John Singleton Set in miami officer oconner stripped of his badge is recruited to infiltrate the miami street racing circuit in an effort to redeem himself. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/05/2008 Starring: Paul Walker Eva Mendes Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Singleton

John Singleton Set in miami officer oconner stripped of his badge is recruited to infiltrate the miami street racing circuit in an effort to redeem himself. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/05/2008 Starring: Paul Walker Eva Mendes Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Singleton

Tom Schulman Meet tommy spinelli. If he doesnt deliver this bag in two days more heads are gonna roll. A mob bagman finds that his luggage containing the proof of his latest hit has been switched. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Joe Pesci David Spade Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R Director: Tom Schulman

Curtis Hanson Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/22/2007 Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R

Joel Schumacher This thoroughly unpleasant thriller from the hands of Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin) offers very little in its lurid tour of snuff films and the seedy pornographic underworld. A wooden Nicolas Cage stars as a private detective hired by a tycoon's widow, who discovers in her dead husband's safe some 8mm footage of a young girl being sexually abused and slaughtered. Cage's job is to determine the veracity of the film and to find out the girl's identity, whether she be alive or dead. What could have been a taut, nerve-jangling thriller is instead a lumbering, overwrought but underwritten tale of vigilante justice. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker also penned the imaginative and compelling Seven, but you wouldn't know it from this tired and monotonous script. Schumacher tries for echoes of both The Silence of the Lambs and Paul Schrader's Hardcore (which stars George C. Scott as a father trying to find his daughter in the seedy porn industry), but despite some slick camerawork, the film fails to draw the audience into either the mystery of the missing girl or Cage's supposed internal conflicts. It's not so much the unsavory subject matter as it is the sloppy and unimaginative filmmaking that makes the movie unbearable. Of the entire cast only Joaquin Phoenix, as a charismatic goth boy who works at an adult book store, comes away with a memorable performance. —Mark Englehart

The fact-based story about six mit students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 07/22/2008 Starring: Jim Sturgess Laurence Fishburne Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Robert Luketic

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 07/22/2008 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13

Stephen Mirrione, Alejandro González Iñárritu Sean Penn and Benecio Del Toro, two of the most gripping actors around, play wildly different men linked through a grieving woman (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, The Ring) in 21 Grams. Del Toro (Traffic, The Usual Suspects) delves deep into the role of an ex-con turned born-again Christian, a deeply conflicted man struggling to set right a terrible accident, even at the expense of his family. Penn (Mystic River, Dead Man Walking) captures a cynical, philandering professor in dire need of a heart transplant, which he gets from the death of Watts' husband. 21 Grams slips back in forth in time, creating an intricate emotional web out of the past and the present that slowly draws these three together; the result is remarkably fluid and compelling. The movie overreaches for metaphors towards the end, but that doesn't erase the power of the deeply felt performances. —Bret Fetzer

Danny Boyle, Toby James After a virus wipes out most of the planet a handful of survivors try to save the human race from extinction Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Alex Palmer David Schneider Run time: 113 minutes Rating: R

Judd Apatow Andy Stitzer's friends make it their mission to help him finally lose his virginity at forty.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: UN
Release Date: 23-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD

Peter Segal Henry finds the perfect woman & falls head over heels. When he sees her the following day she hasnt a clue who he is. Lucy suffers from a rare brain disorder that wipes her memory clean every night. Henry has to concoct new & increasingly clever ways to meet lucy & get her to fall in love with him every day. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/28/2006 Starring: Adam Sandler Rob Schneider Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg13

Alexander Payne Warren schmidt is forced to deal with an ambiguousfuture as he enters retirement. Soon after his wife passes away he must come to terms with his daughters marriage to a man he doesnt care for & the failure that his life has become. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Jack Nicholson Hope Davis Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R Director: Alexander Payne

Streep, Meryl Nicholas cage is a confused l.A. Screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy sexual frustration self-loathing and by the screenwriting ambitions of his free-loading twin brother (also played by cage). Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/23/2007 Starring: Nicholas Cage Chris Cooper Run time: 115 minutes Rating: R Director: Spike Jonze

Melissa Painter Lauren Ambrose shines in this offbeat family drama about a high school graduate, Evie (Ambrose), blowing a series of college-admission interviews, embracing loneliness, and giving mixed signals to a boy (Fran Kranz) who has loved her since grade school. Meanwhile, Evie's distracted mother, Martha (Amy Madigan), prepares to present her other daughter, Emily (Taylor Roberts), a retarded savant, to the world as a wunderkind poet (the poems are actually Evie's) while her dad, Harry (John Savage), an investment banker, never emerges from his basement hobby room. The imaginative story, based on a play by Dawn O'Leary (who wrote the adapted screenplay), is slightly strained within the parameters of a feature film. But Admissions is graced by a number of strong, memorable individual scenes and some sensitive, deeply touching performances, including Christopher Lloyd's work as a remote, lonely teacher briefly aroused by Martha's quixotic mission to unveil Emily's miraculous lyricism. —Tom Keogh

Harald Zwart A junior cia agent on a mission to save the world stop the bad guys & get the girl..All before curfew. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 11/07/2006 Starring: Frankie Muniz Angie Harmon Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Harald Zwart

Kevin Allen The dark, bushy eyebrows of Frankie Muniz star in Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, ably supported by the natty facial hair of Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack) and the freckled chipmunk cheeks of British pop starlet Hannah Spearritt. Teenage secret agent Cody Banks (Muniz, Malcolm in the Middle) must track down a former instructor who's gone rogue with a mind-control microchip. Banks masquerades as a musical prodigy to get close to a snobby, egocentric scientist in London who's the only person who can make the microchip work. Along the way Banks hooks up with a demoted agent (Anderson) and a cute-as-a-bug Scotland Yard operative (Spearritt). Flimsy, disposable, but only occasionally insulting, Cody Banks 2 will most likely entertain fans of the first movie. Also featuring supporting stalwarts Cynthia Stevenson (The Player, Happiness), Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Keith David (There's Something About Mary). —Bret Fetzer

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 Parents and Zoolander) is determined to give them at least the appearance of 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

Nick Cassavetes Inspired by a true story. When a group of suburban teens imitating the thug life end up committing an impulsive crime circumstances spiral out of control toward a shocking conclusion. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Bruce Willis Justin Timberlake Run time: 118 minutes Rating: R

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Amelie is looking for love and perhaps for the meaning of life in general. We see her grow up in an original and slightly dysfunctional family. Now a waitress in central paris she interacts curiously with her neighbors and customers as well as a mysterious picture collector and one of his photo subjects. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/11/2005 Starring: Audrey Tatou Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R

Christopher Greenbury, Tariq Anwar, Sam Mendes When youve got nothing to lose you might as well risk everything. Lester burnham is in a rut. Facing a midlife crisis lester reverts into a maddening rebirth of adolescence. His sudden irreverant rebellion enrages his wife and confuses his daughter when he turns a lustful gaze toward her friend. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/17/2006 Starring: Kevin Spacey Thora Birch Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R

Weitz, Chris A riotous and rowdy exploration of the most eagerly anticipated and ofter most humiliationg rite of adulthood losing ones virginity. In this hilarious lesson in life and libido a group of friends try a different but equally outrageous approach to scoring with the opposite sex. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/24/2004 Starring: Jason Biggs Tara Reid Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Paul Weitz

Scott, Seann William To the horror of prudes everywhere, American Pie 2 is even funnier than its popular predecessor, pushing the R rating with such unabashed ribaldry that you'll either be appalled or surprised by its defiant celebration of the young-adult male libido. Females will be equally shocked or delighted, because like American Pie this appealing, character-based comedy puts the women in control while offering a front-row view of horny guys in all their dubious glory. Which is to say, American Pie is mostly about sex—or, to be more specific, breasts, genitalia, "potential" lesbianism, blue silicone sex toys, crude methods of seduction, "the rule of three" (just watch the movie), a shower of "champagne," phone sex, tantric sex, and, oh yeah... superglue.

In the case of college freshman Jim (Jason Biggs), performance anxiety plagues his upcoming reunion with sexy Czech exchange student Nadia (Shannon Elizabeth), but his buddies from American Pie have a solution: rent a Lake Michigan beach house for the summer, throw wild parties to lure the local "hotties," and score big-time. Beach Party this ain't: blessed with a complete cast reunion from AP1 (including Eugene Levy as Jim's dad), this sequel is anything but innocent, and with the exception of drugs (which are conspicuously absent), pretty much anything goes. The gags are almost nonstop, and director J.B. Rogers (recovering from his debut debacle Say It Isn't So) handles them with laudable precision, allowing his young cast (particularly Biggs, who epitomizes comedic good sportsmanship) to run with lines that most people wouldn't dare utter aloud. The result is a liberating and eminently good-natured comedy that needn't apologize for its one-track mind. —Jeff Shannon

Jesse Dylan The third film in the american pie series deals with the wedding of jim and michelle and the gathering of their families and friends including jims old friends from high school and michelles little sister. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/28/2005 Starring: Jason Biggs Alyson Hannigan Run time: 104 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Jesse Dylan

Its the 70s & ron burgundy is the king of san diego - the most popular anchorman in town. In rons world women dont belong in the newsroom unless theyre doing cooking segments. So when rising star reporter veronice corningstone fills in for ro one night & ratings soar it makes him think. And thats not easy! Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Will Ferrell Vince Vaughn Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Ur

Wayne Lytle Studio: Cerebellum Corporation Release Date: 04/27/2004 Run time: 75 minutes

Thornton, Billy Bob, Tyler, Liv, Willis, Bruce The latest testosterone-saturated blow-'em-up from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys) continues Hollywood's millennium-fueled fascination with the destruction of our planet. There's no arguing that the successful duo understands what mainstream American audiences want in their blockbuster movies—loads of loud, eye-popping special effects, rapid- fire pacing, and patriotic flag waving. Bay's protagonists—the eight crude, lewd, oversexed (but lovable, of course) oil drillers summoned to save the world from a Texas-sized meteor hurling toward the earth—are not flawless heroes, but common men with whom all can relate. In this huge Western-in-space soap opera, they're American cowboys turned astronauts. Sci-fi buffs will appreciate Bay's fetishizing of technology, even though it's apparent he doesn't understand it as anything more than flashing lights and shiny gadgets. Smartly, the duo also tries to lure the art-house crowd, raiding the local indie acting stable and populating the film with guys like Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Owen Wilson, and Michael Duncan, all adding needed touches of humor and charisma. When Bay applies his sledgehammer aesthetics to the action portions of the film, it's mindless fun; it's only when Armageddon tackles humanity that it becomes truly offensive. Not since Mississippi Burning have racial and cultural stereotypes been substituted for characters so blatantly—African Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Scottish, Samoans, Muslims, French ... if it's not white and American, Bay simplifies it. Or, make that white male America; the film features only three notable females—four if you count the meteor, who's constantly referred to as a "bitch that needs drillin'," but she's a hell of a lot more developed and unpredictable than the other women characters combined. Sure, Bay's film creates some tension and contains some visceral moments, but if he can't create any redeemable characters outside of those in space, what's the point of saving the planet? —Dave McCoy

Passepartout a chinese thief steals a valuable jade buddha and then seeks refuge in the traveling companionship of a london inventor phileas fogg who has a bet with members of his gentlemens club that he can make it around the world in a mere 80 days. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Jackie Chan Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Frank Coraci

James L. Brooks Melvin udall an obsessive-compulsive novelist with manhattans meanest mouth. But when his neighbor simon is hospitalized melvin is forced to babysit simons dog. And that unexpected act of kindness along with waitress carol connelly helps put melvin back in the human race. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/20/2005 Starring: Jack Nicholson Greg Kinnear Run time: 139 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: James L. Brooks

Dave Brody

Jay Roach Austin powers the international man of mystery is back and groovier than ever. This time the shagadelic british secret agent matches libidos with cia agent felicity shagwell who helps austin stop his arch-nemesis dr. Evil from destroying the world. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008 Starring: Mike Myers Seth Green Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg13

Mick Audsley, Jeremiah S. Chechik British secret agent john steed teams up with scientist emma peel to investigate dramatic changes discovered in the earths climate. The trail leads to ex-agent and arch villain sir agusut de wynter whose diabolical plan is to rule the world with his weather control machine. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Ralph Fiennes Sean Connery Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jeremiah Chechik

Tastefully designed for both beginning and advanced home-theater enthusiasts, the AVIA Guide to Home Theater is a terrific gateway to system set-up and integration—perfect for either planning or upgrading your home-entertainment system. AVIA, which was written by David Ranada of Stereo Review's Sound & Vision, takes full advantage of the nonlinear DVD-Video format. It lays out simply and clearly the basics of home theater: source components, video setup, and audio setup. Its seven chapters range in topics from home-theater components to viewing environments to system tools, and the disc features a host of professional-quality test signals for complete system calibration. Handy "hot buttons" give more depth on a range of subjects for those who want it. The disc gives insufficient weight to the importance of audio cable (and it recommends optical digital connections over the better-sounding coaxial type), but by and large AVIA is a trustworthy and extremely informative presentation. —Michael Mikesell

Martin Scorsese The epic biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator howard hughes career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio Kate Beckinsale Run time: 170 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Martin Scorsese

Takahiro Okao

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: 08/21/2007 Starring: Brad Pitt Cate Blanchett Run time: 143 minutes Rating: R

Laurent Bouzereau, Robert Zemeckis Back to the future i ii & iii trilogy. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/25/2005 Starring: Michael J. Fox Lea Thompson Rating: Pg Director: Robert Zemeckis

Smith, Will, Union, Gabrielle Two loose-cannon narcotics cops investigate the flow of ecstacy into florida. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/17/2006 Starring: Martin Lawrence Will Smith Run time: 147 minutes Rating: R

Terry Zwigoff Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Run time: 98 minutes Rating: Ur

Wych Kaosayananda Tasked with destroying each other an fbi agent and a rogue nsa agent soon discover that theres a much bigger enemy at work. Your most dangerous enemies are the friends youve double-crossed. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/25/2007 Starring: Antonio Banderas Gregg Henry Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R Director: Wych Kaosayananda

Tim Story A day in the life of a south side chicago barbershop Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 01/08/2008 Starring: Anthony Anderson Sean Patrick Thomas Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Tim Story

Stone, Matt When best friends coop and remer invent a game played in their driveway they have no idea it will catapult them into the national spotlight as heroes of the latest sports craze baseketball. Bonus features: theatrical trailer talent bios production notes web links and music highlights. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/21/2005 Starring: Trey Parker Matt Stone Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R Director: David Zucker

Paul Verhoeven A police detective is in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder in which a beautiful and seductive woman could be involved. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/01/2005 Starring: Michael Douglas George Dzunda Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R

Joel Schumacher Following Val Kilmer's portrayal of the caped crusader in Batman Forever, the fourth Batman feature stars George Clooney under the pointy-eared cowl, with Chris O'Donnell returning as Robin the Boy Wonder. This time the dynamic duo is up against the nefarious Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who is bent on turning the world into an iceberg, and the slyly seductive but highly toxic Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), who wants to eliminate all animal life and turn the Earth into a gigantic greenhouse. Alicia Silverstone lends a hand as Batgirl, and Elle McPherson plays the thankless role of Batman/Bruce Wayne's fiancée. A sensory assault of dazzling colors, senseless action, and lavish sets run amok, this Batman & Robin offers an overdose of eye candy, but it is strictly for devoted Bat-o-philes. —Jeff Shannon

A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray. Nash's other world, populated as it is by a maniacal Department of Defense agent (Ed Harris), an imagined college roommate who seems straight out of Dead Poets Society, and an orphaned girl, is so fluid and scriptlike as to make the viewer wonder if schizophrenia is really as slick as depicted. Crowe's physical intensity drags us along as he works admirably to carry the film on his considerable shoulders. No doubt the story of Nash's amazing will to recover his life without the aid of medication is a worthy one, his eventual triumph heartening. Unfortunately, Howard's flashy style is unable to convey much of it. —Fionn Meade

Richard Linklater In 1994, director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) made Before Sunrise, a gorgeous poem of a movie about two strangers (played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) wandering around Vienna, talking, and falling in love. Ten years later, Linklater, Hawke, and Delpy have returned with Before Sunset, which reunites the same characters after Hawke has written a book about that night. Delpy appears at the final book reading of his European tour; they have less than two hours before Hawke has to catch a flight to New York...and in that time, they walk around Paris, talk, and fall in love all over again. It sounds simple, perhaps dull, but it's written with such skill and care and acted with such richness that it's a miracle of filmmaking. On its own, Before Sunset is moving and wonderful; seen right after Before Sunrise, it will break your heart. —Bret Fetzer

While too many movies suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovich is a refreshing study in contrast, so bracingly original that you'll want to send director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman a thank-you note for restoring your faith in the enchantment of film. Even if it ultimately serves little purpose beyond the thrill of comedic invention, this demented romance is gloriously entertaining, spilling over with ideas that tickle the brain and even touch the heart. That's to be expected in a movie that dares to ponder the existential dilemma of a forlorn puppeteer (John Cusack) who discovers a metaphysical portal into the brain of actor John Malkovich.

The puppeteer's working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building; this idea alone might serve as the comedic basis for an entire film, but Jonze and Kaufman are just getting started. Add a devious coworker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognizable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalize on the thrill of being John Malkovich, and you've got a movie that just gets crazier as it plays by its own outrageous rules. Malkovich himself is the film's pièce de résistance, riffing on his own persona with obvious delight and—when he enters his own brain via the portal—appearing with multiple versions of himself in a tour-de-force use of digital trickery. Does it add up to much? Not really. But for 112 liberating minutes, Being John Malkovich is a wild place to visit. —Jeff Shannon

Bend It Like Beckham is true girl power. This glorious comedy centers on Jess (Parminder Nagra), an Indian girl born in England whose only desire is to become a football—or, as we say on this side of the Atlantic, soccer—star like her idol, David Beckham; but her traditional family refuses to even consider it. With the help of her new friend Juliet (Keira Knightley), Jess secretly joins a girls' team under the guidance of a male coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). As the team starts to gain some attention, Jess's secret can't be kept forever. The story of Bend It Like Beckham is so genuine and detailed that it transcends all the sports-movie formulas that it also fulfills with cheeky exuberance. Wonderfully acted, and written and directed with loving care by Gurinder Chadha (Bhaji on the Beach, What's Cooking?), this movie is pure delight from start to finish. —Bret Fetzer

Brian Berdan, Barry Malkin, George Armitage Set against the decadent glamour & danger of revolution-era cuba is the story of katey a young american woman & her discovery of love sensuality & independence with a sexy sultry cuban dancer javier. Katey persuades him to partner with her in a prestigious national dance competition in havanna. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 04/03/2007 Starring: Vinnie Jones Bebe Neuwirth Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Pg13

Sandler, Adam Fatherhood is brought to another level as adam sandler employs his unique brand of humor to face the challenges of parenthood. Special features: widescreen and full screen: sheryl crow music video: garbage music video: talent files: theatrical trailers: bonus trailers: ghostbusters dick and go. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/28/2005 Starring: Adam Sandler Jon Stewart Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Dennis Dugan

Tim Burton After a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing as he shifts from macabre fairy tales to Southern tall tales. Big Fish twines in and out of the oversized stories of Edward Bloom, played as a young man by Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge, Down with Love) and as a dying father by Albert Finney (Tom Jones). Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup, Almost Famous) sits by his father's bedside but has little patience with the old man's fables, because he feels these stories have kept him from knowing who his father really is. Burton dives into Bloom's imagination with zest, sending the determined young man into haunted woods, an idealized Southern town, a traveling circus, and much more. The result is sweet but—thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility—never saccharine. Also featuring Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito, and Steve Buscemi. —Bret Fetzer

Kirk Wong A beleaguered hit mans professional and domestic woes collide with hilarious results when hes tricked into taking the fall for a moonlighting gig gone sour. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Mark Wahlberg Christina Applegate Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R Director: Che-kirk Wong

Tamra Davis For Adam Sandler fans only, this dopey comedy features the former Saturday Night Live star as an overindulged rich guy whose father insists he repeat grades 1 through 12 before taking over the family business. The scenario is perfect for Sandler's infantile leanings (which he has fortunately outgrown in more recent movies), and for the most part the jokes about being too old and too big for the experiment are obvious. Chris Farley and Steve Buscemi turn up in uncredited cameo appearances, but otherwise the film is pretty dismissible, except for those diehards who can't get enough of Sandler. —Tom Keogh

Mike Nichols The son of a gay man brings his fiancees conservative parents home for introductions but there is one condition: his father and his lover must pretend they are straight for the duration of the visit. Now the couple is on a hilarious quest to find an alternative to their alternative lifestyle. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 06/05/2007 Starring: Robin Williams Gene Hackman Run time: 119 minutes Rating: R Director: Mike Nichols

Ridley Scott Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down conveys the raw, chaotic urgency of ground-force battle in a worst-case scenario. With exacting detail, the film re-creates the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters. Based on author Mark Bowden's bestselling account of the battle, Scott's riveting, action-packed film follows a sharp ensemble cast in some of the most authentic battle sequences ever filmed. The loss of 18 soldiers turned American opinion against further involvement in Somalia, but Black Hawk Down makes it clear that the men involved were undeniably heroic. —Jeff Shannon

The recipe for Blade is quite simple; you take one part Batman, one part horror flick, and two parts kung fu and frost it all over with some truly campy acting. What do you get? An action flick that will reaffirm your belief that the superhero action genre did not die in the fluorescent hands of Joel Schumacher. Blade is the story of a ruthless and supreme vampire slayer (Wesley Snipes) who makes other contemporary slayers (Buffy et al.) look like amateurs. Armed with a samurai sword made of silver and guns that shoot silver bullets, he lives to hunt and kill "Sucker Heads." Pitted against our hero is a cast of villains led by Deacon Frost (Stephen Dorff), a crafty and charismatic vampire who believes that his people should be ruling the world, and that the human race is merely the food source they prey on. Born half-human and half-vampire after his mother had been attacked by a blood-sucker, Blade is brought to life by a very buff-looking Snipes in his best action performance to date. Apparent throughout the film is the fluid grace and admirable skill that Snipes brings to the many breathtaking action sequences that lift this movie into a league of its own. The influence of Hong Kong action cinema is clear, and you may even notice vague impressions of Japanese anime sprinkled innovatively throughout. Dorff holds his own against Snipes as the menacing nemesis Frost, and the grizzly Kris Kristofferson brings a tough, cynical edge to his role as Whistler, Blade's mentor and friend. Ample credit should also go to director Stephen Norrington and screenwriter David S. Goyer, who prove it is possible to adapt comic book characters to the big screen without making them look absurd. Indeed, quite the reverse happens here: Blade comes vividly to life from the moment you first see him, in an outstanding opening sequence that sets the tone for the action-packed film that follows. From that moment onward you are pulled into the world of Blade and his perpetual battle against the vampire race. —Jeremy Storey

