grace of a prizefighter, Brando storms through the role—a role he had originated in the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's celebrated play. Stanley and his wife, Stella (as in Brando's oft-mimicked line, "Hey, Stellaaaaaa!"), are the earthy couple in New Orleans's French Quarter whose lives are upended by the arrival of Stella's sister, Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh). Blanche, a disturbed, lyrical, faded Southern belle, is immediately drawn into a battle of wills with Stanley, beautifully captured in the differing styles of the two actors. This extraordinarily fine adaptation won acting Oscars for Leigh, Kim Hunter (as Stella), and Karl Malden (as Blanche's clueless suitor), but not for Brando. Although it had already been considerably cleaned up from the daringly adult stage play, director Elia Kazan was forced to trim a few of the franker scenes he had shot. In 1993, Streetcarwas rereleased in a "director's cut" that restored these moments, deepening a film that had already secured its place as an essential American work. —Robert Horton

No one goes to a movie directed by Michael Bay for delicacy and grace; you go because Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock) knows how to make your bones rattle during a high-speed chase when a car flips over, spins through the air, and smacks another car with a visceral crunch. Bad Boys IIfulfills this expectation and then some. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence may be mere puppets amid all this burning rubber and shrieking metal, but they actually provide a human core to the endless cascade of car wrecks and gunfights. Their easy rapport makes their personal problems—a running joke is Lawrence's attempts at anger management—as engaging as the sheer visual hullabaloo of bullets and explosions. The plot is recycled nonsense about drug lords and dead bodies being used to smuggle drugs, but orchestration of violence is symphonic. If that's your thing, then this is for you. —Bret Fetzer

Steven Spielberg An enormously entertaining (if somewhat shallow) affair from blockbuster director Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr., a dazzling young con man who spent four years impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer—all before he turned 21. All the while he's pursued by a dedicated FBI agent named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dogged determination stays one step behind Abagnale's spontaneous wits. Both DiCaprio and Hanks turn in enjoyable performances and the movie has a bouncy rhythm that keeps it zipping along. However, it never gets under the surface of Frank's drive to lose himself in other identities, other than a simplistic desire to please his father (Christopher Walken, excellent as always), nor does it explore the complex mechanics of fraud with any depth. By the movie's end, it feels like one of Frank's pilot uniforms—appearance without substance. —Bret Fetzer

Michael Bay Slick to a fault, this glossy action flick takes place in sunny Florida, where Martin Lawrence and Will Smith play two cops—one married with kids, the other a swinging bachelor. The two are forced to trade places to foil criminal mastermind Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) who has stolen $100 million worth of heroin from a police lockup. Violent, illogical, and filled with wall-to-wall profanity, Bad Boyswas the last film produced by the hit-making team of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer before Simpson's untimely death, and marked the directorial debut of Michael Bay who followed up with The Rock. Bad Boyswill be of interest to action buffs and fans of Téa Leoni, who makes one of her early screen appearances in the central supporting role. —Jeff Shannon

David R. Ellis Final Destination 2begins with a well-orchestrated multicar pileup on a freeway—a horrifying accident that turns out to be a premonition, as seen by a young woman (A.J. Cook) who saves herself and several other people by blocking a freeway on-ramp. Thus, as in the first Final Destination, a prescient vision disrupts the destined plans of death, and death goes to extreme lengths to correct matters. What makes Final Destination 2entertaining is that the characters can only survive by learning to recognize the signs of impending doom—and the signs are basically the cinematic foreshadowing that moviemakers use to invoke suspense. This, combined with some elaborately complicated and gruesome deaths, fosters a ghoulish humor that's more entertaining than the smirky self-referentiality of Scream. Final Destination 2doesn't aspire to be a great movie, but trash has its pleasures. Also featuring Ali Larter as the only survivor of the first movie. —Bret Fetzer

James Wong (IV) While hardly a spiritual upgrade of the slasher film, this high-concept teen body-count thriller drops hints of The Sixth Senseinto the smart-aleck sensibility of Scream. Helmed by X-Filesveteran James Wong, who cowrote the screenplay with longtime creative partner Glen Morgan, Final Destinationis an often entertaining thriller marked by an unsettling sense of unease and scenes of eerie imagery. It suffers, however, from a schizophrenic tone and a frankly ludicrous premise. A high school Cassandra, Alex Browning (Devon Sawa of Idle Hands), wakes from a preflight nightmare and panics when he's convinced the plane is doomed. His ruckus bumps seven passengers from the Paris-bound plane, which immediately explodes into a fireball on takeoff, but fate hasn't finished with these lucky few and, one by one, death claims them. Wong brings such a funereal tone to these early scenes of survivor's guilt and inevitable doom that the already far-fetched film threatens to veer into unplanned absurdity. Thankfully, the tale loosens up with a playful morgue humor: one of the victims winds up the splattered punch line to a grim joke and elaborate Rube Goldbergesque chains of cause and effect become inspired spectacles of destruction. Final Destinationis a pretty silly thriller when it takes itself seriously, and the filmmakers play fast and loose with their own rules of fate, but once they stick their tongues firmly in cheek, the film takes off with a screwy interpretation of the domino effect of doom. —Sean Axmaker

Giddily gruesome and perversely entertaining, Final Destination 3proves, yet again, that horror franchises will thrive as long as teenagers keep finding spectacular ways to die. A stand-alone sequel to the first two Final Destinationthrillers, this one begins when a group of seven high-school graduates luckily escape from a deadly roller-coaster disaster, only to discover that their own deaths have been only temporarily avoided. Cute brunette Wendy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) spots clues of impending doom in digital photos of her soon-to-be-expiring classmates, and an ill wind follows her everywhere, suggesting the presence of a supernatural force that makes her a catalyst for gory events, as each of her friends is dispatched in the order they were meant to die. Returning to give their brainchild a suspenseful, low-budget makeover, franchise creators and former X-Fileswriters James Wong and Glen Morgan cleverly play on our collective fears (the roller coaster sequence is genuinely terrifying) with a knowing nod to violent urban legends, which explains their inclusion of the '70s hit "Love Roller Coaster" on the soundtrack when two stuck-up girlfriends pay an ill-fated visit to a tanning parlor. And that's just for starters: With Wong as director, FD3serves up its grisly deaths with tight pacing and humor, and the cathartic carnage is discreetly edited yet gory enough to satisfy hardcore horror buffs. When morbid mayhem is this much fun, it's a safe bet that another sequel is just around the corner. —Jeff Shannon

