Contents Cover: The Player by Richard T. Jameson; Robert Altman interviewed by Gavin Smith
Features:
James Agee by Stephan Taltry
Merchant-Ivory by Donald Lyons
Satyajit Ray by Richard Schickel
Lee Tracy by Donald Phelps
Bombshell by William Johnson
Hammer Films by Andrew Mangravite and Robert C. Cumbow
Steven Spielberg (Part One) by Henry Sheehan
Alain Tanner by Armond White
Native American Media by Elizabeth Weatherford
Deaths of Movie Stars by Kate Buford
Music from Movies by David Shawn Klein
Festivals: Berlin by Harlan Kennedy and Amos Vogel
Guilty Pleasures: Jim Jarmusch
Books: George Cukor: A Double Life by Patrick McGilligan. Reviewed by Donald Lyons.

Contents Cover: Alien by Kathleen Murphy
Features:
The Big Red One by Donald Lyons
Swoon by Armond White
The Hours and Times by Thomas Beller
Christopher Munch by Robert Horton
Robert Mitchum interviewed by Harlan Kennedy
Jane Russell interviewed by Gerald Peary
Chen Kaige by Godfrey Cheshire
The Aviation Movie by Peter Hogue
Westerns in the Nineties by Anne Thompson
Christopher Walken interviewed by Gavin Smith
Steven Spielberg (Part Two) by Henry Sheelan
Phillip Noyce interviewed by Jim Emerson
Margie by Dale Thomajan
Festivals: Cannes by Mary Corliss and Harlan Kennedy

Contents eatures:
La Sentinelle by Michael Atkinson
Sentimentality by William Johnson
The Long Day Closesby Armond White
The Director's Cut by Greg Solman
John Sayles by Andrew Sarris
Martin & Osa Johnson by Robert Horton
David Lynch by Howard Hampton
Fire Walk With Me by Greg Olson
Vincent Ward by Michael Wilmington
William Powell by Dennis Drabelle
Akira Kurosawa by Alex Seltzer
Alan Clarke by David Thomson
The Politics of Denial by Vanessa Place
Festivals: Berlin by Harlan Kennedy
Oscar Redux

Contents Best of 1993.


Oliver Stone & Tommy Lee Jones interviews.


Orson Welles.


Alex Cox.


Polanski: Bitter Moon.

Contents Robert Altman tribute.


Oscar predix.


Victor Nunez.


Schindler's List.


19th Annual 'Grosses Gloss.'


Walter Hill.


The Blue Angel.

Contents Special section: Irish Cinema.


The making of The Wild Bunch.


Alexander Mackendrick.


Almodovar.


Leox Carax.

Contents

Back cover

Elvis in the Twilight Zone.

Bertrand Tavernier: John Ford remembered.

Quentin Tarantino.

David Thomson on Carol Reed.

Contents John Dahl & Neo-Noir.


Mitchell Leisen.


Richard Schickel on Fellini.


Gregg Araki.


The Brothers Quay.


David Thomson on Ken Burn's Baseball.

Contents Who owns the movies?


Tim Burton Ed Wood Interview.


Dave Kehr on Kieslowski.


Venice/Cannes/New York.

Contents Best of 1994.


Robert Benton.


Francesco Rosi.


Richard Linklater.


Takeshi Kitano.


Nelson Pereira Dos Santos.


Robert Zemeckis's Guilty Pleasures.

Contents Powell & Pressburger.


The movies begin.


Dave Kehr on Robert Zemeckis.


Glasnost Cinema.


Charley Chase.


20th Annual 'Crosses Gloss.'


Oscar Predix.


Barbet Schroeder interview.

Contents Ingmar Bergman.


Salute To Shirley MacLaine.


Peter Jackson.


Lon Chaney.

Contents Mystery Science Theater 3000.


David Thomson on Money Shots.


Kathleen Murphy on Cyberscreens.


Geoffrey O'Brien on Fritz Lang.


Andre Techine.


Todd Haynes.

Contents Kathryn Bigelow.


Zhang yimou.


God Is My Witness.


Brakhage.


Cozarinsky.


Planet Of The Apes.

Contents Mexican cinema.


George Axelrod.


Festivals: Venice, Toronto, NY.


Lars von Trier.


Miklos Rozsa.

Contents Cover: Banlieue Films by Berenice Reynaud
Features:
J*U*I*C*E by Jonathan Baumbach
Michael Mann by Richard Combs
Jean Arthur by Dennis Drabelle
Jean-Luc Godard by Armond White; interviewed by Gavin Smith
George Loane Tucker by Frank Thompson
Michele Soavi by Maitland McDonagh
CD-ROM et al. by Kathleen Murphy
Warner Bros. Pre-Code by Dale Thomajan
Two Seconds by Donald Phelps
Michael Curtiz by Donald Lyons
21st 'Grosses Gloss' by Anne Thompson
Festivals: Sundance by Gavin Smith, Rachel Rosen
Oscar Predix

Contents Oscar Redux: reporting on who won, and which Oscar Predix participants got the most right

An affectionate, insightful new documentary portrait of Sam Fuller, by Robert Horton

CLINT EASTWOOD, honoree at the FSLC's 1996 Gala:

-- ''Clint on the Back Nine,'' by Richard Schickel

-- Eastwood as romantic hero, by Kathleen Murphy

-- The Bridges of Madison County, by Richard Combs

Music video plagiarism, by Maria Demopoulos

Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, by Jacob Levich

Hong Kong filmmaker Stanley Kwan (Rouge; Actress; Red Rose, White Rose), by Michael Atkinson