Guillermo del Toro Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the reapers vapires who feed on vampires. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Wesley Snipes Ron Perlman Run time: 117 minutes Rating: R Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez Three film students set out into the black hills forest to make a documentary on the legendary blair witch. Armed with a 16mm camera a hi8 video camera and a dat recorder every step word and sound is captured. After wandering around black hills forest heather josh and mike are cold lost and hunted. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/01/2005 Starring: Heather Donahue Joshua Leonard Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R Director: Daniel Myrick/eduardo Sanchez

Meet adam webber born and raised in a bomb shelter with his mad scientist father and his sherry-swilling mother. Now 35 years later adam is about to emerge into a bewildering new world where hell meet eve a modern los angeles woman. Features: script to screen blast trivia game bingo and much more. Studio: Turner Hm Entertainm Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Brendan Fraser Alicia Silverstone Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg13

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 11/25/2003

Michael Cristofer Eight glossy, good-looking young actors, including Sean Patrick Flanery (Powder, Suicide Kings), Jerry O'Connell (Stand by Me, Scream 2), Amanda Peet (One Fine Day), Tara Reid (American Pie, Urban Legend), and Brad Rowe (Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss). Women in their underwear and short, tight dresses; men in suits. Men's bare buttocks and women's bare breasts (at least in the unrated version). Characters talking earnestly to the audience about blowjobs, domination, anal penetration, one-night stands, and the difference between sex and love. Lots and lots of alcohol consumption in a cavernous, neon-lit club. A bloody fistfight. The plot, to the degree there is one, concerns an accusation of rape, which is shown from his-and-her points of view. People similar to these characters probably do exist in real life, but there's no reason to make a movie about them. Everyone involved in making Body Shots should have to do 100 hours of community service to make up for the time they've stolen from viewers' lives. The script and direction are particularly banal and self-important. Vacuous. —Bret Fetzer

Larry Charles Kazakh tv talking head borat is dispatched to the united states to report on the greatest country in the world. With a documentary crew in tow borat becomes more interested in locating & marrying pamela anderson. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen Pamela Anderson Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R

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 Good enough to suggest long-term franchise potential, The Bourne Supremacy is a thriller fans will appreciate for its well-crafted suspense, and for its triumph of competence over logic (or lack thereof). Picking up where The Bourne Identity left off, the action begins when CIA assassin and partial amnesiac Jason Bourne (a role reprised with efficient intensity by Matt Damon) is framed for a murder in Berlin, setting off a chain reaction of pursuits involving CIA handlers (led by Joan Allen and the duplicitous Brian Cox, with Julia Stiles returning from the previous film) and a shadowy Russian oil magnate. The fast-paced action hurtles from India to Berlin, Moscow, and Italy, and as he did with the critically acclaimed Bloody Sunday, director Paul Greengrass puts you right in the thick of it with split-second editing (too much of it, actually) and a knack for well-sustained tension. It doesn't all make sense, and bears little resemblance to Robert Ludlum's novel, but with Damon proving to be an appealingly unconventional action hero, there's plenty to look forward to. —Jeff Shannon

Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones's Diary is a fetching adaptation of Helen Fielding's runaway bestseller, grittier than Ally McBeal but sweeter than Sex and the City. The normally sylphlike Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Me, Myself and Irene) wolfed pasta to gain poundage to play "singleton" Bridget, a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary in which she records her negligible weight fluctuations and romantic misadventures of the year. Things start off badly at Christmas when her mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom Bridget accidentally overhears dissing her. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, infinitely more likeable when he's playing a baddie instead of his patented tongue-tied fops). Eventually, Bridget comes to wonder if she's let her pride prejudice her against the surprisingly attractive Mr. Darcy.

If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humor, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. —Leslie Felperin

Geraldine Peroni, Dylan Tichenor, Ang Lee A sad, melancholy ache pervades Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee's haunting, moving film that, like his other movies, explores societal constraints and the passions that lurk underneath. This time, however, instead of taking on ancient China, 19th-century England, or '70s suburbia, Lee uses the tableau of the American West in the early '60s to show how two lovers are bound by their expected roles, how they rebel against them, and the repercussions for each of doing so—but the romance here is between two men. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two itinerant ranchers looking for work in Wyoming when they meet and embark on a summer sheepherding job in the shadow of titular Brokeback Mountain. The taciturn Ennis, uncommunicative in the extreme, finds himself opening up around the gregarious Jack, and the two form a bond that surprisingly catches fire one cold night out in the wilderness. Separating at the end of the summer, each goes on to marry and have children, but a reunion years later proves that, if anything, their passion for each other has grown significantly. And while Jack harbors dreams of a life together, the tight-lipped Ennis is unable to bring himself to even consider something so revolutionary.

Its open, unforced depiction of love between two men made Brokeback an instant cultural touchstone, for both good and bad, as it was tagged derisively as the "gay cowboy movie," but also heralded as a breakthrough for mainstream cinema. Amidst all the hoopla of various agendas, though, was a quiet, heartbreaking love story that was both of its time and universal—it was the quintessential tale of star-crossed lovers, but grounded in an ever-changing America that promised both hope and despair. Adapted by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana from Annie Proulx's short story, the movie echoes the sparse bleakness of McMurtry's The Last Picture Show with its fading of the once-glorious West; but with Lee at the helm, it also resembles The Ice Storm, as it showed the ripple effects of a singular event over a number of people. As always, Lee's work with actors is unparalleled, as he elicits graceful, nuanced performances from Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway as the wives affected overtly and subliminally by their husbands' affair, and Gyllenhaal brings surprising dimensions to a character that could have easily just been a puppy dog of a boy. It's Ledger, however, who's the breakthrough in the film, and his portrait of an emotionally repressed man both undone and liberated by his feelings is mesmerizing and devastating. Spare in style but rich with emotion, Brokeback Mountain earns its place as a classic modern love story. —Mark Englehart

Tom Shadyac A guy who complains about god too often is given almighty powers to teach him how difficult it is to run the world. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/27/2007 Starring: Jim Carrey Philip Baker Hall Run time: 101 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Tom Shadyac

Andrew Stanton There was such a magic on the screen in 1995 when the people at Pixar came up with the first fully computer-animated film, Toy Story. Their second feature film, A Bug's Life, may miss the bull's-eye but Pixar's target is so lofty, it's hard to find the film anything less than irresistible.

Brighter and more colorful than the other animated insect movie of 1998 (Antz), A Bug's Life is the sweetly told story of Flik (voiced by David Foley), an ant searching for better ways to be a bug. His colony unfortunately revolves around feeding and fearing the local grasshoppers (lead by Hopper, voiced with gleeful menace by Kevin Spacey). When Flik accidentally destroys the seasonal food supply for the grasshoppers he decides to look for help ("We need bigger bugs!"). The ants, led by Princess Atta (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), are eager to dispose of the troublesome Flik. Yet he finds help—a hearty bunch of bug warriors—and brings them back to the colony. Unfortunately they are just traveling performers afraid of conflict.

As with Toy Story, the ensemble of creatures and voices is remarkable and often inspired. Highlights include wiseacre comedian Denis Leary as an un-ladylike ladybug, Joe Ranft as the German-accented caterpillar, David Hyde Pierce as a stick bug, and Michael McShane as a pair of unintelligible pillbugs. The scene-stealer is Atta's squeaky-voiced sister, baby Dot (Hayden Panettiere), who has a big sweet spot for Flik.

More gentle and kid-friendly than Antz, A Bug Life's still has some good suspense and a wonderful demise of the villain. However, the film—a giant worldwide hit—will be remembered for its most creative touch: "outtakes" over the end credits à la many live-action comedy films. These dozen or so scenes (both "editions" of outtakes are contained here) are brilliant and deserve a special place in film history right along with 1998's other most talked-about sequence: the opening Normandy invasion in Saving Private Ryan.

The video and DVD also contain Pixar's delightful Oscar-winning short, Geri's Game. —Doug Thomas

Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber Despite box-office dominance during its opening weekend, The Butterfly Effect is better suited to guilty-pleasure viewing at home. When writer-directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber (who penned Final Destination 2) aren't breaking their own haphazard rules of logic, they're filling this sordid thriller with enough unpleasantness to make eternal damnation seem like an attractive alternative. In a role-reversal from his That '70s Show persona, Ashton Kutcher plays a college-age psychology student who discovers, by re-reading his childhood journals, that he can revisit his past and alter traumatic events, hoping to improve their previously unfortunate outcomes. Instead, this foolhardy experiment in chaos theory (the titular "butterfly effect," popularized by Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park) results in a variety of nightmarish permutations, each having dire consequences for him and/or his friends. This intriguing premise is explored with a few interesting twists and turns, but with subplots involving child pornography, animal cruelty, and profanely violent children, it's a stretch to call it entertainment. —Jeff Shannon

Harry Elfont A comedy about six teenagers on the night of their high school graduation. Preston a young man who decides that on graduation day just before he leaves town he will proclaim his love for denise whom he has pined for from afar for the past four years. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Ethan Embry Lauren Ambrose Run time: 101 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Deborah Kaplan/harry Elfont

John Lasseter 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

Martin Campbell In his first mission james bond must stop le chiffre a banker to the worlds terrorist organizations from winning a high-stakes poker game at casino royale in montenegro. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Daniel Craig Mads Mikkelsen Run time: 144 minutes Rating: Pg13

Arthur Schmidt, Robert Zemeckis Cast Away is a good movie that wants to be much better. While director Robert Zemeckis's earlier film Contact achieved a kind of mainstream spiritual significance, Cast Away falls just short of that goal. That may explain why the film's most emotionally powerful scene involves the loss of an inanimate object, even as it presents a heart-rending dilemma in its very human final act.

It's three movies in one, beginning when punctuality-obsessed Federal Express systems engineer Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) departs on Christmas Eve to escort an ill-fated flight of FedEx packages. Following a mid-Pacific plane crash, movie number two chronicles Chuck's four-year survival on a remote island, totally alone save for a Wilson volleyball (aptly named "Wilson") that becomes Chuck's closest "friend." Movie number three leads up to Chuck's rescue and an awkward encounter with his ex-girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt, in a thankless role), for whom Chuck has seemingly risen from the grave.

It's fascinating to witness Chuck's emerging survival skills, and Hanks's remarkable physical transformation is matched by his finely tuned performance. With slow, rhythmic camera moves and brilliant use of sound, Zemeckis wisely avoids the postcard prettiness of The Black Stallion and The Blue Lagoon to emphasize the harshness of Chuck's ascetic solitude, and this stylistic restraint allows Cast Away to resonate more than one might expect. Even the final scene—which feels like a crowd-pleasing compromise—offers hope without shoving it down our throats. You may not feel the emotional rush that you're meant to feel, but Cast Away remains a respectable effort. —Jeff Shannon

Steven Spielberg Based on the true story of frank abagnale jr. a successful con artist who managed to pass himself off as several identities and the fbi agent hot on his trail. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Leonardo Dicaprio Christopher Walken Run time: 141 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Steven Spielberg

Tarsem Singh When a serial killer falls into a coma before his last victim can be found a child therapist must use an experimental treatment to enter his mind and learn his secrets before it is too late. The visually haunting world threatens her very existence when she becomes trapped by the terror inside. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 12/11/2007 Starring: Jennifer Lopez Vincent Donofrio Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R Director: Tarsem Singh

McG The angels investigate a series of murders that occur after the theft of a witness protection profile database. Their prime suspects? a fallen angel (moore) who was once their ally and the creepy thin man (glover). Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/28/2006 Starring: Demi Moore Lucy Lui Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Mcg

Rob Marshall Based on the broadway musical two women convicted of murder in the 1920s become celebrities by manipulating the media. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Catherine Zeta Jones Richard Gere Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Pg13

While the chickens on evil mrs. Tweedys farm dream of a better life a clever hen named ginger is hatching plans to fly the coop for good. The only problem is chickens cant fly or can they? every escape attempt goes fowl until rocky a smooth talking all-american rooster crash-lands into the coop. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/21/2007 Starring: Animated Run time: 84 minutes Rating: G Director: Peter Lord/nick Park

Alfonso Cuarón In 2027 as humankind faces the likelihood of its own extinction a disillusioned government agent agrees to help transport and protect a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea where her childs birth may help scientists to save the future of mankind. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Clive Owen Michael Caine Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R

This video souvenir saluting teeny pop princess and Grammy winner (as Best New Artist) Christina Aguilera is a textbook example of the hybrid documentary format that's proving de rigeur for recording artists courting the burgeoning teen and pre-teen audience. Shot on videotape and mixing backstage atmosphere, between-shows conversations, interview clips, and fan testimonials with music videos, Genie Gets Her Wish offers the same sort of cheerfully uncritical portrait accorded Aguilera's peers including the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, and Britney Spears in their own video valentines.

Like Spears (who's conspicuously invoked as both friend and former New Mouseketeer colleague), Aguilera combines a curiously old-fashioned show-biz work ethic with a contemporary persona that intoxicates young teen boys, inspires young girls, and likely triggers mild anxiety attacks for some parents. No father can watch this profile's footage of prepubescent girls wiggling along to the singer's signature hit, "Genie in a Bottle," with its sly entendres ("You've got to rub me the right way...") and not ponder the meaning of innocence in the 21st century. Moms likewise may want to find a hotline to help counsel their daughters on the dangers of blue eyeliner abuse and excessive blow-drying.

However, even jaded boomers and Gen-X ironists may have a hard time ignoring Aguilera's outsized vocal gifts. While it's sobering to hear her cite such "old-timers" as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey as influences, it's beguiling when the 18-year-old gamine, accompanied by her RCA Records executive angel, Ron Fair, leaps into an impromptu performance of the Etta James classic "At Last." If the lyric seems precocious coming from Aguilera's bee-stung lips, that voice warrants the choice, offering a tantalizing glimpse of what could happen if she successfully navigates beyond the frothier waters of teen pop to more mature music. —Sam Sutherland

Andrew Adamson C.S. Lewis's classic novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe makes an ambitious and long-awaited leap to the screen in this modern adaptation. It's a CGI-created world laden with all the special effects and visual wizardry modern filmmaking technology can conjure, which is fine so long as the film stays true to the story that Lewis wrote. And while this film is not a literal translation—it really wants to be so much more than just a kids' movie—for the most part it is faithful enough to the story, and whatever faults it has are happily faults of overreaching, and not of holding back. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tells the story of the four Pevensie children, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan, and their adventures in the mystical world of Narnia. Sent to the British countryside for their own safety during the blitz of World War II, they discover an entryway into a mystical world through an old wardrobe. Narnia is inhabited by mythical, anthropomorphic creatures suffering under the hundred-year rule of the cruel White Witch (Tilda Swinton, in a standout role). The arrival of the children gives the creatures of Narnia hope for liberation, and all are dragged into the inevitable conflict between evil (the Witch) and good (Aslan the Lion, the Messiah figure, regally voiced by Liam Neeson).

Director (and co-screenwriter) Andrew Adamson, a veteran of the Shrek franchise, knows his way around a fantasy-based adventure story, and he wisely keeps the story moving when it could easily become bogged down and tiresome. Narnia is, of course, a Christian allegory and the symbology is definitely there (as it should be, otherwise it wouldn't be the story Lewis wrote), but audiences aren't knocked over the head with it, and in the hands of another director it could easily have become pedantic. The focus is squarely on the children and their adventures. The four young actors are respectable in their roles, especially considering the size of the project put on their shoulders, but it's the young Georgie Henley as the curious Lucy who stands out. This isn't a film that wildly succeeds, and in the long run it won't have the same impact as the Harry Potter franchise, but it is well done, and kids will get swept up in the adventure. Note: Narnia does contain battle scenes that some parents may consider too violent for younger children. —Dan Vancini

David Mallet, Guy Caron The Chinese consider the lion a symbol of good luck, so it's a half-dragon, half-lion—a dralion—that is the symbol of the East-meets-West fusion of this Cirque du Soleil show, in which 36 Chinese acrobats join the renowned Canadian troupe. Celebrating the four elements as represented in four colors— blue (air), green (water), red (fire), and ochre (earth)—Dralion combines ancient Chinese circus traditions with Cirque du Soleil's usual stunning elements: the techno-oriented single ring; the multicolored lights and costumes; the music that mixes rock, New Age, and various world influences (though not Chinese); and the madcap clowns that pull a victim out of the audience (he turns out to be a terrific sport).

But of course the main reason to watch a Cirque du Soleil show is the acrobatic stunts, those eye-popping displays of agility, balance, and strength. You'll see an acrobat balancing on one hand, a brawny juggler, a high-flying teeterboard act, a double trapeze, contortionists, a parasol turned and tossed atop a foot, furiously synchronized hoop-diving, unbelievable rope-skipping, and more. While nothing can match the experience of seeing this troupe live, the video does offer some choice close-ups that you would never get from your seat, and you can't ask the live performers to repeat your favorite stunts over and over again. And you'll want to see them over and over because Dralion is a dazzler. —David Horiuchi

Brad Silberling He can remain an angel and live forever. Or he can forsake his immortality and become human on the chance that she might love him. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Nicolas Cage Meg Ryan Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Brad Silberling

Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund A photographer named buscape narrates short stories of his youth growing up in one of the most crime ridden areas of rio de janeiro. The film introduces many characters including a boyhood friend on a path to becoming a drug dealer in one of the worlds most dangerous areas from the late 60s to the early 80s. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2006 Run time: 130 minutes Rating: R

Pieter Jan Brugge Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/11/2007 Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R

A workaholic architect finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/26/2008 Starring: Adam Sandler Christopher Walken Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Pg13

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/11/2007 Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Ur

John Lasseter Only a few of the shorts, commercials, and student films in this anthology actually tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Made for Sesame Street, "Light and Heavy" puts an idea across simply and clearly, while preserving the personalities of the lamps from the award-winning "Luxo, Jr." "Juju Shampoo" spoofs hair-care ads and showcases a then-new technique for rendering hair. "Time for Love," a tale of affections lost and won, displays a genuine charm that is all too rare in computer animation. In each case, the creators used the medium to express an idea, rather than allowing the computer to dictate the look and content of the film.

In contrast, "Dreamaker" features shimmering surfaces that suggest Tiffany glass, but it remains an exercise in technique. "Fan-tasy" tries very hard to copy "Luxo," but the animation lacks the nuances that brought the lamps to life. In "Tosio," the gargoyle atop a walking stick literally coughs its lungs out—although the entrails look like plastic, the effect is sophmoric at best. The crashingly unfunny "Dutch Nelson, Galaxy Guy" is a trailer for a nonexistent film—an idea many students entertain, but usually outgrow by their second year of film school. —Charles Solomon

Rockwell, Sam An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impressario chuck barris in which he purports to have been a cia hitman. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Sam Rockwell Drew Barrymore Run time: 113 minutes Rating: R Director: George Clooney

Hughes Winborne, Paul Haggis This compelling urban thriller tracks the volatile intersection of a multiethnic cast of characters struggling to overcome their fears as they careen in and out of one another's lives. In the gray area between black and white victim and aggressor during the next 36 hours the will all collide.System Requirements: Running Time 122 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 031398179382 Manufacturer No: 17938

Tim Squyres, Ang Lee Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are lead to an impetuous physically-skilled teenage noblemans daughter who is at a crossroads in her life. Special features: ang lee and james schamus commentary: photo montage: link to website: theatrical trailers and much more. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Chow Yun Fat Zhang Ziyi Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Ang Lee

Mark Steven Johnson Story of matthew murdock who is struck blind by a radioactive isotope. He gains a super radar ability & uses his powers to fight crime in new york. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Jennifer Garner Colin Farrell Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R Director: Mark Steven Johnson

When a mysterious virus turns people into mindless flesh-eating zombies a handful of survivors wage a desperate last-stand battle to stay alive .. & human! exploding with terrifying surprises & nerve-shredding fun. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Sarah Polley Jake Weber Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Ur

Roland Emmerich Supreme silliness doesn't stop The Day After Tomorrow from being lots of fun for connoisseurs of epic-scale disaster flicks. After the blockbuster profits of Independence Day and Godzilla, you can't blame director Roland Emmerich for using global warming as a politically correct excuse for destroying most of the northern hemisphere. Like most of Emmerich's films, this one emphasizes special effects over such lesser priorities as well-drawn characters and plausible plotting, and his dialogue (cowritten by Jeffrey Nachmanoff) is so laughably trite that it could be entirely eliminated without harming the movie. It's the spectacle that's important here, not the lame, recycled plot about father and son (Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal) who endure an end-of-the-world scenario caused by the effects of global warming. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the awesome visions of tornado-ravaged Los Angeles, blizzards in New Delhi, Japan pummeled by grapefruit-sized hailstones, and Manhattan flooded by swelling oceans and then frozen by the onset of a modern ice age. It's all wildly impressive, and Emmerich obviously doesn't care if the science is flimsy, so why should you? —Jeff Shannon

Mark Magidson There are few voices in popular music like that of Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard. Perry's is rich and earthy, whereas Gerrard's multi-octave instrument is, at times, downright unearthly. Toward the Within, the audiovisual version of a 1993 concert at Santa Monica's Mayfair Theatre—chosen, no doubt, for its excellent acoustics—is a fine showcase for their unique talents. Joined by five musicians on keyboards, strings, and percussion, Mark Magidson (Baraka) has filmed the proceedings in a straightforward manner, but the music is intricate and exotic enough that no special effects or fancy camera moves are necessary. The songs, which incorporate pop, folk, and world-music influences, are interspersed with interview clips, turning the release into a hybrid between a concert video and a documentary. Highlights include the hypnotic "Rakim" and soaring "American Dreaming." Toward the Within was also issued on CD, sans the interview and video clips. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

Mimi Leder A great big rock hits the earth, and lots of people die. That's pretty much all there is to it, and most of that was in the trailer. Can a major Hollywood movie really squeak by with such a slender excuse for a premise? The old disaster-movie king, cheese-meister Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake), would have made a kitsch classic out of this, with Charlton Heston, rather than a resigned and mumbly Robert Duvall, as the veteran astronaut who risks several lives trying to blow up the comet that's headed right this way! As stiffly directed by Mimi Leder, this thick slice of ham errs on the side of solemnity. It may the be most earnest end-of-the-world picture since Stanley Kramer's atomic-doom drama On the Beach. There are a couple of classic melodramatic flourishes: an estranged father and daughter who share a tearful reconciliation as a Godzilla-sized tidal wave looms on the horizon; and an astronaut, communicating on video with his loved ones back on Earth, who follows whispered instructions from a buddy lurking just off camera—so that his little boy won't realize that he's been struck blind. With Morgan Freeman as the president of the United States. —David Chute

Tony Scott In his most effective thriller since Enemy of the State, Tony Scott makes time travel seem plausible. It helps that his New Orleans hero, ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington in his third go-round with the director), spends more time in the present than the past. In order to catch a terrorist, FBI Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer) invites Carlin to join forces. They have the technology to see the past. He has the expertise to interpret the data. Unfortunately, the bomb has already gone off and hundreds of ferry passengers have died. Then there's the body of a beautiful woman, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton, Idlewild), that turns up in the vicinity of the blast. Evidence indicates she was killed beforehand. Since the FBI enables him to observe Claire prior to her murder, Carlin gets to know what she was like and finds himself falling in love. He becomes convinced that the only way to solve the case—and prove her innocence—is to travel to the past. But as Pryzwarra's colleague, Denny (Adam Goldberg), argues, "You cannot go back in time. It's physically impossible." Or so he says. Déjà Vu is constructed around a clever script and executed by a top-notch cast, notably Washington, Patton, and an eerie Jim Caviezel (miles away from Passion of the Christ). In shedding the excesses of recent years—the sadism of Man on Fire and weirdness of Tarantino favorite Domino—Scott re-affirms his rep as one of the action movie's finest practitioners. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

Martin Scorsese's latest crime drama is a winner! Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg, The Departed has already received 6 Golden Globe Awards. The 2-DVD Special Edition is really special, too, loaded with bonus features including the feature-length TCM documentary "Scorsese On Scorsese," plus additional scenes with introductions by Scorsese. Anyone who admires Scorsese's work will have to have the special edition.

