It's Sergio Leone meets Sam Peckinpah meets Quentin Tarantino in this ultra-violent, mythological shoot-'em-up by auteur Robert Rodriguez. In Desperado, Rodriguez creates larger-than-life, genre-tweaking stock characters and puts them through their paces. As they stride bravely through an Old West lightly dusted with camp humour, they're periodically called upon to nimbly dodge bullets and fireballs through outrageously choreographed displays of Hollywood pyrotechnics. In this bigger-budget semi-remake/semi-sequel to Rodriguez's indie sensation, El Mariachi (made, famously, for $7,000), Antonio Banderas is the darkly charismatic El Mariachi, the Mysterious Stranger in town; Steve Buscemi is perfectly cast as his weasely, motor-mouth Comic Sidekick, laying the groundwork for El Mariachi's entrance by spinning saloon stories to build up his legend; Cheech Marin is a standout as the Bartender, who really knows how to handle a toothpick; and gorgeous Salma Hayek is, well, the Girl-treated to the kind of full-blown, slow-movement introduction the movies traditionally lavish on beautiful new stars. It doesn't add up to much but it's a kick. -Jim Emerson It's Sergio Leone meets Sam Peckinpah meets Quentin Tarantino in this ultra-violent, mythological shoot-'em-up by auteur Robert Rodriguez. In Desperado, Rodriguez creates larger-than-life, genre-tweaking stock characters and puts them through their paces. As they stride bravely through an Old West lightly dusted with camp humour, they're periodically called upon to nimbly dodge bullets and fireballs through outrageously choreographed displays of Hollywood pyrotechnics. In this bigger-budget semi-remake/semi-sequel to Rodriguez's indie sensation, El Mariachi (made, famously, for $7,000), Antonio Banderas is the darkly charismatic El Mariachi, the Mysterious Stranger in town. Steve Buscemi is perfectly cast as his weasely, motor-mouth Comic Sidekick, laying the groundwork for El Mariachi's entrance by spinning saloon stories to build up his legend; Cheech Marin is a standout as the Bartender, who really knows how to handle a toothpick; and gorgeous Salma Hayek is, well, the Girl-treated to the kind of full-blown, slow-mo introduction the movies traditionally lavish on beautiful new stars. [+]

Director Toshihiro Hirano based Vampire Princess Miyu-a four-part OVA series-on a horror manga by his wife, Narumi Kakinouchi, and the title has remained popular since it appeared in 1988-9. In "Unearthly Kyoto" the viewer meets Himiko Se, a self-described spiritualist, who has come to the ancient capital to perform an exorcism on a princess who has been in a coma for 60 days. The assignment brings her into conflict with the title character, who has dedicated her existence to destroying the Shinma, a race of demon-gods who attack humans. The two women square off again at a school where the students are inexplicably disappearing in "A Banquet of Marionettes". The sceptical, rational Himiko makes an effective foil for the powerful and sensual Miyu, who battles the Shinma with the aid of her redoubtable servant Larva, a creature with a face like a scarred carnival mask. Miyu resembles a cross between a traditional Japanese doll and an anime heroine. She is delicately beautiful, but self-assured and in command of formidable powers. Her beauty also has a perverse edge: she remains a vampire who offers humans immortality and a decelerated happiness in exchange for the blood she requires. Quite literally a femme fatale, Miyu recalls the beautiful but deadly heroines so popular in turn-of-the century Western literature. -Charles Solomon, Amazon. [+]

While it offers nothing new to the military-action genre, Tears of the Sun distinguishes itself with fine acting, expert craftsmanship and seriousness of purpose. Its familiar "extraction mission" plot is essentially similar to that of Black Hawk Down, involving a crack team of US Special Ops commandos struggling to rescue innocent missionaries amid the bloody horror of Nigerian ethnic cleansing. With Bruce Willis as their grizzled, no-nonsense commander, the skilful team enters a hot zone that gets even hotter when their "package"-an American national (Monica Bellucci) who runs the isolated mission-demands that 70 Nigerian villagers be included in the rescue. Willis's uneasy conscience leads him to defy orders and expand his mission, and in an ambitious follow up to Training Day, director Antoine Fuqua escalates tension and strike-force with considerable emotional impact. Originally considered as a potential entry in Willis's Die Hard series, and released in cinemas on the eve of America's war with Iraq, Tears of the Sun admirably avoids jingoism with its rousing story of personal good vs political evil. -Jeff Shannon.

