It's, like, Shakespeare, man! This good-natured and likeable update of The Taming of the Shrewtakes the basics of Shakespeare's farce about a surly wench and the man who tries to win her and transfers it to modern-day Padua High School. Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is a sullen, forbidding riot grrrl who has a blistering word for everyone; her sunny younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) is poised for high school stardom. The problem: overprotective and paranoid Papa Stratford (a dryly funny Larry Miller) won't let Bianca date until boy-hating Kat does, which is to say never. When Bianca's pining suitor Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) gets wind of this, he hires the mysterious, brooding Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) to loosen Kat up. Of course, what starts out as a paying gig turns to true love as Patrick discovers that underneath her brittle exterior, Kat is a regular babe. The script, by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, is sitcom-funny with peppy one-liners and lots of smart teenspeak; however, its cleverness and imagination doesn't really extend beyond its characters' Renaissance names and occasional snippets of real Shakespearean dialogue. What makes the movie energetic and winning is the formula that helped make She's All Thatsuch a big hit: two high-wattage stars who look great and can really act. Ledger is a hunk of promise with a quick grin and charming Aussie accent and Stiles mines Kat's bitterness and anger to depths usually unknown in teen films; her recitation of her English class sonnet (from which the film takes its title) is funny, heartbreaking and hopelessly romantic. The imperious Allison Janney (Primary Colors) nearly steals the film as a no-nonsense guidance counsellor secretly writing a trashy romance novel. —Mark Englehart

Stanley Kubrick Confirming that art and commerce can co-exist, 2001: A Space Odysseywas the biggest box-office hit of 1968, remains the greatest science fiction film yet made and is among the most revolutionary, challenging and debated work of the 20th century. It begins within a pre-historic age. A black monolith uplifts the intelligence of a group of apes on the African plains. The most famous edit in cinema introduces the 21st century, and after a second monolith is found on the moon a mission is launched to Jupiter. On the spacecraft are Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Poole (Gary Lockwood), along with the most famous computer in fiction, HAL. Their adventure will be, as per the original title, a "journey beyond the stars". Written by science fiction visionary Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick, 2001elevated the SF film to entirely new levels, being rigorously constructed with a story on the most epic of scales. Four years in the making and filmed in 70 mm, the attention to detail is staggering and four decades later barely any aspect of the film looks dated, the visual richness and elegant pacing creating the sense of actually being in space more convincingly than any other film. A sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two(1984) followed, while Solaris(1972), Close Encounters of the Third Kind(1977), The Abyss(1989) and A.I.(2001) are all indebted to this absolute classic which towers monolithically over them all.

On the DVD: There is nothing but the original trailer which, given the status of the film and the existence of an excellent making-of documentary shown on Channel 4 in 2001, is particularly disappointing. Shortly before he died Kubrick supervised the restoration of the film and the production of new 70 mm prints for theatrical release in 2001. Fortunately the DVD has been taken from this material and transferred at the 70 mm ratio of 2.21-1. There is some slight cropping noticeable, but both anamorphically enhanced image and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (the film was originally released with a six-channel magnetic sound) are excellent, making this transfer infinitely preferable to previous video incarnations. —Gary S Dalkin

Zack Snyder

50 First Datesis a sweet-natured vehicle for sweet-natured stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, and their track record with The Wedding Singerno doubt factors in its lowbrow appeal. But while the well-matched lovebirds wrestle with a gimmicky plot (she has no short-term memory, so he has to treat every encounter as their first), director Peter Segal (who directed Sandler in Anger Management) ignores the intriguing potential of their predicament (think Mementomeets Groundhog Day) and peppers the proceedings with the kind of juvenile humour that Sandler fans have come to expect. The movie sneaks in a few heartfelt moments amidst its inviting Hawaiian locations, and that trained walrus is charmingly impressive, but you can't quite shake the feeling that too many good opportunities were squandered in favour of easy laughs. Like Barrymore's character, you might find yourself forgetting this movie shortly after you've seen it. —Jeff Shannon

Ronny Yu

The film version of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boytakes a deeper though no less entertaining approach than the easy laughs of Fever Pitchand High Fidelity. The "coming together" of idle playboy Will (Hugh Grant) and put-upon loner Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) is a revealing tale of self-understanding and role reversal. Will finds that being yourself is of little consequence without a defining human context, while Marcus finds that pleasing others counts for little without a degree of self-confidence. How they arrive at this complementary awareness is the intriguing subject matter of the film, involving well-meaning single mothers, difficult adolescents and helpless older adults. Yet there's a wider significance to all this in the guise of human stereotypes—how we fall into them and how we can try to get out of them.

The film's wit and amusement comes down to deft and understated directing from Chris and Paul Weitz, and a snappily crafted screenplay from Peter Hedges and the Weitz brothers. Grant clips his hair as well as his vowels for a believable and ultimately sympathetic Will—by far his best performance since Four Weddings and a Funeral. As Marcus, Hoult is convincingly self-dependent, but could have been even more self-absorbed. Toni Colette is a dead-ringer for the well-meaning but ineffectual hippie mother Fiona, while Rachel Weisz gives her best screen performance to date as the attractive and vulnerable Rachel, with whom Will comes of age emotionally. Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack will delight those who enjoy his brand of reconstituted 1970s Dylan; the title track has a wistful charm and there's a gem of an instrumental in the "Countdown" sequence. About a Boyis in the best traditions of British comedy: enlightening as it amuses, it's a film to enjoy and come back to. —Richard Whitehouse