Chinese silents, by Matt Severson

Douglas Fairbanks Sr.: ''The Choreography of Hope,'' by John Tibbetts

John Sayles: the writer-director of Return of the Secaucus 7, Passion Fish, et al. talks about his new film Lone Star; interviewed by Gavin Smith

Chris Smith's ultra-low-budget debut, American Job, by Jim Supanick

From Mexico: Nobody Will Speak of Us When We Are Dead, by Chris Chang

Berlin Film Festival report, by Harlan Kennedy

Life signs from the French cinema: Purple Noon and Nelly et M. Arnaud, by Donald Lyons

Also, Japanese animator Oshii Mamoru, by David Chute - and more.

Contents Cannes '96, articles by Mary Corliss and Harlan Kennedy Los Angeles Noir by Paul Arthur Abbas Kiarostami interviewed by Phillip Lopate and Godfrey Cheshire on Kiarostami Mission: Impossible by Howard Hampton Cinema Sex Magick, the films of Donald Cammell by Chris Chang Marcel Ophuls interviewed by Kurt Jacobsen Trainspotting by Harlan Kennedy

Also, Psycho Revisited, Anthony Mann, Michael Haneke, Bertolucci's Guilty Pleasures and more.

Contents Independence Day and the summer blockbuster syndrome, by Kent Jones

READ IT HERE!

In praise of Dan Ireland's The Whole Wide World, by Kathleen Murphy

READ IT HERE!

Eric Rohmer's Rendezvous in Paris et al., by Armond White

Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang, by Chuck Stephens

WWII: British cinema's stiff upper lip, by Harlan Kennedy

Maurice Pialat achieves his masterpiece, Le Garηu, by Dave Kehr

Hong Kong movie goddess Brigitte Lin, by Howard Hampton

READ IT HERE!

John Carpenter's Guilty Pleasures

Artists making (film) art: Basquiat, Arena Brains, et al., by Chris Chang

Nick Gomez: the director of illtown, New Jersey Drive, and Laws of Gravity interviewed by Gavin Smith

Remembering Jacques Demy's Young Girls of Rochefort, by William Johnson

The Window, a film noir classic, by Paul Arthur

Stanley Kubrick talks! (in a British TV documentary), by Richard Combs

Book review: two biographies of Orson Welles (from David Thomson and Simon Callow), assessed by Donald Lyons; and more.

Contents NYFF as seen by Robert Horton and Phillip Lopate, plus Donald Lyons on Vertigo and Paul Arthur on (the absence of) avant-garde visions.


Kathleen Murphy on Jane Campion's Portrait of a Lady.


Elia Kazan's Wild River, by Donald Chase.


Cave painter: Cornel Wilde, by Michael Atkinson.


Venice and Toronto film festivals.


James Benning: the filmmaker as landscape, by Bιrιnice Reynaud.


The Cinema of Jean-Pierre Melville by Peter Hogue.


Don Siegel's The Killers by Howard Hampton.


Hollywood Egypt: Youssef Chahine, by Dave Kehr.


Jules Dassin: An interview with the director of Naked City, Rififi, et al., by Patrick McGilligan.


James Benning: the filmmaker as landscape, by Bιrιnice Reynaud.


Marcel Ophuls interviewed by Kurt Jacobsen.


Also, Chris Chang on Engelchen, Dale Thomajan on show-going and more.

Contents 1996 in Review: Moments Out of Time, Ten Best, et al.

Molly Haskell's Guilty Pleasures

James Woods interviewed by Gavin Smith

Raul Ruiz by Jonathan Rosenbaum

Armond White on Charles Burnett

The Kremlin Letter by Peter Richards

Frames by Kathleen Murphy

Kent Jones on Spike Lee

Kevin Brownlow and Bruce Goldstein on William K. Everson

Donald Lyons on Lost Highway

Also, William Johnson on John Garfield, Molly Haskell on Ransom and more.

Contents David Cronenberg interviewed by Gavin Smith The legacy of Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, explored by Jacob Levich Film Comment's Annual Oscar Predix Wim Wenders takes his 5-hour cut of Until the End of the World on the road, by Robert Horton Richard T. Jameson on Hard Eight The 22nd Annual 'Grosses Gloss' --surveying the 1996 box office, by Leonard Klady The art and theory of Saul Bass, by Jim Supanick William Johnson on Five Million Years to Earth An affectionate salute to the cinematic poetry of Kieslowski's White, by Annette Insdorf Rock 'n' Roll movies, by Howard Hampton That thing they don't: musicals (e.g., Evita) that fail to sing, by Armond White Underground filmmaker Ken Jacobs, by Paul Arthur Robert Altman's Kansas City, by Richard Combs Rescued: the earliest American feature film extant, by Beverly Walker Also, Reports from the 1997 Sundance Film Festival, by Gavin Smith and Rachel Rosen and more.

