DD 5.1

For sheer pageantry and spectacle, few motion pictures can claim to equal the splendor of Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 remake of his epic "The Ten Commandments." Filmed in Egypt and the Sinai with one of the biggest sets ever constructed for a motion picture, this version tells the story of the life of Moses, (Heston) once favored in the Pharaoh's household, who turned his back on a privileged life to lead his people to freedom. With a rare on-screen introduction by Cecil B. DeMille himself.

After scoring popular hits with When Worlds Collide and The War of the Worlds, special-effects pioneer George Pal returned to the visionary fiction of H.G. Wells to produce and direct this science-fiction classic from 1960. Wells's imaginative tale of time travel was published in 1895 and the movie is set in approximately the same period with Rod Taylor as a scientist whose magnificent time machine allows him to leap backward and forward in the annals of history.

A hip, heart-pounding combination of action, music, and incredible aerial photography helped make Top Gun the blockbuster hit of 1986. Top Gun takes a look at the danger and excitement that awaits every pilot at the Navy's prestigious fighter weapons school. Tom Cruise is superb as Maverick Mitchell, a daring young fighter who's out to become the best. And Kelly McGillis sizzles as the civilian instructor who teaches Maverick a few things you can't learn in a classroom.

This science fiction blockbuster from 1990 began its production life as a very different movie than the one that was released. An adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," Total Recall was originally conceived of with Richard Dreyfuss starring as a Walter Mitty-like character who experiences a variety of artificially induced fantasies. The movie we know is a mega-budget action epic set on Mars. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a normal working man who discovers that his entire reality has been invented to conceal a plot of planetary domination.

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) solemnly alerts us to the glory that was Spinal Tap in his introduction to this "rockumentary" about the legendary British heavy-metal group, featuring lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), lead singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and a succession of drummers whose careers were cut short by spontaneously combusting on their stool, drowning in somebody else's vomit, or otherwise perishing in untimely fashion.

One of the touchstone movies of the 1980s, Tootsie stars Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who disguises himself as a dowdy, middle-aged woman to get a part on a hit soap opera. The scheme works, but while he/she keeps up the charade, Hoffman's character comes to see life through the eyes of the opposite sex. The script by Larry Gelbart (with Murray Schisgal) is a winner, and director Sydney Pollack brings taut proficiency to the comedy and sensitivity to the relationship nuances that emerge from Hoffman's drag act.

There's Something About Mary is one of the funniest movies in years, recalling the days of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker movies, in which (often tasteless) gags were piled on at a fierce rate. The difference is that cowriters and codirectors Bobby and Peter Farrelly have also crafted a credible story line and even tossed in some genuine emotional content. With Mary, the Farrelly brothers have created a consistently hilarious romantic comedy, made all the funnier by the fact that you know that they know that some of their gags go way over the line.

In this compelling drama, a cadet major (Timothy Hutton) leads his fellow military students in an armed revolt to prevent authorities from turning their school into a condominium complex. His surrogate father, who is also the academy's commander (George C. Scott), vows to fight the closing as well. But when an unexpected accident leads to the school's demise, military discipline goes haywire and tragedy results. Sean Penn, Tom Cruise and Ronny Cox co-star in this thought-provoking film that questions the values and morals of today's society.

A high-ranking judge with a vendetta against drugs learns his own daughter is a cocaine addict - a San Diego housewife must suddenly take over her husband's drug dealing business when he is arrested - a Mexican police officer struggles to do the right thing in the midst of corruption. Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Benicio Del Toro star in Steven Soderbergh's amazing intertwined stories of the failing war on drugs.

James Caan is at his very best as a tough, wisecracking professional thief trapped between Chicago organized crime families and corrupt police in this "gripping drum-tight tale" (Los Angeles Magazine). Michael Mann, who directed Last of the Mohicans and Manhunter and produced "Miami Vice" and "Crime Story," wrote and directed this taut, visually dazzling "heist"-drama called "the best of that breed since The Asphalt Jungle" by New West Magazine.