Barry Sonnenfeld This slightly more cohesive follow-up to The Addams Familyhas the same director, Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), but a better story line. Joan Cusack plays a busty gold digger who ingratiates herself into the Addams home and convinces Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) that she wants to marry him. Besides Lloyd, the cast includes Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, ideal as those Brontëan lovers, Morticia and Gomez. But Christina Ricci again walks away with the best moments as the chilly Wednesday Addams, making life miserable for two camp counsellors (Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski) who want her to fit in with other kids. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Karen Gaviola Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is a super (and super sexy) spy, fighting nefarious villains and working for the good guys—or so she thinks. Recruited as a college freshman for espionage work, Sydney found her true calling with SD-6, a secret division of the CIA. When her hunky doctor-boyfriend proposes to her, she decides to let him in on the truth she's not supposed to tell anyone: she's not a grad student with a demanding job for an international bank, but a secret agent who constantly puts her life on the line for the free world. But when SD-6 discovers her security breach, her fiancé is brutally assassinated, and Sydney suddenly finds herself face-to-face with the truth: she's been working for the bad guys. Deciding to become a double agent for the CIA and bring down the evildoers, Sydney gets one more surprise—her estranged father (Victor Garber) is also working for SD-6, and the CIA as well. Welcome to the family, Syd!

Confusing? This is all just in the first episode of Alias, the brainchild of Felicitycreator J.J. Abrams that plays like a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayerand James Bond. With its double-edged tension (how long can Syd play double agent?) and one heck of a MacGuffin (the dreaded Rambaldi device, the mythic creation of a Renaissance genius), the show leads its viewers from episode to episode with visceral, compelling action, not to mention the nascent romance between Syd and her CIA handler, Vaughn (Michael Vartan), and her clashes with her heretofore distant father. Sharp, smart, and always suspenseful, Alias' center was held by the gorgeous Garner, a stellar action heroine and an even better actress who could pull off Sydney's exotic undercover missions and conflicted emotions with equal dexterity. By the end of this first season, which concludes with a breathtaking cliffhanger, you'll be seduced into Alias' world with, happily, no desire to escape. —Mark Englehart

Karen Gaviola The third season of Aliasfound super spy Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) waking up in Hong Kong with a monster hangover and two years in the future with nary a memory. What's worse, her world has been turned upside-down with the evil Sloane (Ron Rifkin) now a world-famous humanitarian and philanthropist, and, even worse, her true love Vaughn (Michael Vartan) married to a seemingly great gal. Nice way to go back to work, eh? After coming up with one heck of a cliffhanger in season 2, Aliasproceeded a bit aimlessly through these 22 episodes, and as a result, the parts were truly greater than the whole. With Lena Olin no longer around as Syd's duplicitous mother, and the addition of admirable yet bland Melissa George as Vaughn's wife Lauren, Garner found herself for the first time without a compelling female foil to play off of. By dividing its focus equally between the quest for the enigmatic Rambaldi device, Syd and Vaughn's now-contentious relationship, and the uncovering of Syd's missing years, Aliaslost a little of its power without a larger story arc. The loss of regular cast members Merrin Dungey (Francie/Alison) and Bradley Cooper (Will)—both of whom do make great guest appearances—also divest the show of the personal life that kept Sydney human and approachable. Still, Garner is stellar as always, the plot twists come fast and furious, and secret identities are revealed. This season does have a great panorama of guest actors including Ricky Gervais, Justin Theroux, Djimon Hounsou, David Cronenberg, Quentin Tarantino, Vivica A. Fox, and Isabella Rossellini as Syd's long-lost aunt. —Mark Englehart

It was a family affair in the second series of JJ Abrams' wonderfully inventive Alias, as super secret agent Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) came face-to-face with the mother of all super secret agents—her own mother, Irina Derevko (Lena Olin), a former KGB agent, presumed dead, and more dangerous than ever. After shooting poor Syd, Irina later shows up at the doorstep of the CIA, offering to turn herself in and work for the good guys. But can she be trusted? Aliasset up so much duplicity in its second series that it might have been hard to keep track of who was doing what to whom, but thanks to a great ensemble cast, fast-paced writing and direction, and some cannily cast guest stars, the show rode a stunning emotional roller-coaster and never broke its momentum, even when halfway through the season, it reinvented itself. With episode 13, "Phase One" (which aired after the Super Bowl to the show's biggest audience), Syd's original nemesis (and employer) SD-6 changes forever, yet the kick-butt agent still finds herself going up against the malevolent leader Sloane (Ron Rifkin) and his ever-changing set of henchmen. Action fans got plenty of fighting, while romantic Aliaswatchers swooned as Syd and the dashing Vaughn (Michael Vartan) finally consummated their unrequited love.

The critically acclaimed show owed a debt to Buffy the Vampire Slayerfor its mix of action, romance, mystery, and moral quandaries, but in this series Aliastruly came into its own—with a climax that came as a total shocker and prepped the show for an emotionally volatile third series. Guest stars included the phenomenal Amy Irving as Sloane's wife, Faye Dunaway as a nefarious bigwig, Christian Slater as a kidnapped scientist, and Ethan Hawke as a fellow CIA agent (or rather, two of them), but it was the dysfunctional nuclear family of Syd, Irina, and father Jack (Victor Garber) that gave Aliasits heart and its strength, whether the three perfectly cast actors (all Emmy nominated) were just bickering or undertaking deadly hand-to-hand combat. —Mark Englehart

Jean-Pierre Jeunet With its use of special effects to express the main character's internal emotions, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Ameliecould have been mistaken for a French version of Ally McBeal; however, unlike Ally——"woe is me for I cannot find a man"—McBeal, Amelie is not distressed by the lack of men in her life, in fact the whole idea of sex seems to amuse her no end. Basic pleasures such as cracking the top of a Crème Brule offer her all the sensual satisfaction she needs and her existence in the "Paris of Dreams" is the stuff of fairy tales. Indeed, this cinematic treat must have worked wonders for the Paris tourist board: Jeunet's beautiful interpretation of Parisian life is depicted in all the vibrant colours you would expect from the director of Delicatessen.