Arlene Sanford, Charles McDougall, David Grossman, Fred Gerber, Jeffrey Melman Audiences were captivated by the women of Wisteria Lane in the first season of Desperate Housewives, the breakout hit from ABC that almost single-handedly lifted the network from its ratings doldrums and brought back the classic TV soap, remixed now with satire, comedy, and mystery. An affectionate yet darkly tinged send-up of suburbia that skirted Twin Peaks territory as much as that of Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives opened with a bang—literally—as perfect-seeming housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) went through her picture-perfect day before putting a handgun to her temple and pulling the trigger. Mary Alice's sudden suicide leaves her four closest friends, all housewives of a sort, with a surfeit of grief, a re-examination of their own lives, and a mystery to solve. It also proves to be a catalyst for a seamy study of what goes on inside the finely appointed homes of Wisteria Lane—the tales of which Mary Alice narrates from beyond the grave with a sardonic tone dipped in both honey and arsenic.

There's Martha Stewart-perfect Bree (Marcia Cross), who rules her household with an iron fist in a tailor-made garden glove and seems to have it all, until she finds out her husband (Steven Culp) is cheating on her—and had a serious fetish habit to boot. Sultry Gaby (Eva Longoria), the youngest of the set, is a bored trophy wife whose predilection for shopping and clothes are the perfect decoy for her affair with the hunky teenage gardener (Jesse Metcalfe). Former career woman Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is the most stereotypical housewife, raising four (or was it five?) kids and frustrated at using her cutthroat business skills for suburban politics. And daffy Susan (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee looking for love, sees her prospects brighten with the arrival of hunky plumber Mike (James Denton), who has some desperate secrets of his own. And did we mention the neighborhood hussy (Nicollette Sheridan), the snotty busybody (Christine Estabrook), and Mary Alice's increasingly agitated son (Cody Kasch)?

It was a fast and wild mix of plot and characters that gave Desperate Housewives the zing that made it a number one hit, as it never got too bogged down in any dilemma before moving on to the next. And though it was neither as hard-hitting nor salacious as it was trumpeted to be, the show nevertheless breathed fresh, funny air into comedy television, for even though it hewed to the hour-long soap format, the content was far more dark comedy than sudsy drama. There were fun bright spots to be had, but the story behind Mary Alice's death—which included drugs, murder, blackmail, secret identities, and vengeance in equal amounts—hovered over all the characters, tingeing the farce with the specter of danger. The show's other source of strength is in its peerless ensemble cast, headed by four perfect leading ladies, all Emmy-worthy. Hatcher received the (deserved) lion's share of praise (and a Golden Globe), but her co-stars—especially the underrated Longoria—matched her scene for scene. And though the mystery of Mary Alice's death was ultimately solved (no Twin Peaks teasing here), it was just the beginning of the troubles on Wisteria Lane, where no life went unexamined for too long. —Mark Englehart

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008

Mike Mitchell (VI) Schneider transforms himself from a fish tank cleaner to a professional male gigolo in this outrageous comedy. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/12/2007 Starring: Rob Schneider Run time: 88 minutes Rating: R

Lee Tamahori Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/26/2007

Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sancturary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: D.b. Sweeney Ossie Davis Run time: 82 minutes Rating: Pg

When you experience The Work of Director Spike Jonze, you enter a world where anything can happen and frequently does. From the innovative director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation., this superior compilation of music videos, documentaries, interviews, and early rarities offers abundant proof that Jonze is the real deal—a filmmaker ablaze with fresh ideas and fresh ways of filming them. While collectors will regret that only 16 of Jonze's 40+ music videos are included here, this glorious sampling represents the cream of Jonze's bumper crop, and for sheer ingenuity, it doesn't get any better than this. From the Beastie Boys' popular TV cop-spoof "Sabotage" to the intensely disciplined backwards-filming technique of the Pharcyde's "Drop," it's clear that Jonze has an affinity for inventive street theater, culminating in the sad/happy vibe of Fatlip's introspective "What's Up Fatlip?" and the pop-jazz effervescence of Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet." Technical wizardry is also a Jonze trademark, especially in the elaborate "Happy Days" nostalgia of Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and the graceful fly-wire dancing of Christopher Walken to Fatboy Slim's pulsing "Weapon of Choice." No doubt about it: Every one of these videos is an award-worthy testament to Jonze's ability to combine hard work with fun-loving spontaneity.

Accompanied by an informative 52-page booklet, this two-sided DVD (one in a three-disc series that includes the equally dazzling work of Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham) also explores Jonze's artistic evolution with an entertaining selection of video rarities and three half-hour documentaries, the best being a revealing and very funny interview with rapper Fatlip after his dismissal from the Pharcyde. Commentaries for the music videos are consistently worthwhile, supporting Jonze's own belief that his best videos were made for artists whose work he genuinely enjoyed. Lucky for us, his pleasure is infectious. —Jeff Shannon

Les Mayfield Disney couldn't resist the temptation to remake 1961's popular comedy The Absent Minded Professor, so they cast Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard (a role vaguely related to the character originated by Fred MacMurray), and the result is a comedy that, frankly, doesn't fully deserve its modest success. It's admittedly clever to a point, and certainly the digitally "flubberized" special effects provide the kind of movie magic that's entertaining for kids and parents alike. The professor can't even remember his own wedding day (much to the chagrin of his fiancée, played by Marcia Gay Harden), and now his academic rival (Christopher McDonald) is trying to steal his latest and purely accidental invention—flying rubber, or ... flubber. The green goo magnifies energy and can be used as an amazing source of power, but in the hands of screenwriter John Hughes it becomes just another excuse to recycle a lot of Home Alone-style slapstick humor involving a pair of bumbling would-be flubber thieves. There's also a floating robot named Weebo and some catchy music by Danny Elfman to accompany dancing globs of flubber, but the story's too thin to add up to anything special. Lightweight fun, but, given the title, it lacks a certain bounce. Of course, that didn't stop Disney's marketing wizards from turning it into a home-video hit. —Jeff Shannon

While most of Disney's Sing-Along titles are compilations of theme songs from movies, here is a musical collection presented for the sole purpose of celebrating Christmas. The holiday video oozes with merriment as it blends traditional carols and seasonal favorites with Disney's unique brand of quality animation and beloved characters. Mickey Mouse opens the 30-minute program with an original song, "From All of Us to All of You," while Chip and Dale scamper around the Christmas tree. "Deck the Halls" will never sound the same after hearing Donald Duck's rendition, and even Santa gets in on the animated action as he plunges down the chimney in "Up on the Housetop." As a reverent reminder of the Christ-child's birth, Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus harmonizes "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World." Especially captivating is this latter tune, accompanied by hundreds of animated fairies dancing through a snow-covered forest before they transform into glistening stars. Lest we forget this is Disney, all 13 songs add cameo appearances by favorite characters Jiminy Cricket, Bambi, Minnie, and many more. Nostalgia reigns as Bing Crosby lilts "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" while plenty of snowy shenanigans from Mickey and Goofy remind viewers why Disney characters are so endearing. If Disney is tooting its own horn (and it does through a couple minutes of live-action footage from Disneyland's Magic Kingdom), it is discreet. The real star of this sing along is the spirit of Christmas, alive in full measure. —Lynn Gibson

David Nutter Something strange is happening to the teens of cradle bay. One by one problem teens are turning into example students. But this parents dream-come-true turns deadly when these remodeled kids begins to short circuit. Includes eleven deleted scenes audio commentary by the director and more. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: James Marsden Nick Stahl Run time: 84 minutes Rating: R Director: David Nutter

Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz Chris rock stars as a struggling comic who gets a second chance at life and love after hes prematurely taken to heaven. Special features: exclusive cast & crew interviews: deleted scenes: theatrical trailer: interactive menus: scene selection: english subtitles (for the deaf & hard of hearing) and more. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Chris Rock Mark Addy Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg13

Bo Welch Its fun to have fun but you have to know - the cat arrived to catapult conrad & sallys boredom into the most frolicking fun filled fabulous day theyve ever had! but the cats crazy games bring in a whole lot of trouble & he must go go go before their mom gets home. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Mike Myers Dakota Fanning Run time: 82 minutes Rating: Pg

Bill Condon Three young women deena effie & lorrell desire to become pop stars & get their wish when theyre picked to be backup singers for the legendary james thunder early. Then theyre set free for leads but curtis taylor & effies brother c.C. Decide on deena for the lead which upsets effie. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/21/2007 Starring: Jamie Foxx Eddie Murphy Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg13

Troy Miller Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/25/2007 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg13

Greg Pritikin An aspiring singer in a dysfunctional household finds her niche in yiddish music while her friend tries to make it as a ventriloquist saddled with a dummy who embodies his inner doubts. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/14/2004 Starring: Adrien Brody Ileana Douglas Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R

Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg's 1982 hit about a stranded alien and his loving relationship with a fatherless boy (Henry Thomas) struck a chord with audiences everywhere, and it furthered Spielberg's reputation as a director of equally strong commercial sensibilities and classical leanings. Henry Thomas gives a strong, emotional performance as E.T.'s young friend, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore make a solid impression as his siblings, and Dee Wallace is lively as the kids' mother. The special effects almost look a bit quaint now with all the computer advancements that have occurred since, but they also have more heart behind them than a lot of what we see today. —Tom Keogh

Damien O'Donnell Manchester in 1971 is not the ideal time and place to raise a proper Pakistani family. But George Khan (Om Puri), father of seven unruly moppets and husband to a willful British wife (Linda Bassett), is determined to wield his influence over his clan. But what a clan this is, with Nazir (Ian Aspinall), who refuses his arranged wife; Saleem (Chris Bisson) who creates—shall we say controversial?—works of art; Tariq (Jimi Mistry), the mod boy who lives for discos and English girls; Meenah (Archie Panjabi), the only girl and tomboy extraordinaire; and Sajid (Jordan Routledge), who lives in a dirty fur-trimmed parka. Abdul (Raji James) and Maneer (Emil Marwa) stay more quietly in the background, although they lend their voices to the chorus of dissent against traditional ways.

East Is East is Damien O'Donnell's directorial debut, and he nails the raucous tone from the opening scene, a church parade where the Pakistani children must do some deft maneuvering to avoid being seen by their Muslim father. At times such as these, the film is a straightforward comedy, and the children milk the cultural differences for every laugh they can. Yet the film takes a more somber turn when Saleem balks at his father's insistence on arranging Saleem's marriage. Puri is magnificent straddling the line between lovable father and brute enemy as he demands that the others obey his will, and his performance can be difficult to watch as he metamorphoses. Sympathies toward the characters shift throughout the film, highlighting the superb acting of the entire cast. Ultimately, though, humor wins out, making East Is East a tremendously fun film. —Jenny Brown

Gus Van Sant The movie takes us inside an american high school on one single ordinary day that very rapidly turns tragic. Elephant shows that high school life is a complex landscape where the beauty of young lives can shift from light to darkness with surreal speed. Its an ordinary day in high school. Except its not. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: R

Newhart, Bob This hilarious film tells the tale of a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into santas bag of gifts on christmas eve & is transported back to the north pole & raised as an elf. Years later buddy learns hes not really an elf & goes on a journey to new york city to find his true identity. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/30/2008 Starring: Will Ferrell Bob Newhart Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Pg

Like Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates opens 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

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 State kicks into high-intensity hyperdrive.

Teaming up once again with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun director 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 humor, 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

Anthony Minghella Winner of nine Academy Awards and almost every critic's heart, The English Patient (based on Michael Ondaatje's prizewinning novel of love and loss during World War II) is one of the most acclaimed films of modern times. Hana, a nurse (Juliette Binoche), tends to an archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes) who has been burnt to a crisp in a plane crash. As their relationship intensifies, he flashes back to his overwhelming passion for a married woman (Kristin Scott Thomas). Meanwhile, Hana begins a new romance with a man who defuses bombs (Naveen Andrews) and Willem Dafoe almost steals the show as the thumbless thief Caravaggio. The intricately layered flashback narrative, sounding the depths of the lovers' hearts, improves with repeated viewings—especially with the sharp picture and digital sound of the digital video disc.

Barry Levinson When one of them becomes mindblowingly quite literally stinking rich by selling an invention a pair of life-long best friends & neighbors (they even work at the same company) finds their bond breaking as the other guy start to go crazy .. With envy. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Ben Stiller Rachel Weisz Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg13

Paul W.S. Anderson Drawing from Andrei Tarkovsky's heady science fiction meditation Solaris by way of Alien and Hellraiser, this visually splendid but pulpy piece of science fiction schlock concerns a mission in the year 2047 to investigate the experimental American spaceship Event Horizon, which disappeared seven years previously and suddenly, out of nowhere, reappeared in the orbit of Neptune. Laurence Fishburne stars as mission commander Captain Miller and Sam Neill is Dr. Weir, the scientist who designed the mystery ship. Miller's T-shirt- and army-green-clad crew of smart-talking pros finds a ship dead and deserted, but further investigations turn up blood, corpses, dismembered body parts, and a decidedly unearthly presence. It turns out that the ship is really a space-age haunted house where spooky (and obviously impossible) visions lure each of the crew members into situations they should know better than to enter. The ship is gorgeously designed, borrowing from the dark, organic look of Alien and adding the menacing touch of teeth sprouting from bulwark doors and clawlike spikes inexplicably shooting out of the engine room floor. Unfortunately the film is not nearly as inventive as the production design—it turns into a woefully inconsistent psychic monster movie that sacrifices mood for tepid shocks—but the special effects are topnotch, and ultimately the movie has a trashy B movie charm about it. —Sean Axmaker

Marco Brambilla He steals her car. She steals his heart. Its a crash course in comic attitude and unexpected romance when superstar alicia silverstone takes sexy benicio del toro on the wildest ride of their lives. A crash course in kidnapping car thefts and other rituals of dating. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/20/2005 Starring: Alicia Silverstone Christopher Walken Run time: 101 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Marco Brambilla

Sydney Wells is blind and has been so since a childhood tragedy. After undergoing surgery to restore her sight she learns to see again. But soon after, unexplainable shadowy and frightening images start to haunt her. Not knowing if they are an aftermath of surgery, her mind adjusting to sight, her imagination, or something horrifyingly real, Sydney is soon convinced that her anonymous eye donor has somehow opened the door to a terrifying world only she can now see.

In the most controversial film of the year michael moore presents an opinionated view of the role played by money & oil in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. Moore uses captivating & thought-provoking footage with revealing interviews & his own brand of satire. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/27/2005 Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R

Harold McKenzie, Karyn Finley Thompson To the ranks of shows too brilliant and outrageous for prime time (The Ben Stiller Show, Andy Richter Controls the Universe), add Seth McFarlane's Family Guy. This animated series, which debuted after the 1999 Super Bowl, simply sparked too much controversy and offended too many sensibilities to survive (Entertainment Weekly dubbed it "the Awful Show They Just Keep Putting on the Air"). That the Fox network also played hackysack with its schedule, ensuring viewers would not be able to find it, sealed its fate (it was cancelled in 2002). This boxed set containing all 28 episodes from the first two seasons is payback for the show's devoted cult following, who may be moved to echo the words of infant Stewie Griffin, the megalomaniacal 1-year-old bent on matricide and world domination: "Victory is mine!"

The dysfunctional Griffins of Quahog, Rhode Island, invite comparisons to The Simpsons. The testicular-chinned father, Peter Griffin, is a clueless oaf in the Homer mold. "Peter, what did you promise me last night?" asks his long-suffering wife Lois in one episode. "That I wouldn't drink at the stag party," he replies. "And what did you do?" she asks. "Drank at the stag part—oh ho ho, I almost walked into that one," he cackles. Other family members include teenage daughter Meg, a desperate high school social pariah; 13-year-old son Chris, a chip off his father's blockhead; and Brian, the family's sarcastic talking dog. But this series' true inspiration is football-pated Stewie (voiced by McFarlane, who earned an Emmy), who was born to be a Bond villain once he escaped his mother's "ovarian bastille." Family Guy recklessly ventured where The Simpsons feared to tread. In one episode, Meg's one and only friend turns out to be the member of a suicidal cult. In another, Death (voiced by Norm McDonald) becomes an unwanted houseguest. Each episode plays fast and furious with surreal flashes (in one episode, Peter turns his house into a puppet) and pop-culture references and TV, movie, and commercial parodies that invite repeated viewings. Freed from its own family-hour bastille and the whims of dim network executives, Family Guy can be appreciated at last on its own profane, sacrilegious, and irreverent terms. Welcome to the DVD family, Griffins. —Donald Liebenson

Harold McKenzie, Karyn Finley Thompson Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/05/2008

Harold McKenzie, Karyn Finley Thompson Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/05/2008

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/05/2008 Run time: 379 minutes Rating: Nr

Brian Iles, Chris Robertson, Cyndi Tang-Loveland, Dan Povenmire, Dominic Polcino Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/21/2008 Run time: 374 minutes Rating: Nr

Like a soda pop left open all night, Bueller seems to have lost its effervescence over time. Sure, Matthew Broderick is still appealing as the perennial truant, Ferris, who fakes his parents out and takes one memorable day off from school. Jeffrey Jones is nasty and scheming as the principal who's out to catch him. Jennifer Grey is winning as Ferris's sister (who ends up making out in the police station with a prophetic vision of Charlie Sheen). But there's a definite sense that this film was of a particular time frame: the '80s. It's still fun, though. There's Ferris singing "Twist and Shout" during a Chicago parade, and a lovely sequence in the Art Institute. But don't get it and expect your kids to love it the way you did. Like it or not, it's yours alone. —Keith Simanton

James Haygood, David Fincher Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/30/2008

Stanton, Andrew Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/16/2008 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: G

Joseph Ruben Telly is a grieving mother trying to cope with the loss of her 8 year old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created 8 years of memories about a son she never had. But when she meets a man who has had a similar experience telly embarks on a search to prove her sons existence. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/31/2006 Starring: Julianne Moore Gary Senise Run time: 91 minutes Rating: Pg13

Ronny Yu This is the story of elmo mcelroy a streetwise american master chemist who heads to england to set up his last big deal - to introduce a new designer drug to the eurpoean market. Mcelroy soon becomes embroiled in a war of double-dealing as hes escorted around liverpools underworld. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Samuel L. Jackson Emily Mortimer Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R Director: Ronny Yu

The Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Director Robert Zemeckis, and Best Actor Tom Hanks, this unlikely story of a slow-witted but good-hearted man somehow at the center of the pivotal events of the 20th century is a funny and heartwarming epic. Hanks plays the title character, a shy Southern boy in love with his childhood best friend (Robin Wright) who finds that his ability to run fast takes him places. As an All-Star football player he meets John F. Kennedy; as a soldier in Vietnam he's a war hero; and as a world champion Ping-Pong player he's hailed by Richard Nixon. Becoming a successful shrimp-boat captain, he still yearns for the love of his life, who takes a quite different and much sadder path in life. The visual effects incorporating Hanks into existing newsreel footage is both funny and impressive, but the heart of the film lies in its sweet love story and in the triumphant performance of Hanks as an unassuming soul who savors the most from his life and times. —Robert Lane

Josh Pate, Peter Berg, Mark Piznarski Based on the perennial nonfiction bestseller by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights looks at high school football in the harsh light of reality, finding heart and hardness while stirring our emotions. Actor-director Peter Berg (Very Bad Things, The Rundown) is Bissinger's cousin; he knows the material well, and understands how an obsession with winning turns high school kids into somber, over-pressured gladiators—expendable soldiers in a community war against shame and obscurity. The fact-based story focuses on the 1988 football season of Odessa-Permian high school in West Texas, and as a fast-paced sports movie, Berg delivers the goods with a rousing, frenetically styled crowd-pleaser. But there's darkness in this tale of weary underdogs, including an abusive father (well-played by country music star Tim McGraw), threatening townsfolk, an injured star running back (Derek Luke), a tormented quarterback (Lucas Black), and the melancholy coach (Billy Bob Thornton) who takes his team to the finals. Berg's film could use less flashy cutting and more drama to support its gridiron intensity, but Friday Night Lights offers a refreshing alternative to the conventional sports movie, and makes a perfect triple-feature with the equally exciting documentaries Go Tigers! and The Last Game. —Jeff Shannon

David Carson, David Frankel, Frank Marshall, Gary Fleder, Graham Yost Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 10/31/2006 Rating: Nr

David Fincher It's not quite as clever as it tries to be, but The Game does a tremendous job of presenting the story of a rigid control freak trapped in circumstances that are increasingly beyond his control. Michael Douglas plays a rich, divorced, and dreadful investment banker whose 48th birthday reminds him of his father's suicide at the same age. He's locked in the cage of his own misery until his rebellious younger brother (Sean Penn) presents him with a birthday invitation to play "The Game" (described as "an experiential Book of the Month Club")—a mysterious offering from a company called Consumer Recreation Services. Before he knows the game has even begun, Douglas is caught up in a series of unexplained events designed to strip him of his tenuous security and cast him into a maelstrom of chaos. How do you play a game that hasn't any rules? That's what Douglas has to figure out, and he can't always rely on his intelligence to form logic out of what's happening to him. Seemingly cast as the fall guy in a conspiracy thriller, he encounters a waitress (Deborah Unger) who may or may not be trustworthy, and nothing can be taken at face value in a world turned upside down. Douglas is great at conveying the sheer panic of his character's dilemma, and despite some lapses in credibility and an anticlimactic ending, The Game remains a thinking person's thriller that grabs and holds your attention. —Jeff Shannon

