DD 5.1

The Fab Four from Liverpool--John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr--in their first movie. Nobody expected A Hard Day's Night to be much more than a quick exploitation of a passing musical fad, but when the film opened it immediately seduced the world--even the stuffiest critics fell over themselves in praise (highbrow Dwight Macdonald called it "not only a gay, spontaneous, inventive comedy but it is also as good cinema as I have seen for a long time").

Riding the strange '50s nostalgia wave that swept through America during the late 1970s (caused by TV shows like Happy Days and films like American Graffiti), Grease became not only the word in 1978, but also a box-office smash and a cultural phenomenon. Twenty years later, this entertaining film adaptation of the Broadway musical received another successful theatrical release, which included visual remastering and a shiny new Dolby soundtrack.

Bill Murray does warmth in his most consistently effective post-Stripes comedy, a romantic fantasy about a wacky weatherman forced to relive one strange day over and over again, until he gets it right. Snowed in during a road-trip expedition to watch the famous groundhog encounter his shadow, Murray falls into a time warp that is never explained but pays off so richly that it doesn't need to be.

A stirring example of courage and the indomitable human spirit, for many John Sturges's The Great Escape is both the definitive World War II drama and the nonpareil prison escape movie. Featuring an unequalled ensemble cast in a rivetingly authentic true-life scenario set to Elmer Bernstein's admirable music, this picture is both a template for subsequent action-adventure movies and one of the last glories of Golden Age Hollywood.

Brimming with the energy, passion and music that rocked a nation, Hair is an entertaining and powerful tribute to the turbulent spirit of the '60s. Brilliantly recreated by Oscar-winning director Milos Forman and screenwriter Michael Weller, this vibrant screen version of the Broadway phenomenon ranks "among the best film musicals" (The Hollywood Reporter). Fresh from the farm, Claude Bukowski (Savage) arrives in New York City for a date with the Army Introduction Board, only to walk into a hippie 'happening' in Central Park and fall in love with the beautiful Sheila (D'Angelo).

All aboard for runaway action and suspense in this riveting masterpiece from writer/director Michael Crichton! Starring Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down, it's a "spine-tingling and suavely performed adventure," (The Hollywood Reporter) based on history's first train robbery. Filmed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, this "ingenious" (Variety) and "wonderful" (Gene Shalit) crime caper delivers mile-a-minute thrills and breathtaking excitement.

Oscar nominee Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) and Matthew McConaughey (A Time To Kill) give the battle of the sexes an outrageously unexpected twist in their runaway comedy hit the Daily News applauds as "Hilarious"! As the "How to..." columnist for trendy Composure Magazine, Andie Anderson (Hudson) agrees to write a first-hand account about what it takes to drive a man out of your life...in exactly 10 days. At the same time, eligible ad agency bachelor Benjamin Barry (McConaughey) accepts a high-stakes bet that he can lure any woman into falling head-over-heels in love with him...

Clint Eastwood's second film as a director finds the celebrated action star returning to his familiar Old West stomping grounds and his internationally acclaimed role of "The Man With No Name". This time, The Stranger (Eastwood) mysteriously appears out of the heat waves of the desert and rides into the lawless, sin-ridden town of Lago. After making a name for himself with a string of blazing gun battles, The Stranger is hired by the townspeople to provide protection from three ruthless gunmen just out of jail.

Mel Brooks's 1981, three-part comedy--set in the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, and the French Revolution--is pure guilty pleasure. Narrated by Orson Welles and featuring a lot of famous faces in guest appearances (beyond the official cast), the film opens well with Sid Caesar playing a caveman, then moves along to the unlikely but somehow hilarious juxtaposition of Caesar's soldiers (the other Caesar, not Sid) with pot humor, and ends on a dumb-funny note in the French bloodbath. This is a take-it-or-leave-it movie, and it works best if you're in a take-it-or-leave-it mood.

As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith (Independence Day, Men in Black) displays both his trademark quips and some impressive pectoral muscles in I, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind--he's just not sure how. When a leading roboticist dies suspiciously, Spooner pursues a trail that may prove his suspicions. Don't expect much of a connection to Isaac Asimov's classic science fiction stories; I, Robot, the action movie, isn't prepared for any ruminations on the significance of artificial intelligence.