While Jones' direction is nothing special, the script by Brown does have its share of male ego-deflating laughs--mainly some obvious Freudian jokes--and actually takes some time to develop the victims as characters instead of mere gore-fodder.

Many of the script's observations sound as though they were lifted directly from the pages of Baxter's book, and they're too platitudinous to impart much wisdom to anyone who's been in and out of love at least once in his or her life. But it's nice to see these ideas played out by a fine cast.

A stylish but disappointing spoof which lacks the satiric gusto of director Pedro Almodovar's earlier works.

Though not as good as Terminator, the film has a better-than-usual script for this sort of thing and shows a lot of humor. Schwarzenegger isn't especially good as an actor, but his presence is impressive, and he is beginning to show some style, if not much substance. For action fans, one of the picks of the litter for the year.

There's very little plot, and director Mangold's attempts to make a connection between the social confusion of the '60s and Susanna's inner turmoil don't really work.

The characters may be one-dimensional ciphers with nothing much to say, but boy, do they not say it with style.

A thoroughly conventional exercise in pop paranoia with trendy appurtenances, The Net has little to offer outside of Bullock's moderately appealing presence.

Ford is the problem: He looks great for his age (56, to Heche's 29), but oozes a stolid gloom that snuffs out those sparks long before they can set the lush scenery on fire. In a classic screwball comedy, he'd be Ralph Bellamy.

This wry, low-key comedy, crafted by members of the sketch-comedy group The State, swims defiantly against the stream of contemporary comedy, eschewing bodily-function jokes and obvious gags in favor of laughs so sly and self-effacing you could almost overlook them.

Peculiar but oddly winsome fable.

Joe himself is an amazing creation, less personable, to be sure, than the original lovelorn King Kong, but a far more fully realized character than any of the flesh and blood humans by whom he's surrounded.

Hitchcock's handling of the comic material was praised by contemporary critics, and modern-day fans of his work will see many directorial flourishes that hint at the mastery he displays in later films.

The product is an ambitious but awkward movie that jumps forward and back in time; voice-over narration fails to smooth over the choppiness. Nevertheless, it's studded with haunting, melancholy sequences, and Jeff Bridges is one of a handful of contemporary stars with enough stature and substance to carry off Hickock's mythic resonance.

The strong cast keeps the material from descending into sheer smutty tripe, but it's an uphill battle and in the end, not really worth their considerable efforts.

The film is filled with sight gags and features a wonderful performance by Harris.

Kidman accomplishes a remarkable feat of transformation, adopting not only an accent, but a slightly seedy, faintly feral demeanor that almost makes you forget her icy good looks and fashion model's figure.

The film often teeters on the brink of melodrama and is saddled with a sappy original score.

Team M-I knows its way around James and ignores the lazy stereotype of Americans as gauche rubes bumbling around Paris like barbarians at the ballet in favor of sly digs at French and American mores alike.

Like any good soap opera, the script deftly flits among story lines, offering just enough tantalizing plot development to keep you sticking around for another bite.

The film is surprisingly successful in developing a sense of mounting dread.

This amiable comedy may not be hugely sophisticated, but Hogan does manage to make his attractive leads look like complete idiots, no mean achievement in image-obsessed Hollywood.

Grisham's characters are rudimentary, and both Roberts and Washington are stiff and over-earnest.

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.

The direction is slack -- it's Lloyd's first feature film and it shows -- the choreography clumsy and every ten minutes there's yet another gratuitous showstopper shouting in your face and insisting you have a good time.

while many reviewers were put off by Splinter's rheumy-eyed philosophizing and the Turtles' ninja antics, the movie's youthful target audience squealed with delight.

Aside from an inspired bit involving a pair of sycophantic starfish, it's amazing how unimaginative a movie about a mermaid can be, and it's sad how thoroughly its girl-power stylings devolve into a muddle of mixed messages.

Walks such a fine line between what separates dreamer from stalker, that the film he made about it ellicits a variety of responses.

An anemic adventure that epitomizes generic feature animation.

Little more than a lengthy Twilight Zone episode.

Despite a few dull spots and a certain amount of predictability, The Gods Must Be Crazy II delivers enough laughs and does it with enough charm to be worthwhile viewing, especially for fans of the first film.

Whether you take the film as a deliberately vile act of filmmaking that unpacks rape-revenge scenarios while making a point about male desire, or simply as a deliberately vile piece of filmmaking, one thing is certain: It's about as close to a physical assault on viewers as movies get.

Though this third installment is not quite as nuts as the second film, it's nevertheless firmly set in the same ridiculous mold.

