Yellowbeard, a comedy cast with the all-star comedians of the 1980s, is a unique, corny spoof on pirate films. Like a Mel Brooks movie, Yellowbeard's plot is a series of ridiculous events, á la Airplane, circulating around Yellowbeard's (Graham Chapman) discovery that he has an "intellectual" son. Brain versus brawn is the film's theme, as Yellowbeard is forced to take his kid on a booty-hunt, since the pirate's ex-wife, Betty (Madeline Kahn), tattooed the treasure map on their child's head. As the bumbling British, including Harvey "Blind" Pew (John Cleese) and Gilbert Murvin (Marty Feldman), sail The Royal Navy Frigate to trail Yellowbeard's ship, The Lady Edith, The Spanish Main, captained by El Nebuloso (Tommy Chong) and El Segundo (Cheech Marin) follows in close pursuit. Three ships in constant battle on the open seas make for multiple comedic situations reminiscent of Monty Python. Directed by Mel Damski (Charmed, Lois & Clark), Yellowbeard has a made-for-TV cheesiness, though the talent of the actors, not to mention its off-kilter British humor, rescues the film from utter stupidity. -Trinie Dalton.

Less raunchy than Tommy and more conventional than Tron, The Wizard also revolves around gaming. There's even a Bridges on board. In Tron it was Jeff, in The Wizard it's Beau. As opposed to the rock opera's pinball-playing "deaf, dumb, and blind kid," however, quasi-catatonic Jimmy (Luke Edwards) is a video game wiz. While the nine-year-old lives with his mother, half-brothers Corey (Fred Savage, circa The Wonder Years) and Nick (Christian Slater, fresh from Heathers) live with their father, Sam (Bridges). When Jimmy, who recently lost his sister, is placed in a home, Corey busts him out for a trip to California. (Today, Jimmy's condition would be labeled post-traumatic stress disorder. ) As they're leaving Utah, they join forces with gaming enthusiast Haley (Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis), who suggests LA's National Video Game Championships. So, off they go by foot, skateboard, and the kindness of strangers. Sam, Nick, and obnoxious bounty hunter Putnam (Will Seltzer) are close behind. [+]

Bruce Lee kicked around Hollywood for years looking in vain for an American break when Hong Kong came calling. As Kato in the TV series The Green Hornet he had become an Asian star (the series was renamed for his character when it crossed the Pacific) and ripe for his own vehicle. This raw, low-budget effort, called The Big Boss in its native Hong Kong, is a generic revenge drama enlivened by Lee's intense screen presence and martial arts prowess. He's a country boy who takes a job at a Thailand ice-packing plant and discovers it's a cover for heroin smuggling. Lee is held back through the first half of the film by a promise he made his sweet, gray-haired mom not to brawl (which means you have to wait to see him in action), but his indignation turns to fury as friends and coworkers disappear and the boss sends thugs to take care of the brooding, intense country boy. The final half of the film is a series of violent confrontations, culminating in a marvelously choreographed showdown at the ice plant. Lean, mean Lee, with a physique that looked sculpted in bronze, became an overnight sensation with this film, breaking all Asian box-office records and starting an international kung fu craze, but none of the pretenders ever touched Lee's cool cinematic charisma or his martial arts grace. Lee returned the next year in The Chinese Connection. -Sean Axmaker.

Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley are New York scammers on the lam from the IRS-they got framed by their slimy accountant, Wayne Knight of Seinfeld-so they hide out as fake Amish farmers in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. As parodies of Witness go, For Richer or Poorer can't compete with the Woody Harrelson-Bill Murray flick Kingpin, by the creators of Dumb & Dumber. Allen and Alley are directed by the creator of McHale's Navy. But wait, come back! The true test of talent is a capacity to romp right through weak material, and while this story is hopelessly lame and formulaic, Allen and Alley are credible candidates for the clown prince and princess of broad TV comedy. When somebody wonders how come alleged Amish guy Tim Allen has no beard, Kirstie says, "Lice. " Of course, his face has no lice on it either, so Kirstie adds, "Minute lice!" -Tim Appelo.

Filled with a few imaginative moments and a child actor who looks like a miniaturized Sharon Stone, II isn't as neverending as the third headache in the series, but it's not on par with the original. Versions of Atreyu, the brave warrior, Rockbiter, and Falcor, that flying, pink, poodle-dragon, return to travel across the storybook world of Fantasia. This time our protagonist and reader, Bastian, is actually in the story the entire time instead of looking on from outside the pages. The interaction doesn't help, as it's the same crisis and the same story line (well, okay, he is reading the same book), but at least the film is not as unrelentingly melancholy as the first one either. Children may be frightened by the "giants," large dung beetles on two legs, that threaten our heroes. -Keith Simanton.

Not many movies can take credit for bringing about the demise of a movie studio-but Michael Cimino's ego-driven, overblown Western is one of them. These days, its $40 million budget would barely cover the cost of an Adam Sandler film-but in 1981, it virtually put United Artists out of business. Cimino, fresh from an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, spent months assembling this ultimately gorgeous and confusing story of the Johnson County cattle wars of 1881, with a cast that included Kris Kristofferson, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, and many more. Almost four hours in its original form, the film was cut to less than three for an abortive commercial release, then restored for video. Anyway you look at it, this is a mess better viewed as a curiosity than anything else. -Marshall Fine.