A fierce and often compelling actor, Nick Nolte usually creates a riveting character, and when that character is coupled with a good film, the end product is something worthy of watching. Such is the case with EXTREME PREJUDICE, despite its abundance of violence.

Alan Parker's big-budget adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's surpassingly shrewd stage spectacular isn't a big fat failure. But it isn't a resounding success, either: It's an awkward hybrid, neither lavish eye candy nor credible drama.

Classy film noir, as you would expect from a team including director Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune); writer Richard Price (Clockers); and Nicolas Cage, as a loopy, iron-pumping mobster.

The movie is certainly above average, thanks to the performances by Stewart and Wayne, but Marvin is so flamboyant a badman that he is simply a caricature, even more so than in his outlandish Oscar-winning turn in Cat Ballou.

MONA LISA is a detailed, thoughtful film that sensitively explores the emotions within its seedy, exploitative milieu.

Jim Brown and Gary Burns hang a powerful antisuburban diatribe in the form of statistics, expert opinions and pictures worth a thousand words on the experiences of the Moss family.

A brazen, irreverent, and wild satire that hits more often than it misses, THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN seeks to prove that people will do anything, absolutely anything, for money--if there's enough of it.

Both a biographical portrait and an exploration of the tradition of Jewish liturgical music in America.

If the film ultimately amounts to little more than a middle-aged coming-of-age story, it's richly imagined and filled fanciful touches in keeping with its passionate subject.

A huge hit in France, Michel Hazanavicius' straight-faced spy spoof unleashes a French operative of incomparable incompetence on the volatile Middle East of 1955.

At least as much science fiction as horror, Horror Express has become a favorite in both genres and deservedly so. It's fast-paced, inventive, and wholly entertaining.

The film's chief attribute, however, is also one of its major flaws. In presenting an up-close, personal look at the lives of its famous figures--particularly Reed and Bryant in their love affair and marriage--the film sometimes gives short shrift to the world-shaking events that are its unique subject. Nonetheless, the brilliantly designed and photographed REDS is a beautiful, passionate film, both in its stunningly recreated action scenes and its quietest moments.

Spencer Tracy could hold his own acting opposite anyone, and in this excellent sequel to FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950), he proves that not even a baby can upstage him.

fFrst-time feature filmmaker Cam Archer turns what might have been an exercise in salaciousness into a stylish visual poem about desire and adolescent alienation.

The best thing about Fracture is the way in which it defies genre cliches and turns all Hopkins' mannerisms into assets.

A flawed but nevertheless endearing father-son road trip with a distinctive twist.

If the very idea of another movie about a bunch of overprivileged thirtysomethings and their relationships has you reaching for your revolver, Nicole Holofcener's winning debut feature will come as a pleasant surprise.

The acting here is first-rate, with Madsen turning in a forceful performance as the confused but resilient heroine. And special mention must be made of Philip Glass's superlative score, which combines synthesizers, piano, and chorus to haunting effect.

Rarely have moviegoers seen such a two-fisted wrecking ball of vengeance such as the one realized here by Ray Stevenson.

The film features good acting from almost everyone, the one notable exception being the annoying Cage who adopts a grating constricted voice for the role.

The extensive CGI work is well used and the children are exceptionally well cast, especially the girls.

Branagh's use of trendy extended tracking and steadicam shots is sometimes distracting, but overall this is a jouyous romp whose forced jollity is only occasionally wearing.

A dark delight that combines pop-culture wit and genuine emotional depth.

The film's heart is the concert, whose highlights include "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "Wimoweh," "Guantanamera" and the crowd-pleasing "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?"

A fine Disney product scripted by cartoonist Key, who is also credited with Gus and The $1,000,000 Duck.

There have been a number of worth documentaries about gender-benders who cross every conceivable line, but Tomer Heymann's film about a group of Filipino cross-dressers living in Israel is a drag doc with a difference.

The attention to movement and detail is stunning, with multiple layers of action filling the frame. The highlight of the film, the fight with the dragon, is terrifying, exciting, and brilliantly executed, though some youngsters may find it a bit too scary.

Funny, perceptive, bawdy, tragic and philosophical, pretty much everything a viewer -- or a listener -- could ask for.

Watching Binoche dithering about an American comedy takes some getting used to, but she's a believable soul mate for the hangdog Carell. The rest of the family, however, has got to go.

A lavish parody of/homage to Hollywood big business comedies, The Hudsucker Proxy is gorgeous but lifeless, a very small joke writ very large by the talented but perversely insular Coen brothers.

An exciting film, and one that proves that even the most exploitative of films can make a relevant statement.

Micki & Maude has some very funny scenes and excellent acting from all the performers. It begins a bit slowly but builds well and winds up in a comic celebration.

Everything a disaster movie should be, a combination of soap opera and the spectacle of destruction.