Contents The Film Society of Lincoln Center's gala tribute to Sean Connery by Kathleen Murphy (see excerpt at this website)... Star Wars pro and con: Gen X (Andrew Lewis Conn) and an only slightly elder statesman (Robert Horton) draw lines in the sand of pop culture... ''This Is Still Cinerama'': the curved screen rules again in Dayton, Ohio (by David Joachim)... ''Coming Attractions'': Richard Corliss savors exploitation-film trailers from decades gone by... Kent Jones on the cinema of Philippe Garrell... Film Comment May-June selection for most promising directorial debut: John Nossiter's Sunday (by Richard T. Jameson)... A latterday masterpiece from Michelangelo Antonioni: Peter Hogue on Beyond the Clouds... American independent Christopher Mόnch , as seen by Donald Lyons (read it at this website)... ''The Last Gangster'': a rollicking/raunchy/reflective interview with veteran character actor Marc Lawrence (The Asphalt Jungle, Key Largo, This Gun for Hire), by Lee Server... Reinventing movies: Lumiθre and Co., by Michael Atkinson... ''Harry Langdon: the fourth genius?'' -- an affectionate but not quite adulatory look at the silent-era comedian, by Frank Thompson (see article at this website)...and more.

Contents Cannes Film Festival - the fest on its 50th appraised by 25-year veteran Mary Corliss; plus a report on the powerful British contingent at Cannes by Harlan Kennedy The Lost World - Spielberg's latest expedition traced and trounced by Chuck Stephens Tsui Hark, ''the Spielberg of Hong Kong Cinema'' - a career survey by Howard Hampton, who also considers Tsui's invaluable collaborator Ching Siu-tung; plus Berenice Reynaud on the state of Hong Kong filmmaking on the eve of the handover to China The Searchers - a fresh look at an American classic, by David Thomson The Red musical - J. Hoberman on Communist tunefests of the Thirties and beyond Jazz on a Summer's Day - the definitive concert movie returns, appreciated by Dale Thomajan READ IT HERE Film Comment poll : a roster of superb foreign films lacking a U.S. distributor--READ THE COMPLETE POLL HERE Land of the Pharaohs - Richard Combs argues that Howard Hawks's odd-film-out is one of the director's most important achievements The grown-up world of Sidney Lumet - Phillip Lopate considers Night Falls on Manhattan READ IT HERE ''Straight to Film'': Gavin Smith on the evolving relationship between film and video Will (can?) the real Luc Besson stand up? - Chris Chang on The Fifth Element et al. READ IT HERE Master Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf - a career assessment by Godfrey Cheshire READ ABOUT THE DIRECTOR'S BRILLIANT NEW FILM HERE Frames - Kathleen Murphy's latest report on lively websites, new CD-ROM releases, etc. Books - Donald Lyons reviews Brownlow's David Lean and new books on Max Ophuls and Gone With the Wind Neil Labute's In the Company of Men - July-August pick for most promising directorial debut, by Ray Privett

Contents David Ansen on Delta, This Issue's Selection for Most Promising Directorial Debut Boogie Nights by Chuck Stephens Dave Kehr's Reflections on Godard's Contempt Katherine Dieckmann on Emir Kusturica Kathleen Murphy's Appreciation

of Director Lee Tamahori (The Edge) Kent Jones on Director Frank Borzage--

READ IT HERE Donald Chase on the career of Gloria Grahame--

READ IT HERE Fred Zinnemann, by Robert Horton Chris Chang on Errol Morris Alvin Lu on director Chen Kaige Gummo, reviewed by Paul Arthur--

Contents Critics' Choice: a ''quick-and-dirty'' rating of the latest releases.


Chris Darke on Will It Snow for Christmas? This issue's selection for Most Promising Directorial Debut.


Thoughts on Kiss Me Deadly by David Thomson.


Donald Lyons on L. A. Confidential.


Paul Schrader interviews Aleksandr Sokurov.


Andrew Sarris's appreciation of My Best Friend's Wedding.


Cover story: Gavin Smith's interview with Robert Duvall.


J. Hoberman on the filmmaker Jack Smith.


The New York Film Festival, by Robert Horton and Phillip Lopate.


Reviews of the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, and more.

Contents CRITICS' CHOICE -- In our exciting new feature, first-rate film critics rate the current cinema crop (including notable restorations and reissues)--. Fragments * Jerusalem -- J. Hoberman of The Village Voice talks about a remarkable new documentary --READ IT HERE! Under the Skin -- Kathleen Murphy introduces Carine Adler, FC's Most Promising New Director for Jan-Feb--. The Avant-Garde in '97 -- a survey by Paul Arthur--. EDGAR KENNEDY -- the classic comedian (master of ''the slow burn'') and underrated character actor gets his due from Donald Phelps in an eloquent essay--. MARTIN SCORSESE interviewed by Gavin Smith on the occasion of Kundun -- SAMPLE IT HERE! ATOM EGOYAN -- Kent Jones takes the temperature of Canada's most pristine filmmaker, writer-director of the current The Sweet Hereafter--. Pordenone -- Italy's inimitable, invaluable annual festival entirely devoted to silent films is (re)visited by historian and super-fan Richard Koszarski--. MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM -- an emerging modern master, hailed by Michael Atkinson --READ IT HERE! BEST OF 1997 -- Ten Bests from the editors and regular contributors, and of course ''Moments out of Time''--. Edmond T. Greville -- an enigmatic, sometimes brilliant, and unjustly overlooked figure from the French and the English cinema, reappraised by the great director, critic, and historian Bertrand Tavernier; plus an excerpt from Greville's memoirs, about the glories and headaches of directing Erich von Stroheim--. TITANIC movies -- from 1912 to James Cameron's 1997 world-beater, a comprehensive look by Titanic maven Frank Thompson --READ IT HERE! The Innocents -- Wings of the Dove? Washington Square? Per Donald Chase, the most spellbinding Henry James adaptation remains Jack Clayton's 1961 version of The Turn of the Screw--. Tabloid Documentaries -- Paul Arthur considers Heidi Fleiss, Paradise Lost, Aileen Wournos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, et al--.

