Essentially a cautionary tale of slightly futuristic cyber-terrorism, Netforce carries Tom Clancy's heavyweight name as the executive producer (but not writer). Don't expect a drama on the level of Patriot Games, however: Netforce is a blunt and somewhat rushed thriller with little time for character or relationship development. What it does offer is a scenario for the prospect of organised crime uniting with computer geeks and malevolent industrialists to sabotage national security through attacks on the Internet. Scott Bakula plays the FBI agent in charge of the Netforce division of the bureau; he takes charge after his mentor (Kris Kristofferson) is murdered and the investigation points to the involvement of a Web pioneer (Judge Reinhold). The hero's romance with a colleague (Joanna Going) grows a little trickier after he promotes her to the number two spot behind himself, but with the president's chief of staff (Brian Dennehy) breathing down their necks, that's the least of their professional problems. The action bounces around from good guys to sundry bad guys, but there's no question that a creeping paranoia about Net vulnerability and its disastrous implications grows on this production-and the viewers. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

Outside of devoted cult audiences, many Americans have yet to discover the extremely stylish, relentlessly terrifying Italian horror genre, or the films of its talented virtuoso, Dario Argento. Suspiria, part one of a still-uncompleted trilogy (the luminously empty Inferno was the second), is considered his masterpiece by Argento devotees but also doubles as a perfect starting point for those unfamiliar with the director or his genre. The convoluted plot follows an American dancer (Jessica Harper) from her arrival at a European ballet school to her discovery that it's actually a witches coven; but, really, don't worry about that too much. Argento makes narrative subservient to technique, preferring instead to assault the senses and nervous system with mood, atmosphere, illusory gore, garish set production, a menacing camera, and perhaps the creepiest score ever created for a movie. It's essentially a series of effectively unsettling set pieces-a raging storm that Harper should have taken for an omen, and a blind man attacked by his own dog are just two examples-strung together on a skeleton structure. But once you've seen it, you'll never forget it. -Dave McCoy.

Dry as ice, dripping with deadpan witticisms, only Sean Connery's Bond would dare to disparage the Beatles, that other 1964 phenomenon. No one but Connery can believably seduce women so effortlessly, kill with almost as much ease, and then pull another bottle of Dom Perignon 53 out of the fridge. Goldfinger contains many of the most memorable scenes in the Bond series: gorgeous Shirley Eaton (as Jill Masterson) coated in gold paint by evil Auric Goldfinger and deposited in Bond's bed; silent Oddjob, flipping a razor-sharp bowler like a Frisbee to sever heads; our hero spread-eagled on a table while a laser beam moves threateningly toward his crotch. Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore is the prototype for the series' rash of man-hating supermodels. And Desmond Llewelyn reprises his role as Q, giving Bond what is still his most impressive car, a snazzy little number that fires off smoke screens, punctures the tyres of vehicles on the chase, and boasts a handy ejector seat. Goldfinger's two climaxes, inside Fort Knox and aboard a private plane, have to be seen to be believed. -Raphael Shargel, Amazon. com- On the DVD: Featuring interviews with Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, the late Desmond Llewelyn and most of the surviving core cast and crew members, great on-set footage (Blackman and Connery look like they clearly had the hots for each other even when the camera weren't rolling) and a strong argument about how this firmed up the gadget-orientated, thrills-and-spills formula for the franchise, John Cork's "making of" featurette for this DVD is one of the most rewarding in this series. The two commentary tracks have moderately interesting observations by director Guy Hamilton, the cast and crew (many of their comments recycled from the documentary), and on both Bond superfan-and-author Lee Pfeiffer filling in blanks and explaining in exhaustive detail the history of the Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in this film. Also included is an open-ended 1964 interview with Sean Connery, designed so that American radio disc jockeys could pretend they had an exclusive interview with the star, in which he extols the series' "sadism for the family" among other things. [+]

Steven Seagal has always been an awkward action hero. Initially, he had a certain amount of credibility thanks to his nebulous association with secret government agencies and mastery of Aikido, which helped to excuse his bad acting. But as a self-righteous action hero in the vein of Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Seagal fell into unintentional self-parody faster and more dramatically than either of his two predecessors. In Out for Justice, Seagal plays Gino Felino, a Brooklyn-born cop known and respected by everyone-both good and bad-in his neighbourhood. The worst of the baddies is Richie Madano (William Forsythe), a crack-smoking killer who murders his partner and terrorises all. Technically, Felino is a terrible cop-touching evidence at murder scenes, stealing evidence, intimidating witnesses-but only by breaking those rules can he bring in this horrible criminal. As his soon-to-be-ex-wife discovers, he does everything because he cares too much. Julianna Margulies (ER) has a small but thankless role as Richie's hooker girlfriend, and Gina Gershon (Bound, Showgirls) has an equally thankless role as his foul-mouthed, bar-owning sister. -Andy Spletzer, Amazon. com.