On the DVD:Ameliehas received an additional disc for this special edition release. Disc 1 is the same as the original single-disc release, with a choice of DTS or Dolby 5.1 sound and an 16.9 anamorphic widescreen picture with optional director's commentary. The second disc contains the new special features and, just like original disc, a lot of thought has gone into the access menu with its lavish graphics offering the choice of entering the Café, the Canal or the Station. Yet the most exciting extra in name——"Audrey Tautou's funny face"—is simply a series of out-takes which does little more than allow you to warm to Tautou as a person. The home movie includes the transformation of Tautou into Amelie and the creation of the "photo-booth album". There are also interesting interviews with Jeunet and the cast and crew, and a nice little section themed around the gnome and his travels. Along with this is a storyboard-to-screen exposition, behind-the-scenes pictures, scene tests, teasers and trailers. All in all a decent enough package, but hardly warranting the special edition label. It's hard not to wonder why Momentum didn't offer this set two months earlier. —Nikki Disney

Sam Mendes From its first gliding aerial shot of a generic suburban street, American Beautymoves with a mesmerising confidence and acuity epitomised by Kevin Spacey's calm narration. Spacey is Lester Burnham, a harried Everyman whose midlife awakening is the spine of the story, and his very first lines hook us with their teasing fatalism—like Sunset Boulevard's Joe Gillis, Burnham tells us his story from beyond the grave. It's an audacious start for a film that justifies that audacity. Weaving social satire, domestic tragedy and whodunit into a single package, Alan Ball's first theatrical script dares to blur generic lines and keep us off balance, winking seamlessly from dark, scabrous comedy to deeply moving drama. The Burnham family joins the cinematic short-list of great dysfunctional American families, as Lester is pitted against his manic, materialistic realtor wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening, making the most of a mostly unsympathetic role) and his sullen, contemptuous teenaged daughter, Jane (Thora Birch, utterly convincing in her edgy balance of self-absorption and wistful longing). Into their lives come two catalytic outsiders. A young cheerleader (Mena Suvari) jolts Lester into a sexual epiphany that blooms into a second adolescence. And an eerily calm young neighbour (Wes Bentley) transforms both Lester and Jane with his canny influence. Credit another big-screen newcomer, English theatrical director Sam Mendes, with expertly juggling these potentially disjunctive elements into a superb ensemble piece that achieves a stylised pace without lapsing into transparent self-indulgence. Mendes has shrewdly insured his success with a solid crew of stage veterans, yet he has also made an inspired discovery in Bentley, whose Ricky Fitts becomes a fulcrum for both plot and theme. Cinematographer Conrad Hall's sumptuous visual design further elevates the film, infusing the beige interiors of the Burnhams' lives with vivid bursts of deep crimson, the colour of roses—and of blood. —Sam Sutherland

Ridley Scott A slow burning, yet entirely gripping, mobster film, American Gangsterpits Denzel Washington's Frank Lucas against Russell Crowe's law enforcer Richie Roberts. Spread over a necessarily prolonged running time, their story is then brutally, expertly, told.

And while American Gangsterisn't in the league of prime Scorsese and Coppolla classics (such as Goodfellasand The Godfather), it's the nearest we've come in quite some time to something of that ilk. It's all based on a true story, which does mean you need to forgive it some of its obvious narrative conventions, yet this also lends it a gravitas that the film eagerly makes the most of.

It's great too to see British director Ridley Scott tackling meatier material again. This is the man, after all, who gave us Blade Runner, Alienand Gladiator, and he duly delivers with American Gangster. His finest work it isn't, but an engrossing, explosive and hard-as-nails drama it absolutely is.

What's more, American Gangsteris powered by two of the finest leading men working in Hollywood right now, and it's terrific to see Washington and Crowe on top form here. And while in cinematic terms it's hardly a film that treads new ground, it's nonetheless a proper, grown-up and engrossing movie, and a very good one at that. —Jon Foster

Perhaps the highest compliment you can pay to Edward Norton is that his Oscar-nominated performance in American History Xnearly convinces you that there is a shred of logic in the tenets of white supremacy. If that statement doesn't horrify you, it should; Norton is so fully immersed in his role as a neo-Nazi skinhead that his character's eloquent defense of racism is disturbingly persuasive—at least on the surface. Looking lean and mean with a swastika tattoo and a mind full of hate, Derek Vinyard (Norton) has inherited racism from his father, and that learning has been intensified through his service to Cameron (Stacy Keach), a grown-up thug playing tyrant and teacher to a growing band of disenfranchised teens from Venice Beach, California, all hungry for an ideology that fuels their brooding alienation.