井坂聡

Some comedy is like a scalpel; the Scary Movieseries is a hand grenade, spewing bodily fluids and big-breasted women in all directions as they lampoon the latest horror. In Scary Movie 4's case, the main targets are War of the Worlds, The Village, The Grudge, Saw, and Tom Cruise jumping all over Oprah's couch (the scariest of the lot). Along the way, potshots get taken at non-horror fare like Brokeback Mountainand Million Dollar Baby, as well as obvious targets like Michael Jackson and George W. Bush, among others. Anna Faris (Lost in Translation) and Regina Hall (The Honeymooners) return as the central characters wandering through a crazy quilt of horror scenarios, joined by Craig Bierko (Cinderella Man) doing a dead-on parody of Cruise at his most manic. Cameos include everyone from Charlie Sheen to Shaquille O'Neal to Carmen Electra. Some of it's funny, some of it's not, but there's a generally buoyant zaniness that comes from director David Zucker, one of the creators of Airplane!, which started the whole firehose-of-jokes aesthetic. —Bret Fetzer

Keenen Ivory Wayans The Wayans Brothers return with another horror-flick parody, this one taking shots at The Exorcist, Hannibal, and House on Haunted Hill, along with non-horror fare like Charlie's Angels. In addition to gags (and I do mean gag) about innumerable bodily functions, there are slyer jabs at Thomas Jefferson and Raging Bull. As in Scary Movie, the strongest humor comes from making fun of the inane behavior of characters in horror movies. Assisting Shawn and Marlon Wayans are Anna Faris, Kathleen Robertson (in the Carmen Electra role, providing the T&A), and David Cross, as well as Tori Spelling, Chris Elliott, James Woods (as an exorcist with bowel trouble), Andy Richter, and poor Tim Curry, who probably never thought his career would come to this. —Bret Fetzer

David Zucker This freewheeling parody tosses horror movies, Eminem, The Matrix, and much more into a cinematic blender. Scary Movie 3centres around Cindy, a bubble-headed young newscaster who believes that a deadly videotape has some mysterious connection to the aliens who've been making crop circles in the cornfield of a local farmer (Charlie Sheen), whose brother hopes to win a local rap contest. Along for the ride are Queen Latifah, George Carlin, Anthony Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Jeremy Piven, Camryn Manheim, Ja Rule, dozens of rap stars, and Leslie Nielsen as the President of the US. There's no need to have seen the first two Scary Movieflicks—though a few of the characters recur, the movie leapfrogs from gag to goofy gag, plundering The Ring, Signsand The Othersas needed. It's silly and slapdash, but with a decent dose of laughs. —Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

The Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) adventure after Raiders of the Lost Arkis more violent than its predecessor, but also looser, more imaginative, and finally more satisfying. Still organized like a series of connected cliffhangers, the story (set 10 years before Raiders) involves Indy's attempted rescue of stolen children from a pagan cult. Director Steven Spielberg draws upon sundry cinematic influences, particularly Gunga Din, for an air of classic adventure, though one can also find traces of John Wayne movies in Jones's relationship with a woman (Kate Capshaw) who's come along for the bumpy ride. The film's opening bit, in which the antidote to a poison Jones has swallowed keeps bouncing around a nightclub just out of his reach, is a blast. —Tom Keogh

Brian De Palma Al Pacino cuts a noble figure in this very enjoyable drama by director Brian De Palma (Scarface), based on a pair of books by Edwin Torres. Pacino plays a Puerto Rican ex-con trying hard to go straight, but his loyalty to his lowlife attorney (a virtually unrecognizable Sean Penn) and enemies on the street make that choice difficult. Penelope Ann Miller plays, somewhat unlikely, a stripper who has a romance with Pacino's character. The film finds De Palma tempering his more outlandish moves (think of Body Doubleor Snake Eyes) just as he did with the popular Untouchablesand Mission: Impossible. But while Carlito's Waywas not commercially successful and never rises to the level of greatness, it is a genuinely compelling movie graced with a fine performance by Pacino and a surprising one from Penn. —Tom Keogh

STEVEN SPIELBERG

Steven Spielberg

Mikael Håfström A clandestine love affair may claim a terrible price from two desperate people in this intelligent thriller. Charles Schine (Clive Owen) is an advertising executive who is happily married to Deana (Melissa George) and has a young daughter. However, that begins to change when Charles meets Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston) on a commuter train. Lucinda, who is also married with a daughter, keep bumping into Charles on the train, and they strike up a friendship that soon grows into something deeper. Eventually Charles and Lucinda fall into infidelity, but the consequences turn out to be greater than they imagined; Philippe Laroche (Vincent Cassel) is a dangerous criminal with a taste for violence who has learned about the affair. Laroche demands a substantial payment if he is to keep the word of Charles and Lucinda's relationship from their spouses, but they become convinced that Laroche is not to be trusted and that he may mean to do greater harm to their loved ones that simply telling them they've been unfaithful. Derailed was the first American project for Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom.

System Requirements:

Running Time: 108 minutes

Format: DVD MOVIE

Len Wiseman Blademeets The Crowand The Matrixin Underworld, a hybrid thriller that rewrites the rulebook on werewolves and vampires. It's a "cuisinart" movie (blend a lot of familiar ideas and hope something interesting happens) in which immortal vampire "death dealers" wage an ancient war against "Lycans" (werewolves), who've got centuries of revenge—and some rather ambitious genetic experiments—on their lycanthropic agenda. Given his preoccupation with gloomy architecture (mostly filmed in Budapest, Hungary), frenetic mayhem and gothic costuming, it's no surprise that first-time director Len Wiseman gained experience in TV commercials and the art departments of Godzilla, Men in Black, and Independence Day. His work is all surface, no substance, filled with derivative, grand-scale action as conflicted vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale, who later became engaged to Wiseman) struggles to rescue an ill-fated human (Scott Speedman) from Lycan transformation. It's great looking all the way, and a guaranteed treat for horror buffs, who will eagerly dissect its many strengths and weaknesses. —Jeff Shannon

Rob Reiner Old pro Shirley MacLaine steals her every scene in Rumor Has It..., a very curiously conceived comedy directed by Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally..., The Princess Bride). Sarah (Jennifer Aniston, The Good Girl) arrives at her sister's wedding with her fiance Jeff (Mark Ruffalo, 13 Going on 30). She's already feeling anxiety-ridden about her impending marriage when she gleans from some odd hints from her grandmother Katherine (MacLaine, The Apartment, Terms of Endearment) that her family was the basis for the movie The Graduate. Quicker that you can say "Mrs. Robinson" she slips away from Jeff to investigate, suspecting that the guy Dustin Hoffman's character was based on—Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner, Tin Cup)—might be her actual father...well, from there the plot takes a few twists, but this is not a movie that succeeds based on its story (which never really becomes persuasive). Instead, Rumor Has It...rests on the surprisingly complex and mature emotional interactions between the characters (particularly given that it's a movie about someone refusing to make choices in her life). Aniston won't win any awards for this, but she certainly gives her role more depth than a typical romantic comedy heroine; Costner and Ruffalo are both in fine form; and MacLaine appears just often enough to inject some delightfully prickly personality into a movie that often teeters on the edge of too much niceness. Also featuring Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) and Mena Suvari (American Beauty). —Bret Fetzer