Though this graphic 1996 version of HG Wells' The Island of Dr Moreau was roasted by critics, it's an utterly fascinating failure, largely due to the performances of David Thewlis, Val Kilmer and especially Marlon Brando in the title role as a mad (and in this case outrageously bizarre) scientist whose experiments in crossbreeding humans with animals have gone terribly awry. Thewlis plays the wayward scholar who is rescued at sea by Kilmer and brought to Moreau's island to discover the doctor's unnatural "children". Fairuza Balk plays Moreau's half-cat daughter, but it's Brando and Kilmer (in one scene doing a killer Brando impersonation) who steal the show, along with the astounding make-up effects created by Stan Winston. A guilty pleasure by any measure, this movie has definite cult-favourite potential. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

The three young comedians known collectively as The League of Gentlemen develop their unique comic-grotesque creations still further in this second series. Helped by elaborate makeup, Mark Gattis, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith throw themselves into their many disguises with unbounded enthusiasm. What is even more impressive is that, together with co-writer Jeremy Dyson, the Gentlemen manage to locate these alarming characters within coherent story arcs that interlock over the course of a series as well as inside the individual six episodes. Here we have the apparently inexplicable plague of fatal nosebleeds that affects the remote Northern town of Royston Vasey, the attempts of the incestuous shopkeepers Edward and Tubbs to find a bride for their monstrous offspring, the misadventures of some lost plastics salesmen, and the hostage crisis at the local Restart centre. Achingly funny and entirely disturbing, this is comedy less dependent on brilliant one-liners than on recognisable yet distorted situations. One-off creations like Papa Lazarou's sinister circus or the patronising theatre group Legz Akimbo are as fine as the sustained characterisation of the anal toad-obsessed Denton family. -Roz KaveneyOn the DVD: the first disc contains Season 2's six episodes complete with commentary from the four Gentlemen themselves. It's equally as fun and fascinating as their commentary for the first season and reveals many of the hidden movie references and in-jokes that would otherwise be missed. The second disc has a 30-minute behind-the-scenes documentary made for the BBC, plus a series of outtakes and alternative versions of certain scenes. Also included is Creme Brulee's "Vodoo Lady" in its glorious entirety, a singalong version of the Dentons' house-cleaning song and excerpts from Joby Talbot's comic-Gothic score. [+]

For a movie about cloning, it's only appropriate that The 6th Day, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is instilled with a strong sense of déjà vu, namely from Arnold's previous "Who am I?" outing, Total Recall. In that movie, Arnold is a normal Joe who discovers that his entire reality has been co-opted by an evil conspiracy, and has to take his life back by force. The same premise applies here for Roger Spottiswoode's clever if overlong sci-fi thriller-Arnold thinks he's a regular guy leading a regular life, until a twist of fate puts him on the run from a vast conspiracy that's replaced him with a clone. While he's trying to evade the evil genetics corporation-and its trendy, deadly, clone-friendly assassins (who don't care how many times they're killed: there's more where that came from)-his double is snuggling at home with his wife and daughter. And new legislation outlaws the existence of human clones, so somebody's got to go. But who gets to be live and who gets to be the dead Memorex man? Why does said genetics corporation want to clone people? How does the kindly scientist (Robert Duvall) fit in? What's the mystery behind the slick billionaire (Tony Goldwyn) who runs everything? It's all kind of irrelevant in the end, as long as it provides a chance for Arnold to indulge in some energetic mayhem and explosive action. What distinguishes The 6th Day is its sneaky, humorous-and chilling-look at the near future, taking everyday technological advances and turning them up just a couple notches, envisioning an era with cloned pets, virtual girlfriends, and computers running most everything, from the refrigerator to your car. Arnold is supposed to be a throwback to the "real" world-you can tell because he cherishes his vintage, navigation-system-free Cadillac-but as usual, he just brings his behemoth presence to the role and not much else. Still, he's a friendly enough hero, and he rolls with the punches (literally) all the way through to the end. Too bad the film overstays its welcome by about half an hour-a little shorter and it could have been a breezy sci-fi/action romp. [+]

Delicatessen presents a post-apocalyptic scenario set entirely in a dank and gloomy building where the landlord operates a delicatessen on the ground floor. But this is an altogether meatless world, so the butcher-landlord keeps his customers happy by chopping unsuspecting victims into cutlets, and he's sharpening his knife for the new tenant (French comic actor Dominque Pinon) who's got the hots for the butcher's near-sighted daughter. Delicatessen is a feast (if you will) of hilarious vignettes, slapstick gags, and sweetly eccentric characters, including a man in a swampy room full of frogs, a woman doggedly determined to commit suicide (she never gets it right) and a pair of brothers who make toy sound boxes that "moo" like cows. It doesn't amount to much as a story, but that hardly matters; this is the kind of comedy that leaps from a unique wellspring of imagination and inspiration, and it's handled with such visual virtuosity that you can't help but be mesmerised. French co-directors of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro have wildly inventive imaginations that gravitate to the darker absurdities of human behaviour, and their visual extravagance is matched by impressive technical skill. There's some priceless comedy here, some of which is so inventive that you may feel the urge to stand up and cheer. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com On the DVD: the special features are pretty standard, with a trailer, "making of" featurette and footage of the rehearsal process. The audio commentary is supplied by Jeunet, which, although interesting, is in French and thus necessitates the use of subtitles which then obliterate the movie's own subtitles. Once the commentary is on it is virtually impossible to turn this option off without reloading the disc. [+]

The Omen series concludes with this second sequel, starring Sam Neill as the adult Damien-a. k. a. the son of Satan-in a battle with the heavens for control of mankind. The Final Conflict ends up depending more heavily on effects and spectacle than on the kind of basic horrors that made the first movie in the series so unsettling, but at least this one gives some closure to the seemingly endless saga. -Tom Keogh.