More a remake than a sequel, this production seems like a pointless effort. With a plot virtually identical to that of the first film, the only real difference between the two--and it is significant--is that Spielberg didn't direct this one.

Far from the sentimental drivel you might expect given the subject matter, this amiable and heartfelt drama about an adolescent boy's attempt to rouse his comatose mother explores the meaning of faith by tapping into the original, rebellious spirit of Christianity.

Amiable, brightly colored spoof of '60s pop culture.

An often spectacular but ultimately rather tedious musical/adventure/comedy.

Can a adorable, freckle-faced four-year-old save an entire movie? Sadly no.

If Griffin were a jowly Southern redneck, his mean-spirited rants would make him a pariah.

This slow, derivative chiller (which lifts liberally from "Ghost Story," "Rear Window" and "A Stir of Echoes") wastes far too much time on red herrings and telegraphs its plot points with painfully obvious dialogue.

Philippe Diaz's controversial documentary about the legacy of the brutal 1991-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone -- widely considered the poorest country in the world, despite its rich mineral resources -- suggests that the rebel faction RUF (Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone) was not alone in terrorizing civilians and committing atrocities, most famously the amputation of limbs with machetes.

Poison Ivy doesn't exactly keep one at the edge of one's seat throughout, but it certainly holds the interest.

A sleazy, seamy, flashy, steamy, vulgar exploitation thriller that revels in every minute of its own trashiness and delivers some pretty solid -- if prurient -- entertainment before strangling in a one-twist-too-many ending.

An observant and sensitively played drama about adolescent sexuality, unrequited love and heartbreak.

Though ultimately flawed, the film's depiction of velvet-gloved cruelty and matter-of-fact betrayal is surprisingly potent, and it's pure pleasure to watch Bacall prowling the corridors of power, tossing her golden mane and tossing off world-weary observations in a voice pitched somewhere between a purr and a growl.

BETTER OFF DEAD possesses a fairly strong cast, some good gags, and a quirky sense of humor, but it suffers from the stereotyped characters and familiar situations that plague most movies about teenagers. What is refreshing about BETTER OFF DEAD is a deemphasis on sex and drugs. Unfortunately, only about half of the many jokes and gags in the film are actually funny.

This dark comedy of addiction, delusion and humor as a weapon marks the feature directing debut of veteran writer Peter Tolan.

The resulting film is compellingly watchable and consistently entertaining, even if it does feel somewhat disingenuous, given the pedigree of talent involved.

A courageous and serious film that explores the limits of the mythic American virtues of persistence, inventiveness, and rugged individualism.

A blackly comic, neo-noir heist picture, Australian screenwriter Scott Roberts's directing debut fairly oozes strenuous eccentricity.

If you were to strip the "Austin Powers" films of their juvenile lewdness, psychedelic decor and swinging soundtrack while leaving intact the potty humor and pratfalls, the result would be something very like this pointless spy spoof.

The end result is an entertaining tour film.

Marshall delivers what he promises and Mitri makes for a cool, kick-arse heroine in the Ellen Ripley mold.

After Bruce Lee's death, a gaping hole plagued the martial arts genre, but former karate champ Norris helped close that gap.

The violence is excessive and the plot predictable, although there is some style to director Winner's approach.

This tricky film noir entry would have been routine had it not been for Bogart's magic.

Conrad's script surprises at nearly every turn.

Another failed attempt to make Tom Selleck a movie star, this is a handsomely mounted but vapid western that lumbers across the screen for two hours, providing little entertainment.

Has everything one could ask of a true-crime expose.

The film belongs to Steve Martin, whose crisp, almost bitter delivery, although frequently off-putting, manages to put an edge to a film that, without him, would be mush.

Thanks to the ingenious voiceover, however, Look Who's Talking is a genial, entertaining film.

Apocalyptic carnal horror with a strong Alejandro Jodorworsky vibe.

No Small Affair, while nothing special, at least doesn't resort to the usual teen sex-fantasy cliches and gains more points for what it isn't (sophomoric) than what it is (occasionally touching).

Unfortunately, the characters feel more like symbols than people, despite strong performances, including what might be Portman's finest work to date.

An intoxicatingly beautiful but painfully simplistic fable about love and death.

A much gentler follow-up to the original film, Any Which Way You Can takes the time to humanize the characters, and shows them as passionate human beings instead of the fighting machines they were in the first film. Among the film's many funny moments is a parallel seduction sequence showing Philo and Lynne in one motel room, while Clyde puts the moves on a female orangutan next door.