Andrew is a struggling 20-something actor who floats through life in a lithium-induced haze. When he returns to new jersey for his mothers funeral without his lithium & the drugs begin to leave his system andrew begins to feel things for the 1st time in years. Its a scary prospect for the young man. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Starring: Zach Braff Natalie Portman Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R

Andrew Niccol In gattaca only the strong succeed and the strong are genetically pre-selected at birth. But when one man dares to defy the system he gets caught in a web of lies corruption and murder. A smart stylish thriller laced with high-wire suspense. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/09/1998 Starring: Ethan Hawke Alan Arkin Run time: 106 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Andrew Niccol

David E. Blewitt, Sheldon Kahn, Ivan Reitman A team of scientists set up a ghost exterminating company that is more successful than they could have ever imagined. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/14/2006 Starring: Bill Murray Sigourney Weaver Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Pg

Luke Greenfield Eighteen-year-old matthew kidman is a straight-laced overachiever who has never really lived life - until he falls for his beautiful new neighbor. When matthew discovers his perfect girl next door is a former porn star his sheltered existence spins out of control. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/09/2007 Starring: Elisha Cuthbert Emile Hirsch Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Luke Greenfield

Ridley Scott A big-budget summer epic with money to burn and a scale worthy of its golden Hollywood predecessors, Ridley Scott's Gladiator is 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 gravitas as 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

Roland Emmerich Radiation from french nuclear testing in polynesia ressurrects godzilla a giant radiation-mutated lizard. Godzilla creates havoc when it decides to nest in manhattan creating rampant chaos in new york city as a team of scientists and the u.S. Miliatry try to destroy the lizard and its offspring. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 04/22/2008 Starring: Matthew Broderick Maria Patillo Run time: 139 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Roland Emmerich

Gus Van Sant Matt damon is will hunting a working class kid with a genius iq who cant muster a passing score in his personal life. Unable to talk his way out of a pending jail sentence wills only hope is professor and therapist sean mcguire the one man who can change his life will has called the shots now hes met his match. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/06/2006 Starring: Matt Damon Minnie Driver Run time: 126 minutes Rating: R Director: Gus Van Sant

Mathieu Kassovitz A brilliant & respected criminal psychologist dr miranda grey is an expert at knowing what is rational. Under the direction of her husband she treats dangerously disturbed patients. But her life is thrust into terrifying jeopardy after a cryptic encounter with a mysterious young girl leads to a nightmare. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Starring: Penelope Cruz Halle Berry Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R

Howard Deutch Turn the beloved bait shop into a chichi ristorante? this means war. With jack lemmon and walter matthau returning to wage it it also means funny. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Jack Lemmon Ann Margret Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Howard Deutch

Iain Softley "Hackers" chronicles a group of teenage computer wizards whose practical jokes land them in a dangerous industrial-espionage plot.System Requirements:Widescreen format 16x9-enhanced Languages: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround) French (Dolby Stereo surround) Subtitles: English French and Spanish Eight-page trivia booklet theatrical trailer Included Trivia Booklet Interactive Menus Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround French: Dolby Digital Surround Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616716927 Manufacturer No: 907169

Waters, John John waters glorious teen sendup follows tracy tumblad a chunky teen who dreams of appearing on the local tv dance program. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Ricki Lake Run time: 94 minutes Rating: Pg

A rejected hockey player puts his skills to the golf course to save his grandmothers house. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Adam Sandler Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg13

Chris Columbus Harry ignores warnings not to return to hogwarts only to find the school plagued by a series of mysterious attacks and a strange voice haunting him. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Daniel Radcliffe Emma Watson Run time: 161 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Chris Columbus

Steven Weisberg, Alfonso Cuarón Some movie-loving wizards must have cast a magic spell on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, because it's another grand slam for the Harry Potter franchise. Demonstrating remarkable versatility after the arthouse success of Y Tu Mamá También, director Alfonso Cuarón proves a perfect choice to guide Harry, Hermione, and Ron into treacherous puberty as the now 13-year-old students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry face a new and daunting challenge: Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) has escaped from Azkaban prison, and for reasons yet unknown (unless, of course, you've read J.K. Rowling's book, considered by many to be the best in the series), he's after Harry in a bid for revenge. This dark and dangerous mystery drives the action while Harry (the fast-growing Daniel Radcliffe) and his third-year Hogwarts classmates discover the flying hippogriff Buckbeak (a marvelous CGI creature), the benevolent but enigmatic Professor Lupin (David Thewlis), horrifying black-robed Dementors, sneaky Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall), and the wonderful advantage of having a Time-Turner just when you need one. The familiar Hogwarts staff returns in fine form (including the delightful Michael Gambon, replacing the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and Emma Thompson as the goggle-eyed Sybil Trelawney), and even Julie Christie joins this prestigious production for a brief but welcome cameo. Technically dazzling, fast-paced, and chock-full of Rowling's boundless imagination (loyally adapted by ace screenwriter Steve Kloves), The Prisoner of Azkaban is a Potter-movie classic. —Jeff Shannon

Richard Francis-Bruce, Chris Columbus Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Subtitles in english and spanish self-guided tour of hogwarts new interviews with the director and the producer and much more. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Daniel Radcliffe Emma Watson Run time: 152 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Chris Columbus

Rob Minkoff When jim evers & his family find themselves stranded in a 150 year old creepy & crumbling mansion in new orleans they come face to face with the manors residents - 999 grim & grinning ghosts! now the evers family must weather falling floors & moving pictures before the clock strikes 13. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/08/2006 Starring: Eddie Murphy Wallace Shaw Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg

Weaver, Sigourney Its all in the family as a sexy mother/daughter con team steal their way into mens hearts and their bank accounts in this hilarious comedy featuring an all-star cast. Special features: deleted scenes with optional directors audio commentary: english french and spanish subtitles and much more. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 04/15/2008 Starring: Sigourney Weaver Ray Liotta Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: David Mirkin

Jones, Doug, Perlman, Ron In the ongoing deluge of comic-book adaptations, Hellboy ranks well above average. Having turned down an offer to helm Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in favor of bringing Hellboy's origin story to the big screen, the gifted Mexican director Guillermo del Toro compensates for the excesses of Blade II with a moodily effective, consistently entertaining action-packed fantasy, beginning in 1944 when the mad monk Rasputin—in cahoots with occult-buff Hitler and his Nazi thugs—opens a transdimensional portal through which a baby demon emerges, capable of destroying the world with his powers. Instead, the aptly named Hellboy is raised by the benevolent Prof. Bloom, founder of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, whose allied forces enlist the adult Hellboy (Ron Perlman, perfectly cast) to battle evil at every turn. While nursing a melancholy love for the comely firestarter Liz (Selma Blair), Hellboy files his demonic horns ("to fit in," says Bloom) and wreaks havoc on the bad guys. The action is occasionally routine (the movie suffers when compared to the similar X-Men blockbusters), but del Toro and Perlman have honored Mike Mignola's original Dark Horse comics with a lavish and loyal interpretation, retaining the amusing and sympathetic quirks of character that made the comic-book Hellboy a pop-culture original. He's red as a lobster, puffs stogies like Groucho Marx, and fights the good fight with a kind but troubled heart. What's not to like? —Jeff Shannon

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/28/2007

Rejoin the epic and suspenseful phenomenon as Heroes: Season 2 arrives on DVD! Experience all the new and exciting twists of the astonishing series in this 4-disc set that includes every gripping Season 2 episode. Plus, see what could have been with exclusive bonus features that reveal the untold stories that never aired and an alternate ending to the season finale, where the fate of humanity takes an ominous turn when Peter fails to catch the vial containing the deadly virus.

Garth Jennings Arthur dent is having a really bad day! when he learns that a friend is actually an alien with knowledge of earths impending destruction he is transported off the planet. And if thats not enough throw in being wanted by the police & a chronically depressed robot & youve got the greatest adventure off earth. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/10/2007 Starring: Martin Freeman Zooey Deschanel Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Pg

In Paul Verhoeven's appropriately shallow Hollow Man, Kevin Bacon plays a bad-boy egotistical scientist who heads up a double-secret government team experimenting with turning life-forms invisible. How do we know he's a bad boy? Because he (a) wears a leather overcoat, (b) compares himself to God, (c) drives a sports car, and (d) spies on his comely next-door neighbor while eating Twinkies. Sadly, this is the most character development anyone gets in this undernourished action/sci-fi thriller, which boasts some amazing special effects and some amazingly ridiculous plot twists. After experimenting rather ruthlessly on a menagerie of lab animals, Bacon finally cracks the code that will turn the invisible gorillas, dogs, and so on, back into their visible forms. Does it work on humans? Faster than you can say "six degrees," Mr. Bacon appoints himself human guinea pig, strapping down for an injection of fluorescent-colored serum. Thanks to some phenomenal, seamless and Oscar-worthy computer effects, Bacon is indeed rendered invisible, organ by organ, vein by vein. And what's the first thing you'd do if you were invisible? Why, spy on your female coworkers in the bathroom and molest your comely next-door neighbor, of course! Soon, Bacon is thoroughly psychotic, and it's up to Elisabeth Shue (Bacon's coworker and ex-girlfriend) and hunky Josh Brolin (her current snuggle bunny) to defeat the invisible man, who's picking off the science team one by one. You'd think this would be a prime opportunity for copious amounts of cheesy sex and aggressive violence—which Verhoeven served up so well and so exuberantly in Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct—but if anything, the director seems to tone down the proceedings, and really, who wants a muted Paul Verhoeven movie? Shue (who got top billing and a bad haircut to boot) and Brolin (who, yes, does take off his shirt at least once) generate little heat, and while Bacon does give an effective, primarily voice-oriented performance, his character is so underdeveloped that, well, you can see right through him. —Mark Englehart

Dean Parisot A man is frightened to death by a menacing military helicopter, piloted by two young Texan men who just happen to be the dead man's stepsons, Dorian and Angus (Luke Wilson and Jake Busey). To complicate matters, the dead man had had an affair with young Sally (Drew Barrymore), a clerk at the local Burger-Matic who didn't know the guy was married. Now she's pregnant and looking for a supportive guy to be her unborn child's potential father. Dorian fits the role quite nicely, but Angus thinks Sally knows about the helicopter incident, and their scheming mother (Catherine O'Hara) is trying to mastermind a cover-up, and....

So goes the cleverly amusing plot of this light, character-based romantic comedy, which proves Barrymore's charm and versatility once again, gives O'Hara one of her best roles, and moves right along at its own amiable pace. Small-town romance combines with darkly tinged comedy (scripted by X-Files staffer Vince Gilligan), and first-time director Dean Parisot guides it all with casual assurance. There's nothing going on here that's particularly inspired, but Barrymore and Wilson (an off-screen couple during production) make a delightful pair, and the cast makes the most of some hilarious down-home dialogue. All in all, a very pleasant diversion. —Jeff Shannon

Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech A new spin on an old fable. In this film red granny the big bad wolf & the woodman all face detective flippers as he attempts to determine the real events of the little red riding hood story. Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 08/28/2007 Run time: 80 minutes Rating: Pg

Terry George Solidly built around a subtle yet commanding performance by Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda emerged as one of the most highly-praised dramas of 2004. In a role that demands his quietly riveting presence in nearly every scene, Cheadle plays real-life hero Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager in the Rwandan capital of Kigali who in 1994 saved 1,200 Rwandan "guests" from certain death during the genocidal clash between tribal Hutus, who slaughtered a million victims, and the horrified Tutsis, who found safe haven or died. Giving his best performance since his breakthrough role in Devil in a Blue Dress, Cheadle plays Rusesabagina as he really was during the ensuing chaos: "an expert in situational ethics" (as described by critic Roger Ebert), doing what he morally had to do, at great risk and potential sacrifice, with an understanding that wartime negotiations are largely a game of subterfuge, cooperation, and clever bribery. Aided by a United Nations official (Nick Nolte), he worked a saintly miracle, and director Terry George (Some Mother's Son) brings formidable social conscience to bear on a true story you won't soon forget. —Jeff Shannon

Yimou Zhang No one uses color like Chinese director Zhang Yimou—movies like Raise the Red Lantern or Hero, though different in tone and subject matter, are drenched in rich, luscious shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. House of Flying Daggers is no exception; if they weren't choreographed with such vigorous imagination, the spectacular action sequences would seem little more than an excuse for vivid hues rippling across the screen. Government officers Leo and Jin (Asian superstars Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro) set out to destroy an underground rebellion called the House of Flying Daggers (named for their weapon of choice, a curved blade that swoops through the air like a boomerang). Their only chance to find the rebels is a blind women named Mei (Ziyi Zhang, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) who has some lethal kung fu moves of her own. In the guise of an aspiring rebel, Jin escorts Mei through gorgeous forests and fields that become bloody battlegrounds as soldiers try to kill them both. While arrows and spears of bamboo fly through the air, Mei, Jin, and Leo turn against each other in surprising ways, driven by passion and honor. Zhang's previous action/art film, Hero, sometimes sacrificed momentum for sheer visual beauty; House of Flying Daggers finds a more muscular balance of aesthetic splendor and dazzling swordplay. —Bret Fetzer

Vadim Perelman Massoud amir behrani was once in the shah of irans elite inner circle. Despite a pretense of continued affluence he is barely making ends meet until he buys a house that is being sold for back taxes. Through a bureaucratic snafu the house had been improperly seized & its owner wants it back at any cost. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/24/2005 Starring: Ben Kingsley Jennifer Connelly Run time: 126 minutes Rating: R

A killer cast takes a horrific wild ride through a virtual gauntlet of the macabre as they try to survive one night on haunted hill. Special features: original theatrical trailers production notes subtitles in english and french six behind-the-screams special effects minidocumentaries and more. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/06/2005 Starring: Geoffrey Rush Taye Diggs Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R Director: William Malone

Ang Lee A geneticists experimental accident curses him with the tendency to become a powerful giant green brute under emotional stress. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/16/2008 Starring: Eric Bana Sam Elliott Run time: 138 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Ang Lee

Harry Hitner, Carlos Saldanha The action heats up & so does the temperature for manny sid diego & scrat. Trying to escape the valley to avoid a flood of trouble the comical creatures embark on a hilarious journey across the thawing landscape & meet ellie a female woolly mammoth who melts mannys heart. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Voices Of Ray Romano Queen Latifah Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Jim Sheridan Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/26/2007 Run time: 103 minutes Rating: Pg13

Siu Fai Mak, Wai-keung Lau An exciting, often funny live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese comic book and anime series, Initial D comes across like Rebel Without a Cause with a slight superhero twist. Starring a largely Chinese cast led by Taiwanese music star Jay Chou, and made by the co-directors of Infernal Affairs, Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak, Initial D (a huge hit in Japan) is the story of Takumi (Chou), the reserved, adolescent son of a former racing champion turned tofu maker (Anthony Wong). Since his mother's recent death, Takumi has been on the receiving end of his father's frustrations, causing him to withdraw and tell no one that in the wee hours, while he's delivering tofu to his dad's sleeping customers, Takumi's secretly mastering the art of "drifting," a form of racing that gives a driver an advantage on curving roads. Pressured into competing with aggressive street racers looking for a bout, Takumi comes out into the open about his skill, leading to a renewal of his relationship with his dad and an unexpected collision with the girl (Anne Suzuki) he loves. A visual treat that keeps finding novel ways of shooting multiple challenges between the same drivers over the same road on pitch-black nights, Initial D is a fine entry in the racing genre, seasoned with snappy comic relief. —Tom Keogh

F. Gary Gray After a master thief loses his heist in a double-cross he & his team set out to re-steal the loot by creating the largest traffic jam in la history. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Mark Wahlberg Donald Sutherland Run time: 111 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: F Gary Gray

Some critics see the success of Jackass: The Movie as the last nail in the coffin of civilization, and they're probably right. This compilation of pain-inflicting stunts and embarrassing pranks has no artistic merit whatsoever—which doesn't keep it from being freakishly entertaining. Among other things, Johnny Knoxville and his posse get beaten up by a female kick-boxing champion; shoot bottle rockets out of their rectums; run amok in Japan wearing giant panda bear costumes; swim with whale sharks while holding pounds of brine shrimp in their swimsuits; and get done up in realistic old-age makeup so that they can race each other in motorized wheelchairs, among other goofs. It's a weird mixture of machismo and masochism, adolescent recklessness and frat boy homoeroticism, and someday someone will write a doctoral thesis about how Jackass relates to our safety-obsessed society. In the meantime, just enjoy. —Bret Fetzer

Jackass Number Two could be alternately titled "From Bowties to Bunny Ears: What Will Chris Pontius Be Wearing Next?" Like the first Jackass movie, Johnny, Bam, Chris, Steve-O, and the rest of the gang are all here. This "sequel" is full of stunts, pranks, and one-liners, and contains more male nudity, more scream-worthy moments, and of course more uncontrollable laughter. The film opens with a rather well-directed cinematic piece: the entire Jackass gang running from a stampede of bulls. From there it takes off into the hysterically exhausting world of Jackass. The bulls are in quite a few stunts, actually, one of which has "leader" Johnny Knoxville using himself as a red flag and getting speared by a charging bull. Ah, good times. Some of the stunts include: "Beehive Limo," "Fart Mask," "Red Rocket," and a fake terrorist plot which boasts the improv line "Where I'm going, I don't need luggage." Bam gets branded, they fish for sharks with Steve-O as bait, Johnny catches anacondas with his bare hands... the list goes on. The gem in this collection of antics has to be the offensive interactions with the innocent people on the street by Johnny Knoxville and director-actor Spike Jonez, while disguised as a very old man and woman. Celebrity guests partaking in stunts include extreme-sports legends Tony Hawk and Mat Hoffman. The movie culminates in a beautifully choreographed, fantastical, and dangerous musical number not to be missed. Throughout the movie, it is apparent that the Jackass gang is older and a little more worn, especially when Bam pleads, "Please God, don't let there be a Jackass 3." For fans of the TV series and the films, a trilogy may be just what the doctor ordered. The DVD extras (deleted scenes, unrated material, and two pretty funny music videos) are more of the same and worth the watch, though some of it is not for the fainthearted. —Rachel Moss

Wyatt Smith, Beth McCarthy-Miller Taylor and his band are filmed in concert at bostons beacon theatre performing classics and songs from the hourglass album. Studio: Sony Music Release Date: 05/01/2001 Starring: James Taylor Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Nr

Sam Mendes A gripping portrayal of a group of young jarheads during the explosive days of the gulf war. In the blazing desert heat these marines whove been trained to kill find themselves in a brutal situation fighting a war they dont understand. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: Jamie Foxx Peter Sarsgaard Run time: 123 minutes Rating: R

Troy Takaki, Darren Stein A deadly sweet birthday prank leads to cover-up by makeover in this edgy and unpredictable comedy. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/23/2004 Starring: Rebecca Gayheart Julie Benz Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R Director: Darren Stein

Paulsen, Rob, John A. Davis Jimmy Neutron, the feature that launches Nickelodeon's attempt to create a new children's franchise, plays like a cross between Rugrats and Dexter's Laboratory in outer space. Accompanied by his cyberdog Goddard, "boy genius" James Isaac Neutron (voiced by Debi Derryberry) invents fantastic devices that work only sporadically and with decidedly mixed results. The communications satellite he makes out of his mother's toaster allows for a race of gooey, egg-shaped aliens to kidnap the adults in Jimmy's town with the intent of sacrificing the parents to their chicken-god. Converting amusement park rides into spaceships, Jimmy saves the day, despite a few false starts and misadventures. Several of the characters feel like slightly older versions of Rugrats: smart-alecky Cindy (Carolyn Lawrence) resembles Angelica; sniffling nerd Carl (Rob Paulsen), Chuckie. The most original member of the cast is Sheen (Jeff Garcia), the maladroit devotee of superhero Ultralord—a very funny spoof of cartoon fandom. The characters look more like plastic toys than human beings. Instead of the thousands of individual hairs on the heads of the realistic figures in Final Fantasy, Jimmy sports a one-piece hairdo that recalls a soft-serve ice cream cone. The animation is weightless and the acting minimal, but the often quirky story carries the limited visuals and will appeal to elementary school kids. Rated G; suitable for ages 6 and older; cartoon violence, minor gross humor. —Charles Solomon

Nick Cassavetes A down-on-his-luck father whose insurance wont cover his sons heart transplant takes the hospitals emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to perform the operation. Special features: deleted/alternate scenes with optional director commentary: theatrical trailer and much more. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: Denzel Washington James Woods Run time: 112 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Nick Cassavetes

He knows no fear. He knows no danger. He knows nothing. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/24/2008 Starring: Rowan Atkinson Natalie Imbruglia Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Peter Howitt

Robert Longo In the 21st century information is the ultimate commodity. In a world where cyberspace is a work day reality and outlaw hackers thrive the most valuable information must sometimes be transported by mnemonic couriers: professionals like johnny who offer the ultimate in security and confidentiality. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/23/2004 Starring: Keanu Reeves Dolph Lundgren Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R Director: Robert Longo

Joe Johnston After the success of Jurassic Park in 1993, the floodgates opened for digital special effects, and Jumanji is nothing if not a showcase for computer-generated creepiness guaranteed to give young children a nightmare or two. Whether that was the filmmakers' intention is up for debate, since this is a PG-rated adventure revolving around a mysterious board game that unleashes a terrifying jungle world upon its players, including gigantic spiders, huge mosquitoes, a stampede of rhinos, elephants, and every other jungle beast you can imagine. Robin Williams plays a man-child who's been trapped in the world of "Jumanji" for 26 years until he's freed by two kids who've discovered the game and released its parade of dangerous horrors. A chaotic and misguided attempt at family entertainment, the movie does offer a few good laughs, and the effects are frequently impressive, if not entirely convincing to the eye. —Jeff Shannon

Quentin Tarantino Four years after surviving a bullet in the head the bride emerges from a coma & swears revenge on her former master & his deadly squad of international assassins. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Starring: Uma Thurman Vivica A Fox Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R

After dispensing with former colleagues o-ren & vernita in kill bill 1 the bride resumes her quest for justice in the series second installment. With those two down she has two remaining foes on her death list to pursue - budd & elle before moving on to her ultimate goal - to kill bill. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2008 Starring: Uma Thurman David Carradine Run time: 137 minutes Rating: R

Flamboyant foolhardy documentary filmmaker carl denham sails off to remote skull island to kilm his latest epic with leading lady ann darrow. Native warriors kidnap ann to use as a sacrifice as they summon kong. But instead of devouring ann kong saves her. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Naomi Watts Jack Black Run time: 188 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Jackson

Flamboyant foolhardy documentary filmmaker carl denham sails off to remote skull island to kilm his latest epic with leading lady ann darrow. Native warriors kidnap ann to use as a sacrifice as they summon kong. But instead of devouring ann kong saves her. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Naomi Watts Jack Black Run time: 187 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Jackson

George A. Romero A group of hardened mercenaries are in an action-packed race to stop the destruction of mankind from a depraved army of the dead that ahve evolved into more advanced & threatening creatures. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: John Leguizamo Simon Baker Run time: 93 minutes Rating: R

Simon West A member of a rich british aristocratic family lara croft is a tomb raider who enjoys collecting ancient artifacts from ruins of temples cities etc. Worldwide and doesnt mind going through death-defying dangers to get them. She is skilled in hand-to-hand combat weapons training and foreign languages. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Angelina Jolie Jon Voight Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Simon West

Edward Zwick An american military advisor embraces the samurai culture he was hired to destroy after he is captured in battle. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007 Starring: Tom Cruise William Atherton Run time: 154 minutes Rating: R Director: Edward Zwick

Robert Luketic If you've ever doubted how much a star can carry a movie, look no further than Legally Blonde, Robert Luketic's pop fluff about a sorority girl who becomes the reigning brain at Harvard Law School. The film tries way too hard to be pop fluff, but thankfully it also understands the comic glories of Reese Witherspoon. As Elle Woods, the supposedly dimwitted heroine, Witherspoon gives a high-wattage performance that somehow comes across as both lusciously cartoonish and warmly human. It's a radiant comic turn worthy of Marilyn Monroe, and Luketic throws the whole movie at her, even though its intentional kitsch and sledgehammer contrivances don't trust you enough to figure out on your own what might be guilty fun about it. It's a lame movie, essentially, that redeems itself by knowing just enough to keep things sunny and moving right along. The film is content to follow several steps behind the regal Witherspoon, carrying her train. You probably will be, too. —Steve Wiecking

Richard Donner Mel gibson and danny glover reteam as riggs and murtaugh the buddy cops whose work routine is anything but routine in a flat-out all-out crowd pleaser that includes returning favorites joe pesci and rene russo plus hot comic chris rock and international action sensation jet li. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Mel Gibson Joe Pesci Run time: 127 minutes Rating: R Director: Richard Donner

Don Zimmerman, Tom Shadyac Fletcher reede is a fast-talking attorney and habitual liar. When his son max blows out the candles on his fifth birthday he has just one wish that his dad will stop lying for 24 hours. When maxs wish comes true fletcher discovers that his mouth has suddenly become his biggest liability. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: Jim Carrey Jennifer Tilly Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Tom Shadyac

Wes Anderson In The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, director Wes Anderson takes his familiar stable of actors on a field trip to a fantasy aquarium, complete with stop-motion, candy-striped crabs and rainbow seahorses. And though Anderson does expand his horizons in terms of retro-special effects and a whimsical use of color, fans will otherwise find themselves in well-charted waters. As The Life Aquatic opens, Zissou (Bill Murray), a self-involved, Jacques Cousteau-like filmmaker, has just released a documentary depicting the death of his best friend Esteban, who was eaten by some sort of sea creature—possibly a jaguar shark. Zissou's troubles also include his waning popularity with the public, and a nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) who hogs up all the grant money. Hope arrives in the form of Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson), an amiable Kentuckian who may be Zissou's son. Despite his lack of enthusiasm for fatherhood, Zissou welcomes Ned—and Ned in turn saves Zissou's new documentary (in which he seeks revenge on the jaguar shark) in more ways than one.