Len Wiseman

Michael Caton-Jones Notorious crime novelist catherine tramnell is back & shes criminal psychologist dr michael glass deadliest challenge. With professional boundaries blurred by obsession dr glass is lured into a murderous web of lies & deceit & begins a torrid affair with tramell that takes him to the point of no return. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/25/2007 Starring: Sharon Stone David Morrissey Run time: 117 minutes Rating: Ur

Frank Darabont Andrew Abbott When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to unfold at its necessary pace, and the effect is dramatically rewarding. Tim Robbins plays a banker named Andy who's sent to Shawshank Prison on a murder charge, but as he gets to know a life-term prisoner named Red (Morgan Freeman), we realize there's reason to believe the banker's crime was justifiable. We also realize that Andy's calm, quiet exterior hides a great reserve of patience and fortitude, and Red comes to admire this mild-mannered man who first struck him as weak and unfit for prison life. So it is that The Shawshank Redemptionbuilds considerable impact as a prison drama that defies the conventions of the genre (violence, brutality, riots) to illustrate its theme of faith, friendship, and survival. Nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Actor, and Screenplay, it's a remarkable film that signaled the arrival of a promising new filmmaker—a film that many movie lovers count among their all-time favorites. —Jeff Shannon

Robert Zemeckis

Get ready for nonstop action when a bank-robbing gang of misfits heads to Mexico with the blueprints for the perfect million-dollar heist! But when one of the key crooks wanders into the wrong bar ... and crosses the wrong vampire ... the thieving cohorts one by one develop a thirst for blood to match their hunger for money! Ultimately, the last fully human burglar (Robert Patrick — THE FACULTY, STRIPTEASE, TERMINATOR 2) is forced to join with his arch rival, a Texas sheriff (Bo Hopkins — PHANTOMS, THE NEWTON BOYS, U-TURN), in an action-packed, kill-or-be-killed battle to stop these evil creatures and save their own lives!

The latest bone-chilling installment of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN reveals how this frightening saga all began! Narrowly escaping death, outlaw Johnny Madrid (Marco Leonardi — LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE) is on the run from the hangman (Temuera Morrison — SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS) ... with the hangman's sensuous daughter Esmeralda by his side! Along with Madrid's gang, Johnny and Esmeralda embark on an adventure filled with colorful and unsavory characters who lead them straight into the fight of their lives! Also featuring Danny Trejo (CON AIR), Rebecca Gayheart (SCREAM 2), and Michael Parks (FROM DUSK TILL DAWN 1&2) — you won't want to miss a minute of epic confrontation that results in Esmeralda's discovery of her secret birthright!

Robert Rodriguez From a match made in heaven comes a movie spawned in hell! Young hotshot director Robert Rodriquez (El Mariachi, Desperado) teamed up with Pulp Fiction auteur Quentin Tarantino (offering his services as writer and co-star) to make this outrageous, no-holds-barred hybrid of high-octane crime and gruesome horror. QT plays Richard Gecko, a borderline psychopath who breaks his career-criminal brother, Seth (George Clooney), out of prison, after which they rob a bank and leave a trail of dead and wounded in their bloody wake. Then they hijack a mobile home driven by a former Baptist minister (Harvey Keitel) who quit the church after his wife's death and hit the road with his two children (played by Juliette Lewis and Ernest Liu). Heading to Mexico with their hostages, the infamous Gecko brothers arrive at the Titty Twister bar to rendezvous for a money drop, but they don't realize that they've just entered the nocturnal lair of a bloodthirsty gang of vampires! With not-so-subtle aplomb, Rodriguez and Tarantino shift into high gear with a nonstop parade of gore, gunfire, and pointy-fanged mayhem featuring Salma Hayek as a snake-charming dancer whose bite is much worse than her bark. If you're a fan of Tarantino's lyrical dialogue and pop-cultural wit, you'll have fun with the road-movie half of this supernatural horror-comedy, but if your taste runs more to exploding heads and eyeballs, sloppy entrails and morphing monsters, the second half provides a connoisseur's feast of gross-out excess. Bon appétit! —Jeff Shannon

Quentin Tarantino With the knockout one-two punch of 1992's Reservoir Dogs and 1994's Pulp Fiction writer-director Quentin Tarantino stunned the filmmaking world, exploding into prominence as a cinematic heavyweight contender. But Pulp Fiction was more than just the follow-up to an impressive first feature, or the winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival, or a script stuffed with the sort of juicy bubblegum dialogue actors just love to chew, or the vehicle that reestablished John Travolta on the A-list, or the relatively low-budget ($8 million) independent showcase for an ultrahip mixture of established marquee names and rising stars from the indie scene (among them Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Julia Sweeney, Kathy Griffin, and Phil Lamar). It was more, even, than an unprecedented $100-million-plus hit for indie distributor Miramax. Pulp Fiction was a sensation. No, it was not the Second Coming (I actually think Reservoir Dogs is a more substantial film; and P.T. Anderson outdid Tarantino in 1997 by making his directorial debut with two even more mature and accomplished pictures, Hard Eight and Boogie Nights). But Pulp Fiction packs so much energy and invention into telling its nonchronologically interwoven short stories (all about temptation, corruption, and redemption amongst modern criminals, large and small) it leaves viewers both exhilarated and exhausted—hearts racing and knuckles white from the ride. (Oh, and the infectious, surf-guitar-based soundtrack is tastier than a Royale with Cheese.) —Jim Emerson

鎌田義孝 永井洋一 大原春宣

All the laughs, all the loves, all the lattes - all yours! Settle in with the hilarious and acclaimed series about a family based on friendship. Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross were always there for each other. Now they're here for you in the complete 10-season set of Friends.

黒澤明 時は平安時代、土砂降りの羅生門の下で、杣売り（志村喬）と旅法師、そして下人が、3日前に起きた不思議な話を語り始めて行く。検非違使（森雅之）が殺され、盗賊の多襄丸（三船敏郎）が逮捕されるが、彼と検非違使の妻・真砂（京マチ子）、さらにはイタコを使って冥界から呼び寄せた検非違使の霊と、それぞれ証言が異なっているのだ…。

日本映画で初めてヴェネツィア国際映画祭金獅子賞およびアカデミー賞外国語映画賞を受賞し、一躍世界に黒澤明監督の名前をとどろかせた大傑作。人間のエゴ剥き出しの業の醜さと、そんな絶望の中からの再生といったテーマが、初めて太陽に直接キャメラを向けた画期的撮影や、ボレロ形式を主体とした斬新な音楽など見事なスタッフワークによって、躍動感みなぎる映像の美学として結実。キャストの名演も忘れてはならないところだ。原作は芥川龍之介の『薮の中』でその後も『暴行』『アイアン・メイズ』『薮の中』と繰り返しリメイクされ続けている。（的田也寸志）

Jeannot Szwarc It's silly, it's superficial, it's so desperately earnest about its tale of time-spanning love that you almost wish for a cheap flatulence gag just to break the solemn mood. But there's something so unabashedly gushy and entertaining about Somewhere in Timethat you can't begrudge its enduring popularity. The film has become a staple of romantic-movie lovers since its release in 1980, and endless showings on cable TV have turned it into a dubious classic of sorts—a three-hanky weeper that anyone can enjoy as a guilty pleasure or a beloved favorite, with no apologies necessary.

