Matt Dillon

The traditions of old-fashioned melodrama are given a hip facelift in this homage to the Brill Building era (the late 1950s to the early 1970s) of pop-music glory, providing a perfect match between writer-director Allison Anders and her excellent cast. Illeana Douglas plays a singer-songwriter (loosely modeled after Brill recording artist Carole King) whose life runs emotionally parallel to popular music trends. John Turturro is a stand-in for "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector and Matt Dillon is a thinly disguised version of maverick Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

Movie studios, by and large, avoid controversial subjects like race the way you might avoid a hive of angry bees. So it's remarkable that Crash even got made; that it's a rich, intelligent, and moving exploration of the interlocking lives of a dozen Los Angeles residents--black, white, latino, Asian, and Persian--is downright amazing.

There's Something About Mary is one of the funniest movies in years, recalling the days of the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker movies, in which (often tasteless) gags were piled on at a fierce rate. The difference is that cowriters and codirectors Bobby and Peter Farrelly have also crafted a credible story line and even tossed in some genuine emotional content. With Mary, the Farrelly brothers have created a consistently hilarious romantic comedy, made all the funnier by the fact that you know that they know that some of their gags go way over the line.

They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong. In 1960's Tulsa, teenagers come two ways. If you're a "soc," you've got money, cars, a future. But if you're a "greaser," you're an outsider with only your friends...and a dream that someday you'll finally belong. Francis Coppola's powerful film of S.E. Hinton's classic novel captures how it feels to be caught between childhood's innocence and adulthood's disillusionment. The ensemble is a Who's Who of young talents of the past two decades: Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, C.

After years of being sheltered in private school, Clifford Peache finds life difficult at his new Chicago high school, where a tough-talking bully and his pals regularly extort students lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Peache hires a bodyguard, the intimidatingly large class misfit whose rumored violent behavior is legendary. Though everyone else is afraid of him, Peache strikes up a friendship with the troubled loner. Their deepening relationship and unified stand against the thugs manages to rouse the entire school.

Matt Dillon stars in this coming-of-age story which is funny, fast-moving and surprisingly emotional. It's the summer of '63 and Jeffrey Willis (Matt Dillon) has decided to escape his poor Brooklyn family for the summer by accepting a job as a cabana boy at the El Flamingo Beach Club on Long Island. Working around the glitz and glamour. Jeffrey realizes that these "beautiful people" are a sharp contrast to his own family. Life in the fast lane seems much more appealing than what he's got at home.