Eleventh-century Spain has been lavishly recreated by Mann and producer Samuel Bronston. The photography by Robert Krasker is spectacular, as are the battle scenes, filmed with the help of veteran stuntman Yakima Canutt as second-unit director.

It offers some excellent performances, crisp direction, and overall professionalism of the entire cast and crew. What keeps it from being a great western (like FORT APACHE or HIGH NOON) is that the audience is seldom involved in the lives of the riders other than in a peripheral sense.

Rapp's theatrical past is evident throughout: His strongest scenes tend to be those purely character-driven moments when his sharp dialogue takes precedence over any cinematic action. Harris gives another strong performance and Ferrell is great in a comic but low-key role, but this is Deschanel's movie.

If you enjoyed the robo-spastic ride the first time, then you should be happy with this movie, too. And if you complained that the first movie was trite and lacking in character development, then you probably shouldn’t even be reading this.

Featuring some astonishing acting from the highly trained animal stars and some beautiful shots of the Canadian high country, this simply told, episodic tale is great for kids and not too bad for big people either.

The pleasant surprise about Demolition Man is that both the script, and Stallone, are funny; the film blends big-budget action and tongue-in-cheek humor in the way that "last action hero" tried, and failed, to do.

This is a poignant if predictable take on the English class system, buoyed by an effervescent performance from Walters.

It's all confusing, woozy and slightly stoned, and feels very much like adolescence.

While WHAT'S UP, DOC? may not be as great as the classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s, director Bogdanovich has delivered a film with energy, wit, and a madcap pace that is well worth watching.

Cruise is downright scary. It's the creepiest -- and most entertaining -- performance since his unforgettable appearance in that Scientology video.

Firm dates and more detailed historical background would have better served the filmmakers' purpose than their "chronological narrative relay race," which muddles an already complex situation.

SIRENS is a rare, genuinely erotic film that's a pleasure to watch even when its characters are fully clothed.

Location shooting gives this intermittently powerful film a semidocumentary feel.

Taut, cynical thriller.

For all the impending doom, the film remains suitable for kids of all ages (the filmmakers even end on a happily reassuring note that is at odds with the film's overall message).

There's no time wasted and no showy effects to detract from the situation -- just sheer tension.

The overall tone of the film is absolutely appropriate for all ages, and it's never too early to learn the importance of preserving our planet.

A film with uncomfortable things to say about the nature of heroism--and one to see for that reason.

Generally regarded as the best of Reynolds good ol' boy films, with fine, sensitive performances by the leads and a wonderful supporting cast.

Seeks to set the record straight. But Gere's sneaky, ingratiating presence keeps it dishonest to the last frame.

This wonderfully touching and funny reminiscence of life in a Catholic boys high school in Brooklyn circa 1965 went mostly unnoticed by critics and moviegoers alike. HEAVEN HELP US is a refreshingly honest portrayal of teenagers. No character is stereotyped, and events turn out differently than expected.

This moving story neatly avoids melodrama.

Billed as a dark comedy, brothers Jay and Mark Duplass' shaggy, ultra-low-budget tale of a tense New York-to-Atlanta road trip is more accurately a relationship-hell drama peppered with strangled laughs.

"Charlie's Angels" director Joseph McGinty Nichol (aka McG) shows surprising restraint with this emotionally freighted material, weighting the movie heavily towards relationships.

There's practically nothing wrong with PROJECT X. Broderick is superb as always and proves that he is a commanding screen presence even in the company of a cute chimp. Hunt also turns in a fine performance. Surprisingly, even the film's bad guy (Bill Sadler) has some redeeming qualities, preventing the script from becoming patently simpleminded.

Given a distinctly playful treatment by Russell, who crams some kind of phallic imagery into almost every frame, THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM is solid, campy fun--much more entertaining than any of the director's "serious" films. Russell (who also scripted) enjoys himself with all kinds of fetishistic images, from a naked Amanda Donohoe slithering around in green body paint, to a white bra- and panties-clad Catherine Oxenberg suspened over a pit as a sacrificial offering to the great white worm-snake--whose flickering tongue is, no doubt, firmly in his cheek.

Smilovic's rapid-fire, Tarantino-esque dialogue is consistently razor-sharp, and the elaborate set design - which leans heavily towards shiny, riotously patterned wallpaper - is an eyeball-jangling blast.

This handsome, elegant and restrained fable about love, artifice and power in fin de siecle Vienna is lavishly imagined and yet oddly airless.

The flashy spectacle of intersecting narratives and its crosscutting and fractured chronology nearly overwhelms the film's simple message, in this case that despite divisions of language, race and geography, we're all connected.

Paul Schrader's study of a middle-aged drug dealer, is a return to the director's thematic roots, an exploration of the dark side of the American psyche.

