Italy's rubber-faced funnyman Roberto Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out of the tragedy of the Holocaust. An international sensation and the most successful foreign-language film in US history, the picture also earned director-cowriter-star Benigni Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor. He plays the Jewish country boy Guido, a madcap romantic in Mussolini's Italy who wins the heart of his sweetheart (Benigni's real-life sweetie, Nicoletta Braschi) and raises a darling son (the adorable Giorgio Cantarini) in the shadow of fascism. When the Nazis ship the men off to a concentration camp in the waning days of the war, Guido is determined to shelter his son from the evils around them and convinces him they're in an elaborate contest to win (of all things) a tank. Guido tirelessly maintains the ruse with comic ingenuity, even as the horrors escalate and the camp's population continues to dwindle-all the more impetus to keep his son safe, secure, and, most of all, hidden. Benigni walks a fine line mining comedy from tragedy and his efforts are pure fantasy-he accomplishes feats no man could realistically pull off-both of which have drawn fire from a few critics. Yet for all its wacky humour and inventive gags, Life Is Beautiful is a moving and poignant tale of one father's sacrifice to save not just his young son's life but his innocence in the face of one of the most evil acts ever perpetrated by the human race. -Sean Axmaker.

Based on Robert Harling's play and directed by Herbert Ross, Steel Magnolias is a comedy-drama that follows several years in the lives of women who regularly see one another at a beauty shop in their small Louisiana hometown. The story deepens as Julia Roberts, playing a serious diabetic and the daughter of Sally Field, goes downhill healthwise. But as an ensemble piece, this is one of those enjoyably lumpy tearjerkers with many years' worth of stored truths suddenly being shared between the characters, lots of grievances aired, that sort of thing. Daryl Hannah and Shirley MacLaine assume the most eccentric roles, Dolly Parton the most fun and Olympia Dukakis the most dignified, while Sally Field essentially provides the moral and emotional centre of the movie. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Although its tale of marital crisis unfolds a bit too cleanly, A Walk on the Moon-which was co-produced by Dustin Hoffman-offers a welcome relief from the juvenile assault of skull-throbbing blockbusters. The story is gently involving, the characters are authentic, and, best of all, Diane Lane is given a chance to show why she's one of the most genuine and underrated actresses of her generation. Here she plays Pearl Kantrowitz, a devoted housewife on a routine vacation in the Catskills with her TV repairman husband Marty (Live Schreiber), 14-year-old daughter (Anna Paquin), and rambunctious younger son (Tovah Feldshuh). It's the summer of 1969. Neil Armstrong has made his "one small step for man", Woodstock is about to happen nearby (leading to a barely plausible dramatic coincidence), and while her husband is away on business, Pearl is cautiously receptive to the seductions of "the blouse man" (Viggo Mortensen), a hippie salesman who offers the adventure and passion that Pearl sacrificed to young pregnancy and marriage. Once the stage for infidelity is set, A Walk on the Moon progresses predictably, but first-time screenwriter Pamela Gray stays true to the emotions of her characters, and actor Tony Goldwyn (making a smooth directorial debut) maintains precisely the right tone to downplay most of the movie's dramatic clichés. Add to this a sharp dynamic between Lane and Paquin, whose performances create a substantial mother-daughter relationship. Graced by stolen moments and fleeting expressions that speak volumes, this unassuming little film is eminently worthwhile. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

A stylish BBC production, Armadillo is mysterious, romantic, funny, mystifying-and hard to categorise. Superficially it's the story of young loss adjuster Lorimer Black (James Frain) who appears to have everything going for him, until he gets pulled into an insurance scam. But William Boyd's screenplay-adapted from his own novel-has many more levels than a simple thriller. In a performance reminiscent of Colin Firth's Mr Darcy (from producer Sue Birtwistle's earlier production, Pride and Predjudice), Frain exhibits a charismatic eccentricity that is, at times, touchingly vulnerable: "I'm a bit lost," he whispers to his mute father, "things aren't going too well". He is obviously a man on a journey-or is he trying to run away from his past as a member of a gypsy family that escaped from Eastern Europe? En route, he falls in love with a woman in a passing taxi (Catherine McCormack, also on a journey)-not surprisingly, she too has a complicated life as she flits enigmatically, and slightly maddeningly, through the story. Armadillo has moments of genuine quirkiness à la David Lynch as Frain finds himself surrounded by oddball, sometimes unbelievable characters (including a good "Mr Angry" performance from Stephen Rea as his boss), and some of the situations are surreal and very funny-particularly one incident relating to his collection of historic helmets. Full of surprising moments and imaginative humour, Armadillo makes for entertaining, sumptuous viewing and manages successfully to bring about-as Lorimer Black would say-"the disturbance of anticipation". -Christina McLoughlin.

Throughout his long, wandering, often distinguished career Francis Ford Coppola has made many films that are good and fine, many more that are flawed but undeniably interesting, and a handful of duds that are worth viewing if only because his personality is so flagrantly absent. Yet he is and always shall be known as the man who directed the Godfather films, a series that has dominated and defined their creator in a way perhaps no other director can understand. Coppola has never been able to leave them alone, whether returning after 15 years to make a trilogy of the diptych, or re-editing the first two films into chronological order for a separate video release, as is the case here. The films are our very own Shakespearean cycle: they tell a tale of a vicious mobster and his extended personal and professional families (once the stuff of righteous moral comeuppance), and they dared to present themselves with an epic sweep and an unapologetically tragic tone. Murder, it turned out, was a serious business. The first film remains a towering achievement, brilliantly cast and conceived. The entry of Michael Corleone into the family business, the transition of power from his father, the ruthless dispatch of his enemies-all this is told with an assurance that is breathtaking to behold. And it turned out to be merely prologue; two years later The Godfather, Part II balanced Michael's ever-greater acquisition of power and influence during the fall of Cuba with the story of his father's own youthful rise from immigrant slums. The stakes were higher, the story's construction more elaborate, and the isolated despair at the end wholly earned. (Has there ever been a cinematic performance greater than Al Pacino's Michael, so smart and ambitious, marching through the years into what he knows is his own doom with eyes open and hungry?) The Godfather, Part III was mostly written off as an attempted cash-in, but it is a wholly worthy conclusion, less slow than autumnally patient and almost merciless in the way it brings Michael's past sins crashing down around him even as he tries to redeem himself. [+]

Greyfriars Bobby was released in 1961, the same year as The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap. Greyfriars Bobby epitomises the heart-on-its-sleeve sentimentality that was the special preserve of the Disney Studio. Based on a true story, the film follows the adventures of a wee Skye terrier who refuses to be separated from his master, even in death. Bobby sleeps on the old man's grave in the cemetery of Greyfriars church; he won't be driven away by Mr Brown, the groundskeeper (Donald Crisp), or adopted by Mr Trail (Laurence Naismith), the kindly restaurant owner. Bobby wins over both men, as well as the children in the neighbourhood tenements. When a priggish policeman charges Mr Trail with harbouring an unlicensed stray, the case becomes a tempest in a dog dish. Greyfriars Bobby offers handsome vistas of Edinburgh; however, even at 91 minutes the pace is meandering. Crisp and Naismith offer engaging performances as the reluctant friends (and rivals for Bobby's affection). Suitable for all ages. -Charles Solomon, Amazon. [+]