The film's basic message—that hate is learned and can be unlearned—is expressed through Derek's kid brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), whose sibling hero-worship increases after Derek is imprisoned (or, in Danny's mind, martyred) for the killing of two black men. Lacking Derek's gift of rebel rhetoric, Danny is easily swayed into the violent, hateful lifestyle that Derek disowns during his thoughtful time in prison. Once released, Derek struggles to save his brother from a violent fate, and American History Xpartially suffers from a mix of intense emotions, awkward sentiment and predictably inevitable plotting. And yet British director Tony Kaye (who would later protest against Norton's creative intervention during post-production) manages to juggle these qualities—and a compelling clash of visual styles—to considerable effect. No matter how strained their collaboration may have been, both Kaye and Norton can be proud to have created a film that addresses the issue of racism with dramatically forceful impact. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Anyone who's watched just about any teenage film knows that the greatest evil in this world isn't chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, or even the nuclear bomb. The worst crime known to man? Why, virginity, of course. As we've learned from countless films—from Summer of '42to Risky Business—virginity is a criminal burden that one must shed oneself of as quickly as possible. And while many of these films have given the topic a bad name, American Piequietly sweeps in and gives sex some of its dignity back. Dignity, you may say? How can a film that highlights intercourse with fruit pies, premature ejaculation broadcast across the Internet and the gratuitous "gross-out" shots restore the dignity of a genre that's been encumbered with such heavyweights as Porky'sand Losin' It? The plot of American Piemay be typical, with four high-school friends swearing to "score" before the prom, yet the film rises above the muck with its superior cast, successful and sweet humour and some actually rather retro values about the meaning and importance of sex. Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, and Eddie Kaye Thomas make up the odd quartet of pals determined to woo, lie and beg their way to manhood. The young women they pursue are wary girlfriend Vicky (Tara Reid), choir girl Heather (Mena Suvari), band geek Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) and just about any other female who is willing and able. Natasha Lyonne as Jessica, playing a similar role as in Slums of Beverly Hills, is the general advisor to the crowd (when Vicky tells her "I want it to be the right time, the right place," Jessica responds, "It's not a space shuttle launch, it's sex"). The comedic timing hits the mark—especially in the deliberately awkward scenes between Jim (Biggs) and his father (Eugene Levy). And, of course, lessons are learned in this genuinely funny film, which will probably please the adult crowd even more than it will the teenage one. —Jenny Brown

What sounds like a high-concept romantic comedy pitch from hell—widower president falls for smart lobbyist while the world watches—is actually intelligent, charming, touching and quite funny. Granted, it's wish fulfilment all the way (when was the last time you saw a president who was trulypresidential?) but in the capable hands of writer Aaron Sorkin (TV's Sports Night) and director Rob Reiner, TheAmerican Presidentis incredibly enjoyable entertainment with quite a few ideas about both romance and the government. Michael Douglas stars as the president, who after three years in office starts thinking about the possibility of dating. When he auspiciously encounters cutthroat environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening), sparks begin to crackle and the two begin a tentative but heartfelt romance. Of course, his job gets in the way—their first kiss is interrupted by a Libyan bombing—but darn it if these two kids aren't going to try and make it work! However, they hadn't counted on the president's Republican antagonist (Richard Dreyfuss), who starts carping about family values. The predictable plot—Douglas finally goes to bat for his lady and his country—is leavened by Sorkin's wonderful, snappy dialogue and a light touch from the usually subtle-as-a-sledgehammer Reiner. Both manage to create a believable White House-office atmosphere (with a crack staff including Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, Anna Deavere Smith and Samantha Mathis) as well as a plausible and funny dating scenario. The true success of the movie, though, rides squarely on Douglas and Bening; this is unequivocally Douglas's best comedic performance (ergo his best performance, period) and Bening, usually such a good bad girl, takes a standard career-woman role and fleshes it out magnificently. You can see in an instant why Douglas would fall for her. One of the best unsung romantic comedies of the 90s. —Mark Englehart

Mary Harron

Tony Goldwyn

Digitally remastered with 49 minutes of previously unseen footage, Apocalypse Now Reduxis the reference standard of Francis Coppola's 1979 epic. A metaphorical hallucination of the Vietnam War, the film was reconstructed by Coppola and editor Walter Murch to enrich themes and clarify the ending. On that basis Reduxis a qualified success, more coherent than the original while inviting the same accusations of directorial excess. The restored "French plantation" sequence adds ghostly resonance to the war's absurdity, and Willard's theft of Colonel Kurtz's beloved surfboard adds welcomed humor to the film's nightmarish upriver journey. An encounter with Playboy Playmates seems superfluous compared to the enhanced interplay between Willard and his ill-fated boat crew, but compensation arrives in the hellish Kurtz compound, where Willard's mission—and the performances of Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando—reach even greater heights of insanity, thus validating Reduxas the rightful heir to Coppola's triumphantly rampant ambition. —Jeff Shannon

John Badham This is one of those Hollywood remakes of a European hit in which one can visualize a committee of studio executives sitting around and saying, "Okay, we know what made the original film unique and different and fun. How can we make that same movie and do exactly the opposite?" For-hire director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) took La Femme Nikita, Luc Besson's undeniably sexy, original, and kitschy French film about a female assassin, and translated it into The Assassin, a calculating, mechanistic American thriller with no distinctive style. Bridget Fonda gamely plays the willowy street punk who becomes a high-society killer, but once that provocative irony is in place, the movie is pretty much a series of by-the-numbers action set pieces. Until, that is, Dermot Mulroney shows up as a love interest; but even that twist can't save this film. You're much better off with the original, subtitles and all. The DVD release has optional full-screen and widescreen presentations, production notes, theatrical trailer, optional French and Spanish soundtracks, and optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles. —Tom Keogh, Amazon.com

Irwin Winkler The tagline states, "Only love can bring you to your senses." Well, your senses have to be pretty dulled to love At First Sight. On paper the story—based on the writings of medical writer extraordinaire Oliver Sacks (Awakenings)—is intriguing: a blind man regains sight after surgery yet can never connect with what he sees, including a lovely new girlfriend. Indeed, maybe blind was better. From such interesting stuff (and a talented cast) comes a tepid love story and an unconvincing drama.