Outland is another in a long line of Westerns retooled for science fiction. Writer-director Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, 2010, Timecop) re-stages High Noon in outer space, with Sean Connery as O'Neil, the marshal for a settlement on one of Jupiter's moons. While investigating the deaths of some miners, O'Neil discovers that mine boss Peter Boyle has been giving his workers an amphetamine-like, work-enhancing drug that keeps them productive for months-until they finally snap and go berserk. When Boyle sends killer henchmen to neutralize the lawman, O'Neil is unable to get the miners to back him up. Outland is no classic but it offers solid suspense in an otherworldly atmosphere. It also stars Frances Sternhagen, James B. Sikking (Howard on television's Hill Street Blues) and John Ratzenberger (later to become famous as Cliff on the sitcom Cheers). -Jim Emerson.

From a script cowritten with his fellow Monty Python veteran Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam pulled out all the stops on his prodigious imagination for this comedy-fantasy from 1981. Film critic Pauline Kael was right when she wrote, "This may be one of those rare pictures that suffers from a surfeit of good ideas," because there's not enough plot to keep pace with the sheer inventiveness of Gilliam's filmmaking. That hasn't stopped Time Bandits from becoming a classic, of sorts, attracting a cult following as a semi-reunion of the Python gang (with Palin and John Cleese making splendid appearances) and a rousing adventure of near-epic proportions. It's about a kid named Kevin (Craig Warnock) who joins a band of mischievous dwarves on a jaunt through various eras and epochs. They've stolen a map to holes in the space-time continuum that belongs to the Supreme Being (suitably played by Sir Ralph Richardson), and as Kevin survives a variety of heroic adventures, including an encounter with King Agamemnon (Sean Connery) and an Evil Genius (David Warner) who pursues the coveted map using his nefarious magical powers. As a warm-up for Gilliam's later, even more ambitious fantasies, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, this is a dazzling dose of cinematic whimsy, and Gilliam doesn't compromise the darkness of his tale with an artificially upbeat ending. There's as much menace in Time Bandits as there is an awesome sense of wonder, and that gives the movie an extra kick of timeless appeal. -Jeff Shannon With Time Bandits, only his second movie as director, Terry Gilliam's barbed humour and hyperactive visual imagination got themselves gloriously into full gear. Sketched out in a matter of weeks over Michael Palin's kitchen table while Gilliam struggled to get his dream project Brazil off the ground, this is a children's film made by a director who "hates kid films" and all the "mawkish sentimental crap" that goes with them. The 11-year-old hero, Kevin, finds himself lugged out of his suburban bedroom and off through a series of wormholes in time and space by a gang of rapacious, bickering midgets in search of loot, en route encountering (and casually despoiling) a gallery of eminent historical figures that include Agamemnon, Napoleon and Robin Hood, along with assorted ogres, giants and monsters. [+]

The foundation stone of the Troma label's trash-movie empire, The Toxic Avenger introduces the character of nerdy janitor Melvin, who suffers heaps of abuse from local bad-guys and is stuffed into a vat of toxic waste while dressed in a ballerina outfit. He emerges mutated into a Swamp Thing/Hulk-style monster hero who romps around the blighted township of Tromaville, New Jersey, offing the grotesque villains in nastily gruesome ways and mooning over his blind true love. The Troma style is unique, and perhaps predates the anything-gross-for-a-laugh approach of the Farrelly Brothers by a good 10 years, but it sometimes wavers between the good-natured gags and genuinely unpleasant plot images that somewhat spoil the tone. Entry-level filmmaking, but with surprisingly professional head-squashing effects and a degree of enthusiasm that breaks down most resistance. Several sequels have ensued, including The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie. - Kim Newman.

From the outset, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was about conflict. Producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller challenged the utopian ideals of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe to create something totally different from its predecessors. That meant no familial camaraderie, no squeaky-clean Federation diplomacy and no beige décor. Instead they wanted inter-personal friction, ruthless enemies (Gamma Quadrant Imperialists-The Dominion) and rebellion at every turn. The DS9 concept was originally facilitated by introducing the Cardassian/Bajoran war during The Next Generation's final days. After a muted first reception fans gradually came to accept the new look, but no one liked Star Trek without a starship and eventually the producers capitulated to viewers' wishes by introducing the USS Defiant (an apt name) in Season 3. Relying far less on technobabble than TNG, DS9 was unafraid to focus on matters of the spirit instead, demonstrating a ballsy independence from its parent shows. Taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Babylon 5, improved CGI space battles also became a fan favourite. Throughout the increasingly serialised story arc there were rebellious factions within the different establishments: Kira had belonged to the Shakaar resistance cell; The Maquis was Starfleet vs Cardassians; Section 31 was a secret Starfleet group; The True Way was a Bajoran group opposed to peace; the Cardassians had their Obsidian Order and the Romulans their Gestapo-like Tal Shiar. Yet for all its constant bickering and espionage (even Bashir got to be James Bond!), there was always some contemporary social commentary lurking: the Ferengi were used as a comedic foil to frown on materialistic greed; drugs were looked at via the Jem'Hadar foot soldiers' addiction to Ketracel White. [+]