One of Wes Anderson's greatest achievements as a director to date has been launching the autumnal melancholy phase of Bill Murray's career, starting with Rushmore in 1998, and Murray delivers a similarly comedic yet low-key performance here. Unfortunately, Zissou is one of the few characters in this ensemble to achieve multi-dimensionality. Even co-star Wilson doesn't get to develop Ned much beyond Noble Southerner, and he ends up seeming more like a prop for illustrating Zissou's emotional development rather than his own man. The Life Aquatic probably won't be remembered as a great film, but it is still one that no Anderson (or Murray) fan can afford to miss.—Leah Weathersby

Marshall Neilan Jr., Roger Corman Studio: Platinum Disc Llc Release Date: 06/26/2001 Starring: Jack Nicholson

Peter Segal Adam Sandler is no Burt Reynolds, but his remake of The Longest Yard is amusing enough to stand on its own. Inheriting the role played by Reynolds played in the 1974 original, Sandler plays Paul Crewe, a scandalized former football star who violates his parole and winds up back in the slammer, where an ambitious, corrupt warden (James Cromwell) manipulates him into forming a convict football squad to compete with a team of bullying prison guards. But where the original (directed with characteristic ruggedness by Robert Aldrich) was a semi-comic study of inmate resistance against powerful oppressors, Sandler's version is a formulaic comedy about winning against the bad guys. That makes it a softer, less meaningful film, and Sandler (reuniting here with Peter Segal after Anger Management and 50 First Dates) lacks the depth to convey anything more than amiable redemption, resulting in a movie that's easily enjoyed and easily forgotten. A co-starring role for Chris Rock could have been electrifying; instead it's just OK, as is Reynolds as the prison team's old-pro coach. That leaves us with a few good laughs on the football field and from Cloris Leachman as the warden's elderly, oversexed secretary, good work from rapper Nelly in a supporting role, and the lovely sight of Courteney Cox (as Crewe's nagging girlfriend) in a dazzling low-cut dress. In unnecessary remakes like this, fringe benefits count for a lot. —Jeff Shannon

McKellen, Ian In a small village in the shire a young hobbit named frodo has been entrusted with an ancient ring. Now he must embark on an epic quest to the cracks of doom in order to destroy it. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Sean Astin Orlando Bloom Run time: 178 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films gave "double-dipping"—releasing a DVD then releasing an improved version shortly afterward—a good name by offering both a better film and stupendous extras in the Extended Editions. This "triple-dip" 2006 Limited Edition falls far short of that standard but is still of interest to devoted and casual fans.

What do you get?
Both the theatrical and extended versions of The Return of the King are on one double-sided disc. The versions use seamless branching, meaning that the scenes that are common to both versions are stored on the disc only once. If you choose to watch the extended version, the disc "branches" out to the added or extended scenes. What does this mean to the viewer? Not much. The viewing experience is the same because the branching is imperceptible. But because both versions of the film don't have to be stored on the disc in their entirety (which would be seven and half hours total), both versions together fit on two sides of one disc. The downside is that whichever version you watch, you have to flip over the disc halfway through; the film breaks at the same spot it did on the Extended Edition, right after the entrance of the wolf-head battering ram. Also lost are the meager features included on the theatrical edition, plus the four commentary tracks, two discs of bonus features, and DTS 6.1 ES sound from the four-disc Extended Edition.

What's new?
The second disc has an 112-minute documentary directed by Costa Botes, who was personally selected by Peter Jackson. Rather than the formal documentary structure of other editions, it consists of off-the-cuff interviews and random bits of behind-the-scenes action and special-effects work: The charge of the Rohan, the horses, the Mumakils, the lava of Mount Doom, and the burning of the ring. You'll also see Ian McKellen flubbing his lines and conducting the crowning ceremony in a flowery wig. It's entertaining, but because there's no structure (there are chapters, but no menu or chapter listing), it's not as convenient to watch, and go back to, as a documentary broken up into bite-size pieces. Note: New Line Home Entertainment couldn't release this material on its own à la the King Kong Production Diaries due to contractual restrictions.

Bottom line: Do I need this edition?
This Limited Edition combination of theatrical and extended versions plus new documentary seems likely to appeal to two camps. One is the devoted fan, who already owns both editions but has to have everything LOTR. The other is the casual fan who liked the movie in theaters, heard good things about the Extended Edition, and doesn't need a ton of bonus material. This edition is attractively priced for that buyer, and the packaging is quite handsome. In between is the devoted fan who already owns both editions but doesn't feel the need to watch more bonus material. When watching the whole movie, that fan will always choose the Extended Edition, but keeps the theatrical edition for (1) watching with guests, (2) the music video, or (3) the convenience of skimming through favorite scenes without having to change discs. That fan can safely skip this edition, as can home-theater fans who love DTS. —David Horiuchi

McKellen, Ian, Mortensen, Viggo, Wood, Elijah The 2nd installment of the epic trilogy. Frodo baggins & the fellowship continue their quest to destroy the one ring & stand against the evil of the dark lord sauron. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 01/16/2007 Starring: Elijah Wood Liv Tyler Run time: 175 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Jackson

Andrew Niccol The lethal business of arms dealers provides an electrifying context for the black-as-coal humor of Andrew Niccol's Lord of War. Having proven his ingenuity as the writer of The Truman Show, and writer-director of Gattaca and the under-appreciated Simone, Niccol is clearly striving for Strangelovian relevance here as he chronicles the rise and inevitable fall of Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage), a Ukrainian immigrant to America who makes his fortune selling every kind of ordnance he can get his amoral hands on. With a trophy wife (Bridget Moynahan) who's initially clueless about his hidden career, and a younger brother (Jared Leto) whose drug-addled sense of decency makes him an ill-chosen accomplice, Yuri traffics in death the way other salesman might push vacuum cleaners (he likes to say that alcohol and tobacco are deadlier products than his), but even he can't deny the sheer ruthlessness of the Liberian dictator (a scene-stealing Eamonn Walker) who purchases Orlov's "products" to expand his oppressive regime. Niccol's themes are even bigger than Yuri's arms deals, and he drives them home with a blunt-force lack of subtlety, but Cage gives the film the kind of insanely dark humor it needs to have. To understand this monster named Yuri, we have to see at least a glimpse of his humanity, which Cage provides as only he can. Otherwise, this epic tale of gunrunnng would be as morally unbearable as the black market trade it illuminates. —Jeff Shannon

Get lost in the hottest series of the year. From J.J. Abrams the creator of ALIAS comes the action-packed adventure that became a worldwide television event. Stranded on an island that holds many secrets 48 people must band together if they hope to get home alive. Now you can experience the nonstop excitement and mystery of every episode from the show's stunning first minute to its spectacular finale on a seven-disc set. Presented in a widescreen theatrical format with 5.1 Surround Sound and bursting with more than eight hours of original bonus features — including unaired LOST flashbacks from the final episode — LOST is a real find.System Requirements:Starring: Matthew Fox Evangeline Lilly Dominc Monaghan Jorge Garcia Maggie Grace Malcolm David Kelley Naveen Andrews Harold Perrineau Josh Holloway Terry O'Quinn Daniel Dae Kim Yunjin Kim Emilie de Ravin Running Time: 1068 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: TV-14 UPC: 786936278040 Manufacturer No: 03966100

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2007

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/02/2008

Stephen Hopkins The robinson family has been chosen to travel to alpha prime the only other known inhabitable planet to prepare a travelgate for earths people when the planets fossil fuels give out. When they get lost in space it is up to them with the help of sinister dr. Smith and don west to reach alpha prime. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 08/09/2005 Starring: Gary Oldman Mimi Rogers Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Stephen Hopkins

Sofia Coppola 5000 miles from home bob harris is facing a mid-life crisis when these two lonely americans cross paths in a tokyo bar their chance encounter sparks a series of hilarious adventures creating an unexpected connection that might not last but will stay with them forever Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Bill Murray Run time: 102 minutes Rating: R

Vaughn, Vince A research team is sent to the jurassic park site b island to study the dinosaurs there while another team approaches with another agenda Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/24/2004 Starring: Jeff Goldblum Vince Vaughn Run time: 129 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Steven Spielberg

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008

With no fewer than eight couples vying for our attention, Love Actually is like the Boston Marathon of romantic comedies, and everybody wins. Having mastered the genre as the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary, it appears that first-time director Richard Curtis is just like his screenplays: He just wants to be loved, and he'll go to absurdly appealing lengths to win our affection. With Love Actually, Curtis orchestrates a minor miracle of romantic choreography, guiding a brilliant cast of stars and newcomers as they careen toward love and holiday cheer in London, among them the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) who's smitten with his caterer; a widower (Liam Neeson) whose young son nurses the ultimate schoolboy crush; a writer (Colin Firth) who falls for his Portuguese housekeeper; a devoted wife and mother (Emma Thompson) coping with her potentially unfaithful husband (Alan Rickman); and a lovelorn American (Laura Linney) who's desperately attracted to a colleague. There's more—too much more—as Curtis wraps his Christmas gift with enough happy endings to sweeten a dozen other movies. That he pulls it off so entertainingly is undeniably impressive; that he does it so shamelessly suggests that his writing fares better with other, less ingratiating directors. —Jeff Shannon

Pinkett Smith, Jada, Rock, Chris, Schwimmer, David, Tom McGrath (VII) The penguins steal the show. In the sprightly Madagascar, a mid-life crisis inspires Marty the Zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) to escape from his lifelong home, a New York zoo. His equally pampered friends—Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer)—then escape to bring him back. Unfortunately, their attempt at damage control persuades zoo officials that the animals are unhappy, so all four get shipped to an animal preserve in Kenya...only a squad of maniacal penguins change the destination to Antarctica. The quartet end up on an island where, in addition to meeting some hedonistic lemurs, they learn about the food chain—and that Alex is a different link on the chain from the other three. Madagascar doesn't achieve the snappy perfection of a Pixar movie, but it tops most other computer-animated efforts; the collision of friendship and predator instincts makes for an unusually gripping conflict. The vocal performances of the central characters is serviceable, but Sacha Baron Cohen (Da Ali G Show) provides topnotch lunacy as the lemur king, and the penguins—voiced mostly by the animators themselves—are the best thing in the movie. —Bret Fetzer

Find out how to use every amazing feature of the EOS Digital Rebel XTi / 400D with the help of a superbly filmed DVD. It shows the actual camera in action, and thoroughly discusses everything from image quality and formats to shooting with flash and editing the photos. It's information-packed, and easy to learn from.

John Whitesell Concerned that his wannabe rapper son is going to ruin his campaign a would be governer hires two black actors to teach his white son what the hood is all about! Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/14/2006 Starring: Jamie Kennedy Anthony Anderson Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Whitesell

Tony Scott Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/08/2008 Run time: 146 minutes Rating: R

Peter Weir Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/03/2009

Perry Andelin Blake For grown-up fans of Dana Carvey, this train wreck of a comedy, is, in the words of Carvey's SNL Ross Perot impression, just sad. But kids love it! Carvey's chameleonesque Pistachio Disguisey is an endearing klutz-turned-hero in the classic Jerry Lewis tradition. So perhaps they won't get the Tony Montana Scarface reference. But his Turtle man is a hoot ("Am I not turtle enough?" is the catchphrase that swept the playgrounds). And when all else fails (and it nearly does), Brent Spiner shows up to steal his scenes as the villain who has a penchant for passing gas after laughing maniacally. No doubt hopes for an Austin Powers-like franchise have been dashed. Certainly, Master, with its cameos by Bo Derek, Jessica Simpson, and Jesse Ventura, lacks Goldmember's A-list star power. But it is way more family-friendly, and that will favorably impress parents. —Donald Liebenson

Lohman, Alison, Rockwell, Sam 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

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski Considering the lofty expectations that preceded it, The Matrix Reloaded triumphs where most sequels fail. It would be impossible to match the fresh audacity that made The Matrix a global phenomenon in 1999, but in continuing the exploits of rebellious Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) as they struggle to save the human sanctuary of Zion from invading machines, the codirecting Wachowski brothers have their priorities well in order. They offer the obligatory bigger and better highlights (including the impressive "Burly Brawl" and freeway chase sequences) while remaining focused on cleverly plotting the middle of a brain-teasing trilogy that ends with The Matrix Revolutions. The metaphysical underpinnings can be dismissed or scrutinized, and choosing the latter course (this is, after all, an epic about choice and free will) leads to astonishing repercussions that made Reloaded an explosive hit with critics and hardcore fans alike. As the centerpiece of a multimedia franchise, this dynamic sequel ends with a cliffhanger that virtually guarantees a mind-blowing conclusion. —Jeff Shannon

Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski It is a dark time for the world. Neo is trapped in the train station between the matrix & the source. Zion is doomed to be crushed under an unstoppable army of countless sentinels. But it is not only the human race that is in peril. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/15/2007 Starring: Keanu Reeves Laurence Fishburne Run time: 129 minutes Rating: R

Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski By following up their debut thriller Bound with the 1999 box-office smash The Matrix, the codirecting Wachowski brothers—Andy and Larry—annihilated any suggestion of a sophomore jinx, crafting one of the most exhilarating sci-fi/action movies of the 1990s. Set in the not too distant future in an insipid, characterless city, we find a young man named Neo (Keanu Reeves). A software techie by day and a computer hacker by night, he sits alone at home by his monitor, waiting for a sign, a signal—from what or whom he doesn't know—until one night, a mysterious woman named Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) seeks him out and introduces him to that faceless character he has been waiting for: Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). A messiah of sorts, Morpheus presents Neo with the truth about his world by shedding light on the dark secrets that have troubled him for so long: "You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad." Ultimately, Morpheus illustrates to Neo what the Matrix is—a reality beyond reality that controls all of their lives, in a way that Neo can barely comprehend.

Neo thus embarks on an adventure that is both terrifying and enthralling. Pitted against an enemy that transcends human concepts of evil, Morpheus and his team must train Neo to believe that he is the chosen champion of their fight. With mind-boggling, technically innovative special effects and a thought-provoking script that owes a debt of inspiration to the legacy of cyberpunk fiction, this is much more than an out-and-out action yarn; it's a thinking man's journey into the realm of futuristic fantasy, a dreamscape full of eye candy that will satisfy sci-fi, kung fu, action, and adventure fans alike. Although the film is headlined by Reeves and Fishburne—who both turn in fine performances—much of the fun and excitement should be attributed to Moss, who flawlessly mixes vulnerability with immense strength, making other contemporary female heroines look timid by comparison. And if we were going to cast a vote for most dastardly movie villain of 1999, it would have to go to Hugo Weaving, who plays the feckless, semipsychotic Agent Smith with panache and edginess. As the film's box-office profits soared, the Wachowski brothers announced that The Matrix is merely the first chapter in a cinematically dazzling franchise—a chapter that is arguably superior to the other sci-fi smash of 1999 (you know... the one starring Jar Jar Binks). —Jeremy Storey

Freida Lee Mock It was for good reason this film won the 1995 Academy Award for Best Documentary, as it displays, in abundance, the emotional human responses Maya Lin elicits with her architectural designs and sculpture. There was much controversy surrounding her Vietnam War Memorial, not the least of which focused on her Chinese-American origins. Writer/director Freida Lee Mock uses conventional methods (interviews, archival footage) to follow Lin's career in chronological order. It examines her work since winning the contest in which her student model was chosen for the infamous Washington war memorial. The stark emotion evoked by Lin's sensuous and kinetic creations promises to bring tears to your eyes. Unfortunately, we learn more about her work than about the artist, whose personality is oddly absent from this film. Mock only somewhat reveals the intense focus and powerful vision that drives Lin. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Mark Waters Raised in the african bush country by her zoologist parents cady thinks she knows all about survival of the fittest. But the law of the jungle takes on a whole new meaning when the home-schooled 15-year-old enters high school & falls for the ex-boyfriend of the schools most popular girl. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/23/2005 Starring: Lindsay Lohan Rachel Mcadams Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg13

Gordon Chan A hong kong detective suffers a fatal accident involving a mysterious medallion and is transformed into an immortal warrior with superhuman powers. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Jackie Chan Claire Forlani Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gordon Chan

Christopher Nolan Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) shine in this absolute stunner of a movie. Memento combines a bold, mind-bending script with compelling action and virtuoso performances. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, hunting down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The problem is that "the incident" that robbed Leonard of his wife also stole his ability to make new memories. Unable to retain a location, a face, or a new clue on his own, Leonard continues his search with the help of notes, Polaroids, and even homemade tattoos for vital information.

Because of his condition, Leonard essentially lives his life in short, present-tense segments, with no clear idea of what's just happened to him. That's where Memento gets really interesting; the story begins at the end, and the movie jumps backward in 10-minute segments. The suspense of the movie lies not in discovering what happens, but in finding out why it happened. Amazingly, the movie achieves edge-of-your-seat excitement even as it moves backward in time, and it keeps the mind hopping as cause and effect are pieced together.

Pearce captures Leonard perfectly, conveying both the tragic romance of his quest and his wry humor in dealing with his condition. He is bolstered by several excellent supporting players, and the movie is all but stolen from him by Pantoliano, who delivers an amazing performance as Teddy, the guy who may or may not be on his side. Memento has an intriguing structure and even meditations on the nature of perception and meaning of life if you go looking for them, but it also functions just as well as a completely absorbing thriller. It's rare to find a movie this exciting with so much intelligence behind it. —Ali Davis

Rob Marshall In the years before wwii a japanese child is torn from her poor family to work at a geisha house. Despite a treacherous rival who nearly breaks her spirit the girl blossoms into the legendary geisha sayuri. Beautiful & accomplished sayuri captivates the most powerful men of her day but love eludes her Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 10/03/2006 Starring: Zhang Ziyi Michelle Yeoh Run time: 145 minutes Rating: Pg13

Its been four years since the alien-seeking agents averted an intergalactic disaster of epic proportions kay has since returned to the comforts of civilian life while jay continues to work for the men in black who face the toughest challenge yet the mibs untarnished mission statement. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/24/2008 Starring: Tommy Lee Jones Lara Flynn Boyle Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg13

William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell, Michael Mann Based on the 1980s tv action/drama this update focuses on vice detectives crockett & tubbs as their respective personal & profeessional lives become dangerously intertwined. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/27/2007 Starring: Colin Farrell Gong Li Run time: 140 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Michael Mann

Michael Hoffman Imagine a work by Shakespeare reduced to one of those pretty, glossy coffee-table picture books that have only a dollop of text alongside its sumptuous photographs, and you might have Michael Hoffman's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This all-star version of Shakespeare's comedy is gorgeously shot in Tuscany, complete with a magical forest, breathtaking landscapes, beautiful villas, picturesque villages, stunning period costumes—oh wait, there's supposed to be a story here, too! Hoffman hijacks Shakespeare's basic premise but doesn't instill it with much more than surface shine and transplants it to turn-of-the-century Italy. Ergo, it's left up to the actors to find the heart and soul of this classic play, in which the fairies of the forest play mix and match with four young lovers, courtesy of a magical love potion. Hoffman couldn't ask for better (or better looking) actors to play Shakespeare's dreamlike love games—Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Christian Bale, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, Anna Friel, Dominic West, the list goes on and on—but he sure as heck doesn't know what to do with them, aside from putting them in various states of undress. Only Flockhart (as the lovestruck Helena), Tucci (a sprightly Puck), Pfeiffer (dazzling and funny as the queen of the fairies), and especially the sublime Kline (as weaver-turned-donkey Bottom) seem to connect with their characters in ways that make this adaptation occasionally soar; the rest are inexplicably left to flounder. Hoffman does seem to set himself right with the film's climax, when Bottom's amateur acting troupe hilariously enacts the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe (it helps that the troupe includes Roger Rees, Sam Rockwell, and Bill Irwin). Those searching for a more in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's farce might do better to look elsewhere, but if it's gorgeous actors and scenery you're in the mood for (along with an evocative opera soundtrack), and an all's-well-that-ends-well ending, this Midsummer Night will give you pleasant if weightless dreams. —Mark Englehart

John Woo

Brian De Palma A flashy, splashy summer-movie blockbuster that's fun and exciting without being mindless? That's the impossible mission accomplished by director Brian De Palma, star-coproducer Tom Cruise, and the crack team of Mission: Impossible. Based on the '60s TV show and an almost impenetrably complex (but nonetheless thrilling) original story by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List), with a screenplay by Koepp and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo), Mission: Impossible begins with veteran agent Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) and his expert crew embarking on a mission that goes horribly, horribly wrong. But nothing is what it seems. The nail-biting set piece—always a signature of director De Palma (Carrie, The Untouchables)—in which Cruise is lowered from the ceiling to retrieve information from a computer in a high-security vault—is an instant classic. But perhaps even more impressive, at least in retrospect, is a flashback sequence in which two characters attempt to reconstruct a series of events from multiple points of view. It's pretty daring and sophisticated stuff for a big-budget spy movie, but brains were always what put the Mission: Impossible team ahead of the competition, anyway, no? —Jim Emerson

J.J. Abrams At the time of its release, Mission: Impossible III's box office was plagued by the publicity backlash against couch-jumping star Tom Cruise. It's too bad, because this third installment of the spy thriller franchise deserved a better reception than it got. First-time feature director J.J. Abrams (bigwig TV director/producer of Lost, Alias, & Felicity) proves more than able-bodied in creating a Mission: Impossible that's leaner and less over-stylized than John Woo's sequel and less confusing than Brian De Palma's original. Plot is still a throwaway here (Cruise's Ethan Hunt rescues his kidnapped former trainee and works to steal a device that... well, we don't really know what it does, but it's something about mass destruction that costs $850 million), but the action sequences, particularly one where Ethan faces down a helicopter on a bridge and gets flung hard against the side of a car, are particularly impressive since Cruise, at 44, is still doing most of his own stunts and shows no hint of the weathered look that's struck his action-star peers. (Though no Mission: Impossible stunt will ever be quite as simultaneously nail-biting and funny as the first film's wire-dangling break-in of CIA headquarters.)