Val Kilmer plays Virgil, a serene resort worker who plays hockey in the dark and is the best masseur this side of the Catskills. Onto his table comes Amy, a bone-weary NYC architect (Mira Sorvino) who cries the first time Virgil does his magic. Instead of a voyage into the world of blindness, Amy's first instinct is to take Virgil to an eye doctor who can restore sight (Bruce Davison). Virgil receives sight, crumbling the trust between him and Amy. The clichés start building up and by the time Amy is wooed by her ex-husband (Steven Weber), her boss no less, one's patience wears thin.

The medical curiosities of the story—Virgil can see an item but can't grasp what it is until he touches it—do not translate well on screen. The film's liveliest character is Nathan Lane as a teacher of the blind. A scene with Virgil that gets to the heart of his ailment is so filled with spontaneity, one wonders if it was scripted or simply Lane's own extemporaneous dialogue. After an admirable start as a director (Guilty by Suspicion), Oscar-winning producer Irwin Winkler has not been able to put cinematic highs or believable angst into his films (The Net, Night in the City). At First Sightmay look good but it is blind where it counts. —Doug Thomas

Jay Roach

Jay Roach "I put the grrr in swinger, baby!" a deliciously randy Austin Powers coos near the beginning of The Spy Who Shagged Me and if the imagination of Austin creator Mike Myers seems to have sagged a bit, his energy surely hasn't. This friendly, go-for-broke sequel to 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery finds our man Austin heading back to the 1960s to keep perennial nemesis Dr. Evil (Myers again) from blowing up the world—and, more importantly, to get back his mojo, that man-juice that turns Austin into irresistible catnip for women, especially American spygirl Felicity Shagwell (a pretty but vacant Heather Graham). The plot may be irreverent and illogical, the jokes may be bad (with characters named Ivana Humpalot and Robin Swallows, née Spitz), and the scenes may run on too long, but it's all delivered sunnily and with tongue firmly in cheek.

Myers's true triumph, though, is his turn as the neurotic Dr Evil, who tends to spout the right cultural reference at exactly the wrong time (referring to his moon base as a "Death Star" with Moon Units Alpha and Zappa—in 1969). Myers teams Dr Evil with a diminutive clone, Mini-Me (Verne J Troyer), who soon replaces slacker son Scott Evil (Seth Green) as the apple of the doctor's eye; Myers and Troyer work magic in what could plausibly be one of the year's most affecting (and hysterically funny) love stories. Despite a stellar supporting cast—including a sly Rob Lowe as Robert Wagner's younger self and Mindy Sterling as the forbidding Frau Farbissina—it—it's basically Myers's show, and he pulls a hat trick by playing a third character, the obese and disgusting Scottish assassin Fat Bastard. Many viewers will reel in disgust at Mr Bastard's repulsive antics and the scatological jokes Myers indulges in, including one showstopper involving coffee and—shudder—a stool sample. Still, Myers's good humour and dead-on cultural references win the day; Austin is one spy who proves he can still shag like a minx. —Mark Englehart

Jay Roach

Has Hollywood produced many more rounded, enjoyable trilogies such as this? We think not, and it's real testament to the quality of the Back To The Futuretrilogy that it all holds up so spectacularly well over twenty years since the first film appeared.

The films, as you probably know, following the time-travelling antics of Marty McFly, played by Michael J Fox, and Dr Emmett Brown, brought wonderfully to life by Christopher Lloyd. Across the three films, Marty and the Doc head back to the old west, meet Marty's kids in the future, nearly ruin the meeting between his parents in the past, and all the while deal with the unwelcome interference of Biff Tannen and his family tree.

Bluntly, for sheer excitement, these movies are hard to beat. Mixing in tightly woven scripts with good effects, lively direction and an endearing set of performances from a superbly-chosen cast, the whole trilogy is just tremendously good fun. Fox and Lloyd must take a good chunk of credit for that, as their on-screen partnership is in many ways the glue that sticks everything so firmly in place, but conversely, it feels odd singling them out when so much else has gone right.

A worthy addition to any DVD collection, the Back To The Future Trilogyis what can happen when Hollywood really works. From the carefully layered screenplays through to the proliferation of standout moments, you can only hope that the occasional rumours of a fourth instalment continue to prove false. After all, how can the filmmakers possibly match their achievements with these three?—Simon Brew

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

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

Roger Vadim

Tim Burton Thanks to the ambitious vision of director Tim Burton, the blockbuster hit of 1989 delivers the goods despite an occasionally spotty script, giving the caped crusader a thorough overhaul in keeping with the crime fighter's evolution in DC Comics. Michael Keaton strikes just the right mood as the brooding "Dark Knight" of Gotham City; Kim Basinger plays Gotham's intrepid reporter Vicki Vale; and Jack Nicholson goes wild as the maniacal and scene-stealing Joker, who plots a takeover of the city with his lethal Smilex gas. Triumphant Oscar-winning production design by the late Anton Furst turns Batmaninto a visual feast, and Burton brilliantly establishes a darkly mythic approach to Batman's legacy. Danny Elfman's now-classic score propels the action with bold, muscular verve. —Jeff Shannon

Joel Schumacher Following Val Kilmer's portrayal of the caped crusader in Batman Forever, the fourth Batmanfeature 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 & Robinoffers an overdose of eye candy, but it is strictly for devoted Bat-o-philes. —Jeff Shannon

Batman Beginsdiscards the previous four films in the series and recasts the Caped Crusader as a fearsome avenging angel. That's good news, because the series, which had gotten off to a rousing start under Tim Burton, had gradually dissolved into self-parody by 1997's Batman & Robin. As the title implies, Batman Beginstells the story anew, when Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) flees Western civilization following the murder of his parents. He is taken in by a mysterious instructor named Ducard (Liam Neeson in another mentor role) and urged to become a ninja in the League of Shadows, but he instead returns to his native Gotham City resolved to end the mob rule that is strangling it. But are there forces even more sinister at hand?