Contents OSCAR PREDIX: eleven critics/editors/industry reporters take their best shots at scoping out the victors in ten key Academy categories-- CRITICS' CHOICE: ratings-at-a-glance of the current movie scene, from ten first-rate film critics-- Sundance '98: Gavin Smith on the best (and worst) of show, Rachel Rosen on the key documentaries, plus Kent Jones on Paul Schrader's superb Affliction-- WOODY ALLEN -- a sharp but appreciative evaluation by David Thomson-- Titanic vs. Jackie Brown -- apres le deluge (the Christmas releases, that is), Kent Jones takes stock of what really matters -- or should--. Kate Winslet: Post-Pre-Raphaelite by Nicholas Nicastro-- Fireworks aka Hana-Bi -- Dave Kehr looks at Takeshi Kitano's latest, and sees a masterpiece-- Amistad -- Oscar turned his back. Armond White doesn't-- ELMORE LEONARD -- America's most durable writer of high-class low-down character thrillers talks about nigh onto half a century of writing, directly or indirectly, for the screen; an interview by Patrick McGilligan-- MARY PICKFORD -- she not only invented movie stardom, she came close to inventing movie moguldom as well; an eloquent appreciation by Richard Corliss-- Guy Maddin -- the most independent of ''American independent'' filmmakers is a Canadian; by John Anderson-- 23RD ANNUAL 'GROSSES GLOSS' by Jeffrey Spaulding--. Why Denzel Washington (not Tom Cruise) Is the New Paul Newman by Leslie Simon-- Grishamovies: the hack jobs, the glorified hack jobs, and the furtively auteured -- movie adaptations of John Grisham novels, that is -- as seen by Mark Olsen-- and more...

Contents Critics Choice -- make that Choice Critics, as ten top film commentators rate the current movie scene-- WOODY ALLEN, Take 2 -- Kent Jones writes David Thomson a friendly letter in response to his Mar/Apr article on The Woodman-- Shane Meadows -- Gavin Smith salutes our Most Promising Directorial Debut for May/June, on the occasion of TwentyFourSeven, starring Bob Hoskins-- BERLIN -- European Editor Harlan Kennedy checks out this year's Filmfestspiele -- READ IT HERE!-- Oscar Redux -- who won, who lost, who guessed the most right among our Oscar Predix crew----. Special Section: a tribute to MARTIN SCORSESE 25th Gala Honoree of the Film Society of Lincoln Center

Film Comment presents two new articles hailing Scorsese's career, as well as reprints of classic pieces from three decades of mostly amicable coexistence:

Michael Wilmington: ''The Wild Heart''

Andrew Lewis Conn: ''The Adolescents of Martin Scorsese''

Marjorie Rosen: excerpts from an interview regarding Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More (1974)

Manny Farber and Patricia Patterson on Taxi Driver (1976)

Martin Scorsese's Guilty Pleasures -- READ IT HERE

David Thomson on Raging Bull (1981)

Martin Scorsese on color preservation (1981)

Kathleen Murphy on GoodFellas (1990)

Gavin Smith: excerpts from three great interviews on the occasions of GoodFellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), and Kundun (1998)--READ THEM HERE Digital Law -- Elliot Forbes reports on the legality, the history, and the likely future of appropriating celebrity images-- Alex van Warmerdam -- William Johnson scopes out a droll Dutch filmmaker-- Hong Kong books -- David Chute reviews two comprehensive and complementary new tomes on the world's highest-jumping cinema -- READ IT HERE! and more...

Contents Critics Choice -- make that Choice Critics--ten top film commentators rate the current movie scene-- Frank Sinatra -- this issue's cover story; an appreciation by Robert Horton-- Mary Astor --Dennis Drabelle analyzes the star as actress and author-- CANNES -- European Editor Harlan Kennedy checks out this year's festival -- READ IT HERE! along with other Cannes pieces by Richard Pena and Gavin Smith-- GODZILLA -- why the new version doesn't live up to the Toho classics, by Gregory Solman--READ IT HERE! Alvin Lu's view of the career of director Wayne Wang-- John Sparks' reflection on Truffaut's forgotten masterpiece, DAY FOR NIGHT--READ ABOUT IT HERE! Theo Angelopoulos-- an interview by Gideon Bachmann-- Fathers and Sons in American Cinema---a survey by Donald Lyons-- Stan Schwartz on Ingmar Bergman's new television film, IN THE PRESENCE OF A CLOWN--READ ABOUT IT HERE! and Harlan Kennedy on Whatever Happened to Ingmar Bergman? Dale Thomajan on books-- Paul Arthur on Disaster Pix and more...

