Something's wrong in the town of Santa Mira, California. At first, Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is unconcerned when the townsfolk accuse their loved ones of acting like emotionless imposters. But soon the evidence is overwhelming-Santa Mira has been invaded by alien "pods" that are capable of replicating humans and taking possession of their identities. It's up to McCarthy to spread the word of warning, battling the alien invasion at the risk of his own life. Considered one of the best science fiction films of the 1950s and '60s, this classic paranoid thriller was widely interpreted as a criticism of the McCarthy era (that's Senator Joseph, not actor Kevin), which was characterized by anticommunist witch-hunts and fear of the dreaded blacklist. Some hailed it as an attack on the oppressive power of government as Big Brother. However viewers interpret it, this original 1956 version of Invaders of the Body Snatchers (based on Jack Finney's serialized novel The Body Snatchers) remains a milestone movie in its genre, directed by Don Siegel with an inventive intensity that continues to pack an entertaining wallop. Look closely and you'll find future director Sam Peckinpah (an uncredited cowriter of this film) making a cameo appearance as a meter reader! -Jeff Shannon.

Ingmar Bergman achieved international stardom with this classic melancholy comedy about the romantic entanglements of three 19th-century couples during a weekend at a country estate. It's exactly what you'd expect from a bedroom farce filtered through the ideas and eyes of Bergman: sharp, serious, pensive, austerely sexy, and ultimately sobering. Still, anyone who thought the Swedish filmmaker was incapable of a little fun has only to watch Bergman's orchestrations of these dangerous liaisons. Prosperous lawyer Fredrik (Gunnar Björnstrand) is married to the comely young Anne (Ulla Jacobsson), who (despite his best efforts) remains a virgin. Henrik (Björn Bjelfvenstam), Fredrik's grown son from a previous marriage, is desperately in love with Anne-and having an affair with the maid (Harriet Andersson)-despite the torturings of his pious soul. When actress Desiree (Eva Dahlbeck), Fredrik's former mistress, breezes into town, Fredrick pays her a visit, only to find himself jealous of her relationship with the piggish Count Malcolm (Jarl Kulle), who just happens to be married to Anne's best friend, the depressed and suicidal Charlotte (Margit Carlqvist); both women have a decided bone to pick with Desiree. All convene at the estate of Desiree's mother for a weekend of confrontations, illicit romance, dinner, dueling, and eventual pairing with the right romantic partner. Bergman winningly conveys the aspects of love among both the young and the old-those who feel they'll live forever and those whose impending mortality colors their actions. Absolutely brilliant and heartfelt, a true cinematic masterpiece. The basis for Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, of "Send in the Clowns" fame. [+]

This underrated Richard Lester film is really a classic-and one of the most romantic movies ever made. Working from James Goldman's script, Lester casts Sean Connery as an aged Robin Hood, returned after years away at the Crusades with an increasingly mad King Richard (Richard Harris). Robin and Little John (a very funny Nicol Williamson) return to find that the sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw) is up to his old nasty tricks-and that Maid Marian (Audrey Hepburn) is now a nun. Lester brings the same touch to this period film that he did to The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers, blending authenticity with a knowing wink at the conventions of period films. But the heart of this film is the very palpable emotion between Hepburn and Connery (and between Connery and Williamson). The ending is guaranteed three hankies, minimum. -Marshall Fine.

This sci-fi road journey is set in the near future (1999-six years after the film was initially released). Human civilization has been devastated by a mysterious wind that erased everyone's memories-even the basics of language and self-care that real amnesia doesn't affect. Their minds wiped clean, the survivors haunt the ruined cities, scavenging for food. Wateru ("traveler" in Japanese), whose mind was laboriously restored by a survivor at a government research facility, wanders through America in a jeep, trying to bring knowledge to people. In San Francisco, he meets Sophia, a mysterious woman with unexplained powers; she joins him on a journey to New York that turns into a transcontinental escape from a murderous and seemingly indestructible robot. Along the way, they encounter the members of a cult that worships an enormous wrecking machine, and two puppetlike survivors in an fully mechanized city. Wateru struggles to fulfill his mission to start people on the long journey back to civilization, but he often has to rely on Sophia's extraordinary powers of communication. A Wind Called Amnesia is more thoughtful and less violent than most anime features; unfortunately, it ends on a weak, unsatisfying note. Rating: 16 and older for animated sex and some violence. -Charles Solomon.

Smart-talking American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) is flung through a wormhole and comes out in the midst of an interstellar prison escape on the other side of the universe. Bad luck for Crichton: the galactic cops (called "peacekeepers") mark him as the new public enemy number 1. This 20th-century boy is forced to ally himself with the colorful convicts: D'Argo, a hulking warrior with a fleshy Rastafarian mane; Zhaan, a blue-skinned priest of indeterminate age (played by Road Warrior alumnus Virginia Hey); fugitive peacekeeper Aeryn (Pitch Black's Claudia Black); Rygel, a greedy and troll-like exiled king; and Pilot, the giant insect-like nerve center of their living ship, Moya. It's an impressive-looking made-for-cable series, with imaginative production design and mix of state-of-the-art digital effects and sophisticated puppetry (or rather Muppetry, courtesy of co-creator Brian Henson), but it's the sharp writing and vivid characters that have built-and kept-the show's following. Premiere introduces each character and the basic premise, a sci-fi Fugitive by way of Voyager in a world far from the Federation-friendly universe of Star Trek. Crichton's welcome is anything but warm, and the cultural and philosophical differences of the fleeing outlaws, as well as their pure self-interest, clash under the constant threat of capture. In I, E. T. , a hidden homing signal forces Moya to hide in a terrestrial bog while the crew tries to disarm the device (which has been fused to the ship's nervous system), and Crichton makes first contact with the planet's pre-space flight inhabitants. "Spielberg was all wrong," he remarks while dodging military patrols and soothing the fears of a sky-watching scientist. [+]

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan gives his self-mocking humor full flourish in City Hunter, adapted from a Japanese comic book. But that doesn't mean there isn't a solid dose of action-after a brilliantly cartoonish opening, the movie settles into a half-comedy, half-thriller variation on Die Hard, in which Eurotrash terrorists have hijacked a plush ocean cruise liner and super-detective Ryu Saeba (Chan) has to stop them, aided by his lovely, love-lorn assistant (Joey Wong, A Chinese Ghost Story, Green Snake) and a beautiful undercover secret agent (Chingmy Yau, Naked Killer). Though City Hunter is short on breathtaking stunts, there's plenty of well-choreographed hand-to-hand combat. Jackie Chan's lecherous, self-absorbed character (accompanied by a parade of girls into skimpy or skin-tight outfits) come across like a gleeful parody of James Bond (slightly marred by a bit of homophobia). All in all, a high energy romp. -Bret Fetzer.