Co-written by the team of David S. Goyer (a veteran comic book writer) and director Christopher Nolan (Memento), Batman Beginsis a welcome return to the grim and gritty version of the Dark Knight, owing a great debt to the graphic novels that preceded it. It doesn't have the razzle dazzle, or the mass appeal, of Spider-Man 2(though the Batmobile is cool), and retelling the origin means it starts slowly, like most "first" superhero movies. But it's certainly the best Bat-film since Burton's original, and one of the best superhero movies of its time. Bale cuts a good figure as Batman, intense and dangerous but with some of the lightheartedness Michael Keaton brought to the character. Michael Caine provides much of the film's humor as the family butler, Alfred, and as the love interest, Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) is surprisingly believable in her first adult role. Also featuring Gary Oldman as the young police officer Jim Gordon, Morgan Freeman as a Q-like gadgets expert, and Cillian Murphy as the vile Jonathan Crane. —David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

Joel Schumacher When Tim Burton and Michael Keaton announced that they'd had enough of the Batmanfranchise, director Joel Schumacher stepped in (with Burton as coproducer) to make this action-packed extravaganza starring Val Kilmer as the caped crusader. Batman is up against two of Gotham City's most colorful criminals, the Riddler (a role tailor-made for funnyman Jim Carrey) and the diabolical Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), who join forces to conquer Gotham's population with a brain-draining device. Nicole Kidman plays the seductive psychologist who wants to know what makes Batman tick. Boasting a redesigned Batmobile and plenty of new Bat hardware, Batman Foreveralso introduces Robin the Boy Wonder (Chris O'Donnell) whose close alliance with Batman led more than a few critics to ponder the series' homoerotic subtext. No matter how you interpret it, Schumacher's take on the Batmanlegacy is simultaneously amusing, lavishly epic, and prone to chronic sensory overload. —Jeff Shannon

Tim Burton The first Batmansequel takes a wicked turn with the villainous exploits of the freakish and mean-spirited Penguin (Danny DeVito), whose criminal collaboration with evil tycoon Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) threatens to drain Gotham City of its energy supply. As if that weren't enough, Batman (Michael Keaton) has his hands full with the vengeful Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), who turns out to be a lot more dangerous than a kitten with a whip. As with the first Batmanfeature, director Tim Burton brings his distinct visual style to the frantic action, but this time there's a darker malevolence lurking beneath all that extraordinary production design. —Jeff Shannon

Tim Burton Before making Batman, director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton teamed up for this popular black comedy about a young couple (Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin) whose premature death leads them to a series of wildly bizarre afterlife exploits. As ghosts in their own New England home, they're faced with the challenge of scaring off the pretentious new owners (Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones), whose daughter (Winona Ryder) has an affinity for all things morbid. Keaton plays the mischievous Beetlejuice, a freelance "bio-exorcist" who's got an evil agenda behind his plot to help the young undead newlyweds. The film is a perfect vehicle for Burton's visual style and twisted imagination, with clever ideas and gags packed into every scene. Beetlejuice is also a showcase for Keaton, who tackles his title role with maniacal relish and a dark edge of menace.—Jeff Shannon

Julian Schnabel Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Fallsis artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiatwas relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Fallsuses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Timemagazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem—the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination—inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here—visual, dramatic, and literal—and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. —Jeff Shannon

While too many films suffer the fate of creative bankruptcy, Being John Malkovichis 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 takes a job 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 co-worker (Catherine Keener), Cusack's dowdy wife (a barely recognisable Cameron Diaz), and a business scheme to capitalise 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, playing 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 Malkovichis a wild place to visit. —Jeff Shannon

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 Fishtwines in and out of the oversized stories of Edward Bloom, played as a young man by Ewan McGregor and as a dying father by Albert Finney. Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup) 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 idealised southern town, a travelling circus and much more. The result is sweet but—thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility—never saccharine. The film also features Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito and Steve Buscemi. —Bret Fetzer

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen The Big Lebowski, a casually amusing follow-up from the prolifically inventive Coen brothers (Ethan and Joel), seems like a bit of a lark and the result was a box-office disappointment. It's lazy plot is part of its laidback charm. After all, how many movies can claim as their hero a pot-bellied, pot-smoking loser named Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) who spends most of his time bowling and getting stoned? And where else could you find a hair-netted Latino bowler named Jesus (John Turturro) who sports dazzling purple footgear, or an erotic artist (Julianne Moore) whose creativity consists of covering her naked body in paint, flying through the air in a leather harness, and splatting herself against a giant canvas? Who else but the Coens would think of showing you a camera view from inside the holes of a bowling ball, or an elaborate Busby Berkely-styled musical dream sequence involving a Viking goddess and giant bowling pins?

