Carl Schenkel directed this Tarzan film “based on the stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs.” In England of 1913, Tarzan (Casper Van Dien) is due to marry Jane (Jane March), but he suddenly chooses to return to the jungle to prevent villainous explorer Nigel Ravens (Steve Waddington) from burning and killing in his quest for the lost city of Opar. Jane’s pursuit of the vine-swinging Lord of the Apes forces her to confront snakes and other jungle perils. The film’s inane dialogue is heard amid magnificent South African locations.

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My Brilliant Career and Oscar and Lucinda director Gillian Armstrong explores the final feat of the greatest illusionist ever to deceive a live audience in this docudrama concerning Harry Houdini’s obsessive quest to find proof of an afterlife. The year is 1926, and Houdini (Guy Pearce) is an international superstar. Not only does the illusionist’s otherworldly ability to bend reality hold audiences completely enthralled, but his easy charm finds him winning the hearts of his growing legion of fans as well. Yet behind Houdini’s winning smile resides the restless heart of a tortured soul. Isolated by fame and drowning in regret over having not been present to hear his mother’s last words, Houdini sets out in tour of Scotland and announces that he will pay $10,000 to anyone who can prove spiritual contact with his deceased mother. But in his determination to prove that there is life after death, Houdini also becomes the target of countless charlatans, scam artists and self-proclaimed spiritualists. Of course stunning psychic Mary McGregor (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter/sidekick Benji (Saoirse Ronan) seem remarkably sincere in their supernatural talents, yet that doesn’t mean that the pair doesn’t have their own ulterior motives for making a connection with the world famous magic man.

Based on the novel by A Simple Plan author Scott Smith, director Carter B. Smith’s Yucatan-set thriller follows four American tourists as they unwisely venture off the beaten path while vacationing in Cancun. When a friendly German tourist implores the Americans to help search the jungle for his missing brother, the group becomes hopelessly trapped in a nightmare scenario that seems too strange to be true. Jonathan Tucker, Laura Ramsey, Jena Malone, and Shawn Ashmore star.

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This controversial drama (which earned an NC-17 rating in the U.S.) was a major box-office success in its native Australia, and it made an overnight star of its leading man, Russell Crowe. Hando (Crowe) is a member of a gang of racist skinheads who lash out with violence against the growing number of Asian immigrants settling in the country. While Hando and his partner Davey (Daniel Pollock) lead a bunch of brutal, half-bright thugs, they have convinced themselves that what they do is the noble work of saving Australia for Australians (or at least the white Australians who drove the aborigines into the outback). Into this milieu comes Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie), a troubled young woman who suffers from epilepsy and was raised in a sexually abusive environment. Gabe becomes something of a gang moll, dividing her time (and her sexual favors) between Hando and Davey, generating considerable tension between them. When the gang’s favorite bar is purchased by a group of Vietnamese immigrants, Hando and Davey organize an all-out attack, little imagining that the Asians are ready and able to defend themselves. Romper Stomper was released in America in both its original, uncut form, and in an edited version that earned an R rating from the MPAA.

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In the gathering dusk of 18 August 1966, 108 young, inexperienced Australian and NZ soldiers are separated and surrounded, fighting for their lives, holding off an overwhelming force of 2,500 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. And, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, with their ammunition running out and another Vietnamese battalion massing for the final assault, the digger’s situation seemed hopeless. Long Tan is the true story of ordinary boys who became extraordinary men. Written by Martin Walsh

An angel come to Earth to help save the world finds himself rescuing one of his own in this fantasy dominated by elaborate CGI effects. Gabriel (Andy Whitfield) is an arc angel who like others of his kind periodically takes human form to help battle the forces of darkness, led by Sammael (Dwaine Stevenson), and rescue humanity from the forces of evil. Gabriel joins six other angels for the latest round of street warfare against the agents of the dark, but en route he encounters Jade (Samantha Noble), a beautiful angel who has succumbed to the temptations of the world of humans and now supports her heroin habit as a streetwalker. Gabriel is immediately drawn to Jade’s troubled soul, and takes it upon himself to bring her back to the forces of good, but his efforts to redeem her threaten to keep him away from his mission to defeat the darkness. Gabriel was the first feature film from Australian writer and director Shane Abbess.

