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.

In The Human Stain—adapted from Philip Roth’s book—Anthony Hopkins plays a professor who has hidden his race from his family and peers.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Shallow Hal

The Sea Inside is a classy tearjerker, starring Javier Bardem as a quadriplegic with a case.