In his first film after the star-making success of Superman, Christopher Reeve stars as a contemporary playwright who visits a posh hotel and sees the portrait of an actress (Jane Seymour) who had performed there in 1912. He becomes obsessed with this beautiful woman and learns all he can about her, and then discovers a method of hypnotically transporting himself backward in time to meet her. "Is it ... you?" she says upon seeing the lovestruck playwright, and it's clearly a mutual attraction. But even the slightest reminder of the playwright's modern time can jar him from his seemingly real existence in the past, so his wonderful love affair is constantly just a step from being stolen away.

Based on Richard Matheson's novel Bid Time Return, this flaky film may strain one's tolerance for plot holes and corny romance, but it's hard to deny its lasting appeal—and let's face it, guys, it'll make wives and girlfriends swoon if they're in a tearjerker mood. —Jeff Shannon

A movie that only true horror buffs could love, Army of Darkness is officially part 3 in the wild and wacky Evil Dead trilogy masterminded by the perversely inventive director Sam Raimi, who would later serve as executive producer of the popular syndicated TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Raimi's favorite actor, Bruce Campbell, returns as Ash (hero of the first two Evil Dead flicks), a hardware-store clerk who is magically transported—along with his beat-up Oldsmobile and a chainsaw attachment for his severed left forearm—to the brutal battlefields of the 14th century. He quickly assumes power (who else in the Middle Ages packs a shotgun and a chainsaw?), and unites his band of medieval knights against the dreaded Army of the Dead. Raimi gleefully subverts almost every horror-movie cliché as he serves up a nonstop parade of blood, gore, and vicious sword-bearing skeletons—an affectionate homage to animator Ray Harryhausen's classic Jason and the Argonauts. The frantic action is fun while it lasts, but even at 80 minutes Army of Darkness nearly wears out its welcome. You know that Raimi can maintain the mayhem for only so long before it grows tiresome, and fortunately this madcap movie quits while it's ahead. —Jeff Shannon

Alex Proyas As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith (Independence Day, Men in Black) displays both his trademark quips and some impressive pectoral muscles in I, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind—he's just not sure how. When a leading roboticist dies suspiciously, Spooner pursues a trail that may prove his suspicions. Don't expect much of a connection to Isaac Asimov's classic science fiction stories;I, Robot, the action movie, isn't prepared for any ruminations on the significance of artificial intelligence. This likable, efficient movie won't break any new ground, but it does have an idea or two to accompany its jolts and thrills, which puts it ahead of most recent action flicks. Also featuring Bridget Moynahan (The Sum of All Fears), Bruce Greenwood (The Sweet Hereafter), and James Cromwell (Babe, LA Confidential). —Bret Fetzer

Luis Mandoki Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron square off in a smarter-than-average kidnapping thriller. Joe (Bacon), Cheryl (Courtney Love), and Marvin (Pruitt Taylor Vince) are a kidnapping team with the perfect plan. Perfect, that is, until they pick on the wrong wholesome but incredibly feisty young family. There's the plot, and boom—you're off. Though it certainly hits all the right buttons, Trappedis far from a by-the-numbers suspense movie. There are a few genuinely surprising plot twists, and while many movies dull their villains' edges by cartoonishly over- or underplaying their evil, Trappedis refreshingly unafraid to make Joe realistically, skin-crawlingly vile. Even our heroes turn out to have surprising sadistic streaks. Toward the end, the movie takes a sharp right turn toward the ludicrous, with nearly every major character making at least one completely illogical decision, but by that point you're already strapped in, so you may as well just sit back and enjoy. —Ali Davis

Philip Kaufman With a tawdry plot and a short list of suspects, Twistedgives armchair detectives an easy chance to figure out whodunit. Critics roasted this pulpy potboiler, in which Ashley Judd (attempting to repeat the thriller success she had with Double Jeopardyand High Crimes) plays a San Francisco homicide detective who is her own prime suspect in an ongoing serial murder case, in which all of the victims are men she recently slept with. These one-night stands, and a problem with alcoholic blackouts, make Judd's wine-drinking character the loose cannon on the case, and her partner (Andy Garcia) and police commissioner mentor (Samuel L. Jackson) have their own reasons for wanting the case to close. Apparently nobody bothered to point out numerous weaknesses in Sarah Thorp's B-movie screenplay, and with no apparent interest in the proceedings, director Philip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) allows Judd to look silly, Garcia to overact, and the whole movie to unfold in murky darkness and dimly lit rooms. Kaufman, Judd, and her costars are capable of better. —Jeff Shannon

Christian McIntire

James Cox The dark underside of Boogie Nightsis tracked in Wonderland, a sleaze-filled look at the notorious "Wonderland Murders" of 1981. The movie attempts to explain how the legendarily endowed porn actor John C. Holmes was involved in the killings, while deliberately suggesting the difficulty of knowing the truth of a murky case. The police procedural aspects turn out to be less intriguing than the weirdly hapless domestic life of Holmes (Val Kilmer at his most dazed), who despite his promiscuity continues to rely on his starchy, clean-cut wife (an unflattering role for Lisa Kudrow, but the most interesting character in the picture). Well-known actors—notably a near-unrecognizable Dylan McDermott—slouch through the story, which rather distracts from the aggressively realistic approach. In the end, the unclean aura makes one yearn for the stylized ingenuity of Boogie Nights, or at least a reason to be watching this story this way. —Robert Horton