Comic actor Ben Stiller co-wrote, directed, and stars in this spoof of the fashion industry that began as a short skit for the 1996 VH1 Fashion Awards. Stiller is Derek Zoolander, an intellectually challenged but bone structure-blessed male model who’s despondent after being eclipsed in popularity by an equally vacuous rival, Hansel (Owen Wilson). Upon his reluctant retirement, Derek is invited to a day spa by previously standoffish fashion designer Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), where the befuddled model is brainwashed by the mysterious Katinka (Milla Jovovich) into assassinating the prime minister of Malaysia. In addition to Stiller’s real-life wife Christine Taylor, Zoolander co-stars his father Jerry Stiller, along with Jon Voight, David Duchovny, Andy Dick, and Fabio.

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This stunning, post-apocalyptic action thriller from director George Miller stars Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a policeman in the near future who is tired of his job. Since the apocalypse, the lengthy, desolate stretches of highway in the Australian outback have become bloodstained battlegrounds. Max has seen too many innocents and fellow officers murdered by the bomb’s savage offspring, bestial marauding bikers for whom killing, rape, and looting is a way of life. He just wants to retire and spend time with his wife and son but lets his boss talk him into taking a peaceful vacation and he starts to reconsider. Then his world is shattered as a gang led by the evil Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) murders his family in retaliation for the death of one of its members. Dead inside, Max straps on his helmet and climbs into a souped-up V8 racing machine to seek his bloody revenge. Despite an obviously low budget and a plot reminiscent of many spaghetti Westerns, Mad Max is tremendously exciting, thanks to some of the most spectacular road stunts ever put on film. Cinematographer David Eggby and stunt coordinator Grant Page did some of their best work under Miller’s direction and crafted a gritty, gripping thrill ride which spawned two sequels, numerous imitations, and made Mel Gibson an international star. One sequence, in which a man is chained to a car and must cut off a limb before the machine explodes is one of the most tense scenes of the decade. The American version dubbed all the voices — including Gibson’s — in a particularly cartoonish manner. Trivia buffs should note that Max’s car is a 1973 Ford Falcon GT Coupe with a 300 bhp 351C V8 engine, customized with the front end of a Ford Fairmont and other modifications.

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The true story of a gifted Australian piano prodigy, this biographical drama was nominated for seven Oscars, with actor Geoffrey Rush winning for Best Actor. Rush stars as David Helfgott, a pianist with a history of mental problems. As a fragile boy genius at math, chess, and piano, David is driven hard by his overbearing father (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a tyrant who forbids him to accept a scholarship offered by the great violinist Isaac Stern. Although he studies briefly in London under tutor Cecil Parks (John Gielgud), David has a nervous breakdown after performing Rachmaninoff’s daunting “Piano Concerto No. 3″ (known as the “Rach 3″). Years later, the adult David keeps up a steady patter of nervous stammering at all times and has been reduced to playing in a bar. Through a friend, he meets astrologer Gillian (Lynn Redgrave), and falls in love with her. With Gillian’s help, David embarks down the road to regained fame and mastery of the “Rach 3.” The international popularity of Shine caused a sensation leading to a musical tour for Helfgott, whose performances were less adroit than many audiences expected, sparking criticism that writer-director Scott Hicks had exaggerated his subject’s talent for dramatic purposes.

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Part of the British mystery series based on the books by Agatha Christie, Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder was first aired in 1987. Newlyweds Gwenda (Geraldine Alexander) and Giles Reed (John Moulder-Brown) move into a spooky old house in the country. Ever since she moved in, Gwenda has been plagued with horrible memories from her childhood involving a murderer who may kill again. Her friend Raymond West (David McAllister) helps out by introducing her to his aunt, Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson).