• Al Pacino stars in And Justice for All, a black comedy satirizing politics and justice in the disillusioned Carter era. As Vincent Canby said in the New York Times when the film was released in 1979, it "pretends to be about the shortcomings in our judicial system, but it's really an extended introduction in how to lose control, have a nervous breakdown, go crazy, commit suicide and perform other antisocial acts." That pretty much describes every Pacino performance since Scarface.

• Another classic crazy, Gene Tierney, is being highlighted in a featurette accompanying the DVD release of Black Widow, one of the first (and only) noirs released in Cinemascope. Also being released by Fox Noir (although mysteriously so, since it's not a noir in the slightest) is Otto Preminger's strange love triangle Daisy Kenyon starring Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda and Joan Crawford. Fonda's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is his major characteristic and also part of his loose cannon charm.

• The modern sci-fi classic Gattaca (which has also found its way into many an academic syllabus) is being released this week by Sony in a new version with many additional special features. The film stars Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke and features a notable performance by Gore Vidal, but the real star is the set: the classic sixties utopian Civic Center building in Marin County designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

• And finally, there's future classic No Country for Old Men. The casting of this bloody, vengeful western was impeccable; every performance -- from the surprisingly soulful Josh Brolin to the minor walk-on characters -- was nerve-wrackingly spot on.