It's Die Hard on a plane in this action thriller, starring Wesley Snipes as an antiterrorist specialist whose early retirement is interrupted when his flight is overtaken by a bloodthirsty villain (Bruce Payne). Watching this at home is pretty much an excuse to order pizza and kick back, as the familiar rhythms of maverick-cop-versus-international-criminal take over and nothing new or fresh in the formula emerges. The supporting cast includes Elizabeth Hurley (Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery) as a gun-wielding, junior terrorist, which is fun simply for being unexpected. —Tom Keogh

After all the controversy and rigorous debate has subsided, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will remain a force to be reckoned with. In the final analysis, "Gibson's Folly" is an act of personal bravery and commitment on the part of its director, who self-financed this $25-30 million production to preserve his artistic goal of creating the Passion of Christ ("Passion" in this context meaning "suffering") as a quite literal, in-your-face interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus, scripted almost directly from the gospels (and spoken in Aramaic and Latin with a relative minimum of subtitles) and presented as a relentless, 126-minute ordeal of torture and crucifixion. For Christians and non-Christians alike, this film does not "entertain," and it's not a film that one can "like" or "dislike" in any conventional sense. (It is also emphatically not a film for children or the weak of heart.) Rather, The Passion is a cinematic experience that serves an almost singular purpose: to show the scourging and death of Jesus Christ in such horrifically graphic detail (with Gibson's own hand pounding the nails in the cross) that even non-believers may feel a twinge of sorrow and culpability in witnessing the final moments of the Son of God, played by Jim Caviezel in a performance that's not so much acting as a willful act of submission, so intense that some will weep not only for Christ, but for Caviezel's unparalleled test of endurance.

Leave it to the intelligentsia to debate the film's alleged anti-Semitic slant; if one judges what is on the screen (so gloriously served by John Debney's score and Caleb Deschanel's cinematography), there is fuel for debate but no obvious malice aforethought; the Jews under Caiaphas are just as guilty as the barbaric Romans who carry out the execution, especially after Gibson excised (from the subtitles, if not the soundtrack) the film's most controversial line of dialogue. If one accepts that Gibson's intentions are sincere, The Passion can be accepted for what it is: a grueling, straightforward (some might say unimaginative) and extremely violent depiction of the Passion, guaranteed to render devout Christians speechless while it intensifies their faith. Non-believers are likely to take a more dispassionate view, and some may resort to ridicule. But one thing remains undebatable: with The Passion of the Christ, Gibson put his money where his mouth is. You can praise or damn him all you want, but you've got to admire his chutzpah. —Jeff Shannon

To call Pearl Harbor a throwback to old-time war movies is something of an understatement. Director Michael Bay's epic take on the bombing that brought the United States into World War II hijacks every war movie situation and cliché (some affectionate, some stale) you've ever seen and gives them a shiny, glossy spin until the whole movie practically gleams. Planes glisten, water sparkles, trees beckon—and Bay's re-creation of the bombing itself, a 30-minute sequence that's tightly choreographed and amazingly photographed, sets the action movie bar up quite a few notches. And in updating the classic war film, Bay and screenwriter Randall Wallace (Braveheart) use that old plot standby, the love triangle—this time, it's between two pilots (Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett) and a nurse (Kate Beckinsale) who find themselves stationed at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, during what they thought would be a nice, sunny tour of duty. Then, of course, history intervened.

For the first 90 minutes of the movie, Affleck and Beckinsale find a nice, appealing chemistry that plays on his strengths as a movie star and hers as a serious actress—he gives her glamour, she gives him smarts. Their truncated romance—the beginning of which is told in flashback so we can get right to the point where he has to leave her to go to England—works, thanks to their charm. They're no Kate and Leo from Titanic (a strategy the film strives hard toward), but they're pretty darn adorable in their own right. Hartnett, as the not entirely unwelcome third wheel, squints bravely but makes only a slight dent in the film. Everyone else in Pearl Harbor—from Cuba Gooding Jr.'s brave navy seaman to Jon Voight's able impersonation of FDR—is pretty much a glorified walk-on, taking a backseat to the pyrotechnics and action sequences that keep the three-hour film in fairly constant motion. But when that action does take hold, Pearl Harbor is quite a thrilling ride. —Mark Englehart

THE HUSBAND, THE WIFE, THE LOVER. ONE IS THE MASTERMIND, ONE IS THE VICTIM, ONE IS THE KILLER. BUT WHICH ONE IS WHICH? AND WHO ENDS UP DEAD? THE THRILLS AND SUSPENSE PLAY OUT TO PERFECTION IN THIS SEXY, TWISTY, STAR-POWERED TALE.

