In its understanding of Monk and its intelligent handling of the Blackwood footage, STRAIGHT NO CHASER really does succeed in presenting Monk in a straight, potent, and undiluted fashion.

This minor classic from the 60s time capsule is a self-conscious essay on the meaning of the media and the nature of political commitment.

A gripping action film that also illustrates the bitter disillusionment of Americans who witnessed the corruption, confusion, and moral chaos of the country's leadership during the Vietnam era.

Fans of the first two films in the series may be a bit dismayed by Day of the Dead's deemphasis of gory action in favor of characterization, but the need to exploit the horror of the situation has passed and the film works by concentrating instead on its implications and possible solution. The standard 1950s sci-fi/horror film conflict between science and the military is also resurrected here, with distinct political overtones.

Borrowing intelligently from This Is Spinal Tap, writer-director-actor Rusty Cundieff has crafted a mock music documentary that is as irreverent, hilarious, and tough-minded as its model.

Carefully constructing Power's rise and fall, director Goulding is merciless in his inspection of a character who is rotten through and through

A deep and astonishingly authentic streak of melancholy runs through this fifth sequel to the 1976 sleeper that made both struggling actor Sylvester Stallone and hard-luck slugger Rocky Balboa international stars.

Chernick may not answer every question about this beguiling and enigmatic film, but you wouldn't want it to: Mystery is an essential part of the Barney experience.

Though occasionally jarring, the intercutting between the parallel stories, aided immeasurably by Streep's disparate characterizations, succeeds in conveying the complexity of Fowles' novel.

The plot isn't much (some described it as an unsuccessful combination of Midnight Run and Betrayed), but Pink Cadillac is rich in character, containing some of the most heartfelt and engaging moments in an Eastwood film since his unjustly neglected Bronco Billy.

A beautifully filmed, nicely philosophic and rather old-fashioned western with an elegiac tone, well directed by Australian director Fred Schepisi (Breaker Morant), Barbarosa features uniformly strong acting, with Busey and Nelson making a good team.

This winning mix of exciting action, heart-tugging sentiment, and gentle character comedy makes Bolt yet another solid addition to Disney's history of family-friendly fare.

Boorman's original script is razor sharp and very funny, and Gleeson's portrayal is nothing short of brilliant

Hopkins plays "Hopkins," and the buff, terribly miscast Gyllenhaal will be convincing only to viewers who've never set foot on a university campus. What makes it worth seeing, however, is the extraordinary chemistry between the atypically raw and unguarded Paltrow and Davis, a fabulously talented actress once again testing her range with a performance unlike any she's given in the past.

Far from a perfect movie, or even Lee's best, but it shows that he may have developed into an original and talented filmmaker.

Alda's debut as a director is nevertheless impressive, even if he clearly doesn't know what to do with the camera.

Nick Nolte gives one of his finest performances in this somewhat mannered but absorbing adaptation of John Steinbeck's novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday.

Although this first chapter in a three-part tale is inevitably overburdened with back story, it ends on one hell of a cliff-hanger.

An ancestor of director Wenders's 1984 film Paris, Texas.

An effective climax shows a stone eagle coming to life, proving once again that behind every great man, etc.

What you're seeing isn't wire work or CGI -- it's stunt choreography, beautifully executed, flawlessly cut together and brainlessly thrilling.

Phillippe has the unenviable task of trying to make O'Neill equally interesting, but an eager beaver with some unresolved family issues is no match for a poisoned soul methodically laying the groundwork for his own inevitable fall. The unfortunate imbalance makes long stretches of the film feel dull, but when Cooper is on screen it's mesmerizing.

It's a one-note satirical piece, but the pitfalls of indie filmmaking are lovingly portrayed, and DiCillo proves that he can take it as well as dish it out.

It's just a clever, pointed little fable about the price of complacent conformity, slavish worship of the status quo, and trading freedom for the illusion of safety, wrapped in a sugary-sweet, Jordan-almond-colored coating that looks good enough to eat.

Best of all, though the Simpson clan is 18 years older, they're not one bit wiser.

The ideal viewer is a Miike fan...You know who you are.

The final result is a bittersweet product closer to honey than treacle.

Since each is more adorable than the one before - and together they're an irresistible mass of squirming speckles - the whole elaborate edifice holds up pretty well.

A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend 101 minutes.

An intelligent, imaginative children's adventure refreshingly free of rapping cartoon animals, fart jokes and mind-numbing special effects.

It's light, mostly amusing, and better than the second Burns-God film, but not as good as the first.

Although the search for enlightenment may not have much in the way of high-concept appeal, the film should satisfy adventurous moviegoers as well as the large number of adults already intrigued by eastern religions. Children with open minds will also find much pleasure in the characters of the children and the kindly old monk.

It's about as subtle as a steel-toed boot to the groin, but actor Gary Oldman's gut-wrenching directing debut aches with grim honesty.