Mission: Impossible III boasts a pedigreed cast, particularly Oscar® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) as baddie arms dealer Owen Davian. Hoffman plays Owen all teeth-clenched and cool, especially when threatening to kill Ethan in front of his lovely new wife (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea of his spy life. But in his first action-film lead role, Hoffman's almost too calm and collected to really make a memorable villain, especially when the rest of the cast—Ving Rhames (the only other cast member to return for all three films), Asian film star Maggie Q, and an underused Jonathan Rhys-Meyers—are a highlight as Ethan's IMF team. Mission: Impossible is still fun popcorn spy fare, and if Cruise chooses to end the franchise here, at least he goes out on a high note. —Ellen A. Kim

Mike Newell An uplifting and poignant story about one womans desires to enrich the lives of her students. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 11/15/2005 Starring: Julia Roberts Kristen Dunce Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Pg13

Patty Jenkins A shockingly moving film that burrows deep beneath the tabloid-sized headline stories of aileen wuornos the man-hating serial killer executed last year in florida. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/28/2006 Starring: Charlize Theron Bruce Dern Run time: 108 minutes Rating: R

Idle, Eric, Jones, Terry The entire python gang star in this hilarious retelling of the knights of king arthur and their quest for the holy grail. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 02/22/2005 Run time: 89 minutes Rating: Pg

Following the flop of Little Nicky, Adam Sandler returned to safe territory in Mr. Deeds... and made Nicky look inspired by comparison. A loose remake of Frank Capra's 1936 classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, this dumbed-down version finds Sandler in the Gary Cooper role, inheriting a vast fortune and a corporate empire, foiling a greedy executive (Peter Gallagher), and winning the heart of an undercover reporter (Winona Ryder) who's been mocking his small-town naiveté in print while falling for his goodhearted sincerity. It's fun enough to satisfy Sandler's loyal fans—and John Turturro's a hoot as Deeds's foot-fetishist butler—but the subtleties of Capra are lost on Sandler, director Steven Brill, and writer Tim Herlihy. While Gary Cooper portrayed a rube who was savvy about big-city cynicism, Sandler's an amiable goofball with a heart of gold and an empty skull. You can admire him, and parts of the movie (including Steve Buscemi's unbilled cameo), but you have to work harder to get there. —Jeff Shannon

Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook Solid entertainment from a new group of Disney animators. The story source is a Chinese fable about a young girl who disguises herself as a man to help her family and her country. When the Huns attack China, a call to arms goes out to every village, and Mulan's father, being the only man in the family, accepts the call. Mulan (voiced by Ming-Na Wen, sung by Lea Salonga) has just made a disastrous appearance at the Matchmaker and decides to challenge society's expectations (being a bride). She steals her father's conscription notice, cuts her hair, and impersonates a man to join the army. She goes to boot camp, learning to fit in with the other soldiers with some help from her sidekick, Mushu, a wise-cracking dragon (voiced by Eddie Murphy). She trains, and soon faces the Huns eye-to-eye to protect her Emperor.

The film is gorgeous to look at, with a superior blend of classic and computer-generated animation. Directors Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook make the best of it: a battle in the snowy mountains is as thrilling as the best Hollywood action films. The menacing Huns are not cute but simple and bad. The wickedness is subtle, not disturbing. The film is not a full-fledged musical, as it has only five songs (the best, "Be a Man," is sung during boot camp). Eddie Murphy is an inspired choice for the comic-relief dragon, but his lines are not as clever as Robin Williams's in Aladdin. These are minor quibbles, though. The story is strong, and Mulan goes right to the top of Disney animated heroines; she has the right stuff. —Doug Thomas

Proving that bigger is rarely better, The Mummy Returns serves up so much action and so many computer-generated effects that it quickly grows exhausting. In his zeal to establish a lucrative franchise, writer-director Stephen Sommers dispenses with such trivial matters as character development and plot logic, and charges headlong into an almost random buffet of minimum story and maximum mayhem, beginning with a prologue establishing the ominous fate of the Scorpion King (played by World Wrestling Federation star the Rock, in a cameo teaser for his later starring role in—you guessed it—The Scorpion King). Dormant for 5,000 years, under control of the Egyptian god Anubis, the Scorpion King will rise again in 1933, which is where we find The Mummy's returning heroes Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, now married and scouring Egyptian ruins with their 8-year-old son, Alex (Freddie Boath).

John Hannah (as Weisz's brother) and Oded Fehr (as mystical warrior Ardeth Bay) also return from The Mummy, and trouble begins when Alex dons the Scorpion King's ancient bracelet, coveted by the evil mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), who's been revived by... oh, but does any of this matter? With a plot so disposable that it's impossible to care about anything that happens, The Mummy Returns is best enjoyed as an intermittently amusing and physically impressive monument of Hollywood machinery, with gorgeous sets that scream for a better showcase, and digital trickery that tops its predecessor in ambition, if not in payoff. By the time our heroes encounter a hoard of ravenous pygmy mummies, you'll probably enjoy this movie in spite of itself. —Jeff Shannon

Barbet Schroeder The clues in a jane doe murder case point one way yet cassie mayweather thinks another. Theres something too perfect about the way the forensic evidence leads to an obvious perpetrator something that ties to cassies secret past. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008 Starring: Sandra Bullock Ben Chaplin Run time: 120 minutes Rating: R Director: Barbet Schroeder

Her eccentricities mark her as an acquired taste, but Alanis Morissette has always ignored what others see as the fashionable or commercial thing to do. Live in the Navajo Nation, an hour-long distillation of her musical and cultural discoveries while visiting the Navajo Nation in America's great Southwest, is a case in point. Morissette observes and absorbs what she sees, Navajo history, spirituality, and culture providing the impetus for her own creativity. Amid these grand vistas, Morissette's own music takes on a more personal bent: accompanied only by acoustic guitar, percussion, and her own flute or harmonica, several songs from her second album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, take on new life, including standouts "U R" and "I Was Hoping." Even the wrong-headedly literal "Ironic" takes on amusingly earnest implications in this setting. Also included is a five-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. —Kevin Filipski

David Zucker A young executive agrees to house-sit for his cantankerous boss hoping that it will get him closer to the bosss attractive daughter. But he soon finds himself ee-deep in trouble when some of his co-workers decide to throw a party Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/06/2006 Starring: Ashton Kutcher Tara Reid Run time: 90 minutes Rating: R

By day theyre a bunch of losers but by night theyre mystery men a team of superhero wannabes who emerge fromt he darkness to fight the evil madman cassanova frankenstein and his disco-dancing henchmen. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Ben Stiller Janeane Garafalo Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Kinka Usher

Clint Eastwood Friends who grew up in working-class boston who drifted apart after a terrible tragedy. Years later brutal events will reconnect them. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Kevin Bacon Laurence Fishburne Run time: 138 minutes Rating: R

George Folsey Jr., John Landis The delta house is scheming to keep itself from being kicked off campus and led by belushis bluto they do so without much hope—but with many laughs. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: John Belushi Kevin Bacon Run time: 109 minutes Rating: R Director: John Landis

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/01/2008 Rating: Ur

Jon Turteltaub Ever since benjamin franklin gates was a boy he has been obsessed with finding the legendary knights templar treasure the greatest treasure known to man. Now in a race against time gates must steal one of americas most sacred & guarded documents - the declaration of independence. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2006 Starring: Nicolas Cage Sean Bean Run time: 131 minutes Rating: Pg

2-DVD set also known as San Ging Chaat Goo Si. Directed by Benny Chan and starring Jackie Chan. The feature film on disc one is 123 mins in DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1, anamorphic widescreen. Disc 2 is special features - about the story, characters, making of, trailers, music video, cast & credits & photo gallery. Optional Cantonese or Mandarin dialogue. Optional English & Chinese subtitles. All Code/NTSC. Joy Sales Film. 2004.

Jay Kamen, John Fortenberry, Amy Heckerling Follows the hopelessly uncool butabi brothers as they try to make the guest list at a hip hollywood nightclub. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/25/2005 Starring: Will Ferrell Dan Hedaya Run time: 81 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Fortenberry

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.

Studio: Emi Music Distribution Release Date: 01/25/2006

Steven Soderbergh Ocean's Eleven improves on 1960's Rat Pack original with supernova casting, a slickly updated plot, and Steven Soderbergh's graceful touch behind the camera. Soderbergh reportedly relished the opportunity "to make a movie that has no desire except to give pleasure from beginning to end," and he succeeds on those terms, blessed by the casting of George Clooney as Danny Ocean, the title role originated by Frank Sinatra. Fresh out of jail, Ocean masterminds a plot to steal $163 million from the seemingly impervious vault of Las Vegas's Bellagio casino, not just for the money but to win his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) back from the casino's ruthless owner (Andy Garcia). Soderbergh doesn't scrimp on the caper's comically intricate strategy, but he finds greater joy in assembling a stellar team (including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Carl Reiner) and indulging their strengths as actors. The result is a film that's as smooth as a silk suit and just as stylish. —Jeff Shannon

Ever spend eight hours in a "Productivity Bin"? Ever had worries about layoffs? Ever had the urge to demolish a temperamental printer or fax machine? Ever had to endure a smarmy, condescending boss? Then Office Space should hit pretty close to home for you. Peter (Ron Livingston) spends the day doing stupefyingly dull computer work in a cubicle. He goes home to an apartment sparsely furnished by IKEA and Target, then starts for a maddening commute to work again in the morning. His coworkers in the cube farm are an annoying lot, his boss is a snide, patronizing jerk, and his days are consumed with tedium. In desperation, he turns to career hypnotherapy, but when his hypno-induced relaxation takes hold, there's no shutting it off. Layoffs are in the air at his corporation, and with two coworkers (both of whom are slated for the chute) he devises a scheme to skim funds from company accounts. The scheme soon snowballs, however, throwing the three into a panic until the unexpected happens and saves the day. Director Mike Judge has come up with a spot-on look at work in corporate America circa 1999. With well-drawn characters and situations instantly familiar to the white-collar milieu, he captures the joylessness of many a cube denizen's work life to a T. Jennifer Aniston plays Peter's love interest, a waitress at Chotchkie's, a generic beer-and-burger joint à la Chili's, and Diedrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) has a minor but hilarious turn as Peter's mustached, long-haired, drywall-installin' neighbor. —Jerry Renshaw

Karl Slovin Three cold-hearted rivals train toil and plot their way to figure skating fame in his hilarious mockumentary about skating for glory and knocking the competition out cold! Starring Jason Alexander Scott Hamilton A.J. Langer Wendie Malick and Kathy Griffin and featuring hilarious cameos from Olympic luminaries Kristi Yamaguchi Peter Carruthers and Tai Babilonia On Edge is a raucous riotous razor-sharp romp!When it comes to skating Zamboni Phil (Alexander) has seen it all until he sees Veda a frosty femme fatale with a heart of ice; Wendy a plus-size performer with an appetite for gold; and J.C. a determined delinquent with a plan to ice the competition. Skating and scheming to glittering glory the trio must finally face off in a sequined fight to the finish where the only thing sharper than their skates is their cutthroat ambition!System Requirements: Running Time 93 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 027616901675 Manufacturer No: 1005937

Mark Romanek One Hour Photo may be more civilized than Taxi Driver, but it's just as effectively creepy. Like Martin Scorsese's classic, this riveting character study is so compassionately detailed that we sympathize with poor Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) even as he grows increasingly unhinged. Sy is a meticulously dedicated one-hour-photo technician, but the pictures he processes—particularly those belonging to the successful, seemingly happy family of Nina and Will Yorkin (Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan)—turn into the unhealthiest kind of obsession. The Yorkins' snapshots portray a joyful life that the lonely and traumatized Sy could never hope to achieve, and he sinks deeper and deeper into the solace they bring... until evidence of infidelity turns him into a seething crucible of righteous indignation. Propelled by Williams's flawless escape from the feel-good schmaltz of earlier roles, One Hour Photo is a simmering tour de force, tempered by writer-director Mark Romanek for maximum psychological impact. —Jeff Shannon

Jake Kasdan Shaun brumder a high school senior dreams of attending stanford university until his guidance counselor mistakenly spoils his chances. Shauns journey soon becomes one filled with hilarity when his girlfriend dysfunctional parents and stoner brother get in the mix and try to help him. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Colin Hanks Jack Black Run time: 82 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jake Kasdan

Michael Cristofer Original Sin belongs 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

C.B. Harding, Darren Ewing, Katherine Brooks, Kelly Welsh, Rob Fox Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/05/2005 Run time: 379 minutes

A young woman and her two children reside in a secluded island mansion awaiting the return of her husand from the war. Her children have a mysterious disease that wont allow them to be near sunlight so she is vigilant about keeping the curtains and doors closed at all times. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006 Starring: Nicole Kidman Fiona Flanagan Run time: 104 minutes Rating: Pg13

Charles Kiselyak, Steven Soderbergh Out of Sight scored critical raves, but its title sums up the theatrical fate of Steven Soderbergh's coolly comic crime caper and misfit romance based on Elmore Leonard's novel. But this is the sort of buried treasure home video was created to rescue.

George Clooney comes into his own as a leading man in the role of inveterate bank robber Jack Foley. Incarcerated, he uses another inmate's prison break as a cover for his own escape. Waiting for him, according to plan, is his partner, Buddy (Ving Rhames). Also waiting for him, not according to plan, is federal agent Karen Sisco (the ravishing Jennifer Lopez). She finds herself disarmed in more ways than one when she is deposited in the getaway car's trunk with Jack. But that doesn't stop her from joining the task force created to capture him, while he plans "one last heist."

Out of Sight is a rich, entertaining film, stylish without being showy, faithful to the integrity of Leonard's potent dialogue and quirky characters, and seamlessly acted by a dream ensemble. Standouts include Albert Brooks as convicted insider trader Richard Ripley, who while in prison brags to the wrong people that he has $5 million in uncut diamonds hidden in his house; Don Cheadle as Maurice (don't call him "Snoopy") Miller, with whom Jack warily teams up to steal said diamonds; Dennis Farina as Karen's protective father (his idea of a birthday gift is a Sig-Hauer .38); and, in unbilled cameos, Michael Keaton, reprising his Jackie Brown role as FBI agent Ray Nicolet, and Samuel L. Jackson.

If you liked Get Shorty and Jackie Brown, you'll find this, well, Out of Sight. —Donald Liebenson

Bryan Barber, Dave Meyers, F. Gary Gray, Michael Martin, Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs

Richard Kwietniowski Philip Seymour Hoffman adds another great performance to his gallery of losers in Owning Mahowny, an engrossing, fact-based comedy-drama about the perils of compulsive gambling. The subject is hardly new to movies, but as Toronto bank-loan manager Dan Mahowny, Hoffman brings fresh depth and tortured humanity to his portrayal of a man who helplessly feeds his pathological need to gamble with millions in embezzled bank money that he can't afford to lose. His supportive wife (Minnie Driver, barely recognizable beneath a plain-looking wig and glasses) is aware of the problem but not its severity, and in fulfilling the promise of his debut feature Love and Death on Long Island, British director Richard Kwietniowski strikes a delicate balance of humor, adrenalin, and escalating tension, guiding Hoffman, Driver, and an excellent supporting cast (including Long Island's John Hurt) in a quietly suspenseful study of Mahowny's ill-fated impulse. Set in the early 1980s but timeless in its study of dysfunctional behavior, Owning Mahowny is a safe bet for film lovers everywhere. —Jeff Shannon

Randy Barbato, Fenton Bailey The original documentary about NY club impresario Michael Alig that inspired the upcoming motion picture of the same name starring Macauley Culkin and Seth Green.

Mel Gibson The film focuses on the last 12 hours of jesus life & begins in the garden of olives where jesus has gone to pray after the last supper. Betrayed by judas he is then arrested & taken within the walls of jerusalem where the leaders confront jesus & his trial results in a condemnation to death. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/28/2006 Starring: Jim Caviezel Run time: 127 minutes Rating: R Director: Mel Gibson

John Woo What seemed like a breezy idea for an engineer to net him millions of dollars leaves him on the run for his life and piecing together why hes being chased. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/24/2006 Starring: Uma Thurman Aaron Eckhart Run time: 118 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: John Woo

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/07/2005

Andrew Davis The husband the wife the lover. One is the mastermind one is the victim one is the killer. But which one is which? and who ends up dead? the thrills and suspense play out to perfection in this sexy twisty star-powered tale. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/08/2005 Starring: Michael Douglas Gwyneth Paltrow Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R Director: Andrew Davis

Roman Polanski Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm award at the 2002 Cannes film festival, The Pianist is 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 Pianist steadfastly 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 Pianist strikes 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

Peter Hedges The plot of Pieces of April, a sweet independent film, couldn't be simpler: As a raffish young woman named April (chipmunk-cute Katie Holmes, Wonder Boys, Dawson's Creek) struggles to cook Thanksgiving dinner in her dingy, cramped New York apartment, her estranged family slowly drives toward the city, stopping now and then to question why they're going to a meal they expect to be not only bad to eat, but awkward and unhappy. The writing, acting, and directing of Pieces of April ranges from straightforward to clumsy—and yet the movie builds to a surprisingly potent emotional conclusion. Much of the credit goes to wily Patricia Clarkson (High Art, The Station Agent), who plays April's cancer-ridden mother with a compelling mixture of sadness, rebellion, and wistful hope. Also featuring Oliver Platt (Funny Bones), Sean Hayes (Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss), and Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher). —Bret Fetzer

Martyn Burke The revolution came when we weren't looking. It happened in a garage. In a dorm room. In countless hours of effort imagining and intrigue. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates were changing the way the world works lives and communicates. The event-packed saga of the quirky visionaries who jump-started the future unfolds with exhilarating cutting-edge style in Pirates of Silicon Valley. Noah Wyle (ER) portrays Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall (The Dead Zone) portrays Gates in this chronicle of the fierce and often humorous battle to rule the fledgling personal computer empire. "The story is almost Shakespearean... it's a tale of lust greed ambition love and hate" writer/director Martyn Burke reflects. And it's a success story unlike any other.Running Time: 97 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 053939699623

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008

Gore Verbinski Once again thrown nto the world of the supernatural captain jack sparrow finds out that he owes a bloody debt to the legendary davey jones captain of the ghostly flying dutchman. With time running out jack must find a way out of debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation & servitude in the afterlife. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/15/2008 Starring: Johnny Depp Kiera Knightley Run time: 150 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gore Verbinski

Gore Verbinski Pirate jack sparrow sets out to save a governors daughter from fellow pirates with the hopes that it will give him the opportunity to regain the ship that was stolen from him. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Johnny Depp Orlando Bloom Run time: 143 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gore Verbinski

Betty Thomas Give credit to director Betty Thomas for making the notorious Howard Stern, self-proclaimed "king of all media," into a nerdish but appealing media rebel who loves his wife and family. Even if you hate Stern's rude radio show, you may discover that the underdog charm of this warm, whimsical film (based on Stern's autobiography) turns you into a fan—for the length of the film at least. Stern delivers a winning performance as the clumsy college kid and aspiring disc-jockey-turned-demon-shock-jock, who becomes an unlikely hero as he battles station managers, network executives, and conservative "arbiters of decency" in the name of unfettered bad taste. Mary McCormack is fine as his understanding wife, Alison, and longtime Stern sidekicks Robin Quivers and Fred Norris acquit themselves nicely appearing as themselves. By the end of this smart, funny little film, don't be surprised if you find yourself cheering for the slob. —Sean Axmaker

Leslie Jones, Paul Thomas Anderson Adam Sandler takes a shot at critical respectability with Punch-Drunk Love, a movie by director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia). Sandler plays Barry Egan, a lonely small businessman who calls a phone sex line one night, only to find himself the victim of an extortion scheme the next day—the very same day on which he goes out on a date with the woman who may be the love of his life (the utterly delightful Emily Watson). Barry is a lot like Sandler's popular comic characters—socially maladept, prone to violence, always on the brink of embarrassment—but here Sandler plays it real; the result is both off-putting and sympathetic. Anderson's writing skills, unfortunately, are not as strong as his visual sense. Punch-Drunk Love has many strengths (including great supporting actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzmán), but ultimately fizzles out. —Bret Fetzer

Jonathan Hensleigh The punisher walks through the world we all know a world darkened by war crime cruelty & injustice. He has no super powers to battle the evil he sees -only his fierce intelligence his years of combat experience and above all his iron determination to avenge those wronged by societys villans. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: Tom Jane Will Patton Run time: 122 minutes Rating: R

