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. [+]

This title is a compilation of best bouts from PANCRASE TRUTH TOUR 1996, Vol. 1. Pancrase is a mixed-martial arts competition and promoter in Japan. The origin of the name "PANCRASE" dates back to the ancient Greeks who had a sports competition called "PANCRATIUM". Today, noble warriors from around the globe descend upon Japan to battle in one of the most exciting events in modern-day athletic competition. Martial arts techniques used in the PANCRASE matches include Wrestling, Judo, Boxing, Sambo, Karate, Jujitsu, Kenpo and Thai Boxing.

The third of a series of Swedish mysteries featuring small-town Police Inspector Kurt Wallander (based on the novels of Henning Mankell), this one drops the doughy, middle-aged crime solver in the midst of an international conspiracy. It all starts in South Africa, when a pro-apartheid conspirator sends a gaunt, steely-eyed former KGB assassin (icy Jesper Christensen) and a black hit man to Sweden to train for a unnamed killing. The sleepy little town gets a jolt when their hideout is destroyed in a fireball and the remains found in the ashes-a precision firearm, a sophisticated, high-powered radio, and a severed human thumb-lead Wallander back to South Africa. The scenes of beefy Nordic Wallander in a sea of black faces, appalled at the poverty and a little out of his element but always the egalitarian Swede, are among the best of the movie. Rolf Lassgård plays Wallander as a modest, amiable everyman and a dogged investigator tossed into an extreme situation, fumbling at a shootout and clumsily giving chase through frozen city streets but never shirking duty or danger. Director Pelle Berglund sets a deliberate, at times dawdling pace hampered by obscure side trips into Wallander's private life, but fills the film with a combustible conspiracy and terrific characters, notably Christensen's arrogant, icy killer and Basil Appollis's cool, charismatic South African police detective, John September. -Sean Axmaker.

The problem with live-action movies based on beloved cartoon characters is that humans are never as flexible, as unpredictable, or just plain as goofy as their animated counterparts. So it is with this blend of animation and live action. Rocky and Bullwinkle remain animated characters (trapped in our reality), while Boris and Natasha (Jason Alexander and Rene Russo), along with their boss, Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro), are transformed from cartoons to human reproductions when they escape from rerun land. They've come to our world to take it over; the FBI springs Rocky and Bullwinkle from the second dimension to stop them. But the writing in Kenneth Lonergan's script lacks the throw-away flair of the jokes that characterized Jay Ward's much-beloved animated series of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Part of the problem is that Russo, Alexander, and De Niro are so obviously working at acting cartoonish, instead of simply being cartoons. And part is that the script rarely comes up with the kind of wonderful wordplay in which Ward specialized. The moose, as usual, gets all the best lines, but they're too few and far between to salvage this underachieving summer film. -Marshall Fine.

Six hours of monosyllabic John Rambo high jinks, best savored in surround sound (for the bone-rattling explosions) and with your brain on pause (for everything else). Sylvester Stallone's second signature character, after Rocky, a seething ex-Green Beret killing machine, went from Viet-vet victim in the original picture, First Blood, flipping out over the ingratitude of his beloved homeland, to a muscle-bound terminator in Rambo III, mowing down Commies in the deserts of Afghanistan. You should consider bypassing the boxed set in favor of just the middle chapter, Rambo: First Blood Part 2, written by James Cameron and directed by George Pan Cosmotos. It's the most balanced and satisfying of the three films: Rambo is dropped back into 'Nam to rescue some POWs, and the action builds steadily in scale and ferocity. Each fireball seems to be bigger than the last. Of all the recent headbanger action movies, only the first Die Hard offers more bang for the buck. The underrated character actor Richard Crenna (a standout sleazebag in Body Heat), as Rambo's military mentor and staunch defender, is the series' secret weapon, providing some welcome human ballast. -David Chute.

Lewis Milestone was Hollywood's premier director of war films (starting with his 1930 Academy Award winner All Quiet on the Western Front), and Edge of Darkness is among his finest. Warner Bros. ' biggest star Errol Flynn gets top billing, but his performance-remarkable for its unaccustomed sobriety-is only one admirable part of a strong ensemble. This underscores the theme of a remote Norwegian fishing village of 800 united selflessly in resistance to the 150 German troops garrisoned in their midst during World War II. Robert Rossen's screenplay is essentially a variation on the sturdy proletarian fables he'd been writing for Warners (the only outright unsympathetic Norwegian is the owner of the cannery!); every character in the large cast is sharply defined, taking his or her place in a nuanced allegory of the myriad ethical, political, and emotional tensions of occupation and resistance. But what blows you away-besides the dramatic subject matter, the unorthodox Norway setting, and the eruptions of stark violence and atrocity-is Milestone's powerful direction and ultra-kinetic visuals. A town meeting conducted in the guise of an evening church service, with townsfolk arguing and interacting while continuing to face forward in their pews, is a brilliant set-piece; and throughout the film there are startling uses of a zoom lens (virtually unheard-of at the time), especially in the explosive action climax. To cite only the most stellar performers, Walter Huston and Ruth Gordon play the town doctor and his wife, Judith Anderson is Flynn's sister (hating herself for loving "good German" Tonio Selwart), Ann Sheridan plays Flynn's love interest and fellow resistance leader, and Helmut Dantine rattles the rafters as the German commandant, bitter at being stranded in a backwater of the war. Terrific movie. -Richard T. [+]

John F. Kennedy lived long enough to see this Hollywood account of his Navy career and his heroism following a ruthless attack by a Japanese ship on his small patrol craft. Cliff Robertson is an amiable choice to play Kennedy, though one won't find a lot of the late president's mannerisms in his performance. The key battle sequence, which finds Kennedy and his crew bloodied and battered while trying to stay alive in shark-infested waters, makes a big impression on young viewers. -Tom Keogh.