The plot—which finds Lebowski involved in a kidnapping scheme after he's mistaken for a rich guy with the same name—is almost beside the point. What counts here is a steady cascade of hilarious dialogue, great work from Coen regulars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi, and the kind of cinematic ingenuity that puts the Coens in a class all their own. —Jeff Shannon

Black Books One of the few genuinely outstanding British comedy shows of the past decade, Black Books unites excellent comedic performances, very funny scripts, and plenty of rewatch value. The concept is simple enough. Bernard (expertly played by Dylan Moran) runs a bookshop. The only problems are he can't stand people, hates customers, and would far prefer to be barking out cutting remarks and drinking wine. Still, it's after drinking much of the aforementioned wine that he offers Manny (Bill Bailey, again in terrific form) a job. Manny accepts, and finds his daily life involves taking abuse from Bernard, while remaining strangely and resolutely upbeat. Fran (Tamsin Greig) meanwhile also likes her wine, and finds herself stuck between the two of them, with a few odd encounters of her own thrown in too.

So far nothing particularly out of the ordinary, right? Well, mix in some of the creative force behind Father Ted, combine those aforementioned performances, and simmer to the point where episode after episode garners a cocktail of sniggers and belly laughs, and you have something really rather special. Like many of the best shows, the curtain has come down on Black Books after only three series. But the long-lasting legacy are episodes that are set to be enjoyed for a long, long time to come. —Simon Brew

One of the best comedy series ever to emerge from England, Black Adder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of World War I. In his pre-Mr Bean triumph, British comic actor Rowan Atkinson played all five versions of Edmund, beginning with the villainous and cowardly Duke of Edinburgh, whose scheming mind and awful haircut seem to stand him in good stead to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury — a deadly occupation if ever there was one. Among tales of royal dethronings, Black Death, witch-smellers (who root out spell-makers with their noses), and ghosts, Edmund is a perennial survivor who never quite gets ahead in multiple episodes. Jump to the Elizabethan era and Atkinson picks up the saga as Lord Edmund, who is perpetually courting favour from mad Queen Bess (Miranda Richardson) and is always walking a tightrope from which he can either gain the world or lose his head. Subjected to bizarre services for her majesty (at one point, Edmund is asked to do for potatoes what Sir Walter Raleigh did for tobacco), Edmund — like his ancestor — can never quite fulfill his larger ambitions. The next incarnation we encounter is in late-18th-century Regency England. This time, Blackadder is a mere butler to the idiotic Prince Regent (Hugh Laurie in a brilliantly buffoonish performance) and is caught in various misadventures with Samuel Johnson, Shakespearean actors, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and William Pitt the younger. With a brief stop in Victorian London for a Christmas special, the series concludes with several episodes set during the Great War. The new Edmund is a career army officer, but a scoundrel all the same. Shirking his duties whenever possible and taking advantage of any opportunity for undeserved reward, this final, deeply sour, and very funny Blackadder negotiates survival among a cadre of fools and dimwits. No small mention can be made of Atkinson's supporting cast, easily among the finest comic performers of their generation: besides Laurie and Richardson, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny. —Tom Keogh

The recipe for Bladeis quite simple; you take one part Batman, one part horror flick, and two parts kung fu, and frost it all over with some truly camp acting. What do you get? An action flick that will reaffirm your belief that the superhero action genre will never die. Bladeis 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 a food source. Born half-human and half-vampire after his mother had been attacked by a bloodsucker, 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 brought by Snipes 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 animesprinkled 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

Ridley Scott

David S. Goyer

Hugh Wilson Coasting on the successes of Gods and Monstersand George of the Jungle, Brendan Fraser turns in yet another winning performance in this fish-out-of-water comedy in which Pleasantvillemeets modern-day Los Angeles, with predictably funny results. Fraser stars as Adam, who was born in the bomb shelter of his paranoid inventor dad (a less-manic-than-usual Christopher Walken), who spirited his pregnant wife (Sissy Spacek, in fine comic form) underground when he thought the Communists dropped the bomb (actually, it was a plane crash). Armed with enough supplies to last 35 years, the parents bring up Adam in Leave It to Beaverstyle with nary any exposure to the outside world. When the supplies run out, and dad suffers a heart attack, Fraser goes up to modern-day LA for some shopping and long-awaited culture shock. More of a cute premise with lots of clever ideas attached than a fully fleshed out story, Blast from the Pastis also supposed to be part romantic comedy, as the hunky Adam hooks up with his jaded Eve (Alicia Silverstone) and tries to convince her to marry him and go underground. The sparks don't fly, though, because Silverstone is saddled with the triple whammy of being miscast, playing an underwritten character, and suffering a very bad hairdo. Fraser, however, carries the film lightly and easily on his broad, goofy shoulders, mixing Adam's gee-whiz innocence with genuine emotion and curiosity; only Fraser could pull off Adam's first glimpse of a sunrise or the ocean with both humour and pathos. Also winning is Dave Foley as Silverstone's gay best friend, who manages to make the most innocuous statements sound like comic gems. — Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Ted Demme A briskly paced hybrid of Boogie Nightsand Goodfellas, Blowchronicles the three-decade rise and fall of George Jung (Johnny Depp), a normal American kid who makes a personal vow against poverty, builds a marijuana empire in the 1960s, multiplies his fortune with the Colombian Medellín cocaine cartel, and blows it all with a series of police busts culminating in one final, long-term jail sentence. "Your dad's a loser," says this absentee father to his estranged but beloved daughter, and he's right: Blowis the story of a nice guy who made wrong choices all his life, almost single-handedly created the American cocaine trade and got exactly what he deserved. Directed by Ted Demme, the film is vibrantly entertaining, painstakingly authentic... and utterly aimless in terms of overall purpose. We can't sympathise with Jung's meteoric rise to wealth and the wild life, and Demme isn't suggesting that we should idolise a drug dealer. So what, exactly, is the point of Blow? Simply, it seems, to present Jung's story as the epitome of the coke-driven glory days, and to suggest, ever so subtly, that Jung isn't such a bad guy, after all. Anyone curious about his lifestyle will find this film amazing, and there's plenty of humour mixed with the constant threat of violence and paranoid anxiety. Demme has also populated the film with a fantastic supporting cast (although Penelopé Cruz grows tiresome as Jung's hedonistic wife), and this is certainly a compelling look at the other side of Traffic. Still, one wishes that Blowhad a more viable reason for being: like a wild party, it leaves you with a hangover and a vague feeling of regret. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Paddy Breathnach Despite a gifted Anglo-American cast, Blow Drystrikes an uneasy balance between sentiment and camp. It aims for the same sort of high-wire act that Strictly Ballroomand Priscilla, Queen of the Desertpulled off so effortlessly, but melodrama wins the day. The comic moments are suitably over the top (as expected in a film about duelling hairdressers), but rarely as amusing as intended. The relationships between barbershop owner Phil (Alan Rickman), ex-wife Shelley (Natasha Richardson) and Sandra (Rachel Griffiths), "the other woman", could be more fully developed but are affecting nonetheless. The setting is West Yorkshire. The event that brings them together is the British National Hairdressing Championships. Phil initially resists the urge to compete as it reminds him of the success he and Shelley once enjoyed, but his son Brian (Josh Hartnett) convinces him to give it a go. Hartnett and Rachael Leigh Cook (She's All That), as the daughter of Phil's old nemesis, seem like peculiar casting choices for a British film, but Hartnett's accent is passable (Cook plays an American) and they don't embarrass themselves as much as supermodel Heidi Klum, who plays a tacky, two-timing hair model. The screenplay is by Simon Beaufoy of Full Montyfame. Although not up to that standard—and certainly no match for Shampoo(the greatest hairdressing movie of all time)—Blow Dryis still a good showcase for the talents of its three leads. —Kathleen C Fennessy