In less assured hands, this could have wound up as a disaster, but director Edouard Molinaro was skillfully able to film the long-running play and wring every drop of humor from it.

It works, in the end, because its generous emotions are earned. De Niro mugs a bit, but Penn is surprisingly endearing as a naive young criminal looking for a little peace of mind.

The picture runs on a bit long and it does pale by comparison to the book, but it was a welcome smile in 1947 and has the same effect today.

Mendez directs with remarkable assurance, using B&W footage to suggest the monochromatic clarity Santiago craves, as well as color to depict the riotous reality that threatens to overwhelm him.

The title refers to the giant promotional sign for the Hollywoodland real-estate development that once loomed on the side of Mt. Cahuenga. Shorn of its last four letters 10 years before Reeves' death, it survives as the iconic Hollywood sign.

Yeah, but at the end, he gets into hand-to-hand combat with Saddam, and he kicks the guy's butt! I love that part.

Thompson's stories are familiar, but she weaves them together with such assurance and good humor that they're equally soothing and thoroughly enjoyable.

Spare, elegant and tailor-made for intense discussions over dark coffee, Boe's film is a slily bold and delightfully inventive variation on an age-old theme.

Watch it for the songs. A paean to Oklahoma's "Sooner" pioneers, it's a watchable, if hardly terrific, rendering of an innovative Broadway landmark.

De Felitta's portrait of Paris -- who died in June 2004 -- isn't always flattering, but it is genuinely moving on many levels, none of which require knowledge of or even interest in jazz.

This entertaining spoof of western movie cliches features Garner as a stranger who stops off at a small town en route to Australia, a running joke that works well through the rest of the film.

Bluth, a former Disney animator, understands that the greatest Disney films take us on an emotional journey in which all our hopes and fears are played out in a vivid fantasy world where anything can happen. The Land Before Time continues that great tradition.

Much of the credit for what works in the film should go to the excellent cast. Berenger is superb, and Rogers proves here that she can handle a lead role with class and aplomb. Bracco, however, steals the picture with a refreshing energy and wit.

Strong performances and sharp dialogue distinguish Jeff Lipsky's melancholy second feature, which charts the two-year course of a "perfect" relationship whose flaws are evident from the outset.

It's impossible not to get a nostalgic buzz as the hosts wander around the old sets and soundstages, while the anthology of clips creates a wonderful sense of popular culture during Hollywood's halcyon days.

Bogdanovich's warmest film, featuring charming performances from real-life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal.

It all has an artless, ephemeral feel, and 20 years from now people will marvel at the fashions, the landscapes and the attitudes it captures like fragile bugs in amber.

For rip-snorting pop entertainment, it's one discomfiting, nasty piece of work, and ain't that a kick in the head.

Great performances by all make this a little gem of a film.

Leaves you wanting much more.

Though one wonders if Arau couldn't have found more visual parallels for Esquivel's narrative, overall the film is a witty, charming diversion that struck a chord with audiences.

An ugly, disturbing, passionately conceived cult favorite, Last House on the Left is much more complex (albeit crudely made) than its controversial reputation would suggest.

A well-acted character piece.

Aside from some effective suspense sequences, the film's strengths lie in the relationship between the heroines, which is well developed and plausible by genre standards.

A smart, engrossing thriller in which you care as much about the characters as the crime.

The funniest, savviest political comedy to come our way in some time.

Charging Albert's film with looking too much like an American chick flick is to give it short shrift: For all the drinking, dancing and group hugs, by the end of their 36-hour trip down memory lane, the women's problems remain unresolved and poisonous secrets are still leaking out.

A film such as this, which is essentially a series of comic vignettes without a plot, depends upon its performances, and both Gould and Segal are in top form, providing an example of impov at its best.

What makes To Sir, With Love such an enjoyable film is the mythic nature of Poitier's character. He manages to come across as a real person, while simultaneously embodying everything there is to know about morality, respect, and integrity.

Although there are some slow sections, RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO! provides a number of good laughs and also more than a few empathetic winces.

The Great White Hope persuasively recreates the climate of the time and generally avoids the preachiness for which director Ritt is sometimes known. The love story between Alexander and Jones is touchingly portrayed.

Fishburne and Bassett are both extraordinary, and though the story is inevitably slanted to Tina's perspective, Fishburne makes Ike a complex and compelling presence.

Chalk up another family for Leo Tolstoy and Philip Larkin file: The Paskowitz family is unhappy in its own unique way and mum and dad f**cked them up -- they didn't mean to, but they did.

Eastwood is perfection as the New Jersey shoe clerk who, like Miniver Cheevey, dreamed a nostalgic dream and took action to realize it. The actor-director could have gone over the top by satirizing the very character he played so well in spaghetti westerns; instead he gives a sincere, realistic performance that silenced detractors who thought he could only play violent loners.

A musical boudoir farce, captivating at times, infuriating at others.