This affecting, bittersweet tale-adapted from Brian Friel's semi-autobiographical Tony Award-winning play-examines the emotional lives of the five unmarried Mundy sisters in 1936 rural Ireland. In their mutual care is 8-year-old Michael (sweetly understated Darrell Johnston), the illegitimate son of youngest sister Christina (Braveheart's Catherine McCormack). A voice-over from the adult Michael recalls that significant summer, in the month of August, during the feast of Lughnasa. The bolder townfolk dance around a fire to Lugh, an ancient god of light. Yes, this is fiercely Roman Catholic Ireland and Lugh a pagan god, but that irony is at the core of the film, the hypocrisy of tradition. The dramatic change in the richly metaphoric movie comes with the arrival of two men: eldest sibling-and only Mundy brother-Jack (Michael Gambon), a priest returning from many years in Africa, now addled, and Christine's long-absent lover and Michael's father, the charmingly flighty Gerry (Rhys Ifans). Beautiful music and excellent performances highlight the film, which also features gorgeous cinematography of the Irish countryside. Meryl Streep is stern eldest sister Kate; Kathy Burke is lively Maggie; Brid Brennan (who appeared in the stage play) is thoughtful caretaker Agnes; and Sophie Thompson is simple sweet Rose. It's a quiet film, but one filled with ironic and haunting meaning. Directed by Pat O'Connor (Circle of Friends). [+]

This follow-up to Warlock boasts more sophisticated visual effects, slicker production values, and bigger (and bloodier) action, but fans of the original's dry wit and tight story may be disappointed. It's really more a rehash than a sequel. The Devil is up to his old tricks again, sending his favorite son (the title character) on a mission to recover six runes-ancient stones that will allow His Satanic Majesty to escape Hell and once again walk the Earth. Leading the forces of good are a group of modern-day druids and a pair of teenage lovers who have no idea they've been selected to save the world. There are some genuinely spooky moments, a few laughs, and some nice visual touches, but the scattershot script keeps throwing out one cool idea after another, hoping something sticks. On the other hand, if watching Julian Sands writhe on the ground spewing black blood sounds like a good time, this may be just the ticket. Gremlins star Zach Galligan has a cameo (as the boyfriend of the Warlock's mom!) -Geof Miller.

Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's German-language movie The Experiment finds a group of 20 volunteers randomly divided into 12 prisoners and eight guards and asked to play out their roles for a fortnight while scientists study their reactions. A conflict arises between undercover reporter Fahd (Moritz Bleibtreu), a con with a hidden agenda, and the apparently mild-mannered Berus (Justus von Dohnanyi), a guard with a megalomaniac streak. The film begins as a psychological drama as ordinary people settle into the game, with joking displays of resistance by the "prisoners" greeted with increasing brutality from the "guards," but detours into suspense and horror as Fahd, who needs the experiment to get out of hand in order to make his story more saleable, deliberately ratchets up the tension between the factions only to see the situation spiral nightmarishly out of control as various test subjects in both camps edge closer to snapping. With a terrific display of ensemble acting and unforced use of the popular claustrophobic semi-documentary look, Hirschbiegel's movie takes its time to get underway, with apparently irrelevant cutaways to Fahd's outside girlfriend (Maren Eggert), but works up to a powerful second half that delivers a sustained symphony of psychological and physical anguish. -Kim Newman.

This six-part OAV (original animation video) begins as a freewheeling spoof of mecha adventures with plenty of slapstick comedy, robots of all types, a crazed villain, scantily clad babes, and a resident hunk. In the not-too-distant future, nerdy Hiroshi Ozora creates a power suit later dubbed "Moldiver" designed to make him into an invincible superhero with muscles like his best friend Misaki's. When Hiroshi's younger sister Mirai gets into his computer, she makes some changes: the Moldiver acquires curves, a miniskirt, stockings, and high heels. In her battles with the nefarious Dr. Machinegal and his army of robot women, Mirai proves an effective but destructive heroine, leaving a trail of ruined buildings and fallen roadways wherever she passes. No wonder Machinegal refers to her as "that leggy girl who breaks everything!" Unfortunately, the plot-and the fun-begin to fall apart in part 4, "Destruction," when Mirai and Hiroshi's brother Nozomu gets into the act and behaves like an obnoxious brat. Mirai has to fight three villains: Machinegal; his chief robot, Isabelle; and Nozomu as "Moldiver 3. " The last-minute romance between Mirai and Misaki feels forced, making you wish you'd stopped watching at the end of episode 3. Rated 13 and up: nudity, minor profanity, violence, and sexual and toilet humor. -Charles Solomon.

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. [+]

Clint Eastwood (the Man with No Name) is good, Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza) is bad, and Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez) is ugly in the final chapter of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns (the first two were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More). In this sweeping film, the characters form treacherous alliances in a ruthless quest for Confederate gold. Leone is sometimes underrated as a director, but the excellent resolution on this digital video disc should enhance appreciation of his considerable photographic talent and gorgeous widescreen compositions. Ennio Morricone's jokey score is justifiably famous.

Wax up your boards and hang 10 (or whatever) where the big waves come crashing in: off the English coast at Cornwall. Huh? No endless summer? No two girls for every boy? No, but in Blue Juice one can see what most of us probably never even thought about: the British Isles are indeed islands and, not incongruously, there's a considerable surfing culture with a handful of homegrown legends. One of the latter is JC (Sean Pertwee), a skilled surfer so driven by the challenge and so dedicated to his mates that it threatens his meandering romance with the long-suffering Chloe (Catherine Zeta-Jones). The two have planned an extensive, around-the-world trip as a kind of prelude to discussing marriage, but the arrangement is threatened when three of JC's old childhood chums arrive from London. One of them (played by Steven Mackintosh) is a famous record producer who has sold his soul (in every sense) to reap profits from fashionable electronica. Another (Ewan McGregor) is a chronic screwup resorting to hustling junk to unsuspecting customers. The last (Peter Gunn) is an anxious sort terrified of marrying his longtime girlfriend. Together, these four guys look like a pack of nowhere men and they know it: while the story largely focuses on JC and Chloe, there's plenty of material for the supporting characters to indulge in mucho self-loathing. The film never quite jumps off the screen and the script may be hampered by too many layers of character eccentricity, but this is still an enjoyable piece with some fine comic performances. -Tom Keogh.

Two years before he let it all hang out in Boogie Nights, former rapper and Calvin Klein underwear model Mark Wahlberg played the psychotic boyfriend in this derivative but surprisingly effective thriller, aptly described by producer Brian Grazer as "Fatal Attraction for teens. " Reese Witherspoon plays Nicole Walker, the unwitting teenager who gets the hots for David McCall (Wahlberg). David only seems like a nice guy until he gets upset by the girl's overly protective father. That's when hell breaks loose and the love-struck Romeo turns into a deadly threat who just won't go away. You'd think this kind of material would be beneath the talents of a fine director like James Foley (whose credits include At Close Range and Glengarry Glen Ross), but Foley gives the film just the right blend of style and tension to match Wahlberg's breakthrough role as an all-too-believable teenage maniac. You might feel silly afterwards, but don't be surprised if you find yourself getting caught up in the expertly manipulative suspense. -Jeff Shannon.