Albert Magnoli Prince the electrifying rock dynamo stars as a struggling nightclub singer. Features many of princes mega hits. Story of a young songwriter performer and singer. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/17/2004 Starring: Prince Morris Day Run time: 111 minutes Rating: R Director: Albert Magnoli

Susan Seidelman Just outside Reno lies a paradise that caters to a gentleman's every wish. Under the protective eye of thier "manager" the girls fo the Ranch make theirtrade in an almost idyllic and carefree world. But when a newcomer arrives she brings more heat than this female oasis can handle... and a dark secret that could jeopardize not only her life but also the livelihood of all the working girls at the Ranch!System Requirements: Running Time 95 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616920928 Manufacturer No: 1008041

Jerry Zucker The laughs roll from start to finish when a group of crazed contestants compete for $2 million in a no-rules winner-takes-all race. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/11/2006 Starring: Rowan Atkinson Whoopi Goldberg Run time: 112 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Jerry Zucker

Remy is a young rat in the french countryside who arrives in paris only to find out that his cooking idol is dead. When he makes an unusual alliance with a restaurants new garbage boy the culinary and personal adventures begin. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007 Starring: Voices Of Janeanne Garofalo Peter Otoole Run time: 111 minutes Rating: G

Brett Ratner Fbi agent will graham has been called out of early retirement to catch a serial killer known by authorities as the tooth fairy. He asks for the help of his arch-nemesis dr. Hannibal the cannibal lecter.The only problem is that the tooth fairy is getting inside information from lector Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Anthony Hopkins Ralph Fiennes Run time: 124 minutes Rating: R Director: Brett Ratner

A rag-tag team of reno cops are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in miami beach during spring break. Based on the comedy central series. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Neicy Nash Thomas Lennon Run time: 80 minutes Rating: R

Antoine Fuqua After he betrays a ruthless crime boss a professional hit man becomes the target of an army of killers and fights to survive the most violent shoot-out of his career. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Chow Yun-fat Michael Rooker Run time: 88 minutes Rating: R Director: Antoine Fuqua

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/18/2003 Rating: Ur

Gore Verbinski With its disturbing images and a few good shocks, The Ring is the kind of frightfest you'll watch to set a chilling mood or spook your susceptible friends, but when you try to sort it out, this well-mounted American remake (of the 1998 Japanese hit Ringu, based on Koji Suzuki's popular novel) becomes a batch of incoherent parts. The negligible plot follows a Seattle reporter (Naomi Watts) as she investigates the death of her niece, the victim of a mysterious videotape that, according to urban legend, causes the viewer's death seven days later. (Fear Dot Com borrowed the same idea while avoiding this film's lofty pretensions.) The countdown structure follows the reporter, her son, and her estranged boyfriend into deepening layers of terror—all quite effective until the movie attempts to explain itself. At that you're better off shutting down your brain and letting the creepy visuals take over. —Jeff Shannon

Hideo Nakata, Jôji Iida, Norio Tsuruta The release of Ringu - Anthology of Terror is a pretty shrewd marketing move. Even though the four discs are bare bones in content (no special features at all), the set is bound to be a must-have for completists who've gone ga-ga over the Asian horror craze — not to mention anybody else looking for a terrific entrée to the genre. In case you're unaware, Ringu was the Japanese phenomenon that spawned the Hollywood thrillers, The Ring and The Ring Two. The Japanese hit also led the way for a slew of other Japanese and Korean movies that gave global prominence to a unique style emphasizing psycho chills over blood, guts, and the overt scare tactics that have pretty much defined Western horror movies in the modern era. The four entries in the Ringu cycle are a little uneven, but legitimate DVD library mainstays for anyone with even a passing interest in classics of horror.

Ringu — The granddaddy of Asian horror, or J-horror, was based on a bestselling novel by Koji Suzuki (as are all the movies in this set) and directed by Hideo Nakata, both of whom have become icons of the genre. Unlike the Americanized version, Ringu is perhaps more nerve wracking for the psychological tension it develops in the mystery of a cursed videotape, Sadako, the tormented girl dead for 30 years at the bottom of a well, and a little boy and his mother who must unravel the secret before the curse catches up with them. The details of life in modern Japan become all the more sinister as routine is upended by unfathomable madness.

Rasen — This weakest entry in the set is a direct sequel to "Ringu," and tries to weave a plot thread about a virus that infects any person who watches the cursed video. Though it adheres to some of the genre standards, the thrills are few and far between. Even for a story where a high level of suspension of disbelief is required, the plot line of a doctor trying to solve a mystery that clearly has no scientific basis just feels wrong. There are also precious few innovations of style in what comes off as little more than a perfunctory exercise.

Ringu 2 — Back in style, form, and disturbing content, this more apt sequel again finds director Hideo Nakata at the reigns (as he was for the much different take of Hollywood's The Ring Two). The story follows the young research assistant of Ryuji, one of Sadako's victims from the first film, as she becomes involved in the mystery of the tape. Ringu 2 intriguingly expands on the themes of the original film while resurrecting some of its characters and introducing new terrors. It also expands the stylistic limits of how horror movies can be all the more effective for stressing subtlety, intelligence, and uniqueness of vision.

Ringu Ø — Perhaps the most absorbing of the four, this prequel to the Ringu saga takes place 30 years in the past. It reveals the origin of Sadako's miserable journey to becoming a hateful spirit seething with wrath, rotting at the bottom of an old well waiting to reap vengeance on those who cast their gaze in the wrong direction. Full of inventive visual flair, there are some seriously creepy moments and ingenious sequences in the story of an acting troupe whose members mysteriously vanish or go insane. Sadako may or may not be behind it all, but the bloody finale makes clear that she'll have her revenge, whether she is to blame or not. —Ted Fry

Carlos Saldanha, Chris Wedge Even in a world populated entirely by mechanical beings rodney is considered a genius inventory. He dreams of 2 things making the world a better place & meeting his idol master inventory bigweld. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Starring: Robin Williams Halle Berry Run time: 91 minutes Rating: Pg

Wes Anderson The tenenbaum kids were all once child prodigies despite growing up with an ineffective father. Determined to make things right that he has a estranged family. Royal tenenbaum announces years later that he has a terminal illness and moves back into his wifes house where their children are also living. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: Ben Stiller Gwyneth Paltrow Run time: 109 minutes Rating: R

Brett Ratner The plot line may sound familiar: Two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realize they can't stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the book. He is a man with integrity and nerves of steel. The other (Chris Tucker) is an amiable rebel who can't stand authority figures. He's a man who has to do everything on his own, much to the displeasure of his superior officer, who in turn thinks this cop is a loose cannon but tolerates him because he gets the job done. Directed by Brett Ratner, Rush Hour doesn't break any new ground in terms of story, stunts, or direction. It rehashes just about every "buddy" movie ever made—in fact, it makes films such as Tango and Cash seem utterly original and clever by comparison. So, why did this uninspired movie make over $120 million at the box office? Was the whole world suffering from temporary insanity? Hardly. The explanation for the success of Rush Hour is quite simple: chemistry. The casting of veteran action maestro Jackie Chan with the charming and often hilarious Chris Tucker was a serendipitous stroke of genius. Fans of Jackie Chan may be slightly disappointed by the lack of action set pieces that emphasize his kung-fu craft. On the other hand, those who know the history of this seasoned Hong Kong actor will be able to appreciate that Rush Hour was the mainstream breakthrough that Chan had deserved for years. Coupled with the charismatic scene-stealer Tucker, Chan gets to flex his comic muscles to great effect. From their first scenes together to the trademark Chan outtakes during the end credits, their ability to play off of one another is a joy to behold, and this mischievous interaction is what saves the film from slipping into the depths of pitiful mediocrity. —Jeremy Storey

Brett Ratner Its vacation time for det. James carter and he finds himself alongside det. Lee in hong king wishing for more excitement. While carter wants to party and meet the ladies lee is out to track down a triad gang lord who may be responsible for killing two men at the american embassy. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Jackie Chan Alan King Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Brett Ratner

Aviva Slesin, Christopher Guest, Claude Kerven, Mike DeSeve, Robert Smigel Will ferrell dominated snl with characters as different as craig the cheerleader and president george w. Bush. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 05/22/2007

Steven Spielberg When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic—and maybe the best—war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome the almost insurmountable odds.

A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance.

The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. —Doug Thomas

James Wan Obsessed with teaching his victims the value of life a deranged sadistic killer is abducting morally wayward people and forcing them to play horrific games for their own survival. Faced with impossible choices each victim must struggle to win back his/her life or else die trying. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Cary Elwes Monica Potter Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Darren Lynn Bousman Jigsaw is back! the brilliant disturbed mastermind who wreaked havoc on his victims in 2004s saw is back for another round of horrifying life or death games. Dvd features audio commentary with director and actors the props of saw 2 and deconstructing jigsaws traps! Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Donnie Wahlberg Tobin Bell Run time: 92 minutes Director: Darren Lynn Bousman

Kevin Greutert, Darren Lynn Bousman Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 07/01/2008 Run time: 113 minutes Rating: Ur

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 95 minutes Rating: Ur

Bob Niemack, Arnold Shapiro Studio: New Video Group Release Date: 08/26/2003 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr

Richard Linklater A diehard rock guitarist-turned-substitute-teacher transforms a class of fifth graders into a high-voltage rock group. His lesson: to lead the kids on to victory in the local battle of the bands competition. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Jack Black Joan Cusack Run time: 109 minutes Rating: Nr

Raja Gosnell After an acrimonious break up the mystery inc. Gang are individually brought to an island resort to investigate strange goings on. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/13/2007 Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr Matthew Lillard Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg

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.

Maguire, Tobey True story of the undersized depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the three-man team behind it but also those of the nation as well. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/22/2008 Starring: Jeff Bridges David Mccullough Run time: 141 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gary Ross

Jason Alexander, David Steinberg, Joshua White, Tom Cherones For Seinfeld, the third season's—for want of a better word—the charm. The show has found its misanthropic voice (by season's end, a fed-up Elaine tells herself, "I gotta get some new friends"), the ensemble has a firmer grasp of their characters, and the writers rise to the occasion with episodes that have entered the Seinfeld pantheon, including the Seinfeld equivalent of a Very Special Episode, "The Boyfriend," with Keith Hernandez and the J.F.K. parody, "The Library," featuring Philip Baker Hall channeling Jack Webb as library bookhound Bookman, "The Pez Dispenser," and "The Keys," with an L.A.-bound Kramer winding up on Murphy Brown. Michael Richards, especially, comes into his own this season as Kramer. The first two seasons built up the mystique of this "man-child"/"parasite." So while he was absent in season 2's "The Chinese Restaurant," he is now out and about with the close-knit, albeit dysfunctional, trio. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has some of her giddiest golden moments, zonked on painkillers in "The Pen," or, as a bored party guest in "The Stranded," telling an obnoxious bride-to-be that "Maybe the dingo ate your baby." And don't get us started on Jason Alexander as George, series co-creator Larry David's neurotic and angst-ridden alter-ego. To paraphrase what Julia Roberts said of Denzel Washington, we don't want to live in a world where Alexander doesn't have an Emmy.

But it's the extensive bonus features that give this four-disc set "hand" over other TV-on-DVD releases. The "Inside Look" episode intros, optional pop-up "Notes About Nothing," and candid, albeit a little too casual, commentaries offer a fount of information to even the most obsessive Seinfeld fans. We learn that even the most outrageous episodes, such as "The Pez Dispenser," were inspired by real-life events. Especially telling is Alexander's observation that Jerry never really socialized with the other ensemble members. This has extended to the commentaries: Seinfeld pairs with David on some episodes, while Alexander, Richards and Dreyfus team up on others. They are gracious to the guest stars and extras, and mostly mum on Jer. —Donald Liebenson

Art Wolff, Tom Cherones Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/27/2009 Run time: 437 minutes Rating: Nr

Torres, Gina A passenger with a deadly secret. Six rebels on the run. An assassin in pursuit. When the crew of serenity agrees to hide a fugitive on their ship they find themselves in a battle between the military might of a totalitarian regime & the bloodthirsty creatures who roam the unchartered areas of space. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2008 Starring: Natha Fillion Adam Baldwin Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Pg13

Kate Sanford Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007

Kate Sanford Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Run time: 240 minutes Rating: Nr

Alison Maclean, Darren Star, Matthew Harrison, Michael Fields, Nicole Holofcener Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 09/21/2004 Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker Kristen Davis Run time: 360 minutes Rating: R

Kate Sanford Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Run time: 540 minutes Rating: Nr

Kate Sanford Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Run time: 540 minutes Rating: R

Allen Coulter, Allison Anders, Charles McDougall, Daniel Algrant, Dennis Erdman Join carrie samantha charlotte & miranda as they explore day-to-day & night-to-night world of single women. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 02/13/2007 Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker Kristin Davis Run time: 540 minutes Rating: R

David Dobkin Better than your average sequel, Shanghai Knights almost defies the law of diminishing returns. Lacking the freshness of Shanghai Noon, it compensates with a looser, disposable plot that plays to the strengths of costars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. It's 1887, and odd-couple heroes Chon Wang (Chan) and Roy O'Bannon (Wilson) are in London to retrieve the Imperial Seal of China, stolen by an English lord (Aidan Gillen) who killed Wang's father in his quest for the British throne. Wang's lithe and lovely sister (Fann Wong) joins the battle with high-kicking force, appealing to Roy's roguish charm and surfer-dude anachronisms. While Chan continues his transition to safer stunts and good-natured homage to Buster Keaton, Gene Kelly, and other Hollywood legends, Wilson indulges the party vibe to good effect, maintaining the anything-goes approach that allows silly encounters with Jack the Ripper, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and a Dickensian urchin named Charlie Chaplin. (Chaplin wasn't born until 1889, but if the filmmakers didn't care, why should you?) —Jeff Shannon

Culture collide when a chinese imperial guard and a bumbling outlaw team up in this action-packed comedy western. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Jackie Chan Lucy Lu Run time: 110 minutes Rating: Pg13

Bibo Bergeron, Rob Letterman, Vicky Jenson Oscar a lowly tongue-scrubber at the local whale wash becomes an improbable hero when he tells a great white lie. To keep his secret oscar teams up with an outcast vegetarian shark lenny and the 2 become the most unlikely of friends. When the lie begins to unravel its up to oscars friends to help him. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Will Smith Renee Zellweger Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Antoine Fuqua A marksman living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt he goes on the run to track the real killer and find out who exactly set him up and why. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/04/2008 Starring: Mark Wahlberg Michael Pena Run time: 125 minutes Rating: R

Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/21/2002 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: Pg

Andrew Adamson The lovably ugly green ogre returns with his green bride and furry, hooved friend in Shrek 2. The newlywed Shrek and Princess Fiona are invited to Fiona's former kingdom, Far Far Away, to have the marriage blessed by Fiona's parents—which Shrek thinks is a bad, bad idea, and he's proved right: The parents are horrified by their daughter's transformation into an ogress, a fairy godmother wants her son Prince Charming to win Fiona, and a feline assassin is hired to get Shrek out of the way. The computer animation is more detailed than ever, but it's the acting that make the comedy work—in addition to the return of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, Shrek 2 features the flexible voices of Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins), John Cleese (Monty Python's Flying Circus), Antonio Banderas (Desperado), and Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous) as the gleefully wicked fairy godmother. —Bret Fetzer

Kevin Tent, Alexander Payne With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)—and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. —Bret Fetzer

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 08/15/2006

David Silverman Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Pg13

Sin city is infested with criminals crooked cops & sexy dames: some searching for vengeance some for redemption and others both. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 09/01/2006 Starring: Bruce Willis Mickey Rourke Run time: 126 minutes Rating: R Director: Frank Miller

Ivan Reitman Robin moore a new york magazine editor headed to a paradise island for a photo shoot and the gruff pilot quinn harris who is flying her there must put aside their mutual dislike for each other when their small plane crashes on a deserted south seas island. They must help each other to survive. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006 Starring: Harrison Ford Anne Heche Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Ivan Reitman

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 10/03/2006 Run time: 780 minutes Rating: Nr

Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 10/03/2006 Run time: 780 minutes Rating: Nr

Willis, Bruce, M. Night Shyamalan "I see dead people," whispers little Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), scared to affirm what is to him now a daily occurrence. This peaked 9-year old, already hypersensitive to begin with, is now being haunted by seemingly malevolent spirits. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is trying to find out what's triggering Cole's visions, but what appears to be a psychological manifestation turns out to be frighteningly real. It might be enough to scare off a lesser man, but for Malcolm it's personal—several months before, he was accosted and shot by an unhinged patient, who then turned the gun on himself. Since then, Malcolm has been in turmoil—he and his wife (Olivia Williams) are barely speaking, and his life has taken an aimless turn. Having failed his loved ones and himself, he's not about to give up on Cole.

This third feature by M. Night Shyamalan sets itself up as a thriller, poised on the brink of delivering monstrous scares, but gradually evolves into more of a psychological drama with supernatural undertones. Many critics faulted the film for being mawkish and New Age-y, but no matter how you slice it, this is one mightily effective piece of filmmaking. The bare bones of the story are basic enough, but the moody atmosphere created by Shyamalan and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto made this one of the creepiest pictures of 1999, forsaking excessive gore for a sinisterly simple feeling of chilly otherworldliness. Willis is in his strong, silent type mode here, and gives the film wholly over to Osment, whose crumpled face and big eyes convey a child too wise for his years; his scenes with his mother (Toni Collette) are small, heartbreaking marvels. And even if you figure out the film's surprise ending, it packs an amazingly emotional wallop when it comes, and will have you racing to watch the movie again with a new perspective. You may be able to shake off the sentimentality of The Sixth Sense, but its craftsmanship and atmosphere will stay with you for days. —Mark Englehart

Pitt, Brad, Statham, Jason A diamond heist gone haywire launches gangsters bookies and a dog on a rollicking ride through the rugged world of bare-knuckle boxing in search of the missing stone. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 01/17/2006 Starring: Benicio Del Toro Vinnie Jones Run time: 103 minutes Rating: R Director: Guy Ritchie

Joe Hutshing, Nancy Meyers Harrys a perennial playboy with a libido much younger than he is. During what was to have been a romantic weekend with his latest girl marin he develops chest pains & winds up being nursed by marins mother erica. Harry who has always had the world on a string finds his life unraveling. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Jack Nicholson Amanda Peet Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Pg13

Stone, Matt, Trey Parker Stan kyle kenny and cartman sneak into an r-rated movie and it warps their fragile little minds. Soon their indignant parents declare war on canada and our young heroes are americas last hope to stop armageddon. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/24/2006 Starring: Animated Run time: 81 minutes Rating: R Director: Trey Parker

Joe Pytka Although at first glance it looks like a movie dreamed up by a marketing committee (and in some respects it probably was), Space Jam actually defies the odds against it to become a dazzling display of family entertainment. There's a kind of demented genius to the idea of casting NBA superstar Michael Jordan in a live-action and animated movie costarring the beloved characters from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes cartoons. They play off each other like seasoned veterans of vaudeville, and Jordan never falls into the kind of awkward, amateurish showmanship that you might expect from a sports idol. He's comfortable in the cartoon land of his costars, who include Bugs Bunny and sexy newcomer Lola Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester & Tweety, Speedy Gonzalez, the Tazmanian Devil, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam. They've all been hijacked to an outer-space amusement park run by the Nerdlucks, who strike a Faustian bargain with the Looney heroes: if Bugs and Co. can defeat the Nerdluck "Monstars" in a basketball game, they'll win back their freedom; if they lose, they'll be doomed to stay there forever as enslaved entertainers. So they kidnap Jordan as their coach and "secret weapon" while the nefarious Nerdlucks suck out the basketball skills from such stellar victims as Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. It all leads to reckless abandon on the basketball court, and Bill Murray pops in for some hilarious support. Combining traditional animation and computer-generated Nerdlucks with its live-action cast, Space Jam was made in the anarchic spirit of the Looney Tunes cartoons, where anything goes as long as it's funny and off-the-wall (or the ceiling, or the door, or the floor...). Technically astounding, it's also witty enough to entertain adults and kids alike. —Jeff Shannon

James L. Brooks John clasky is a devoted dad whose skills as a chef have afforded his family a very upscale life. When flor their new housekeeper and her daughter move in with the claskys for the summer flor has to fight for her daughters soul as she discovers that life in a new country is perilous. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 04/25/2006 Starring: Adam Sandler Paz Vega Run time: 131 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: James L Brooks

Barry Levinson At the bottom of the pacific deepest fears come true. An elite underwater team explores the mysteries and menace of an eerie spacecraft that plunged into the ocean 300 years ago. Bonus: behind-the-scenes documentary shaping the sphere: the art of the visual effects supervisor. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/08/2005 Starring: Dustin Hoffman Samuel L. Jackson Run time: 135 minutes Rating: R Director: Barry Levinson

Sam Raimi A shy intelligent outcast teenager is accidentally bitten by a genetically engineered spider. Suddenly he is empowered with the speed strength and agility of a spider transforming him into an extaordinary hero. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/27/2005 Starring: Tobey Maguire Kirsten Dunst Run time: 121 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/24/2008 Run time: 139 minutes Rating: Pg13

Dan Aykroyd, John Landis Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008

Robert Rodriguez Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Pg

Robert Rodriguez Juni must save his sister who is being held captive inside a video game and controlled by the evil toymaker who wants to take over the world. It is up to juni to call upon his family and friends to defeat their greatest foe from world domination. 4 sets of 3d glasses included with the dvd. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/07/2006 Starring: Antonio Banderas Carla Gugino Run time: 84 minutes Rating: Pg

Ben Burtt, Paul Martin Smith, George Lucas "I have a bad feeling about this," says the young Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace as he steps off a spaceship and into the most anticipated cinematic event... well, ever. He might as well be speaking for the legions of fans of the original episodes in the Star Wars saga who can't help but secretly ask themselves: Sure, this is Star Wars, but is it my Star Wars? The original elevated moviegoers' expectations so high that it would have been impossible for any subsequent film to meet them. And as with all the Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace features inexplicable plot twists, a fistful of loose threads, and some cheek-chewing dialogue. Han Solo's swagger is sorely missed, as is the pervading menace of heavy-breather Darth Vader. There is still way too much quasi-mystical mumbo jumbo, and some of what was fresh about Star Wars 22 years earlier feels formulaic. Yet there's much to admire. The special effects are stupendous; three worlds are populated with a mélange of creatures, flora, and horizons rendered in absolute detail. The action and battle scenes are breathtaking in their complexity. And one particular sequence of the film—the adrenaline-infused pod race through the Tatooine desert—makes the chariot race in Ben-Hur look like a Sunday stroll through the park.

