With an outstanding performance by James Woods, Rudy: The Rudolph Giuliani Story is a warts-and-all portrait of New York City's lame-duck mayor, who rose from political disfavour to unexpected heights of heroism and leadership in the wake of September 11, 2001. Originally broadcast on the USA Network and based on Wayne Barrett's muckraking biography, it's a condensed, Cliff's Notes rendition of Giuliani's political career, with each commercial break serving as a chapter stop, beginning on the eve of 9/11 and alternating past and present highlights from Giuliani's rise to power.

The film offers an unflinching portrait of a devoted public servant who's as fallible as he is competent: his wife (Penelope Ann Miller) understandably suffers while extramarital affairs and political fearlessness are all seen as by-products of Giuliani's compulsion to improve the city he loves. As Robert Dornhelm's clunky direction combines actual news footage with exacting recreations of 9/11 and its aftermath, Woods' charismatic performance wisely avoids mimicry to show us a flawed but noble man who, in the final analysis, deserves our conditional respect. --Jeff Shannon

The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli and Baloo is the live-action follow-up to Disney's 1994 Jungle Book feature. Here we follow young wolf-raised Mowgli as he leads a gang of greedy grown-ups on a wild goose chase through the jungles of India, circa 1890. In the course of this breathless caper, eyes of all ages will be loath to wander from the screen as it shifts from one colour-drenched, wildlife-rife scene to the next. The animals, more than the wilderness, are what give this film its Eden-like quality--Mowgli protectors Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, as well as wolves, tigers, a pack of prowling monkeys and even exotic snakes of the deadly variety all mix and mingle to gorgeous effect. Bill Campbell is fully believable as an Indiana Jones-like circus scout, and Roddy McDowall is at his eccentric best as a cave-dwelling monkey commander. --Tammy La Gorce, Amazon.com