Savage yet exhilarating, Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" shows the great and minor acts of bravery that define valor against the horrific tapestry of war.

"Croupier" gambles on actor Clive Owen -- and wins.

The Scandinavian single men under observation in Kitchen Stories make classic comic fodder; The Code is a French thriller that asks, Why kill?

The sexual reverie of a doctor's wife sends him on a tour of the city's dark side in Stanley Kubrick's powerful (if sometimes silly) "Eyes Wide Shut."

In Elephant, Gus Van Sant aims for an objective look at teen shootings in America, but his art-house approach is way too cool for school.

Director Edward Zwick gives The Last Samurai a coat of deep-thought spirituality—and turns Tom Cruise into a haunted swordsman.

For Mel Gibson's "Patriot," the politics of revolution is personal; there's greater insight into American-British relations in "ChickenRun."

Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River is suffused with lives ruined by violence; in Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino looks violence in the eye—and cackles.

In two earnest indies, Sean Penn and John Travolta aim for authenticity—and miss by a mile.