Among the host of new characters, there are a few familiar walk-ons. We witness the first meeting between R2-D2 and C-3PO, Jabba the Hutt looks younger and slimmer (but not young and slim), and Yoda is as crabby as ever. Natalie Portman's stately Queen Amidala sports hairdos that make Princess Leia look dowdy and wields a mean laser. We never bond with Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), and Obi-Wan's day is yet to come. Jar Jar Binks, a cross between a Muppet, a frog, and a hippie, provides many of the movie's lighter moments, while Sith Lord Darth Maul is a formidable force. Baby-faced Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) looks too young and innocent to command the powers of the Force or wield a lightsaber (much less transmute into the future Darth Vader), but his boyish exuberance wins over skeptics.

Near the end of the movie, Palpatine, the new leader of the Republic, may be speaking for fans eagerly awaiting Episode II when he pats young Anakin on the head and says, "We will watch your career with great interest." Indeed! —Tod Nelson

Ben Burtt, George Lucas Anakin has grown into an accomplished jedi apprentice yet he must choose between jedi duty & forbidden love. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/12/2006 Starring: Ewan Mcgregor Samuel L Jackson Run time: 142 minutes Rating: Pg Director: George Lucas

George Lucas Ending the most popular film epic in history, Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith is an exciting, uneven, but ultimately satisfying journey. Picking up the action from Episode II, Attack of the Clones as well as the animated Clone Wars series, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), pursue General Grievous into space after the droid kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
The Star Wars Family Tree (click for larger image) It's just the latest maneuver in the ongoing Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist forces led by former Jedi turned Sith Lord Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). On another front, Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz) leads the Republic's clone troops against a droid attack on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. All this is in the first half of Episode III, which feels a lot like Episodes I and II. That means spectacular scenery, dazzling dogfights in space, a new fearsome villain (the CGI-created Grievous can't match up to either Darth Maul or the original Darth Vader, though), lightsaber duels, groan-worthy romantic dialogue, goofy humor (but at least it's left to the droids instead of Jar-Jar Binks), and hordes of faceless clone troopers fighting hordes of faceless battle droids.

But then it all changes.
Star Wars Time Line (click for larger image)

After setting up characters and situations for the first two and a half movies, Episode III finally comes to life. The Sith Lord in hiding unleashes his long-simmering plot to take over the Republic, and an integral part of that plan is to turn Anakin away from the Jedi and toward the Dark Side of the Force. Unless you've been living under a rock the last 10 years, you know that Anakin will transform into the dreaded Darth Vader and face an ultimate showdown with his mentor, but that doesn't matter. In fact, a great part of the fun is knowing where things will wind up but finding out how they'll get there. The end of this prequel trilogy also should inspire fans to want to see the original movies again, but this time not out of frustration at the new ones. Rather, because Episode III is a beginning as well as an end, it will trigger fond memories as it ties up threads to the originals in tidy little ways. But best of all, it seems like for the first time we actually care about what happens and who it happens to.

Episode III is easily the best of the new trilogy—OK, so that's not saying much, but it might even jockey for third place among the six Star Wars films. It's also the first one to be rated PG-13 for the intense battles and darker plot. It was probably impossible to live up to the decades' worth of pent-up hype George Lucas faced for the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and he tried to lower it with the first two movies), but Episode III makes us once again glad to be "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." —David Horiuchi

The Complete Star Wars Saga
Episodes 4-6 Trilogy (widescreen)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episde II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1
Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 2
The Star Wars Store

Stills from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (click for larger images)

Anakin turning to the dark side
When Wookiees attack
Yoda, Jedi master
Mr. and Mrs. Vader
Saber training with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen
The cast

Paul Verhoeven In the first and finest RoboCop movie, director Paul Verhoeven combined near-future science fiction with a keen sense of social satire—not to mention enough high-velocity violence to satisfy even the most voracious bloodlust. In Starship Troopers, Verhoeven and RoboCop cowriter Ed Neumeier take inspired cues from Robert Heinlein's classic sci-fi novel to create a special-effects extravaganza that functions on multiple levels of entertainment. The film might be called "Melrose Place in Space," with its youthful cast of handsome guys and gorgeous women who look like they've been recruited (and in some cases they were) from the cast of Beverly Hills 90210. Viewers might focus on the incredible, graphically intense action sequences (definitely not for children) in which heavily armed forces from Earth go to off-world battle against vast hordes of alien "bugs" bent on planetary conquest. The attacking bugs are marvels of state-of-the-art special-effects technology, and the space battles are nothing short of spectacular. But Starship Troopers is more than a showcase for high-tech hardware and gigantic, flesh-ripping insects. Recalling his childhood in Holland during the Nazi occupation, Verhoeven turns this epic adventure into a scathingly funny satire of fascist propaganda, emphasizing Heinlein's underlying warning against the hazards of military conformity and the sickening realities of war. It's an action-packed joy ride if that's all you're looking for, but Verhoeven has a provocative agenda that makes Starship Troopers as smart as it is exciting. The DVD includes an above-average commentary by the director and Neumeier, several deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes documentary and promotional featurette, cast bios, production notes, and more. —Jeff Shannon

Thomas McCarthy Finbar is a dwarf who has alwasy shut people out. One day his life changes when his coworker dies & leaves him an abandoned train station in a small town outside of manhattan. Preferring isoaltion he moves into the depot. What he doesnt realize is that everyone from his town will coming knocking on his door. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/07/2005 Starring: Patricia Clarkson Bobby Cannavale Run time: 88 minutes Rating: R

Frank Oz After moving with her husband & children to the well-manicured community of stepford ct former new york television executive joanna eberhart is beginning to realize that stepford is more than just the perfect place to live - its a little too perfect. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/24/2006 Starring: Nicole Kidman Bette Midler Run time: 92 minutes Rating: Pg13

Charlie Gelber, Jason Porthouse, Richard Daws, Luke Cresswell, Steve McNicholas Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 06/28/2005 Run time: 50 minutes Rating: Nr

David Lynch the straight story chronicles a trip made by 73-year-old alvin straight from laurens iowa to mt. Zion wis. in 1994 while riding a lawn mower. The man undertook his strange journey to mend his relationship with his ill estranged 75-year-old brother lyle. Based on a true story. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/14/2003 Starring: Richard Farnsworth Sissy Spacek Run time: 112 minutes Rating: G Director: David Lynch

Marc Forster An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to effect his entire life from his work to his love-interest to his death.System Requirements:Running Time: 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396154070 Manufacturer No: 15407

Tony Silver, Henry Chalfant Some call it tagging, some call it writing, still others call it bombing—it's all graffiti. Whether it's art or not is another matter, but it's undeniably illegal. Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's historic PBS documentary Style Wars tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the peak of its popularity, graffiti was as much a part of B-boy culture as rapping, scratching, and breaking. The filmmakers present a sympathetic, but well-rounded portrait of their subject through extensive interviews with taggers—notably Seen, Kase, and Dondi—art collectors, transit authorities, and even Mayor Ed Koch, who would eventually put the hammer down. Along the way, they documented the burgeoning breakdance scene, with a focus on the world-famous Rock Steady Crew. The soundtrack features selections from Grandmaster Flash, the Treacherous Three, and other tagger-approved icons of old-school hip-hop. —Kathleen C. Fennessy

Morgan spurlock unravels the american obesity epidemic by interviewing experts nationwide & subjecting himself to a mcdonalds only diet for 30 days. Its as entertaining as it is horrifying - diving into corporate responsibility & how we as a nation are eating ourselves to death. Studio: Arts Alliance America Release Date: 10/11/2005 Run time: 96 minutes Rating: Pg13

The fine art of handing out a freeway speeding ticket gets a deviously funny twist in this smart-alecky farce written and performed by the comedy troop Broken Lizard (consisting of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske). These pranksters in patrol cars (led by their long-suffering commander Brian Cox) are little more than overgrown frat boys in a campus rivalry with the brawling Vermont bullies of the local police force, and they know how to have fun on the highway patrol. This skit-like collection of comic moments clumps from one scene to another like a variety show, but the gags are more hit than miss, thanks largely to terrific ensemble work and inspired motorist mind games. With a nod to such 1970s comedies as Animal House and Caddyshack, this "boys in blue just wanna have fun" farce is hardly sophisticated, just clever, raucous fun. —Sean Axmaker

Greg Mottola Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Ur

Stanley Tong High-octane gas, pumped out by the buoyant maestro of Hong Kong action, Jackie Chan. In this outing, the irrepressible Chan plays a Hong Kong cop teamed up (gloriously) with a Chinese inspector played by Michelle Yeoh (a.k.a. Michelle Khan). The plot ranges all over Southeast Asia, culminating with Jackie hanging from a helicopter ladder high over the streets of Kuala Lumpur. This one's notable for the ingenuity of the stunts, and for allowing two of Asia's top female stars to do their bad thing. The great Maggie Cheung (Chinese Box) plays Chan's girlfriend, who has a tendency to pop up at the most inopportune moments; and Yeoh executes a hair-raising motorcycle jump onto a moving train—an absolute jaw-dropper. Originally released as Police Story III, the picture was rereleased in America as Supercop in 1996, after Chan's U.S. breakthrough with Rumble in the Bronx. The new version is slightly shorter than the original, and features a new soundtrack of English-language dialogue (awkwardly dubbed, but that's par for the course) and blaring rock music. Great fun any way you slice it, and—for the uninitiated—a terrific introduction to the humorous, high-kicking world of Jackie Chan. —Robert Horton

Bruce McCulloch Molly Shannon, the latest Saturday Night Live comic to have a movie built around her, isn't exactly funny—in fact, she's a little unsettling. Her creation, the neurotic Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher, invites laughter because she's a little too close to the bone for anyone who grew up feeling ugly and unloved, which is a lot of people. Mary lives with her grandmother (Glynis Johns), who insists that Mary study business. Mary herself yearns to be famous and admired, though for what isn't exactly clear; she envisions some vague combination of singing, dancing, and acting that will make her a superstar. A talent show promises to be her ticket to stardom (the winning prize is a role in "a movie with positive moral values"), and she won't let her loser status or any hostile cheerleaders stand in her way. Meanwhile, Mary acts out dating fantasies with trees and signposts, envisions the school lunch room bursting into a Fame-like dance number, and longs for the biggest jock in school. What makes Superstar more than just a collection of bad high school memories is that, though the formulaic plot redeems Mary, the movie as a whole isn't so sure. Mary completely loses herself in her obsessive fantasies—many inspired by cheesy made-for-TV movies—but there's always someone watching, aghast, as Mary acts out her inner thoughts. Is she misunderstood or freakish? Superstar never commits to one side or the other, which makes it both comic and uncomfortable. —Bret Fetzer

Roger Kumble Christinas love life is stuck in neutral. After years of avoiding the hazards of a meaningful relationship one night while out with her best girlfriends she meets peter her perfect match. Fed up with playing games she finally gets the courage to let her guard down and follow her heart. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/23/2006 Starring: Cameron Diaz Selma Blair Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Ur Director: Roger Kumble

Dominic Sena A $9-billion payday. If they can hack it. A sinister mastermind and his elite criminal crew attempt the catch of a lifetime: the daring cyberheist of a government slush fund code-named swordfish. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/09/2008 Starring: John Travolta Halle Berry Run time: 99 minutes Rating: R Director: Dominic Sena

Stephen Gaghan A political thriller that unfolds against the intrigue of the global oil industry. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: George Clooney Christopher Plummer Run time: 128 minutes Rating: R

Adam McKay The story of nascar racing sensation ricky bobby whose win at all costs approach has made him a national hero. When a flamboyant french formula one driver jean girard challenges him for the supremacy of nascar ricky bobby must face his own demons & fight girard to be known as racings top driver. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Starring: Will Ferrell Sacha Baron Cohen Run time: 121 minutes Rating: Ur

Steven Spielberg After arriving at nys jfk airport viktor vivorski gets caught in bureaucratic glitches that make it impossible for him to return to his home country or enter the u.S. Now caught up in the world inside the airport viktor makes friends gets a job & finds romance - all inside the terminal. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007 Starring: Tom Hanks Stanley Tucci Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Pg13

Jonathan Mostow A decade has passed since John Connor (NICK STAHL) helped prevent Judgment Day and save mankind from mass destruction. Now 25 Connor lives "off the grid" - no home no credit cards no cell phone and no job. No record of his existence. No way he can be traced by Skynet - the highly developed network of machines that once tried to kill him and wage war on humanity. Until out of the shadows of the future steps the T-X (KRISTANNA LOKEN) Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Sent back through time to complete the job left unfinished by her predecessor the T-1000 this machine is as relentless as her human guise is beautiful. Now Connor's only hope for survival is the Terminator (ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER) his mysterious former assassin. Together they must triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming threat of Judgment Day - or face the apocalypse and the fall of civilization as we know it.Running Time: 110 min.System Requirements:Running Time 109 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 085392772223

Marcus Nispel Inspired by a true story & the classic 1974 film. A group of teenagers take a detour from a road trip & what happens next is beyond anyone darkest fears & raw nightmares. For the lucky ones it is the end of the road. Meet your fear face to face with this years most hardcore & terrifying film. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Andrew Bryniarski Jonathan Tucker Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R

Marcus Nispel, Michelle Palmer Inspired by a true story & the classic 1974 film. A group of teenagers take a detour from a road trip & what happens next is beyond anyone darkest fears & raw nightmares. For the lucky ones it is the end of the road. Meet your fear face to face with this years most hardcore & terrifying film. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 09/26/2006 Starring: Andrew Bryniarski Jonathan Tucker Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R

Jason Reitman Nick naylor is a charismatic spin-doctor for big tobacco wholl fight to protect americas right to smoke - even if it kills him - while still remaining a role model for his 12 year son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator bent on snuffing out cigarettes nicks powers of filtering out the truth will be tested. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 04/15/2008 Starring: Aaron Eckhart William H Macy Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R

Katherine Brooks, Darren Ewing, Sarah K. Pillsbury, Donald Bull (II), Brendon Carter Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 07/05/2005 Run time: 200 minutes

John McTiernan This sexy game of cat and mouse pits a millionaire who steals for thrills against a beautiful insurance agent whos torn between turning him in and joining him. Special features: audio commentary by john mctiernan intriguing behind-the-scenes booklet theatrical trailer and subtitles in english and french. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 10/28/1999 Starring: Pierce Brosnan Rene Russo Run time: 113 minutes Rating: R Director: John Mctiernan

Peter Chelsom A hilarious look at the trials and tribulations of modern-day marriage and friendship. Special features: cast and crew filmographies: original theatrical trailer: english subtitles and closed captions and dvd-rom link to theatrical web site. Studio: New Line Home Video Release Date: 02/03/2004 Starring: Andie Macdowell Nastassja Kinski Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R

Toy Story
There is greatness in film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces—we smile at the spell it puts us into and are refreshed, and nary a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic," and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys on the cover of Toy Story looks intriguing, reawakening the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter's shorts (namely Knickknack and Tin Toy, which can be found on the Pixar video Tiny Toy Stories) illustrate not only a technical brilliance but also a great sense of humor—one in which the pun is always intended. Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney.

Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favorite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year—the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though—he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Bright and cheerful, Toy Story is much more than a 90-minute commercial for the inevitable bonanza of Woody and Buzz toys. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar for "the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." In other words, the movie is great. —Doug Thomas

Toy Story 2
John Lasseter and his gang of high-tech creators at Pixar create another entertainment for the ages. Like the few great movie sequels, Toy Story 2 comments on why the first one was so wonderful while finding a fresh angle worthy of a new film. The craze of toy collecting becomes the focus here, as we find out Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) is not only a beloved toy to Andy but also a rare doll from a popular '60s children's show. When a greedy collector takes Woody, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) launches a rescue mission with Andy's other toys. To say more would be a crime because this is one of the most creative and smile-inducing films since, well, the first Toy Story.

Although the toys look the same as in the 1994 feature, Pixar shows how much technology has advanced: the human characters look more human, backgrounds are superior, and two action sequences that book-end the film are dazzling. And it's a hoot for kids and adults. The film is packed with spoofs, easily accessible in-jokes, and inspired voice casting (with newcomer Joan Cusack especially a delight as Cowgirl Jessie). But as the Pixar canon of films illustrates, the filmmakers are storytellers first. Woody's heart-tugging predicament can easily be translated into the eternal debate of living a good life versus living forever. Toy Story 2 also achieved something in the U.S. two other outstanding 1999 animated features (The Iron Giant, Princess Mononoke) could not: it became a huge box-office hit. —Doug Thomas

Duncan Tucker A pre-operative male-to-female transsexual finds out he is the father of a teenage son a week before his operation. Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Felicity Huffman Run time: 104 minutes Rating: R

Security guard david dunn is the sole survivor of a horrific train crash in a remote area outside philadelphia. In fact he miraculously emerges from the wreckage without a single scratch. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 06/06/2006 Starring: Bruce Willis Samuel L. Jackson Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Louis Leterrier Luc Besson wrote and directed the stylish thrillers La Femme Nikita and The Professional; though he didn't direct Unleashed, the script has his trademark fusion of outrageous sentimentality and over-the-top violence. Hong Kong action superstar Jet Li (Romeo Must Die, Hero) stars as Danny, a man raised to be a brutal attack dog by a nasty gangster named Bart (Bob Hoskins, Mona Lisa)—when Bart removes Danny's collar, Danny pulverizes everyone in the room. But a chance encounter with a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby) reveals to Danny the possibility of a less brutal life, and when a retaliation attack gives him the chance to escape, he does—but Bart won't let him go that easily. The fighting in Unleashed is effectively jolting; Li and fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix) have purposefully stripped away the smoothness of most movie combat (especially with a genuine martial artist like Li) with raw, unnerving results, especially when juxtaposed with the sweet and earnest scenes of Li regaining his humanity with Freeman and his step-daughter (Kerry Condon). This freewheeling cocktail of bloody noses and ice-cream cones isn't for everyone, but fans of both Besson and Li will leave satisfied. —Bret Fetzer

Boaz Yakin Brittany Murphy uses her ditzy/sexy combination to maximum effect in Uptown Girls. Molly Gunn (Murphy) is an heiress living off the estate of her dead rock star father—until an unscrupulous accountant embezzles everything and Molly has to get a job. After a failed attempt at retail work, Molly finds herself as the nanny for a prematurely humorless and rigid little girl named Ray (Dakota Fanning, I Am Sam), whose music mogul mother Roma (Heather Locklear) hardly ever sees her. Meanwhile, Molly woos an English musician who's trying to get a record contract from Roma. Unsurprisingly, Ray teaches Molly to take some responsibility for herself, while Molly gives Ray the opportunity to become the child she is—but despite the formulaic quality of the story, the two actresses play off each other well, and something unexpectedly touching emerges. Also featuring Marley Shelton (Sugar & Spice). —Bret Fetzer

Jamie Blanks A mysterious campus killer is using well-known urban legends as a pattern for murder. With filmmakers commentary and featurette. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: Jared Leto Alicia Witt Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Stuart Baird An ultimately futile attempt to make lightning strike twice, this so-called spinoff from 1993's blockbuster The Fugitive avoids the label of "sequel" by forging ahead without the first film's star, Harrison Ford. The idea is to showcase the return of Tommy Lee Jones in his Oscar-winning role as tenacious U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard, this time testing his mettle against a covert government operative (Wesley Snipes) accused of murdering two secret service attachés. Unfortunately, Jones and the entire cast have been trapped in a rambling plot, and the underdog status that made Ford such a compelling hero is sacrificed to an evenly matched and eventually tiresome game of cat and mouse, with a villain whose identity is far too predictable. With no dramatic buildup and several superfluous characters to distract its focus, the film's momentum plays out like a rote exercise compared to the high stakes of the earlier film. —Jeff Shannon

Cameron Crowe Young handsome and wealthy publishing tycoon david aames can have anything his heart desires. Still davids charmed life seems imcomplete. One night david meets the woman of his dreams & believes he may have found the missing piece. But an encounter with an ex-jealous lover sends davids world out of control. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 01/25/2005 Starring: Tom Cruise Cameron Diaz Run time: 136 minutes Rating: R Director: Cameron Crowe

Pete Travis As the president arrives in salamanca gunshots ring out. An american tourist has captured footage of te would-be assassin on videotape & now as the stories of the other four witnesses unfold each piece of the puzzle falls into place. Only when all the stories are told will the shocking truth finally emerge. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/23/2008 Starring: Forest Whitaker William Hurt Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg13

Martin Campbell An emotionally-charged action-adventure tale of a retired climber who must launch a treacherous and extraordinary rescue effort up k2 the worlds second highest peak to save his estranged sister and her summit team in a race against time. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/20/2005 Starring: Chris Odonnell Scott Glenn Run time: 124 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Martin Campbell

Weekend at Bernie's starts when two lowly clerks at an insurance agency uncover a $2 million fraud and report it to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser). Unfortunately for them, Bernie is the one behind the fraud, and he invites them to his island beach house for the weekend, where he intends to have them killed by his mob contacts. Unfortunately for Bernie, the mob decides to rub him out instead—and thus begin the necrotic hijinks. The clerks, Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy), arrive and discover Bernie's body. At first they panic and start to call the police, but when a party of islanders sweeps in, Richard and Larry also discover that the local residents are so self-absorbed they don't notice that Bernie is dead. So if our heroes can just convince everyone that Bernie is still alive for they weekend, they can have a splendid time. Unfortunately, they also convince the mob hitman, who keeps trying to take Bernie out. Weekend at Bernie's was made at the height of 1980s fashion and features many amusing outfits and hairstyles—often the styles are funnier than the dialogue, and the characters are tissue-paper thin. Still, there's no denying that the movie chugs along from bit to bit and never takes itself more seriously than it should. A cheerful, disposable piece of fluff. —Bret Fetzer

Donald Petrie A local plumber is plunged into the national spotlight when he takes on the former president of the u.S. Who cant believe hes running against the man istalling his toilets! to make matters worse the ex-prez is trying to steal the election & the affection of the handymans girlfriend. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 02/20/2007 Starring: Gene Hackman Christine Baranski Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13

Howard Deutch Bruce Willis turns on the charm in The Whole Ten Yards, the sequel to the surprisingly popular The Whole Nine Yards. Willis returns as Jimmy "the Tulip," a former professional hitman, now living in Mexico with his bride Jill (Amanda Peet, Igby Goes Down), while his former neighbor Oz (Matthew Perry) lives happily with Jimmy's ex-wife Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge, Species). When mobster Lazlo Gogolak (Kevin Pollak, The Usual Suspects) kidnaps Cynthia to get revenge on Jimmy, Oz has to seek out Jimmy for help—only to eventually discover that there's some incomprehensible secret plan at work. The Whole Ten Yards was created purely because the previous movie made money; the sequel makes not an iota of sense. Willis coasts by on raw charisma, everyone else flounders (Henstridge seems completely bored). Fans of the first movie, however, may enjoy revisiting these antic characters. —Bret Fetzer