Perhaps the movie's value, or lack of it, lies not in the input of the Beales, the Maysles, et al., but in the degree of seriousness audiences bring to the theater. Some viewers will be shocked, some will be touched, but, unfortunately, the spectators this sad story is most likely to attract, amuse, and vindicate are the sort whose obsession with the upper crust, especially its blue-blooded stratum, is fed by envy and spite--each an unhealthy attribute on its own, but poisonous in combination with the other.

Film offers a combination of highly technical jargon and emotional suspense in a well-balanced effort. The technical effects are extremely realistic, making the impact of the film much more powerful.

Perhaps the best Hudson-Day film.

Outsourced is a sweet, good-natured surprise that takes the cliches out of an overworked genre and makes them seem almost fresh and entirely charming.

A must-see for horror fans, with more than one viewing recommended.

The Naked Kiss is Fuller's most developed and unrelentingly bleak view of the dark underbelly of American society.

Dellal and their cast consistently hit the right notes, and the result is an uplifting tale that you don't have to be embarrassed to enjoy.

Writer-director Christopher Hampton's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's widely-read novel is an honorable failure, a screen version that's actually too faithful to its source.

Hill has gotten Schwarzenegger to give one of the best performances of his career, and Belushi too is thoroughly convincing as an action hero. RED HEAT is a welcome break from the shallow shoot-'em-ups that became the standard in the 1980s.

Dreams With Sharp Teeth Or, Why is Harlan Ellison so gosh darned angry?

Other than the unfortunate miscasting of Molina, an otherwise superb actor, and Wallace Shawn's grating performance, everyone else is right on the money. Oldman, fresh from his triumph as Sex Pistol Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy, is the key and holds it all together.

Three solid and scary tales of terror from the undisputed master of Italian horror, Mario Bava.

Unlike many first-timers (especially during the indulgent late 60s), Pakula uses understatement, avoids cinematic tricks, and carefully guides young stars Minnelli (who was nominated for an Oscar) and Burton, who was making his screen debut after starring on Broadway for three years in the title role of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown."

In its small way, however, it succeeds, thanks to director Hugh Wilson's light touch and the chemistry between leads Shirley MacLaine and Nicolas Cage.

If this film is less engaged with social and political realities than most of Godard's other work from this period and seems like nothing more than a playful attempt to re-create an old Hollywood genre, one must remember that even a lesser Godard is likely to be much more stimulating than another director's better films.

A clever debut film from writer-director Fred Dekker that combines science fiction, horror, and comedy into a fairly entertaining package.

A smart, funny pseudo-documentary.

Adapted from an award-winning novella by science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison, A Boy And His Dog has won a cult following of its own for its offbeat, sardonic look into the future.

It has a creepy power all its own.

It's about ordinary people living in the shadow of nagging, day-to-day racism, and about the music that reminds them of what's right with the world rather than what's wrong.

Though the story is a hackneyed one--the rise of an itinerant to a position of power--Cagney is so dynamic that he rivets the viewer's attention.

This story of an extramarital fling that turns into a nightmare begins as a well-crafted psychological thriller but degenerates into a misogynistic thrill-fest in its closing moments.

LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON had many faults and yet, as the song goes, "with all it's faults, we love it still."

Friedkin's Sorcerer is just as gripping and spine-tingling an adventure film as The Wages of Fear and, at times, surpasses the original film with breathtaking photography and a superb use of sound (the scene on the bridge is truly amazing). The musical score by German electronic experimental band Tangerine Dream is brilliant and haunting. The eerie electronic music adds immeasurably to the overall effect of the film, complementing the exotic imagery perfectly.

The famed Medfield campus is the site for another romp courtesy of Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson. The film, which pokes fun at the hype put out by cereal companies, has some of the students discovering a formula to give humans super strength.

Gorgeous and menacing at the same time.

Stallone creates a thoroughly enjoyable character, constantly hustling and delivering a nonstop stream of chatter, showing the kind of engaging work he was capable of early in his career.

Adapted (with some changes) by Roald Dahl from his famous children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka creates a marvelous world as close to heaven as any kid can imagine and never talks down to its young audience. The film is sometimes dark in its tone but by the end (when Wonka's motives and true nature are revealed) it is fabulously uplifting.

Clever, exciting, and fun, The Last Starfighter boasts good performances by Guest and Preston, and a literate, funny script that highlights the real story: not the space war that only Guest can win but the difficulty of leaving home, family, and security for a totally new life when the opportunity presents itself.

It honestly delivers the goods without all the preachy moralizing about violent entertainment and cultural ruin.

Works best as an illustration of the way conspiracy theories serve to weave threads of order, however fantastic, during moments of incomprehensible upheaval.

Occasionally overrated as a writer but consistently underrated as a director, Towne does a marvelous job resurrecting all the seedy jumble of the long-gone Bunker Hill neighborhood.

