- July 27, 1998
- Heroic Proportions
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.
- May 1, 2000
- "Croupier"
"Croupier" gambles on actor Clive Owen -- and wins.
- February 16, 2004
- Science of Bachelors
The Scandinavian single men under observation in Kitchen Stories make classic comic fodder; The Code is a French thriller that asks, Why kill?
- July 26, 1999
- Strangelove
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."
- October 27, 2003
- Cheap Shots
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.
- November 22, 1999
- "Anywhere But Here"
- December 8, 2003
- Zen Palette
Director Edward Zwick gives The Last Samurai a coat of deep-thought spirituality—and turns Tom Cruise into a haunted swordsman.
- July 10, 2000
- Braverheart
For Mel Gibson's "Patriot," the politics of revolution is personal; there's greater insight into American-British relations in "ChickenRun."
- October 13, 2003
- No Pain, No Gain
Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River is suffused with lives ruined by violence; in Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino looks violence in the eye—and cackles.
- January 3, 2005
- Small Blunders
In two earnest indies, Sean Penn and John Travolta aim for authenticity—and miss by a mile.

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