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Knight Mother
Unfazed by her auto-da-fe in previous installments, Sigourney Weaver returns in "Alien Resurrection" to join forces with Winona Ryder. [3]
Peter Keough

The Name Says It All
Robin Williams makes a mess in Disney's latest. [4]
Devin D. O'Leary

Southern Discomfort
At two-and-a-half lazy hours, Clint Eastwood's latest directorial effort is quite the snooze. [5]
Stacey Richter

Carpetbaggers
"Rainmaker" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" show what happens when good filmmakers go South. [6]
Ray Pride

Flying Off the Page
"The Wings of the Dove" soars; "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" needs some pruning. [7]
Noel Murray and Jim Ridley

Death in Venice ...and in Savannah
Two new films deal (very differently) with fatal attractions. [8]
Hadley Hury

Passion and Security
Reviews of "Wings of the Dove" and "La Promesse." [9]
Rick Barton

Movie Guru
The Movie Guru gets in the mood for a Slushie after seeing "The Ice Storm." [10]
Coury Turczyn

Sanguine Sensuality
Review of "Eve's Bayou." [11]
Mary Dickson

Film Tip of the Week
This week's must-see flick: "Nenette et Boni." [12]
Ray Pride

Movie Miracles on a Shoestring
There's a new production in town and its name is "Trailblazers." [13]
Jan Parisi

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50 Years and Counting
Like Play Doh, television is easy to reshape but impossible to return to its original form. A survey of the past half-century's most influential programs. [19]
Robert David Sullivan

Character Sketches
If your life's most unforgettable character was in a sit-com, you're in good company. [20]
the Staff of the Boston Phoenix (and fellow travellers)

Those Were the Days
Out of context, divorced from the images they were meant to accompany, TV theme songs can seem like pure, unadulterated cheese. [21]
Gary Susman

Butting Out
Why you should miss Beavis and Butt-head. [22]
Dan Tobin

Mission: Control
New England Cable News unveils the world's first user-controlled newscast. [23]
Dan Kennedy

Reality Bites
When MTV's "Real World" came to Boston, locals expected it to be at least interesting. [24]
Michael Crowley

Scanlines
Reviews of "A Chorus Line," "Men in Black," and "Scandal".[25]

Videos a Go-Go
Every week, we explore a movie genre for your enhanced rent 'n' view pleasure. This week's genre: Thanksgiving movies. [26]
Jesse Fox Mayshark

here it was. Before any of us (other than various marketing firms) knew it, the Christmas season snuck up on us like the headache following a tequila binge. All of the sudden everything solid had lights strung over it, annoying jingly music accompanied every TV ad, and casual shopping stops turned into nightmares. Worst of all, the Christmas films started arriving in cineplexes.

Wait, scratch that. What am I saying? The Christmas films are the season's saving grace! When visiting relatives turn irritating and your nerves are shot from shopping/shoving sprees, movies make a wonderful refuge. Forget about holiday sentiment (last year "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" opened on Christmas Day), forget about phone calls (leave your mobile phone in the car, bub), wrap yourself in a warm jacket and bathe in the glow of that huge, luminescent, Christmas-tree-lights-are-nothing-in-comparison movie screen. This year we've got new pics from Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Barry Levinson, Quentin Tarantino, Gus Van Sant, Woody Allen, and there's even a new James Bond flick thrown in for good measure. That's only the beginning. A summary provides further details.

If you positively insist on watching the small screen instead of the big one, fine -- be that way. Fortunately for your couch-sweet-potato self, we've got a full load of TV articles this week. This one sheds a tear for the passing ("heh heh, heh heh") of "Beavis and Butt-head," this one finds "The Real World" to be quite a dullsville place, and this one looks at a new form of interactive TV news.

But the most compelling stories in the bunch concern the history of telelvision: its best shows, its best characters, its best theme music. Anybody who's ever spent an entire Saturday sitting in front of the tube (as I used to do, at least until "Hee Haw" came on) will be able to appreciate the thoroughness of these articles. My only complaint is that the finest program of all time, "SCTV," doesn't get a mention -- perhaps because it was stuck in a late time slot. Wah.

Anyway, I digress. See you next week!

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Reel World
Film news from behind the scenes. [18]
Devin D. O'Leary

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Austin Chronicle

• Alien Resurrection
• The Delta
• Flubber
• Gummo
• Kiss Or Kill
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

Boston Phoenix

• Beaumarchais, The Scoundrel
• Bent
• Flubber
• Forgotten Silver
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
• Never Met Picasso
• The Rainmaker

Chicago NewCityNet

• Alien Resurrection
• Flubber
• Lisbon Story

Tucson Weekly

• Anastasia
• Blow Up
• Fast, Cheap, And Out Of Control.
• Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
• One Night Stand
• The Rainmaker
• Wings Of The Dove

Now What?
What's the matter, couldn't find a review of that blockbuster film you're excited about? We certainly don't want to leave you disappointed -- why not try some of these larger-than-life movie links? [27]

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Curious about a particular director's work? Not sure what to rent at the video store? Enjoy reading several contrasting opinions of the same film? This is the place for you. One of the all-time best film-review resources on the Web. Sort alphabetically or by publication, genre, director, or date. Check it out!