Contents Critics Choice -- Ten top reviewers rate 36 recent releases Coming Apart -- One man, one remarkable film. Writer-director Milton Moses Ginsberg talks about his own astonishing 1969 movie starring Rip Torn. The Thin Red Line -- The return of Terrence Malick, appraised by Gavin Smith. READ IT HERE Wes Anderson -- Mark Olsen celebrates the inimitable virtues of the writer-director of the sweet, eccentric, and very funny Rushmore. Akira Kurosawa -- The passing of a titan, and the enduring value of the many masterpieces -- Seven Samurai, Ran, Yojimbo, Rashomon, Dersu Uzala -- he left us. By Michael Wilmington and Peter Hogue. John Carpenter -- Kent Jones on the underrated filmmaker he rightly deems an ''American Movie Classic.'' 1998 and All That -- Ten Best lists by Film Comment editors and contributors, plus ''Moments Out of Time'' by Richard T. Jameson and Kathleen Murphy. The Avant Garde in '98 -- A summary of the year's highlights by Paul Arthur. Jacques Becker -- Philip Kemp showcases a French master too little known in America. Alexei Guerman -- J. Hoberman talks with the director of what for many was the revelation of the latest New York Film Festival, Khroustaliov, My Car! Richard Lester and Petulia -- As enigmatic and unforgettable in 1998 as it was in 1968, Lester's distillation of America and especially San Francisco at the moment ''flower power'' was losing its bloom is considered by Richard Combs. The Triumphant Children of Small Change -- By Giovanna De Luca, winner of the latest Grand Marnier Fellowship winner for Film Criticism. Un-Happiness -- An eloquent minority report on the season's most-talked-about American indie film, by Andrew Lewis Conn. READ IT HERE Quickies -- Sharp, up-to-the-minute reviews: Stephen Frears' The Hi-Lo Country by John Anderson; Claude Chabrol's The Swindle by Phillip Lopate; A Civil Action by Kent Jones; Vietnam: Long Time Coming by Paul Arthur; Another Day in Paradise by Donald Chase; Stepmom by Dave Kehr. READ THEM HERE Vidi Vidi Vidi -- Gavin Smith on the new video releases.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE -- Ten top commentators rate the current release scene, including a special ''Oscar Flashback'' survey of major contenders-- OSCAR PREDIX -- Leading critics, industry reporters, et al. scope out the winners for March 31, 1999-- BESIEGED -- Bernardo Bertolucci's best in years? Dave Kehr says so. READ IT HERE!!! JULIA SWEENEY -- Andrew Sarris salutes the complex comedienne -- and writer, and director -- and her sterling one-woman film God Said, ''Ha!'' READ IT HERE!!! IN DREAMS -- Neil Jordan has made a brilliant new horror film, lush, dark, and deeply disturbing -- not that most of the working film press seems to realize it. By Kathleen Murphy-- THE GAY NINETIES -- Christopher Kelly wishes the gay branch of the American independent cinema were a lot more exciting-- CUTTING NOTORIOUS -- Looking over The Master's shoulder as he fine-tuned one of his early American masterworks. By Leonard J. Leff-- THE MOTHER AND THE WHORE -- Lisa Katzman reassesses Jean Eustache's epochal study of failed revolutions in love and politics-- BEN-HUR -- Revisiting the pre-Titanic Oscar champ. By Peter Richards-- EDDIE ROMERO -- ''Our Man in Manila,'' the veteran Philippine filmmaker, sold his first script at age 16 on the eve of World War II, directed his first film in 1947, lived through sundry political upheavals and Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and is still going strong. A lively interview by Lee Server-- 24TH ANNUAL 'GROSSES GLOSS' -- Box-office winners & sinners of 1998, and the Hollywood marketplace as viewed by Jeffrey Spaulding (let no one call him schnorrer)-- WARREN SONBERT -- The Underground montage master. An appreciation by Paul Arthur-- THE FULL MONARCHY -- Nicholas Nicastro takes on all these Elizabeths, not to mention Mrs. Brown, and even diagnoses the madness of King George. READ IT HERE!!! SUNDANCE '99 -- Reports from Park City by Gavin Smith and Rachel Rosen-- ROTTERDAM -- Dave Kehr visits a most distinctive rijstaffel of a festival-- SILVER MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD -- Love and death and the American screen: a memoir by Frank Holland-- QUICKIES -- Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, Benoit Jacquot's The School of Flesh, and three other new films reviewed. READ IT HERE!!! VIDI VIDI VIDI -- Gavin Smith's video picks for March-April--

Contents CRITICS CHOICE: Ten savvy commentators rate current releases and notable reissues.


Go -- Mark Olsen savors the vigorous new movie from Doug (Swingers) Liman.


MIKE NICHOLS -- the director of The Graduate, Silkwood, and Primary Colors is the 26th annual Gala tributee of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.


ROBERT BRESSON -- Part One of a film-by-film survey of one of the cinema's outstanding careers: John Powers on Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Frederic Bonnaud on Diary of a Country Priest, Peter Hogue on A Man Escaped, Raymond Durgnat on Pickpocket, Robert Horton on The Trial of Joan of Arc, Phillip Lopate on Mouchette.