Set in 1900 this sensuous mystery dramatizes the disappearance of three australian girls on a school picnic. Falling under natures spell the group climbs a tower of rocks as if called away from their repressive boarding-school life. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 10/20/1998 Starring: Rachel Roberts Helen Morse Run time: 107 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Peter Weir

Pirate jack sparrow sets out to save a governors daughter from fellow pirates with the hopes that it will give him the opportunity to regain the ship that was stolen from him. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 05/11/2007 Starring: Johnny Depp Orlando Bloom Run time: 143 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Gore Verbinski

Billed as a "reimagining" of the original 1968 film, Tim Burton's extraordinary Planet of the Apes constantly borders on greatness, adhering to the spirit of Pierre Boulle's original novel while exploring fresh and inventive ideas and paying honorable tribute to the '68 sci-fi classic. Burton's gifts for eccentric inspiration and visual ingenuity make this a movie that's as entertaining as it is provocative, beginning with Rick Baker's best-ever ape makeup (hand that man an Oscar®!), and continuing through the surprisingly nuanced performances and breathtaking production design. Add to all this an intelligent screenplay that turns Boulle's speculative reversal—the dominance of apes over humans—into a provocative study of civil rights and civil war. The film finally goes too far with a woefully misguided ending that pays weak homage to the original, but everything preceding that misfire is astonishingly right.

While attempting the space-pod retrieval of a chimpanzee test pilot, Major Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) enters a magnetic storm that propels him into the distant future, where he crash-lands on the ape-ruled planet. Among the primitively civilized apes, treatment of enslaved humans is a divisive issue: senator's daughter Ari (Helena Bonham Carter) advocates equality while the ruthless General Thade (Tim Roth) promotes extermination. While Davidson ignites a human rebellion, this conflict is explored with admirable depth and emotion, and sharp dialogue allows Burton's exceptional cast to bring remarkable expressiveness to their embattled ape characters, most notably in the comic relief of orangutan slave trader Limbo (played to perfection by Paul Giamatti). Classic lines from the original film are cleverly reversed (including an unbilled cameo for Charlton Heston, in ape regalia as Thade's dying father), and while this tale of interspecies warfare leads to an ironic conclusion that's not altogether satisfying, it still bears the ripe fruit of a timeless what-if idea. —Jeff Shannon

LIFE IMITATES ART WHEN TWO MODERN-DAY TEENAGERS GET SUCKED INTO THE TOO-PERFECT, BLACK-AND-WHITE WORLD OF A 1950S SITCOM. TRAPPED AND TRYING TO FIND A WAY HOME, THE TWO FIND THEMSELVES BRINGING COLOR TO THE LIVES OF PLEASANTVILLE'S RIGID, NAIVE TOWNSPEOPLE.

Thanks to a greedy Pokémon collector, Earth's weather patterns are askew and its population doomed unless Pokémon trainer Ash can return three glass balls to their proper place in this second Pokémon feature. Unlike the television show, the movie features little violence and no Pokémon battles in the classic sense. Instead, the focus is an environmental one: what happens when humans interfere with the harmony of Earth's elements—in this case fire, ice, and lightning. Even Team Rocket have a (temporary, to be sure) change of heart, joining Ash and Misty in their effort to free the three imprisoned birdlike Pokémon who regulate those elements. The good intentions of this 76-minute film, however, don't make it any less dull for grownups (even though this feature is better than the first). Even more mind-numbing than the feature is the lead-in short, "Pikachu's Rescue Adventure," in which Pikachu and Pokémon friends follow Team Rocket's feline down a hole into a Munchkinland-type place. Without the humans for dialogue, viewers must endure a full 20 minutes of nothing but the squawks and squeaks of pocket monsters. As the movie's title song says, "We all live in a Pokémon world." (Ages 3 and older.) —Kimberly Heinrichs