On The DVD:Blow Dry's on disc anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer holds a great spectrum or colour. A film about hairdressing needs to faithfully recreate the lavish, over-the-top barnets in all their glorious Technicolor detail and luckily the result is a rich and detailed film with excellent colour saturation throughout. In terms of extras, the film is pretty much left to speak for itself. A blink and you’ll miss it "making of" documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew and an eclectic collection of trailers for such other comedies as She's All Thatand Muriel's Weddingare all that you get to while away the post feature presentation minutes. –-Kristen Bowditch

John Stockwell With refreshing energy, Blue Crushis the kind of movie that girls and young women deserve to see more of. It's mostly for them (although nice tans and bikinis will attract the guys), and it rejuvenates the surf-movie tradition by showing real girls with real friendships, coping with absent parents, borderline poverty, rocky romance, and the challenge of raising a kid sister. For young Hawaiian Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth), those responsibilities are motivations to excel as a champion-class surfer—if she can overcome the fear of drowning, which she nearly did in a previous wipeout. Supportive friends (Girlfight's Michelle Rodriguez, and Sanoe Lake) help her reach the climactic competition on Oahu's infamous Bonzai Pipeline, and like Saturday Night Fever, this engaging film uplifts the working class without condescension, riding high toward the joy of achievement. As an amateur surfer, director John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful) captures the extreme thrill of the sport while respecting the forces of nature and human behaviour. —Jeff Shannon

David Lynch

Doug Liman After years of increasingly farcical action movies, the old-school of espionage thriller makes a welcome return in The Bourne Identity, director Doug Liman's take on Robert Ludlum's bestseller. Though this story of a US government assassin with amnesia on the run across Europe has previously been filmed as a Richard Chamberlain mini-series, this version is much more in the spirit of John Frankenheimer's ice cool nail-bitters (indeed, Frankenheimer made the previous Ludlum cinema adaptation, The Holocroft Covenantback in 1985). The plot here more reflects Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate(1962), while the Paris setting and superb car chase evoke, though not quite surpass, Ronin(1998).

It's a great pleasure to find a blockbuster that's intent on real suspense; and while The Bourne Identityhas plentiful action, the set-pieces are played straight to tellingly tense effect. Damon is compelling and there's excellent support from Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Clive Owen. If a couple of questions are left unanswered, there are no gaping plot holes to destroy credibility, and the merciless, cold-blooded battle for survival delivers a chilling, gripping two-hour ride. Oddly enough, Damon's buddy, Ben Affleck, simultaneously starred in The Sum of All Fears, a virtual remake of Frankenheimer's electrifying Black Sunday(1977).

On the DVD:The Bourne Identityis presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 in a near flawless transfer that perfectly captures the bleak, wintry look of Oliver Wood's cinematography and there are DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Extras include an alternative ending and one extended scene, all in poor non-anamorphic 2.35:1, which add little or nothing. A Moby video is strictly for fans, and a 14-minute featurette is a shallow MTV-style promotional piece. Also included is the theatrical trailer and sneaks for The Hulkand Johnny English, as well as a section of DVD-ROM material. The only extra of substance is Doug Liman's commentary; fortunately the director proves a great host, packing his track with fascinating information. —Gary S Dalkin

Paul Greengrass Good enough to suggest long-term franchise potential, The Bourne Supremacyis 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 Identityleft 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

Paul Greengrass There's no getting around it: there was simply no better summer blockbuster in 2007 than the astonishing The Bourne Ultimatum.