Contents Saving Private Ryan -- this issue's cover story; written by Editor Richard T. Jameson-- Godard in the 90s: an interview, argument and scrapbook, by Jonathan Rosenbaum ---- Critics Choice ---ten top film commentators rate the current movie scene-- The Galway Film Fleadh -- Kathleen Murphy on this year's festival -- READ IT HERE!-- Les Vampires -- An appreciation of Louis Feuillade's series by Frank Thompson--READ IT HERE! Memory Tripping--Richard Schickel on the AFI 100 and other ephemera-- To Each His Own---On the Art of Mitchell Leisen,by Jack Shadoian-- Richard Corliss on Lolita--READ ABOUT IT HERE!-- Robert Castle and Stephen Donatelli on Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick's ulterior war--- and Elliot Stein on Come and See-- Quickies--Reviews of The Eel, Snake Eyes, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries and Love Is the Devil--READ ABOUT THEM HERE! Kent Jones on Reclaiming the 70s-- Chris Chang on Todd Solondz-- Gavin Smith on new video releases-- and more...

Contents Douglas Sirk: This issue's cover story; written by Tag Gallagher.


Michael Atkinson on Film Enchante.


George Nelson's tribute to Sheldon Gunsberg, who helped popularize the film ''arthouse.''


Sadie Benning: Gavin Smith interviews the independent videomaker.


Film Festivals: Kathleen Murphy on this year's Toronto event; Murphy and Phillip Lopate on New York and Harlan Kennedy on Venice.


The New Paranoia: Jonathan Romney on the games pixels play.


Organic Machine: The world of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, by David Chute.


Ray Privett on Philippine Cinema.


Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry: An appreciation by Peter Hogue.


Critics' Choice: Ten top film commentators rate the current movie scene.


Robert Horton on Bertrand Tavernier.


Reviews: The Mighty, Central Station, Hurlyburly, A Simple Plan and Beloved.


Gavin Smith on new video releases.


Mark Harris on books and more...

Contents Critics Choice -- Ten top reviewers rate 36 recent releases Coming Apart -- One man, one remarkable film. Writer-director Milton Moses Ginsberg talks about his own astonishing 1969 movie starring Rip Torn. The Thin Red Line -- The return of Terrence Malick, appraised by Gavin Smith. READ IT HERE Wes Anderson -- Mark Olsen celebrates the inimitable virtues of the writer-director of the sweet, eccentric, and very funny Rushmore. Akira Kurosawa -- The passing of a titan, and the enduring value of the many masterpieces -- Seven Samurai, Ran, Yojimbo, Rashomon, Dersu Uzala -- he left us. By Michael Wilmington and Peter Hogue. John Carpenter -- Kent Jones on the underrated filmmaker he rightly deems an ''American Movie Classic.'' 1998 and All That -- Ten Best lists by Film Comment editors and contributors, plus ''Moments Out of Time'' by Richard T. Jameson and Kathleen Murphy. The Avant Garde in '98 -- A summary of the year's highlights by Paul Arthur. Jacques Becker -- Philip Kemp showcases a French master too little known in America. Alexei Guerman -- J. Hoberman talks with the director of what for many was the revelation of the latest New York Film Festival, Khroustaliov, My Car! Richard Lester and Petulia -- As enigmatic and unforgettable in 1998 as it was in 1968, Lester's distillation of America and especially San Francisco at the moment ''flower power'' was losing its bloom is considered by Richard Combs. The Triumphant Children of Small Change -- By Giovanna De Luca, winner of the latest Grand Marnier Fellowship winner for Film Criticism. Un-Happiness -- An eloquent minority report on the season's most-talked-about American indie film, by Andrew Lewis Conn. READ IT HERE Quickies -- Sharp, up-to-the-minute reviews: Stephen Frears' The Hi-Lo Country by John Anderson; Claude Chabrol's The Swindle by Phillip Lopate; A Civil Action by Kent Jones; Vietnam: Long Time Coming by Paul Arthur; Another Day in Paradise by Donald Chase; Stepmom by Dave Kehr. READ THEM HERE Vidi Vidi Vidi -- Gavin Smith on the new video releases.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE -- Ten top commentators rate the current release scene, including a special ''Oscar Flashback'' survey of major contenders-- OSCAR PREDIX -- Leading critics, industry reporters, et al. scope out the winners for March 31, 1999-- BESIEGED -- Bernardo Bertolucci's best in years? Dave Kehr says so. READ IT HERE!!! JULIA SWEENEY -- Andrew Sarris salutes the complex comedienne -- and writer, and director -- and her sterling one-woman film God Said, ''Ha!'' READ IT HERE!!! IN DREAMS -- Neil Jordan has made a brilliant new horror film, lush, dark, and deeply disturbing -- not that most of the working film press seems to realize it. By Kathleen Murphy-- THE GAY NINETIES -- Christopher Kelly wishes the gay branch of the American independent cinema were a lot more exciting-- CUTTING NOTORIOUS -- Looking over The Master's shoulder as he fine-tuned one of his early American masterworks. By Leonard J. Leff-- THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE -- Lisa Katzman reassesses Jean Eustache's epochal study of failed revolutions in love and politics-- BEN-HUR -- Revisiting the pre-Titanic Oscar champ. By Peter Richards-- EDDIE ROMERO -- ''Our Man in Manila,'' the veteran Philippine filmmaker, sold his first script at age 16 on the eve of World War II, directed his first film in 1947, lived through sundry political upheavals and Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and is still going strong. A lively interview by Lee Server-- 24TH ANNUAL 'GROSSES GLOSS' -- Box-office winners & sinners of 1998, and the Hollywood marketplace as viewed by Jeffrey Spaulding (let no one call him schnorrer)-- WARREN SONBERT -- The Underground montage master. An appreciation by Paul Arthur-- THE FULL MONARCHY -- Nicholas Nicastro takes on all these Elizabeths, not to mention Mrs. Brown, and even diagnoses the madness of King George. READ IT HERE!!! SUNDANCE '99 -- Reports from Park City by Gavin Smith and Rachel Rosen-- ROTTERDAM -- Dave Kehr visits a most distinctive rijstaffel of a festival-- SILVER MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD -- Love and death and the American screen: a memoir by Frank Holland-- QUICKIES -- Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, Benoit Jacquot's The School of Flesh, and three other new films reviewed. READ IT HERE!!! VIDI VIDI VIDI -- Gavin Smith's video picks for March-April--

Contents CRITICS CHOICE: Ten savvy commentators rate current releases and notable reissues.