Pokémon, the little high-tech toys, and the Nintendo game involving them, emerged as a pop-culture phenomenon in 1998: the TV show aired six times a week, a theatrical feature was released in 1999, and Pokémon Web sites popped up all over the Internet. These episodes of the TV series center on Ash Ketchum, an adolescent boy who aspires to become a champion Pokémon trainer. He sets out for his first tournament, accompanied by his sometimes friend, a girl named Misty, and his special pet Pokémon, Pikachu. Along the way, he defeats another boy, Samurai, in a duel and makes a valuable new friend when he challenges Brock, the local champion, while learning lessons about friendship, perseverance, and honorable play. On Moon Mountain, he discovers a fallen meteor with magical powers over the excessively cute Clefaries. Jessie and James, the Team Rocket, attempt to steal the Moon Stone, but are defeated by Ash, Misty, and Brock in a slapstick battle. Adults may have trouble keeping track of the different Pokémon without the help of a child, but the "Full-Length Pokérap" at the end of the disc lists them, an obvious attempt to stimulate the urge to collect all 150 (plus one rare collector's Pokémon coveted by fans). —Charles Solomon

Ash Ketchum continues to work toward his goal of becoming a champion Pokémon trainer as he challenges a trio of synchronized swimmers in "Cerulean City"; A.J., a stern trainer, in "League"; and the conceited champion of a posh prep school in "Hard Knocks." Assisted by Misty and his friend Brock, Ash also overcomes the inept villains of Team Rocket and learns lessons about modesty, honesty, and sportsmanship. Although Ash initially feels that A.J. drives his Pokémon too hard in "League," he discovers how deeply he cares for them when Team Rocket tries to kidnap Sandshrew, his favorite. In "Hard Knocks," Ash defends a smaller boy from bullying upper classmen, and shows the snobbish students that training Pokémon isn't an academic exercise, but a way of life based on friendship and mutual affection. Viewers not caught up in the Pokémon craze may find the idea of fighting high-tech duels with these cute little animals incongruous. But millions of kids in America and Japan embraced it, and they've given the Pokémon a higher profile than such earlier product-characters as My Little Pony, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Herself the Elf. —Charles Solomon

Like a pumpkin that transforms into a carriage, some very shrewd casting (and the charisma of Julia Roberts, in particular) morphed this story of a Hollywood whore into a Disneyfied Cinderella story—and a mainstream megahit. This is the movie that made Roberts a star; the charm of her personality helping tremendously to carry viewers over the rough spots in the script (which was originally a cynical tale about prostitution called 3000—after the amount of money Richard Gere's character pays the prostitute to stay with him for the week). Gere is the silver-haired Wall Street knight who sweeps streetwalker Roberts into a fantasy world of room service at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel and fashion boutique shopping on Rodeo Drive. The supporting cast is also appealing, including Laura San Giacomo as Roberts's hooker pal, Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager, Jason Alexander, Ralph Bellamy, and Hank Azaria. Now, is this something you want your sons and daughters to see? That's entirely up to you. —Jim Emerson

THE RETELLING OF THE STORY OF MOSES. SET IN A BASKET ALONG THE RIVER BY HIS DESPERATE MOTHER, MOSES IS FOUND BY THE QUEEN AND RAISED AS BROTHER TO RAMSES, HEIR TO THE THRONE. BUT WHEN AN ADULT MOSES LEARNS OF HIS HERITAGE, HE FINDS HIMSELF FLEEING FROM THE CITY ONLY TO BE CALLED ON BY GOD TO LEAD HIS PEOPLE.

The long tradition of family vacation comedies continues in RV, with Robin Williams doing his best to keep things amusing. He succeeds, for the most part, by downplaying his manic persona and settling comfortably into his role as well-meaning husband and father Bob Munro. Determined to combine work and pleasure, Bob rents the titular motor home to drive his wife (Cheryl Hines), teenage daughter (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) and pre-teen son (Josh Hutcherson) on a scenic vacation in the Colorado Rockies while secretly preparing his presentation for a high-stakes corporate merger. Their dysfunctional road trip leads to repeated encounters with the all-too-happy Gornicke family (led by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth), who only appear to be stupid rednecks, when in fact they represent the familial togetherness that Bob is striving to regain. As directed by comedy veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (whose image as "Irv" the RV rental king is plastered across the side of the Munro's RV), these warm-and-fuzzy sentiments are strictly by-the-numbers, along with plenty of jokes about raw sewage, scavenging raccoons, and RV's run amuck. There aren't any real highlights, and the outcome is utterly predictable, but RV delivers enough comedy to qualify as an enjoyable diversion. Those who remember Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Vincente Minnell's 1954 hit The Long, Long Trailer may find RV similarly entertaining. —Jeff Shannon