Stephen Norrington

Uwe Boll Casper Van Dien's smooth, impassive face is well suited to playing a sociopath. He's Tom Turner, a successful stock trader with a sideline in serial murder, dubbed "The Monkey Maker" because he cuts either the eyes, the ears, or the tongue from his victims. Michael Paré (Eddie and the Cruisers) and Jennifer Rubin (The Crush) are two cops on his trail. There's nothing original about Sanctimony—from its dynamic opening credits to its blood-spattered end, it's ripped off from Sevenand American Psycho, and it explicitly makes reference to The Silence of the Lambs—and yet, despite its messy plot and cheesy dialogue, there's a rambunctious, nonstop energy that keeps the movie watchable. Maybe it's the aggressive eye-candy editing, the color-saturated lighting, or the constant camera movement; maybe it's the efficiency of the scenes; maybe it's the low-key competence of the acting, but Sanctimonyseems like a modern, straight-to-video version of a B movie, a low-budget flick that made up in ingenuity what it lacked in budget. It doesn't have the psychological rigor of a classic film noir, but it moves along solidly and will appeal to thriller fans. Also featuring Eric Roberts (Star 80, The Pope of Greenwich Village) in an unusually straightforward role as a no-nonsense police lieutenant. —Bret Fetzer

Frédéric Schoendoerffer This Dvd will play on all Region 1 DVD players - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From his offices in Switzerland, Russian Igor Lipovsky is engaged in a vast and profitable gunrunning operation with Africa. The French government wants to hinder the activities of the arms dealer and sends a team to sink one of his ships heading for Angola with a load of illegal weaponry. Lisa, Brisseau, Loïc, Tony and Raymond are professionals: they carefully set up their cover, plan all their moves meticulously, and carry out orders without asking questions. Perhaps they should. The code-name of the mission is "Janus"; and just like with the ancient deity, there are two opposite faces for every aspect of the operation: the objective of the French government, the role of each team member, the presumed friend and the assumed foe...

The teaming of Johnny Knoxville (Jackass: The Movie) and Seann William Scott (Dude, Where's My Car?) as well as the presence of the '70s-flavored car chases that were a specialty of the TV series guarantees that The Dukes of Hazzardwill be even more lowbrow than the CBS TV series (1979-85) that inspired it. However, this brain-damaging comedy is more "rehash" than "remake," as good ol' Georgiaboys Luke Duke (Knoxville) and his cousin Bo (Scott) are frequently upstaged bythe General Lee, the Confederate-flagged '69 Charger that they drive, jump, race, and fly in as they smuggle moonshine for their Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson). Meanwhile, cousin Daisy Duke (Jessica Simpson) is reliably available to model her short-shorts (aka "Daisy Dukes") and awesome figure (and let's face it, Simpson's talents pretty much begin and end right there), while corrupt honcho Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds, who should know better) recruits a local NASCAR star to advance his wily scheme of converting Hazzard County into a strip mine. Director Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers) manages to mine some good-natured humor from the movie's oval-track detour and a few colorful supporting players (notably Kevin Hefferman as the Duke's pal Sheev). Otherwise, consider yourself warned: The Dukes of Hazzardis shameless Hollywood product at its most forgettable, trafficking in shameless white, rural Southern stereotypes. If you can make itto the end, there's a blooper reel to reward your endurance. —Jeff Shannon

DVD features
Yes, the unrated edition of The Dukes of Hazzardhas nudity... but no, it's not of Jessica Simpson, but topless sorority girls. There are also two sets—"PG-13" and "unrated"—of deleted scenes and bloopers. The four minutes of unrated deleted scenes (supplementing the 25 minutes of "PG-13" deleted scenes) include more sorority girls and a menage à trois for Johnny Knoxville . The five minutes of unrated bloopers (the same amount as the "PG-13" bloopers) feature a few more girls but mostly bad language. Featurettes discuss the Daisy Duke short shorts (and show how you can make your own), car stunts, and the making of the movie (narrated by a cast member of the original TV series). —David Horiuchi

David Koepp Johnny Depp gets high off another acting challenge in this tricky adaptation of a Stephen King yarn. Although the mood is too sinister to allow for the mischief of his Pirates of the Caribbeanturn, Depp still manages to embroider his role here with plenty of quirky business. He plays a writer, depressed and nearly divorced, who's stuck in an isolated cabin (shades of The Shining) when a stranger (John Turturro) arrives, accusing him of plagiarism. Writer-director David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) does his best to make the rickety material compelling—he gets the maximum out of the cabin set, for instance—but the problems inherent in the King story eventually win out. The climactic scenes are particularly unpleasant, especially in contrast to the cleverness of Depp's performance. A Philip Glass score adds class, but this one ultimately feels like a disappointment. —Robert Horton

Movies don't come any bigger than Peter Jackson's King Kong, a three-hour remake of the 1933 classic that marries breathtaking visual prowess with a surprising emotional depth. Expanding on the original story of the blonde beauty and the beast who falls for her, Jackson creates a movie spectacle that matches his Lord of the Ringsfilms and even at times evokes their fantasy world while celebrating the glory of '30s Hollywood. Naomi Watts stars as Ann Darrow, a vaudeville actress down on her luck in Depression-era New York until manic filmmaker Carl Denham (a game but miscast Jack Black) entices her with a lead role. Dazzled by the genius of screenwriter Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody), Ann boards the tramp steamer S.S. Venture, which she—and most of the wary crew—believes is headed for Singapore. Denham, however, is in search of the mythic Skull Island, hoping to capture its wonders on film and make a fortune. What he didn't count on were some scary natives who find that the comely Darrow looks like prime sacrifice material for a mysterious giant creature....

There's no point in rehashing the entire plot, as every movie aficionado is more than familiar with the trajectory of King Kong; the challenge facing Jackson, his screenwriters, and the phenomenal visual-effects team was to breathe new life into an old, familiar story. To that degree, they achieve what could be best called a qualified success. Though they've assembled a crackerjack supporting cast, including Thomas Kretschmann as the Venture's hard-bitten captain and young Jamie Bell as a plucky crewman, the first third of the movie is rather labored, with too much minute detail given over to sumptuous re-creations of '30s New York and the unexciting initial leg of the Venture's sea voyage. However, once the film finds its way to Skull Island (which bears more than a passing resemblance to LOTR's Mordor), Kongturns into a dazzling movie triumph, by turns terrifying and awe-inspiring. The choreography and execution of the action set pieces—including one involving Kong and a trio of Tyrannosaurus Rexes, as well as another that could be charitably described as a bug-phobic's nightmare—is nothing short of landmark filmmaking, and a certain Mr. Spielberg should watch his back, as Kongtrumps most anything that has come before it.

Despite the visual challenges of King Kong, the movie's most difficult hurdle is the budding romance between Ann and her simian soulmate. Happily, this is where Jackson unqualifiedly triumphs, as this unorthodox love story is tenderly and humorously drawn, by turns sympathetic and wondrous. Watts, whose accessibility balances out her almost otherworldly loveliness, works wonders with mere glances, and Andy Serkis, who digitally embodies Kong here much as he did Gollum in the LOTRfilms, breathes vibrant life into the giant star of the film without ever overplaying any emotions. The final, tragic act of the film, set mostly atop the Empire State Building, is where Kongearns its place in movie history as a work that celebrates both the technical and emotional heights that film can reach. —Mark Englehart

Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicidesand silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.

Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicidesis more concerned with lifein that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicidesis, ultimately, about the preservationof the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths—suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. —Jeff Shannon

Karyn Kusama A RUTHLESSLY EFFICIENT 25-CENTURY ASSASSIN FIGHTS TO FREE HER PEOPLE FROM TOTALITARIAN RULE IN EARTH'S LAST LIVING CITY.

Doug Liman

A collection of bawdy tales from Boccaccio, adapted and directed by the taboo-busting Pier Paolo Pasolini—sounds irresistible, doesn't it? Pasolini approaches the material not like a literary classic to be reverently served, but rather as if the various anecdotes were episodes from scruffy, everyday life in medieval Italy, caught on the fly, like neighborhood gossip recounted in a taverna. The film is black-sheep kin to the director's amateur-theatrical take on Scripture, The Gospel According to St. Matthew(1964); both films abound in earthy settings framing vivid faces that might have gazed out of a Renaissance painting. Yet where Gospelwas searing, The Decameronis perfunctory. Most of the stories dribble away absentmindedly before they've even begun to establish a situation, let alone any tension. Pasolini himself reappears periodically as an artist—Giotto—planning an epic cathedral painting. At the end, he's still thinking about it and wondering, "Maybe it's enough to dream a masterpiece rather than paint it." Which seems a handy copout for not really making the film we've been trying to watch. —Richard T. Jameson

Volker Schlöndorff Gary Don Rhodes This Oscar-winning adaptation of Günter Grass's novel is an absurdist fantasy about a little German boy (David Bennent) who wills himself at the age of three not to grow up in protest of the Nazi regime. Made unnecessarily notorious in recent years due to overzealous censors in some parts of the United States, the film is more startling and surreal than obscene. Bennent is very good, and while the 1979 film doesn't meet the high standards of the best work from the then-renaissance of German film, it has a special place in the hearts of many who saw it upon its release. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff (The Handmaid's Tale). —Tom Keogh

Matt Damon (THE BOURNE SUPREMACY, OCEAN'S TWELVE) and Heath Ledger (THE PATRIOT, A KNIGHT'S TALE) team up to bring you one of the year's most fantastic adventures in this magical tale based on the lives of the legendary storytellers. Will and Jake Grimm (Damon and Ledger) dazzle small towns with their imaginative folklore and elaborate illusions, but when the brothers journey into a real enchanted forest they encounter many of the fantastic characters and thrilling situations found in their beloved fairy tales! From the award-winning director of 12 MONKEYS, BRAZIL and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, this fabulous motion picture is sure to leave you living happily ever after!

Michael Mann Collateraloffers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that's just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It's from Michael Mann, after all, and the director's stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie's screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann's directorial trademark), Foxx does the best work of his career to date (between his excellent performance in Aliand his title-role showcase in Ray), and Cruise is fiercely convincing as an ultra-disciplined sociopath. Jada Pinkett-Smith rises above the limitations of a supporting role, and Mann directs with the confidence of a master, turning L.A. into a third major character (much as it was in the Mann-produced TV series Robbery Homicide Division). Collateralis a bit slow at first, but as it develops subtle themes of elusive dreams and lives on the edge, it shifts into overdrive and races, with breathtaking precision, toward a nail-biting climax. —Jeff Shannon

Todd Phillips Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson—dark, wiry, and tense meets blond, lanky, and loose—make a solid comic team (and previously appeared together in Zoolander), but the funniest man in Starsky and Hutchis Vince Vaughn. Vaughn dives into his role as a sleazy drug dealer (who nonetheless buys a pony for his daughter's bat mitzvah) with the offhand zest that he brings to almost every role (from Swingersto Old School) and effortlessly steals every scene he's in. Vaughn has concocted a new and undetectable kind of cocaine, and only two cops who aren't afraid to break the rules—our titular pair—can catch him. But the plot isn't the point; mocking-yet-loving jabs at the '70s, including the homoerotic overtones of Starsky and Hutch's partnership, are what this movie is about. The satire is surprisingly mild but entertaining nonetheless, particularly when Vaughn or Snoop Dogg (as informant Huggy Bear) hold the screen. —Bret Fetzer

George Sluizer It's not unusual for Hollywood to remake European hits. What is unusual is the director of the original getting the chance to helm the new version with an American cast, which is what happened with this film based on an intensely creepy Dutch film of the same name (both directed by George Sluizer). Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock are on vacation when, while stopped at a crowded rest area, she disappears. He devotes the next several years to discovering what happened to her, ruining his life in the process. When he does get a clue, it leads him to Jeff Bridges, who plays a bizarre and highly organized individual whose motives are almost as strange as he is. Bridges is spooky, but Sluizer ultimately is undone by Hollywood's demand for a happy ending, which makes this film affecting but far less unsettling than the original. —Marshall Fine

Stephen Gaghan You can admire Abandonmore for what it attempts, as opposed to what it actually achieves. Making his directorial debut after winning an Oscar® for scripting Traffic, screenwriter Stephen Gaghan emphasizes character dynamics and time-shifting structure over action and plotting, and the results are intelligent but oddly detached. As a recovering alcoholic detective (Benjamin Bratt) is assigned to reopen the two-year-old disappearance of an arrogant college student, we're drawn into the thoughts and emotions of the missing person's former girlfriend (Katie Holmes), whose behavior—especially when her volatile ex-boyfriend suddenly reappears—is key to the slowly unfolding mystery. Abandonis all about mood and atmosphere—shadowy gloom is dominant throughout—and viewers may grow impatient as the tissue-thin plot leads to an anticlimactic revelation. Still, Gaghan's sharp dialogue draws fine work from Holmes, and his supporting cast (especially Zooey Deschanel and Melanie Lynskey, as fellow students) adds much-needed energy on the fringes of this lugubrious psychological thriller. —Jeff Shannon

Paul Verhoeven Michael Douglas stars as Nick Curran a tough but vulnerable detective. Sharon Stone costars as Catherine Tramell a cold calculating and beautiful novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite. Catherine becomes a prime suspect when her boyfriend is brutally murdered - a crime she had described in her latest novel. Obsessed with cracking the case Nick descends into San Francisco's forbidden underground where suspicions mount bodies fall and he finds within himself an instinct more basic than survival.Special Features*:16.9 Newly remastered Widescreen5.1 Newly remastered English Dolby Surround2.0 English Dolby Digital Audio"Blonde Poison" - Documentary on the making of the film"Cleaning up Basic Instinct" - A montage comparing the TV version to the theatrical versionCommentary with feminist critic Camille PagliaPhoto GalleryDigitally MasteredStoryboard ComparisonsTheatrical TrailerInteractive MenusScene AccessProduction NotesCast and Crew InformationEnglish French and Spanish subtitlesSystem Requirements:Starring: Micael Douglas Sharon Stone George Dzundza and Jeanne Tripplehorn Directed By: Paul Verhoeven Running Length: 127 minutes color This film is presented in "Widescreen" formatFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 012236124726 Manufacturer No: 12472

Stephen Norrington The heroes of 1899 are brought to life with the help of some expensive special effects in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. From the pages of Victorian literature come Captain Nemo, Dr Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr Hyde), Dorian Gray, Tom Sawyer, the Invisible Man, Mina Harker (from Dracula), and the hunter Allan Quatermain (Sean Connery), all assembled to combat an evil megalomaniac out to conquer the world.

It's hardly an original plot, but perhaps that's fitting for a movie sewn together like Frankenstein's monster. It rushes from one frenetic battle to another, replacing sense with spectacle—Nemo's submarine rising from the water, a warehouse full of zeppelins bursting into flame, Venice collapsing into its own canals. It's flashy, dumb, and completely incoherent. Fans of the original comic book will be disappointed. —Bret Fetzer

Stephen Sommers If you're expecting bandaged-wrapped corpses and a lurching Boris Karloff-type villain, then you've come to the wrong movie. But if outrageous effects, a hunky hero, and some hearty laughs are what you're looking for, the 1999 version of The Mummyis spectacularly good fun. Yes, the critics called it "hokey,""cheesy," and "pallid." Well, the critics are unjust. Granted, the plot tends to stray, the acting is a bit of a stretch, and the characters occasionally slip into cliché, but who cares? When that action gets going, hold tight—those two hours just fly by.

The premise of the movie isn't that far off from the original. Egyptologist and general mess Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) discovers a map to the lost city of Hamunaptra, and so she hires rogue Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) to lead her there. Once there, Evelyn accidentally unlocks the tomb of Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), a man who had been buried alive a couple of millennia ago with flesh-eating bugs as punishment for sleeping with the pharaoh's girlfriend. The ancient mummy is revived, and he is determined to bring his old love back to life, which of course means much mayhem (including the unleashing of the 10 plagues) and human sacrifice. Despite the rather gory premise, this movie is fairly tame in terms of violence; most of the magic and surprise come from the special effects, which are glorious to watch, although Imhotep, before being fully reconstituted, is, as one explorer puts it, rather "juicy." Keep in mind this film is as much comedy as it is adventure—those looking for a straightforward horror pic will be disappointed. But for those who want good old-fashioned eye-candy kind of fun, The Mummyranks as one of choicest flicks of 1999. —Jenny Brown

Clarke Johnson Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Farrell swagger through S.W.A.T., a guns-and-big-trucks macho extravaganza based on the 1970s TV show of the same name, about the police teams brought in to take care of extremely dangerous situations. Jackson plays a sergeant brought out of retirement to form a new squad, which includes rebellious Farrell (The Recruit) and tough babe Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight, Blue Crush). After a lot of training and head-butting with a smarmy police captain, the squad gets assigned to transfer the head of a European crime cartel (Olivier Martinez, Unfaithful) who's declared on television that he'll give $100 million to anyone who gets him out. Every scumbag in Los Angeles descends to claim the money, turning a routine transfer into a bullet-filled gauntlet. Despite some gaps in logic and a generic flavor, S.W.A.T.will satisfy most action-movie junkies. Also featuring LL Cool J and Josh Charles. —Bret Fetzer

Bruce Campbell A movie that only true horror buffs could love, Army of Darkness is officially part 3 in the wild and wacky Evil Dead trilogy masterminded by the perversely inventive director Sam Raimi, who would later serve as executive producer of the popular syndicated TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Raimi's favorite actor, Bruce Campbell, returns as Ash (hero of the first two Evil Dead flicks), a hardware-store clerk who is magically transported—along with his beat-up Oldsmobile and a chainsaw attachment for his severed left forearm—to the brutal battlefields of the 14th century. He quickly assumes power (who else in the Middle Ages packs a shotgun and a chainsaw?), and unites his band of medieval knights against the dreaded Army of the Dead. Raimi gleefully subverts almost every horror-movie cliché as he serves up a nonstop parade of blood, gore, and vicious sword-bearing skeletons—an affectionate homage to animator Ray Harryhausen's classic Jason and the Argonauts. The frantic action is fun while it lasts, but even at 80 minutes Army of Darkness nearly wears out its welcome. You know that Raimi can maintain the mayhem for only so long before it grows tiresome, and fortunately this madcap movie quits while it's ahead. —Jeff Shannon

Ash (Bruce Campbell), the sole survivor of The Evil Dead, continues his struggle with the forces of the dead. With his girlfriend possessed by demons and his body parts runnning amok, Ash is forced to single-handedly battle the legions of the damned as the most lethal — and groovy — hero in horror movie history!

Welcome to Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, director Sam Raimi's infamous sequel to The Evil Dead and outrageous prequel to Army of Darkness! This unhinged horror classic is now fully remastered in state-of-the-art Dolby Digital 5.1 supervised by THX and packed with extras. So, sit back, strap in and rev up the chainsaw: Evil Dead II has returned...like you've never seen or heard it before!

In the fall of 1979, Sam Raimi and his merry band headed into the woods of rural Tennessee to make a movie. They emerged with a roller coaster of a film packed with shocks, gore, and wild humor, a film that remains a benchmark for the genre. Ash (cult favorite Bruce Campbell) and four friends arrive at a backwoods cabin for a vacation, where they find a tape recorder containing incantations from an ancient book of the dead. When they play the tape, evil forces are unleashed, and one by one the friends are possessed. Wouldn't you know it, the only way to kill a "deadite" is by total bodily dismemberment, and soon the blood starts to fly. Raimi injects tremendous energy into this simple plot, using the claustrophobic set, disorienting camera angles, and even the graininess of the film stock itself to create an atmosphere of dread, punctuated by a relentless series of jump-out-of-your-seat shocks. The Evil Deadlacks the more highly developed sense of the absurd that distinguish later entries in the series—Evil Dead 2and Army of Darkness—but it is still much more than a gore movie. It marks the appearance of one of the most original and visually exciting directors of his generation, and it stands as a monument to the triumph of imagination over budget. —Simon Leake

F. Gary Gray Be Cooltakes its own advice: It's slick, Hollywood entertainment that kills two amusing hours with relative ease and comfort. Better than leftovers but not as tasty as a full-course meal, this sequel to 1995's hit comedy Get Shorty(and based on Elmore Leonard's 1999 sequel novel) finds former loan shark Chili Palmer (John Travolta) itching to get out of the movie business, so he hooks up with a newly widowed music executive (Uma Thurman) to launch the career of an up-'n-coming Beyoncé-like singer (newcomer Christina Milian). A mock-black manager (Vince Vaughn), his sleazy boss (Harvey Keitel), and an upscale gangsta-rap executive (Cedric the Entertainer) all have a competing stake in the fast-rising pop diva's future, and this sets the plot rolling in a fun but rather hand-me-down fashion that lacks the savvy panache of Get Shortybut still provides plenty of lightweight humor. The Rock and Outkast's André Benjamin provide the best laughs in supporting roles that effortlessly relieve the movie from the symptoms of sequelitis. —Jeff Shannon