Go -- Mark Olsen savors the vigorous new movie from Doug (Swingers) Liman.


MIKE NICHOLS -- the director of The Graduate, Silkwood, and Primary Colors is the 26th annual Gala tributee of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.


ROBERT BRESSON -- Part One of a film-by-film survey of one of the cinema's outstanding careers: John Powers on Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Frederic Bonnaud on Diary of a Country Priest, Peter Hogue on A Man Escaped, Raymond Durgnat on Pickpocket, Robert Horton on The Trial of Joan of Arc, Phillip Lopate on Mouchette.


New British Cinema -- Philip Kemp studies ''New Maps of Albion''.


Tehran Film Festival -- NYFF Director Richard Pena on a busman's holiday.


Berlin Film Festival -- Harlan Kennedy celebrates visionary new fest sites and a mature coming-to-terms with the past.


Mon Oncle Antoine -- Donald Chase revisits one of the arthouse hits of the Seventies.


Life The Movie -- a book review by Kent Williams.


Quickies -- five new films reviewed.


Vidi Vidi Vidi -- Gavin Smith salutes Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop and other notable video releases.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE - 10 top film commentators rate the current film scene.


CANNES '99 - Our 20some-year Cannes-watcher Mary Corliss, European Editor Harlan Kennedy, and New York Film Festival Director Richard Pena offer their takes on everybody's premier film orgy.


ALBERT BROOKS - To many, our greatest comic writer-director-star, interviewed on the occasion of his new movie The Muse by Gavin Smith.


OLIVER REED - The bad boy of British cinema skipped out on his last bar bill, but left a distinctive screen legacy. Celebrated by Tim Lucas.


BRESSON II - FILM COMMENT continues its film-by-film survey of the Cinema of Robert Bresson: seven articles by Olivier Assayas (The Devil Probably), Manohla Dargis (Une Femme douce), Kent Jones (Four Nights of a Dreamer), Adrian Martin (L'Argent), Olaf Moeller (Les Anges du peche), Kathleen Murphy (Lancelot du Lac), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Les Affaires publiques).


NOIR HAPPENS - Paul Arthur on Fred Zinnemann's Act of Violence.


A FATHER'S HANDS - Memoir by Robert ''Pete'' Peterson.


HIROKAZU KORE-EDA - William Johnson on a very promising new Japanese director.


TRUFFAUT - Phillip Lopate reviews a comprehensive new biography.


NINETIES MOVIES - Satire by Dale Thomajan.


QUICKIES - Current films in review.


VIDI VIDI VIDI - Gavin Smith's new-on-video column, featuring Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue and Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE - Ten of the best and brightest rate the current movie scene.


RUN LOLA RUN - Crissa-Jean Chappell monitors the fleetest film out of Germany in many a Jahre.


BEING JOHN MALKOVICH - Chris Chang hails the feature-directing debut of music video maestro (and Three Kings costar) Spike Jonze.


ON APPROVAL - Clive Brook's daffy, surreal, divinely silly and utterly one-of-a-kind comedy classic, appreciated anew by Philip Kemp.


CATHERINE BREILLAT - On the occasion of Breillat's bold and controversial new film Romance, Kathleen Murphy surveys the director's two-decade career.


EYES WIDE SHUT - Final masterpiece or posthumous muddle? Two sympathetic views, by Amy Taubin and Richard T. Jameson.


THE THIRD MAN and TOUCH OF EVIL - Both dazzling film noir masterworks, both restored and rereleased not long ago, these two ''Orson Welles classics'' have a surprising amount in common. Harlan Kennedy teases it out.


STEVEN SODERBERGH - He's come a long and surprisingly variegated way from sex, lies & videotape, and Dave Kehr has it down cold. Featuring Soderbergh's evocative new Terence Stamp showcase, The Limey.


HOU HSIAO-HSIEN - Taiwan's master filmmaker remains unknown in the United States apart from the festival circuit. Kent Jones makes an eloquent case for his three latest films.


THE HALF-LIFERS - Jim Supanick reports on a screw-loose video saga.


SUGAR TOWN - Mark Olsen on the new Alison Anders-Kurt Voss film about the L.A. rock scene.


DAVID FINCHER - A probing Gavin Smith interview with the director of Seven and the stunning new Fight Club, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.


BOOKS - Dale Thomajan reviews new collections by Richard Schickel and Peter Bogdanovich.


QUICKIES - five new films reviewed.


VIDI VIDI VIDI - Gavin Smith on the latest video releases.

Contents Critics choice: Ten of the best and brightest rate the current movie scene.


Riding with Ang Lee: David Thomson on Lee's new Ride With The Devil.


Reconstructing greed: How long, and in what color?


