In yet another example of Demi Moore's astonishing narcissism, this appalling adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Great American Novel becomes a teary, talk-show-worthy story of a woman rediscovering the erotic, of interrupted love, of a brave-but-beleaguered heroine's personal struggle against male stupidity. Never mind that this has little to do with Hawthorne's magnificent, protofeminist book, which is a million times more relevant today than this film could ever be. Director Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) deserves to be horsewhipped for colluding with Moore's self-fascination, while Gary Oldman should be kicked in the pants for allowing the novel's main character to come off as an inconsequential ninny. Making matters worse, Robert Duvall can be seen ridiculously dancing with a deerskin on his head. If this film were a joke, it would be a very bad joke. But it's not, and that's worse. -Tom Keogh.

Kevin Costner's 1990 epic won a bundle of Oscars for a moving, engrossing story of a white soldier (Costner) who singlehandedly mans a post in the 1870 Dakotas, and becomes a part of the Lakota Sioux community who live nearby. The film may not be a masterpiece, but it is far more than the sum of good intentions. The characters are strong, the development of relationships is both ambitious and careful, the love story between Costner and Mary McDonnell's character is captivating. Only the third-act portrait of white intruders as morons feels overbearing, but even that leads to a terribly moving conclusion. Costner's direction is assured, the balance of action and intimacy is perfect-what more could anyone want outside of an unqualified masterpiece? -Tom Keogh.

Mixing action, humor, sentiment, and even a few righteous moral convictions, The Wild Geese is good, rousing fun. Released theatrically in 1978 (oddly, this 2005 DVD release is referred to as the "30th Anniversary Edition"), director Andrew V. McLaglen’s film depicts the adventures of a group of British mercenaries hired by a shady multinational corporation to free the benevolent leader of an African nation held captive by a ruthless dictator. Led by the caustic, no-nonsense Col. Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton), these soldiers of fortune are all stout fellows out to earn a big payday and restore a good man to his rightful place of power (the underlying message of universal racial brotherhood is effective, if somewhat simplistic), and they do their job swiftly and efficiently. at least until they're double-crossed by their venal, perfidious employers, at which point the film becomes a tale of survival and revenge. The cast, which also includes Richard Harris, Roger Moore, and a host of other fine veteran actors, is first-rate, the story-telling efficient, the dialogue entertaining (with occasional bursts of profanity), and the action reasonably exciting and not overly graphic. And even if the pace is somewhat leisurely by new millennium standards (we're nearly an hour into it before the actual mission starts), The Wild Geese is a very enjoyable ride. [+]

Martin Scorsese's brutal black-and-white biography of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta was chosen as the best film of the 1980s in a major critics' poll at the end of the decade, and it's a knockout piece of filmmaking. Robert De Niro plays LaMotta (famously putting on 50 pounds for the later scenes), a man tormented by demons he doesn't understand and prone to uncontrollably violent temper tantrums and fits of irrational jealousy. He marries a striking young blond (Cathy Moriarty), his sexual ideal, and then terrorizes her with never-ending accusations of infidelity. Jake is as frightening as he is pathetic, unable to control or comprehend the baser instincts that periodically, and without warning, turn him into the rampaging beast of the title. But as Roman Catholic Scorsese sees it, he works off his sins in the boxing ring, where his greatest athletic talent is his ability to withstand punishment. The fight scenes are astounding; they're like barbaric ritual dance numbers. Images smash into one another-a flashbulb, a spray of sweat, a fist, a geyser of blood-until you feel dazed from the pummeling. Nominated for a handful of Academy Awards (including best picture and director), Raging Bull won only two, for De Niro and for editor Thelma Schoonmacher. -Jim Emerson.