Hailed by many critics as one of the best films of 1995, this finely tuned black comedy sparked a renewed interest in movies based on books by prolific crime novelist Elmore Leonard, whose trademark combination of tight plotting and sharp humor is perfectly captured here. After the success of Pulp Fiction, John Travolta continued his meteoric comeback as Chili Palmer, a Mob "mechanic" whose latest assignment takes him to Los Angeles, where his fascination with the movie business turns into a new career as a would-be movie producer. He pitches ideas with a sleazy producer (Gene Hackman) and a major star (Danny DeVito), and also finds time to deal with a vengeful Mobster (Dennis Farina) and assorted Hollywood types (including Renee Russo and Delroy Lindo) who all want their piece of a tempting show-biz pie. The plot unfolds with enticing precision, but it's really Elmore's snappy dialogue—and the performances that bring it to life—that make this one of the best comedies of the 1990s. —Jeff Shannon

Joel Schumacher By some lucky quirk of fate, Phone Boothlanded on Hollywood's A-list, but this thriller should've been a straight-to-video potboiler directed by its screenwriter, veteran schlockmeister Larry Cohen, who's riffing on his own 1976 thriller God Told Me To. Instead it's a pointless reunion for fast-rising star Colin Farrell and his Tigerlanddirector, Joel Schumacher, who employs a multiple-image technique similar to TV's 24to energize Cohen's pulpy plot about an unseen sniper (maliciously voiced by 24's Kiefer Sutherland) who pins his chosen victim (a philandering celebrity publicist played by Farrell) in a Manhattan phone booth, threatening murder if Farrell doesn't confess his sins (including a potential mistress played by Katie Holmes in a thankless role). In a role originally slated for Jim Carrey, Farrell brings vulnerable intensity to his predicament, but Cohen's irresistible premise is too thin for even 81 brisk minutes, which is how long Schumacher takes to reach his morally repugnant conclusion. —Jeff Shannon

Andrew Davis The husband (Michael Douglas) is a currency trader whose portfolio value is going right down the drain. The wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) is the heiress to a $100 million fortune. The marriage is not a happy one, but the promise of long-term affluence keeps them together. The wife pursues an affair with an artist (Viggo Mortenson) who gives her all the passion she doesn't get at home, and when the husband finds out, well ... someone's going to pay with their life. Who will the unlucky one be? We wouldn't dare spoil the elegant plot twists of this devious thriller, but it's well known that Douglas excels at portraying greedy characters with ice in their veins. Here, it's easy to assume that Douglas has pulled off, as the title implies, a killing that nobody will ever pin on him. But this is the kind of glossy thriller (loosely inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder) that delights in disrupting your expectations, so it grabs your attention right up to the final scene. It's a bit too cold to really draw you in (hey, these are not very nice people we're dealing with here!), but with its able cast and stylish direction by Andrew Davis, this less-than-perfect murder thriller is still definitely worth a look. The widescreen Special Edition DVD includes audio commentary by Michael Douglas, Andrew Davis, and producer Peter McGregor Scott, an alternate ending deleted from the finished film, and sketches by the film's costume designer. —Jeff Shannon

PlayStation用のゲームとして発売され、社会現象と呼べるほどの大ヒットを記録した『FINAL FANTASY VII』の“その後”を描いたオリジナルビデオ作品。

もはやFFのお家芸と呼べそうな美麗なCGは期待通りの見応えで、これだけでも一見の価値があることは確か。ゲームの2年後という設定で幕を開ける物語のほうは、100分という長尺で勿体つけて語られる割には単純な作りなのがいささか物足りなくもあるが、独立した映像作品ではなくあくまで「FF VII」のファンに向けた作品と考えれば、必要十分か。後半に差しかかって、なつかしいメンバーが勢揃いするあたりの楽しさは続編ならでは。随所で展開する破天荒なアクションシーンもケレン味満載で楽しい。（剛吉若寸也）

Like Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gatesopens with a pivotal event of World War II—the German invasion of Stalingrad—re-created in epic scale, as ill-trained Russian soldiers face German attack or punitive execution if they flee from the enemy's advance. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures this madness with urgent authenticity, creating a massive context for a more intimate battle waged amid the city's ruins. Embellished from its basis in fact, the story shifts to an intense cat-and-mouse game between a Russian shepherd raised to iconic fame and a German marksman whose skill is unmatched in its lethal precision. Vassily Zaitzev (Jude Law) has been sniping Nazis one bullet at a time, while the German Major Konig (Ed Harris) has been assigned to kill Vassily and spare Hitler from further embarrassment.

There's love in war as Vassily connects with a woman soldier (Rachel Weisz), but she is also loved by Danilov (Joseph Fiennes), the Soviet officer who promotes his friend Vassily as Russia's much-needed hero. This romantic rivalry lends marginal interest to the central plot, but it's not enough to make this a classic war film. Instead it's a taut, well-made suspense thriller isolated within an epic battle, and although Annaud and cowriter Alain Godard (drawing from William Craig's book and David L. Robbins's novel The War of the Rats) fail to connect the parallel plots with any lasting impact, the production is never less than impressive. Highly conventional but handled with intelligence and superior craftsmanship, this is warfare as strategic entertainment, without compromising warfare as a manmade hell on Earth. —Jeff Shannon

Yojiro Takita Studio: Geneon Entertainment Release Date: 11/02/2004

Ridley Scott Marking a welcome return to the breezy style of Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men reminds us that the director of Gladiator is equally adept with quirky comedies and offbeat characters. Smoothly adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and set amidst the sunlit, 1950s-style architecture of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, this gently dramatic comedy centers on Roy (Nicolas Cage), a divorcée whose career as a con artist is complicated by: (1) his ongoing struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, which manifests itself through various quirks and rituals; (2) a wily partner (Sam Rockwell) whose criminal ambitions are greater than Roy suspects; and (3) the arrival of 14-year-old Angela (Alison Lohman), claiming to be the daughter he's never known. Turns out she's got a knack for dad's profession, and that turns Matchstick Men into a multilayered comedy with unexpected twists and surprising revelations. To say more would spoil the fun; suffice it to say that Hans Zimmer's playful score and a Sinatra-laced soundtrack are perfect complements to Cage's engaging eccentricities. —Jeff Shannon