Kids return: Howard Hampton on recent films that explore the strange minds of children.


Ann Southern: Jeanine Basiner and Mike Kaplan on the lady who was Maisie.


Festivals: Harlan Kennedy on Venice...Kathleen Murphy on Toronto... Philip Lopate and Robert Horton on New York.


The Vagaries of Verities: This year's winner of the Grand Marnier fellowship prize for journalism, Melissa Anderson contemplates Shirley Clarke's Portrait of Jason.


Snooche Boochies: The Gospel According to Kevin Smith: Robert Horton on the director of Dogma, Clerks, Chasing Amy and Mallrats.


Encountering Leopoldo: George Wead on actor Leopoldo Trieste.


Victor Mature: An appreciation by David Thomson.


Quickies: Five new films reviewed.


Vidi vidi vidi: Gavin Smith on the latest video releases.

Contents Critics Choice: Ten top film commentators rate the current movie scene, from masterpieces to bombs.


Distributor Wanted: A new Film Comment feature spotlighting worthy movies that haven't been acquired for U.S. theatrical distribution yet. In this issue: Robert Horton on trans, Harlan Kennedy on Ratcatcher, and Mark Olsen on Claire Dolan.


Jim Carrey: Dave Kehr finds the surrealistic comic's Man on the Moon performance as Andy Kaufman "Oscarworthy," and analyzes this along with his previous roles.


Werner Herzog: The peripatetic wildman of international cinema, from the arthouse grandeur of Aguirre, the Wrath of God to the Zen documentaries (Fata Morgana, La Soufriere) to the portrait-in-complicity of Klaus Kinski in My Best Fiend - an appreciation by Michael Atkinson.


Best of '99: Moments out of Time, Ten Best Movies, New Faces et al.


The Avant-Garde in 1999: Kristin M. Jones surveys the alternative universe.


Jane Campion: Kathleen Murphy talks about various orders of rapture with the great director, on the occasion of her new film with Kate Winslet, Holy Smoke.


Magnolia: Kent Jones eyeballs Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, all-stops-out epic of Valley life.


Oliver Twist: Half a century ago David Lean made, just maybe, his best movie, and brought scandal and controvery down on his head. How it happened, and why, examined by Al McKee.


Kevin Bacon: ''It's a smile!'' The star of Footloose, Diner, River Wild, Murder in the First, et al. becomes the first Gala honoree of Young Friends Of Film.


"The Players: Film Comment's 90s poll": 114 critics, filmmakers, archivists, programmers, authors, editors, and other committed film professionals choose The Film of the Decade, The Person of the Decade, and much more.


Clara Bow: The Twenties' sauciest star, saluted by Peter Hogue.


Cornell Woolrich and Black Angel: Donald Phelps writes inimitably of the pulp fiction maestro whose penny-dreadful tales supplied the basis for such classics as Rear Window, Phantom Lady, Mississippi Mermaid, and this neglected but memorable 1946 film noir gem.


InterZone: Another new column, on the overlapping of cinema and Internet. In this installment Jim Emerson guides you to notable auteur websites.


Quickies: David J. Sterritt on The End of the Affair, Chuck Stephens on Ghost Dog, J. Hoberman on RKO 281 and Dave Kehr on The Green Mile.


Vidi Vidi Vidi: Gavin Smith and Nicole Armour scope out what's new on VHS and DVD.

Contents Silvia Prieto: A deliciously pixilated comedy from Argentina.


The Decalogue: Masterpieces are never out of date, though sometimes they take far too long to reach us. Krzysztof Kieslowski's dauntingly ambitious, dazzlingly well-achieved 1988 series inspired by the Ten Commandments gets a U.S. video release at last.


Manny Farber: He used to argue movies with James Agee, can still go toe to toe with Pauline Kael, and has influenced every American film critic with a pulse in the past half-century. His landmark collection Negative Space was reissued last year in an expanded edition. And when he made a rare trip to Gotham recently to accept an award from the New York Film Critics Circle, the guy he most wanted to talk with was our own Kent Jones.


Al Pacino: Sidney Lumet, who directed him to two of his eight Oscar nominations in Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, recalls that 'if the day's work demanded a lunatic, he was a lunatic all day long.' For its 27th annual Gala, the Film Society of Lincoln Center honors Michael Corleone and Richard III, Lowell Bergman and Ricky Roma, Carlito Brigante and Tony Montana, Lion and Sonny and Lefty Ruggiero, and by all means Al Pacino.


John Ford and black Americans: Judge Priest, The Sun Shines Bright, Sergeant Rutledge: John Ford held America's feet to the fire in matters of race consciousness. Plus: the DGA vs. D.W.G. (Griffith, that is).


'Grosses Gloss': The inside story on the '99 box office.


Sundance: The altitude is high, the air thinner than a flack's rhetoric, but there were solid discoveries to be made at this year's premier U.S. indie festival.


Fearless: Remember Peter Weir's great 1993 movie with Jeff Bridges as the survivor of an air crash? You should.


Monte Hellman has been the stuff of cinematic legend since 1966 when, under the aegis of schlockmeister-general Roger Corman, he and Jack Nicholson collaborated on a pair of utterly unprecedented absurdist Westerns, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind, completing both in a matter of days and forever changing the genre, not to mention the artistic parameters of no-budget, on-location filmmaking. Alas, legends don't necessarily show up even as a blip on the Hollywood radar, so such subsequent, enigmatic, often brilliant, always inimitable films as Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, China 9/Liberty 37, and Iguana have emerged sporadically, with limited-to-nonexistent theatrical release. Here's what some of them are like.


