Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) tries gamely to recapture the exotic mysteries of spaghetti Westerns in this stylish but empty film, which stars Sharon Stone as a stranger who comes to the town of Redemption in time for an annual shooting contest. Her real motivations for being there are the stuff that might have found their way into a film by Sergio Leone-in fact, much of this film is a pastiche of Leone's greatest hits, including A Fistful of Dollars and Once upon a Time in America-but one can't quite believe Stone in the role. Gene Hackman gives a predictably solid performance as the town tyrant, and Leonardo DiCaprio is good as a lucky young gunslinger who gets to kiss the heroine. But not even the cast can help this failed project. Raimi brings a lot of razzle-dazzle to his camera work, but it doesn't make the film any more substantial. -Tom Keogh.

The last and least memorable of John Ford's famous cavalry trilogy (following Fort Apache and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), Rio Grande nonetheless has an interesting continuity about the gentlemanly rules of military conduct. Here the focus is on the family. While creating a heated controversy over his handling of the Apache war, John Wayne must also contend with disgruntled wife Maureen O'Hara and estranged son Claude Jarman Jr. , a new recruit trying to earn his father's love and respect. Ford seems to suggest that there are two conflicting codes of honor in every cavalry officer's life, the personal as well as the professional, and that it takes an act of heroism to maintain both. It's fascinating to observe Wayne's progression throughout the trilogy, as his personal stakes intensify. Also, this is the first of five onscreen appearances between the Duke and O'Hara, each filled with a competitive spirit and stormy sexuality. -Bill Desowitz.

Director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) tries gamely to recapture the exotic mysteries of spaghetti Westerns in this stylish but empty film, which stars Sharon Stone as a stranger who comes to the town of Redemption in time for an annual shooting contest. Her real motivations for being there are the stuff that might have found their way into a film by Sergio Leone-in fact, much of this film is a pastiche of Leone's greatest hits, including A Fistful of Dollars and Once upon a Time in America-but one can't quite believe Stone in the role. Gene Hackman gives a predictably solid performance as the town tyrant, and Leonardo DiCaprio is good as a lucky young gunslinger who gets to kiss the heroine. But not even the cast can help this failed project. Raimi brings a lot of razzle-dazzle to his camera work, but it doesn't make the film any more substantial. -Tom Keogh.

It's not Blazing Saddles, but there are some chuckles to be found in Mel Brooks's 1993 spoof of the Robin Hood legend. Cary Elwes is Robin (with a lighthearted jab at Kevin Costner's bad English accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), while Richard Lewis plays an angst-ridden King John, and Roger Rees a snotty Sheriff of Nottingham. Comic David Chappelle has some good moments as the only black member of Robins's noble thieves, and Brooks does his own spin on Friar Tuck: Rabbi Tuchman. The song-and-dance sequences featuring a chorus line of the Merry Men ("We're men / men in tights") is vintage Brooks, but otherwise the film can't get any traction. -Tom Keogh.

Using Princess Diana's somber funeral as the frame, this video ("The Official BBC Commemorative Video," the packaging boasts) takes an admiring and elegant look at the world's most photographed woman. Thrust into the public eye at age 19, the aristocratic teen married into the royal family and became, as has been much quoted, the People's Princess. These well-narrated video segments (yes, BBC footage) are from official and public events: from photographers' pursuits of the child-care worker to her engagement to Prince Charles to her magnificent wedding (seen by more than 5 million viewers) to Prince William's birth to her many royal tours, duties, and speeches. The Diana who captured the public's fancy, who held hands with AIDs patients, who embraced the homeless, who championed land-mine victims, who departed from the stuffy royal ways, is respectfully captured here. While the controversial Andrew Morton book and her separation and subsequent divorce from Prince Charles are covered, the producers elected to steer clear of the more sensational and gossipy aspects of her fulfilled, though difficulty-plagued, life. Whatever the Buckingham Palace spin is-that Charles is experiencing renewed popularity, that his longtime mistress is gradually being accepted, and that Diana, by those in Charles's camp, was "crazy"-it cannot detract from the remarkable and impressive legacy Diana unselfishly left for Britain and for her sons, one of whom will one day be king. -N. F. Mendoza.

In this last go-round for the Sinbad series, Patrick Wayne plays the legendary sailor. He is betrothed to Farah (Jayne Seymour) and seeks her hand in marriage, but her brother Kassim has been turned into a baboon by the evil Zenobia (Margaret Whiting). Before he can break Zenobia's spell, Sinbad must contend with the Minoton, a bronze statue brought back to life to do her bidding; a trio of flaming skeletons wielding swords; a 9-foot-tall troglodyte; and a saber-toothed tiger. Wayne is the film's weakest point, making a rather wooden Sinbad. Whiting's performance smells strongly of ham, but it's a brand of ham that fits the movie perfectly. As always, though, Harryhausen's work is outstanding. He instills more personality and character into his creatures in this outing, especially for Kassim and his relationship to his sister. The prolonged battle between the troglodyte and saber-toothed tiger is a violent one, generating some real suspense. At times it's difficult to remember that it's not live action with guidance from a director. Though this is an uneven effort for the Sinbad series, it still has its moments. [+]