Choreographer-turned-director Bob Fosse turns the camera on himself in All That Jazz, a nervy, sometimes unnerving 1979 feature, a nakedly autobiographical piece that veers from gritty drama to razzle-dazzle musical, allegory to satire. It's an indication of his bravura, and possibly his self-absorption, that Fosse (who also co-wrote the script) literally opens alter ego Joe Gideon's heart in a key scene--an unflinching glimpse of cardiac surgery, shot during an actual open-heart procedure.

Roy Scheider makes a brave and largely successful leap out of his usual romantic lead roles to step into Gideon's dancing pumps and supplies a plausible sketch of an extravagant, self-destructive, self-loathing creative dynamo, while Jessica Lange serves as a largely allegorical Muse, one of the various women that the philandering Gideon pursues (and usually abandons). Gideon's other romantic partners include Fosse's own protégé (and a major keeper of his choreographic style since his death) Ann Reinking, whose leggy grace is seductive both "onstage" and off.

Fosse/Gideon's collision course with mortality, as well as his priapic obsession with the opposite sex, may offer insights into the libidinal core of the choreographer's dynamic, sexualised style of dance, but musical aficionados will be forgiven for fast-forwarding to cut out the self-analysis and focus on the music, period. At its best--as in the knockout opening, scored to George Benson's strutting version of "On Broadway", which fuses music, dance and dazzling camera work into a paean to Fosse's hoofer nation--All That Jazz offers a sequence of classic Fosse numbers--hard-edged, caustic and joyously physical. --Sam Sutherland

All that Jazz is a strory of a Doctor where his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life,& health.

It helps to have one of history's greatest scoops as your factual inspiration, but journalism thrillers just don't get any better than All the President's Men. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford are perfectly matched as (respectively) Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into the Watergate scandal set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. Their bestselling exposé was brilliantly adapted by screenwriter William Goldman, and director Alan Pakula crafted the film into one of the most intelligent and involving of the 1970s paranoid thrillers. Featuring Jason Robards in his Oscar-winning role as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, All the President's Men is the film against which all other journalism movies must be measured. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

On the face of it, All the Pretty Horses should have everything going for it as a movie, taken from the novel by Cormac McCarthy acclaimed as one of the finest pieces of American writing of the past 20 years. The intuitive, up-and-coming actor-director Billy Bob Thornton, with a deep love of McCarthy's novels, takes the helm directing two hot young stars (Matt Damon, Penelope Cruz) and backed by some seasoned veterans (Sam Shepherd, Bruce Dern, Rubén Blades et al) along with first-rate technical support.

The plot seems tailor-made for landmark-movie status too. A downbeat, resonant tale that would have intrigued Sam Peckinpah, it tells of two young cowboys from post-WWII Texas, who cross the Rio Grande in search of the rugged adventurous life modern America can no longer offer them. And south of the border they find just what they're looking for--but in harsher, darker and far more brutal guise than they ever dreamt of.

All the ingredients point towards the makings of a classic Western. Yet somehow they never quite jell. Powerfully photographed by Barry Markowitz, All the Pretty Horses looks unfailingly superb, and Ted Tally's screenplay draws on much of the novel's spare, trenchant dialogue. Thornton handles the action sequences with assurance, especially the marathon horse-breaking episode. But it all feels distanced, and never dark or bleak enough for McCarthy's savage vision. Maybe Damon is as yet too young and bland for his character's agonised trajectory. There were rumours of script problems, of scenes ruthlessly excised; Thornton claims that Miramax cut the film. Whatever the causes, the film is handsome to look at, absorbing to watch, but casts few shadows in the mind.

On the DVD: Filmographies for Thornton and half-a-dozen leading players; the theatrical trailer (plus trailers for two other Miramax releases, Finding Forrester and Almost Famous); subtitles and a menu. In something of a missed opportunity the DVD lacks a commentary from Billy Bob could have been illuminating. But at least the crisp print, full-width ratio (1:2.35) and the Dolby 5.1 sound do the film's technical achievements proud. --Philip Kemp