Comedy

A Christmas Story is on its way to becoming an annual holiday classic, one to keep on the shelf with It's a Wonderful Life, the puppet-animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It may have been directed by Bob Clark (responsible for the Porky's pictures), but it's based on the childhood memoirs of humorist Jean Shepherd (from his hilarious book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash). And it is Shepherd's wry, deadly accurate, and gently nostalgic comic sensibility that shines through in this kid's-eye view of an all-American Christmas in the 1940s.

How can you hate a movie that features ninja Siamese cats wreaking havoc with their kung fu prowess? That's one of the highlights in Cats & Dogs, an effects-laden family film that mystifies cat fanciers by casting dogs as the undisputed heroes in all-out warfare with nefarious felines. Hidden headquarters and high-tech gadgets are featured on both sides of this age-old battle. On the feline side, the longhaired Persian Mr. Tinkles (voice of Sean Hayes) plots to sabotage the efforts of Professor Brody (Jeff Goldblum) to discover a cure for human allergies to dogs.

Like The Gumball Rally (1976) before it, former stuntman Hal Needham's The Cannonball Run was inspired by the same real-life cross-country road race. If The Gumball Rally was the critical favorite, The Cannonball Run was the box-office favorite (spawning the almost-as-successful sequel, Cannonball Run II, a few years later). Aside from top-billed stars Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise (stars of Needham's Smokey and the Bandit series) plus Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

City Lights is a film to pick for the time capsule, a film that best represents the many aspects of director-writer-star Charlie Chaplin at the peak of his powers: Chaplin the actor, the sentimentalist, the knockabout clown, the ballet dancer, the athlete, the lover, the tragedian, the fool. It's all contained in Chaplin's simple story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill). Chaplin elevates the Victorian contrivances of the plot to something glorious with his inventive use of pantomime and his sure grasp of how the Tramp relates to the audience.

The zany twosome are back for some smoke-enhanced misadventures in this riotous comedy. This time, Cheech must deal with an angry neighbor and losing his job, all while trying to score with a sexy young lady. Meanwhile, Chong meets Cheech's cousin, Red (Cheech Marin in a dual role), and the two new buds have a wild time buzzing around Hollyweird, in a bad Ferrari. Along the way, the dynamic duo find time for some mishaps at a movie set, the welfare office, a brothel, a music store, a rich girl's house, a comedy club, the ultimate weed field and a UFO--all before the second reel!

Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks engage in a game of cat and mouse in the real-life crime drama Catch Me If You Can. Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo Di Caprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer and as a co-pilot for a major airline - all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger, whose skill gave him his first real claim to fame: at the age of 17, Frank Abagnale, Jr. became the most successful bank robber in the history of the United States.

It's not easy being the most popular and glamorous girl at Beverly Hills High. Especially when you're the envy of scheming Betties (female babes), persistent Barneys (unattractive guys), and teachers who go postal (freak out) when you turn your homework in late! Yet somehow 15-year-old Cher (Alicia Silverstone) keeps it all together, even finding time for extracurricular projects like finding a love match for her debate class teacher (Wallace Shawn), and giving a dowdy friend (Brittany Murphy) a fashion makeover.

They had Absolutely Nothing. But They Were Willing To Risk It All. Jimmy Rabbitte, just a tick out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan. Song by song, gig by gig, the Commitments start their climb to the top: Dublin gets soul.

Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt corral a wild herd of rampaging children in Cheaper by the Dozen, an enjoyable family flick. When Kate Baker (Hunt, Jerry Maguire) gets a book deal for her chronicle of their abundant family life, she also gets drawn into a book tour--leaving Tom (Martin, Bringing Down the House, The Jerk) to run the house and cope with his new, high-pressure job as a football coach. Naturally, chaos erupts, bringing the family to the brink of meltdown.

California Suite is theistory of five couples who have come to the Beverly Hills Hotel for diverse reasons and who must all confront some rather amusing personal dilemmas. Sidney Cochran (Michael Caine) becomes the victim of wife Diana's (Maggie Smith) outrage when she misses winning an Oscar. (Smith wonia real Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in this role). Marvin Michaels (Walter Matthau) must somehow explain to his wife (Elaine May) how a sexy blonde got in his bed. Wisecracking Hannah Warren (Jane Fonda) is uneasy about her ex-husband's (Alan Alda) new California lifestyle. And Dr.