Halloween is one of the great modern horror films, but as a franchise its track record has been spotty at best, painfully bad at worst. Halloween H2O: Twenty Years Later, directed by horror vet Steve Miner (Friday the 13th parts 2 and 3, House), won't displace John Carpenter's original but it might help you forget the films in between. Miner certainly has: the film begins as if sequels 3 through 6 never happened. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, reprising her role for the first time in almost two decades) faked her death and is now a single mom and headmistress of an exclusive California private school. She's also a secret alcoholic who lives in fear of her homicidal brother-bogeyman Michael Myers. Guess who decides to show up for a family reunion? The film begins with classic horror-movie exposition (the deserted college campus, Michael's escape, Laurie's waking nightmares) accomplished with some humor and style, but it's all setup for the second half, a driving roller coaster of stalk-and-slash thrills. There's little of the self-conscious genre referencing of Scream and at times the film is a little far-fetched-it is a slasher movie about a knife-wielding homicidal maniac who won't stay dead, after all-but Curtis transforms Laurie from a shrieking victim into an empowered, determined horror-movie heroine who's learned a thing or two from the previous films. Adam Arkin, Josh Hartnett, and TV cutie Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek) costar, and the script received uncredited polish from Scream writer Kevin Williamson; Curtis's mom, Janet Leigh, pops up in a cameo. -Sean Axmaker.

A Risky Business clone with loftier ambitions, Mystery Date holds up surprisingly well despite its '80s teen-flick trappings. This was Ethan Hawke's follow-up to the successful family adventure White Fang, and it's fun to watch the fresh-faced future Mr. Uma Thurman playing a shy guy named Tom who's obsessed with his dishy neighbor Geena (then-newcomer Teri Polo, in '80s big-hair splendor). When Tom's criminally entangled brother (Brian McNamara) manipulates Tom into a mistaken-identity date with Geena, they soon find themselves chased by a crazed delivery driver (Fisher Stevens), a hot-headed L. A. detective (SCTV alumnus Tony Rosato), and a Chinese mob kingpin (B. D. Wong) whose henchmen are named Ben and Jerry (giving some indication of this movie's dim sense of humor). Plot twists proliferate, and Polo (who had to wait until 2000's Meet the Parents for another decent movie role) manages to flatten her funniest line of dialogue. All of which makes Mystery Date a hit or miss affair, but mostly it hits. [+]

This is a by-the-numbers tale of political chicanery and fallen idealism, but it works because of several strong performances. James Spader and John Cusack play law-school pals whose college idealism quickly falls away once they reach the real world. Playing against type, Spader is the straight arrow who goes on to work for the Justice Department. Cusack is the slippery conniver who parlays a job as an aide to an aging senator (Richard Widmark) into a springboard to elective office, all the while cutting corners, compromising his integrity, and breaking rules. For good measure, there's also romantic backstabbing. The film tends to get a shade heavy on the moralizing as Cusack slides further down the slope to outright corruption; Spader practically carries a sign saying, "I have the moral high ground. " Still, both actors give their characters an interesting spin, and it's always good to see Widmark back in action. -Marshall Fine.

Based on the riveting bestseller by Richard Price, this 1995 crime drama was directed by Spike Lee with such authority and authenticity that it has the hyper-real quality of a stylized documentary. Fully capturing the thoroughly researched detail of Price's novel, the film focuses on Strike (newcomer Mekhi Phifer), a young, ambitious "clocker"-or drug dealer-who works the streets of his New York housing project, selling drugs for a local supplier named Rodney (played with ferocious charisma by Delroy Lindo). Just as Strike is struggling to get away from his dead-end life of crime, another dealer is murdered in a fast-food restaurant and local detectives (Harvey Keitel, John Turturro) consider Strike the primary suspect. In cowriting the script with novelist Price, Lee uses this murder mystery to explore the plague of guns and black-on-black crime in America's inner cities, in which drugs and death are familiar routines of daily life. The film doesn't pretend to offer solutions, nor does it dwell on the problem with numbing insistence. Rather, this taut, well-acted film takes the viewer into a world often hidden in plain sight-a world where options seem nonexistent for youth conditioned to have little or no expectation beyond a probable early death. Lee and Price are deadly serious in handling this volatile subject (which incorporates racism, powerless law enforcement, and political indifference), but Clockers is also blessed with humor, insight, and humanity. It's one of Lee's most confidently directed films, signaling a creative maturity that Lee continued to develop throughout the 1990s. -Jeff Shannon.