New British Cinema -- Philip Kemp studies ''New Maps of Albion''.


Tehran Film Festival -- NYFF Director Richard Pena on a busman's holiday.


Berlin Film Festival -- Harlan Kennedy celebrates visionary new fest sites and a mature coming-to-terms with the past.


Mon Oncle Antoine -- Donald Chase revisits one of the arthouse hits of the Seventies.


Life The Movie -- a book review by Kent Williams.


Quickies -- five new films reviewed.


Vidi Vidi Vidi -- Gavin Smith salutes Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop and other notable video releases.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE - 10 top film commentators rate the current film scene.


CANNES '99 - Our 20some-year Cannes-watcher Mary Corliss, European Editor Harlan Kennedy, and New York Film Festival Director Richard Pena offer their takes on everybody's premier film orgy.


ALBERT BROOKS - To many, our greatest comic writer-director-star, interviewed on the occasion of his new movie The Muse by Gavin Smith.


OLIVER REED - The bad boy of British cinema skipped out on his last bar bill, but left a distinctive screen legacy. Celebrated by Tim Lucas.


BRESSON II - FILM COMMENT continues its film-by-film survey of the Cinema of Robert Bresson: seven articles by Olivier Assayas (The Devil Probably), Manohla Dargis (Une Femme douce), Kent Jones (Four Nights of a Dreamer), Adrian Martin (L'Argent), Olaf Moeller (Les Anges du peche), Kathleen Murphy (Lancelot du Lac), Jonathan Rosenbaum (Les Affaires publiques).


NOIR HAPPENS - Paul Arthur on Fred Zinnemann's Act of Violence.


A FATHER'S HANDS - Memoir by Robert ''Pete'' Peterson.


HIROKAZU KORE-EDA - William Johnson on a very promising new Japanese director.


TRUFFAUT - Phillip Lopate reviews a comprehensive new biography.


NINETIES MOVIES - Satire by Dale Thomajan.


QUICKIES - Current films in review.


VIDI VIDI VIDI - Gavin Smith's new-on-video column, featuring Dennis Hopper's Out of the Blue and Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

Contents CRITICS CHOICE - Ten of the best and brightest rate the current movie scene.


RUN LOLA RUN - Crissa-Jean Chappell monitors the fleetest film out of Germany in many a Jahre.


BEING JOHN MALKOVICH - Chris Chang hails the feature-directing debut of music video maestro (and Three Kings costar) Spike Jonze.


ON APPROVAL - Clive Brook's daffy, surreal, divinely silly and utterly one-of-a-kind comedy classic, appreciated anew by Philip Kemp.


CATHERINE BREILLAT - On the occasion of Breillat's bold and controversial new film Romance, Kathleen Murphy surveys the director's two-decade career.


EYES WIDE SHUT - Final masterpiece or posthumous muddle? Two sympathetic views, by Amy Taubin and Richard T. Jameson.


THE THIRD MAN and TOUCH OF EVIL - Both dazzling film noir masterworks, both restored and rereleased not long ago, these two ''Orson Welles classics'' have a surprising amount in common. Harlan Kennedy teases it out.


STEVEN SODERBERGH - He's come a long and surprisingly variegated way from sex, lies & videotape, and Dave Kehr has it down cold. Featuring Soderbergh's evocative new Terence Stamp showcase, The Limey.


HOU HSIAO-HSIEN - Taiwan's master filmmaker remains unknown in the United States apart from the festival circuit. Kent Jones makes an eloquent case for his three latest films.


THE HALF-LIFERS - Jim Supanick reports on a screw-loose video saga.


SUGAR TOWN - Mark Olsen on the new Alison Anders-Kurt Voss film about the L.A. rock scene.


DAVID FINCHER - A probing Gavin Smith interview with the director of Seven and the stunning new Fight Club, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.


BOOKS - Dale Thomajan reviews new collections by Richard Schickel and Peter Bogdanovich.


QUICKIES - five new films reviewed.


VIDI VIDI VIDI - Gavin Smith on the latest video releases.

Contents Critics choice: Ten of the best and brightest rate the current movie scene.


Riding with Ang Lee: David Thomson on Lee's new Ride With The Devil.


Reconstructing greed: How long, and in what color?


Kids return: Howard Hampton on recent films that explore the strange minds of children.


Ann Southern: Jeanine Basiner and Mike Kaplan on the lady who was Maisie.


Festivals: Harlan Kennedy on Venice...Kathleen Murphy on Toronto... Philip Lopate and Robert Horton on New York.


The Vagaries of Verities: This year's winner of the Grand Marnier fellowship prize for journalism, Melissa Anderson contemplates Shirley Clarke's Portrait of Jason.


Snooche Boochies: The Gospel According to Kevin Smith: Robert Horton on the director of Dogma, Clerks, Chasing Amy and Mallrats.


Encountering Leopoldo: George Wead on actor Leopoldo Trieste.


Victor Mature: An appreciation by David Thomson.


Quickies: Five new films reviewed.


Vidi vidi vidi: Gavin Smith on the latest video releases.