Klapisch's use of split screens, fragmented images and nouvelle vague-ish editing would be annoying if it weren't so in keeping with the youthful exuberance his characters haven't quite lost.

John Curran's pretty melodrama rubs off a few of the barbed edges from W. Somerset Maugham's 1925 novel about love and infidelity in a time of cholera, but no matter: the centerpiece is Naomi Watts' outstanding portrayal of an adulteress redeemed.

The story, a romance with an interesting detective twist, is combined with exquisite caricatures of both humans and dogs.

It's slick, romantic, funny (Close has a great rapport with her beer-guzzling, foul-mouthed mentor, Robert Loggia), intriguing, and filled with excellent performances.

The film's resolution is both haunting and satisfying.

Moore and Harrelson are very well cast.

Eastwood has a deep love and understanding for the genre, and it shows in every frame of PALE RIDER. The supernatural elements of the story are incidental and handled in a restrained, subtle manner that does not distract from the story but enhances it, bringing another dimension to the oft-told tale. Eastwood the director has delivered a thought-provoking, well-crafted western.

A slick, stylish sequel to Harper (1966), this private-eye film has Newman reprising the role of Ross MacDonald's cool gumshoe, Lew Harper.

Preminger's heavy-handed adaptation of a Broadway triumph combines gorgeous music with risible lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II; the project is saved by a terrific cast.

Only those who find the subject matter utterly disinteresting will be turned off by Brown's devoted, almost fanatical, approach. Otherwise, the film has a low-budget charm that won it many admirers in and out of the surfing community.

The first feature for director-cowriter Fran Rubel Kuzui, TOKYO POP manages to be entertaining despite its thin story line, mainly because of its striking visuals and the kooky charm of the leads.

Neither Ketchum nor the filmmakers take an exploitative approach to the material; their focus is the way the youngsters' petty cruelty erupts into murderous sadism.

It's a well-produced yearbook that will one day bring back sweet memories for the cast and fans, but probably won't be of interest to anyone who wasn't part of the scene.

Werner Herzog's self-proclaimed "science-fiction fantasy" is a meticulously constructed fiction made from a combination of real-life footage repurposed in ways a conventional documentarian couldn't imagine.

The intentionally artificial campiness of the story eventually becomes touching, as it's played out against the sound of The Platters singing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and The Great Pretender.

28 Weeks Later is flawed -- the constant reappearance of one key character verges on the absurd -- but it knows where it's going, and it gets there in a chilling blaze of fire, blood and poisonous fog.

Gypsy music is the music of pain, poverty and oppression, all of which she's experienced; it's their blues.

Steeped in what may be the ultimate postmodern irony: Talen's impromptu, defiant piece of performance art with political undertones has actually taken on a spiritual dimension.

Pro football fans may be disillusioned by this excellent, honest, and often brutal expose of the play-for-pay game.

It's a thoughtful and ultimately chilling take on a tragedy that still has the power to disturb and divide.

If they gave an Oscar for the year's most claustrophobic film, Presumed Innocent could have won it in a walk. Everything about this film is as cramped, clenched, and constricted as Harrison Ford's face, which looks like a tightly balled-up fist here.

First-time feature director-writer Kevin S. Tenney imbues his picture with a surprisingly slick sense of style and employs some clever camerawork when the narrative warrants it, refusing to bore the viewer with the endless evil-point-of-view shots favored by so many other horror directors.

Delivers equal parts overwrought tedium and mind-bending beauty, spiked with brilliant throwaway images that more than make up for Kelly's heavy-handed hot-button pretensions.

The overall effect is either exhilarating or exhausting, depending on your emotional investment in the franchise, but credit where credit is due: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas set out to make one for the fans and delivered.

For all her own frustrations, Davenport is honest enough not to gloss over the fact that what Muthana's adventures in the screen trade taught him was to hustle, toady and ingratiate himself to useful people. And she helped.

Perceptive, kinetic and entirely believable.

Fueled by a brilliant performance from Bogosian, TALK RADIO is an intense experience that will leave most audiences feeling drained.

A major-league splatterfest, RE-ANIMATOR has a number of horrifying moments, made even more macabre by the grisly humor evident in almost every unforgettable scene (the most memorable and bizarre being the sex scene with a cadaver's detached head).

Anyone with even a modicum of history awareness knows that Churchill was never kidnaped--which destroys much of the film's suspense. Director Sturges, however, is an excellent craftsman and, with the help of a very good cast, manages to make the proceedings entertaining.

Their attachment to the dog will serve as a test for their strength and love in this powerful and moving film.

It's vivid evidence that great music and stories transcend time and place.

The movie opens with the dismal statistic that most teachers quit after three years. Akel and Mass see the humor in the situation, but the laughs are small and sad.

Say what you will about feel-good films anchored by feisty old broads, the English have a knack with them and Stephen Frears' fact-based tale of a formidable, aristocratic widow who makes it her mission to put naked girls on the London stage is delightful.