title: Quatermass And The Pit function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();�<br> studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment MPAA rating: NR starring: Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, James Donald, Julian Glover, Duncan Lamont release year: 1968 reviewed by: Bill Warren Tossed out by its initial American distributor without much promotion and a title ("Five Million Years to Earth") not designed to get viewers into theater seats, "Quatermass and the Pit" was initially noticed only by hard-core science fiction movie fans, and those who knew it was the third entry in the Quatermass series created by writer Nigel Kneale. It has been released in excellent form on DVD by the estimable Anchor Bay Entertainment as part of their series from Hammer Films, the small but beloved British studio that turned out many excellent horror and sci-fi movies in the 1950s and 1960s.

title: Next Of Kin function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();�<br> studio: Warner Home Video MPAA rating: R starring: Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Adam Baldwin, Bill Paxton release year: 1989 reviewed by: Abbie Bernstein 'Next of Kin' is kind of a hoot. Most of Michael Jenning's script is by the numbers, but it's so well cast and directed by John Irvin with such a sense of style and an eye for small details that it adds up to acceptable entertainment.

title: Lovesick function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();�<br> studio: Warner Home Video MPAA rating: PG starring: Dudley Moore, Elizabeth McGovern, Alec Guinness, John Huston, Alan King, Ron Silver, Renée Taylor, Gene Sacks, Wallace Shawn release year: 1983 film rating: Three stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Marshall Brickman started in movies as a co-writer with Woody Allen, including Allen's two best movies, "Annie Hall" (1977) and "Manhattan" (1979). He turned director with "Simon" in 1980, and sporadically has turned out a few quirky little movies from time to time, the last being the misfired "Intersection" in 1994. "Lovesick" is his most Woody-esque movie by far; it's set in Manhattan, it deals with psychiatry and romance, and he even tries for the broken dialog rhythms that are so much a part of Allen's style. It's very easy to imagine Woody Allen in the leading role of psychiatrist Saul Benjamin, played here by Dudley Moore. (And where has he gone?)

title: Lean On Me function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();� studio: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment MPAA rating: PG-13 starring: Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume, Alan North, Lynne Thigpen, Jermaine "Huggy" Hopkins, Karen Malina White release year: 1989 film rating: Two and a half stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Director John G. Avildsen began with independent films and scored a big hit with Joe in 1970; his next few films were anything but hits, including the well-regarded (but not by me) Save the Tiger in 1973. He was considered a kind of satirist, but couldn't seem to find his footing after Tiger -- at least not until he was hired to direct a screenplay written by a young actor who stubbornly refused to sell the script unless he himself played the title role. This was Rocky, and its terrific success validated Avildsen, for a while. But since he simply is not a very good director, just competent, his career slowly declined -- until The Karate Kid ...

title: Sharky's Machine function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close();�<br> studio: Warner Bros. Home Video MPAA rating: R starring: Burt Reynolds, Rachel Ward, Henry Silva, Brian Keith, Charles Durning, Bernie Casey, Earl Holliman, Richard Libertini, Vittorio Gassman release year: 1981 film rating: Three stars reviewed by: Bill Warren Probably Burt Reynolds' best movie as a director, "Sharky's Machine" is a brisk, efficient latter-day film noir; the plot (from the novel by William Diehl) is satisfactory if familiar, the characters are standard but well-played by an excellent tough-guy cast that seems carefully hand-picked. When it was first released, the movie was regarded as excessively violent, even crudely brutal, but the excesses of the years since have made this one seem almost tame, at least in terms of excessive gore. But Reynolds handles the violence so vividly that it still has considerable impact, even on video, even on this unfortunately panned-and-scanned DVD.