“Bandits” teams two vastly different, though almost equally popular, male stars in a surprisingly hilarious mix of comedy, action, romance, bank robberies, and bad wigs. Macho man Bruce Willis and the talented chameleon Billy Bob Thornton masterfully create two pseudo “bad guys” who capture the hearts of their victims, the general public, and ultimately, the heart of the same woman.

Billy Bob Thornton describes their characters as screwballs of the “Martin and Lewis” variety. That’s a fitting description of the harmlessly endearing fugitives who can’t seem to catch a break, or leave the life of crime behind. Willis is the “Martin” of the group - the brains and the brawn of the operation - with Thornton playing the sidekick role to the hilt, taking it to an all new level with bizarre phobias and a constant string of questions.

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Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won’t have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he’s a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

When Waring Hudsucker, head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries, commits suicide, his board of directors, led by Sidney Mussberger, comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company. When the stock falls low enough, Sidney and friends can buy it up for pennies on the dollar, take over the company, and restore its fortunes. They choose idealistic Norville Barnes, who just started in the mail room. Norville is whacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, tough reporter Amy Archer smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries. Written by Reid Gagle

The big-screen version of Hunter S. Thompson’s seminal psychedelic classic about his road trip across Western America as he and his large Samoan lawyer searched desperately for the “American dream”… they were helped in large part by the huge amount of drugs and alcohol kept in their convertible, The Red Shark. Written by Laurence Mixson

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Jack Elgin is the European editor of The Economist, which is based in London, England. Jack has a wife named Maria and three kids named Joanne, Julia, and Andrew. Jack subtly changes the family vacation from a lazy week of Mediterranean fun and sun in Corfu, Greece, to a tour of India, because of a story he has to cover. Maria is not as impressed by this as the kids are. Jack himself envisioned a chance to simultaneously work an easy reporting assignment and spend a little quality time with his family. But on the way to India, the airplane, a 747 owned by AM Air, an American airline, makes an unscheduled stopover in Limassol Cyprus, because of a mechanical problem. After a while of waiting inside the Limassol airport, everyone gets back on the plane — which is then hijacked by a group of terrorists known as the August 15th Movement, led by a Serbian man named Ivanic Loyvek and his right-hand man Karadan Maldic. And they are demanding $50,000,000 from the US State Department in one hour, or everyone on the airplane will die. The demand is met, and Loyvek and Maldic start releasing the women and children, with the men to go last. But as soon as a front passenger door is opened, a local police team gunning for the terrorists opens fire. The flight attendants frantically open the rest of the airplane’s doors and start getting passengers out, but the terrorists start killing passengers, leading to an explosion. Maria, Joanne, and Julia get out of the airplane, and then Jack, holding Andrew, gets out — only to watch Maria, Joanne, and Julia get shot by the terrorists. Jack tries to hide Andrew’s face so he can’t see it. Maria and Joanne are dead, and Julia is still alive — but Julia burns to death while crying for help. Jack and Andrew survive. In all, a total of 15 passengers die, and Loyvek and Maldic, the surviving terrorists, escape, knowing that they now have the $50,000,000. The hijacking would never have ended this way if the police team had waited until after the passengers were released from the airplane before getting trigger happy. Back in London, an absolutely devastated Jack is told that the terrorists were captured, but they were released and deported secretly, with no charges and no arrest, the result of some awfully compromised politics. Jack is understandably enraged that Loyvek and Maldic got off scot-free. While helping Andrew cope, Jack tries all the legal ways to ensure justice for his family, but to no avail. Jack even pays a visit to Henry Davidson, a CIA agent who works at the American Embassy in London. Davidson tells Jack that there’s little that can be done. Obviously, the American and British governments are completely impotent when it comes to going after Loyvek and Maldic, so Jack has absolutely no choice in the matter. He must do it himself. With the help of his ex-intelligence operative friend Kate Stockton, who is well-schooled in the finer points of international intelligence, Jack becomes a one-man anti-terrorist squadron, searching for Loyvek and Maldich. Dogging Jack’s trail is FBI agent Jules Bernard, who’s cooperating with Scotland Yard on anti-terrorist activities, and who suspects that Jack is the man who has been killing anyone involved in the hijacking. But as it turns out, Jules is on Jack’s side, and he’s willing to help Jack make those responsible pay for the deaths of his family and the other people who died in Cyprus. Written by Todd Baldridge

In a place soon to be known as The Valley of Death, in a small clearing called landing zone X-Ray, Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) and 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, all troopers from an elite American combat division, were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history. We Were Soldiers Once…And Young is a tribute to the nobility of those men under fire, their common acts of uncommon valor, and their loyalty to and love for one another. Written by John Willis {Cavalier6@aol.com}

To avoid spoiling the movie this plot summary is very brief. It starts when three people living together in a four bedroom flat are looking for a house mate. The interviews they conduct are very unorthodox and very funny. Eventually the three agree on one prospective tenant. He moves in, locks his door, and is not seen again. After a couple of days the three become curious and break in to his room. What follows is an amazing piece of cinema and to say more would ruin it. Written by {djm@sinope.kbs.citri.edu.au}

The misadventures of Mickey and Mallory: outcasts, lovers, and serial killers. They travel across Route 666 conducting psychadelic mass-slaughters not for money, not for revenge, just for kicks. Glorified by the media, the pair become legendary folk heroes; their story told by the single person they leave alive at the scene of each of their slaughters. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

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Kevin Spacey’s name is being tossed about once again as a potential Best Actor Academy Award nominee. With a plethora of outstanding performances from leading men this year, it’s tough to handicap the upcoming race. Spacey’s impressive repertoire of films outshines most of his probable competitions’, but does he deserve a nomination for “The Shipping News?” I’m going to have to hesitantly say, in my opinion, no.

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Based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, this is a controversial addition to the multitude of Vietnam war movies in existence. Set in 1969 Vietnam, we follow U.S. Special Forces Captain Willard on his mission up a river into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe. Written by Colin Tinto {cst@imdb.com}

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