This short documentary might teach you a thing or two about the electronic instrument that revolutionized the sound of modern music.

Like most anthology films, this thematically linked trio of shorts is a mixed bag.

This moody film is ravishingly beautiful to look at -- but the story's fairy tale atmosphere doesn't entirely mesh with its psychological underpinnings.

Smith's unrepentantly juvenile sense of humor leans heavily on elementary pop-culture parody, a particularly tiresome and parasitic form of humor that depends on an audience of smirking know-it-alls who can be trusted to snicker whenever they get the reference.

Like the fresh-faced leads, the film is an unexpected charmer.

Vadim's direction is pretty tedious, and his main aim seems to be titillation.

It's a mixed bag, but successful in a mindless, adolescent way. The spirited, energetic music is contributed by a variety of rock performers, including Blue Oyster Cult, Black Sabbath and Nazareth.

For all the bad press Ishtar received, it does have a certain odd charm... The biggest problem is that any attempted subtlety is swamped by May's bid to turn the film into an epic adventure story.

Though overall an overwhelmingly positive portrayal, the film doesn't ignore the more problematic aspects of Brown's life.

Ice Castles collapses under the weight of sentimental overkill.

No matter how deep one's affection for man's best friend, there's something undeniably fatuous about considering the emotional impact 9/11 has had on a dog named Rain.

A terrific showcase for a troupe of fine actors who rarely find work outside the Australian film industry.

Despite its flaws, the film has the same dreamy, romantic melancholy that distinguishes Wong's best films.

The Connery-Bardot pairing that Shalako offers simply can't pump much life into this otherwise typical big-budget western set in 19th-century New Mexico.

Testosterone-driven entertainment with a moral, sleekly directed by James Foley.

It's a kiddie movie rejiggered for childish grown-ups, of whom there are enough to make it a hit. How such childishness has become a virtual secular religion is hard to imagine.

POPCORN seems to be a case of too many ideas; the basic story could probably have made a very effective short. The acting in the film varies greatly, and some mediocre dubbing adds to the amateur feel.

The film's meandering narrative, melodramatic conclusion and underdeveloped characters overshadow the genuinely shocking abuses it condemns.

Fox's performance is surprisingly assured; Sutherland is also convincing as his self-centered, dissipated, and snobbish best friend.

THE PROGRAM was a surprisingly thoughtful entry in a season glutted with sports films. (RUDY; BLUE CHIPS; THE AIR UP THERE; ABOVE THE RIM; D2; and MAJOR LEAGUE 2.) The game sequences, in particular, are deftly choreographed and charged with a real sense of drama.

A military satire in the tradition of M*A*S*H and Catch-22, based on Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa's 1973 book.

It takes perverse genius to make an action film this stupid.

Duvall at his worst is still an accomplished performer; Pedraza is a modern-day Ali McGraw, lithe and beautiful but no kind of actress. For all her fluidity on the dance floor, she's a dead weight who drags the film down.

Young Tamimi is a terrific rider but a lackluster screen presence, and the film's brevity ensures that her trials have a perfunctory quality that keeps them from being truly compelling.

In fact it ends, as all good romantic comedies do, with a wedding, though the identities of the newly married couple might be the least predictable thing about this cheerfully ham-fisted celebration of love and family in modern-day Madrid.

Youngblood is little more than a star vehicle for Lowe, who handles the role well enough.

Throughout, Binder doesn't seem wholly committed either to character exploration or broad comedy; the film veers back and forth between the two. Despite its weaknesses, however, SUMMER is another promising film for Binder, who manages a fair enough share of privileged moments to make it worthwhile, if not outstanding. He's put together a terrific cast and has directed them well, down to Raimi, who puts his longtime devotion to The Three Stooges to good work by stealing some of the film's best laughs.

Director Emile Ardolino largely saves the day by coaxing winning performances from an excellent cast. Goldberg's work here never loses its edge or originality, allowing her to shine opposite Smith, who is so good that she barely seems to be acting.

A slick, glossy multi-character soap opera set in London's airport.

The famous soliloquies are heard in voice-over -- a risky idea that works -- and Wright has found clever ways of naturalizing the play's more supernatural elements.

Collapsed into the black hole of its own mythology.

Terrific acting and fearless direction transform what might have been a silly exercise in the slightly spooky into a somber and deeply romantic mystery.

Animator Ralph Bakshi's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord Of The Rings"trilogy is an entertaining film, but in attempting to remain faithful to the source material, Bakshi tries to cover too much ground.