He was driven by a burning desire for justice and revenge!

He was driven by a burning desire for justice and revenge!

Three days in the summer of 1863, at a place called Gettysburg. Although it received a theatrical release, this four-hour depiction of the bloody Civil War battle was shot as a made-for-television film. But no taint of cheapness or shortcuts should stick to this magnificent picture (well, except maybe for those phony-looking mustaches). Based on Michael Shaara's book The Killer Angels, this film takes a refreshingly slow, thorough approach to the intricacies of battle. In ordinary circumstances, those intricacies might seem of importance only to fans of military strategy or Civil War enthusiasts, yet in Gettysburg they come across as the very stuff of life, death, and unexpected heroism. If the film has a problem, it's that it climaxes too early: the first long segment, detailing the struggle of a "civilian soldier," Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), to hold his ground against long odds, is an enthralling piece of moviemaking. Daniels, in a heartbreaking performance, does his best film work. Other cast members include Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. Richard Jordan, in his final role, gives a powerhouse performance as Confederate general Lewis A. [+]

The last of the three great films that V. I. Pudovkin directed in the 1920s, Storm over Asia (1928) is an acknowledged classic of Soviet silent cinema. Filmed largely on location in Mongolia, the film has an authentic documentary feel, though the story is a stirring melodrama, about a young fur trapper who is mistreated by the occupying forces in the civil war and becomes a leader of the partisans. Pudovkin enjoys caricaturing the foreign (British) troops and the medieval rituals of a Buddhist temple, but it's out on the steppes that he really comes into his own, with panoramic shots of the vast landscapes. Together with Mother (1926) and The End of St. Petersburg (1927), Storm over Asia (also known as The Heir to Genghis Khan) entitles Pudovkin to be ranked with Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov as a master of the Soviet montage style, which he expounded in his book Film Technique (1929). -Ed Buscombe.

Three days in the summer of 1863, at a place called Gettysburg. Although it received a theatrical release, this four-hour depiction of the bloody Civil War battle was shot as a made-for-television film. But no taint of cheapness or shortcuts should stick to this magnificent picture (well, except maybe for those phony-looking mustaches). Based on Michael Shaara's book The Killer Angels, this film takes a refreshingly slow, thorough approach to the intricacies of battle. In ordinary circumstances, those intricacies might seem of importance only to fans of military strategy or Civil War enthusiasts, yet in Gettysburg they come across as the very stuff of life, death, and unexpected heroism. If the film has a problem, it's that it climaxes too early: the first long segment, detailing the struggle of a "civilian soldier," Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), to hold his ground against long odds, is an enthralling piece of moviemaking. Daniels, in a heartbreaking performance, does his best film work. Other cast members include Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. Richard Jordan, in his final role, gives a powerhouse performance as Confederate general Lewis A. [+]

The Invincible Iron Man This installment of Marvel Comics cartoons features the invincible Iron Man. In "The Death of Tony Stark," a laser beam emitted from a mysterious satellite orbiting the Earth destroys the home of wealthy industrialist Tony Stark. Iron Man's alter ego has obviously dodged the strike, but cannot disprove the rumor that Stark is dead until he confronts the culprit, the Mandarin. In "The Crimson Dynamo," Iron Man faces Soviet electrical genius Professor Vanko, who has designed his own suit of crimson armor in order to defeat Iron Man as the first step to destroying the ultimate capitalist, Stark Enterprises. These stories, rather dated in their cold-war depiction of the Chinese and the Soviets, are each divided into three six-minute serial-type segments. The animation is minimal, restricted mostly to camera zooms and moving limbs and mouths, punctuated by Batman-style sound effects ("Wham!"). -David Horiuchi The Incredible Hulk There was some amazing, classic animation done for superhero cartoons as far back as Max & Dave Fleisher's Superman series of the early 1940s (echoes of which can be found in Batman: The Animated Series). Those were done for the big screen; by the mid-1960s, superhero cartoons were being brought to television, and some of Marvel Comics' biggest heroes-Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, and the Incredible Hulk-were the stars. Unfortunately, television didn't have much in terms of cachet-or production values-at the time, and all four heroes suffer for it. The Hulk gets short shrift here; the interesting thing about the character has always been twofold: the misunderstood misfit trying to make a quiet life for himself, and the Dr. [+]

In this Cold War thriller, Charlie Muffin has survived a death trap set by his own colleagues. Now they seem to need him more than ever as a top Soviet General has agreed to defect. Muffin suspects another trap - but in this no-win game, he?s prepared to break all the rules to survive.