Updated Oscar predix: Kevin Spacey or Denzel? Brandon Teena or Teena Brandon? American Beauty on an enchanted wind, or Mike Leigh turning everything Topsy-Turvy? Our fearless forecasters scope out what will (not necessarily should) bring home the gold come March 26.


Ian Hart: The End of the Affair boasts an unimprovable cast, yet even in that exalted company many consider Hart, in the supporting role of the ineffably tender and haplessly diligent private detective, to be the standout. A remarkable, still-young career, submitted for your approval.


Reviews: American Psycho, The Wind Will Carry Us, The Virgin Suicides, The Idiots, Orphans.


Vidi Vidi Vidi: Perfect Blue anime and the latest from Master P.

Contents Beau travail.


Burt Lancaster.


Alain Resnais.


Michael Almereyda.


reviews of new films.

Contents the Farrelly Brothers.


Abbas Kiarostami.


Videomakers Chris Petit, Miranda July and Anne McGuire.


The MTV Video Awards.


Cannes coverage.


Time Regained, directed by Raul Ruiz.

Contents interview with Lars von Trier.


Dogma 95.


Get Carter.


Takeshi Kitano's Brother.


Edward Yang.


interview with Cameron Crowe.


reviews of new films.

Contents the Coen Brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou?


Nagisa Oshima's Gohatto.


The Soviet New Wave of the 1960s.


movie writers.


Washington versus Hollywood.


Shadow of the Vampire.


Christopher Munch's Sleepy Time Gal.


Elisabeth Subrin.


festivals in Venice, Toronto and New York.


reviews of new films.

Contents Interview with Gillian Anderson on the occasion of the release of The House of Mirth


The 2000 Readers' Poll.


The year's 20 best films.


Interview with Director Steven Soderbergh.

Contents Jane Fonda


The Film Society's 2001 Gala Honoree


Oscar Predix


Ermanno Olmi.


Robert Beavers.


Sundance and Rotterdam Festivals.


Digital Video vs. Film.


Grosses Gloss.


Letters.


Reviews of New Films.

Contents Moulin Rouge.


John Turturro's Guilty Pleasures.


Interview with Richard Widmark.


Apocalypse Now.


Time and Tide.


Ghost World.


Eureka.


Bootleg Video.


Very Annie Mary.


Festivals.


Reviews and new Video and DVD.

Contents A.I.


Michael Bay.


Kon Ichikawa.

Francois Ozon.


Videomakers Eric Saks and Donigan Cumming.


Recent Shakespeare films.


Hollywood and porn.


Mexico City Journal.


Coverage of Cannes.


Domestic Violence.


Nightshift.

Contents Mulholland Drive.


Va savoir.


Waking Life.


Cahiers du Cinema at 50.


Bela Tarr.


Leonardo Favio.


Kiarostami's A.B.C.


Africa and more.

Contents Ventura Pons: When democracy returned to Spain, cultural life received a shot in the arm. One of the results was the deeply personal and challenging work of this Catalunyan auteur. by Gerard Dapena.


Amelie: Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Gallic blockbuster, the heartwarming tale of a simple girl who turns everyone she meets into a better person, has crossed the ocean aboard the SS Miramax. Did French audiences collectively swallow a feel-good pill without reading the label? Our Parisian correspondent takes time for a closer reading. by Frederic Bonnaud.


Festivals: Vancouver, Toronto, Venice & New York. Phillip Lopate on the NYFF and Nicole Armour on Views from the Avant-Garde.


Zero De Conduite: This year's winner of the annual Grand Marnier film essay contest takes a fresh look at legendary French filmmaker Jean Vigo's 1933 classic. by Mariana Johnson.


The Royal Tenenbaums: With the help of Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and Anjelica Huston, not to mention his usual partner in crime Owen Wilson, Wes Anderson has fashioned an epic comedy of loss in a poetically reconstructed Manhattan, a film that's both outrageously funny and deeply moving. We get the scoop, plus an interview. by Kent Jones and Gavin Smith.


Film studies vs. new media: Film scholars, always sweating over their academic credentials, face a new threat: incorporation into an ever-expanding, amorphous blob called Media Studies. What's a cinephile to do? by Alissa Quart.


Pauline Kael: For someone who was so small, Pauline Kael cast a giant shadow over the national cinematic landscape, and the one thing her followers and her detractors might agree on is her extraordinary talent. Two writers, both personal friends, confront the loss of this prolific, mercurial, greatly missed figure. by Paul Schrader and Howard Hampton.


Sound &Vision: Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise of Love & Miguel Calderon, the bad-boy artist whose work features in The Royal Tenenbaums.


Laurent Cantet: His previous film, Human Resources, depicted a working-class world in which loyalty is put to the test. With his latest, Time Out, Cantet dramatizes the same conflict through the odd personal life of one very confused human being. by Amy Taubin


Discovery: Dog Days director Ulrich Seidl.


Distributor wanted: Alan Rudolph's Investigating Sex.


First look: Previewing Robert Altman's Gosford Park.


Fiction: ''Man Overboard'' by Bruce Wagner.


Reviews: In the Bedroom; Little Otik; As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty; Everything Put Together.


Vidi Vidi Vidi: New releases on DVD and video.