Five nice things to say about Steven Seagal: (1) He has very good posture. (2) His ponytail is neatly trimmed. (3) While his acting repertoire is limited, he does a brow furrow Jeremy Irons would kill for. (4) When doing martial-arts maneuvers, he does not emit chickenlike sounds, as Bruce Lee did. (5)...Maybe there are only four.

>MEMPHIS BELLE

AS THE YOUNG PILOT of a World War II B-17 crew about to make its last bombing run, Matthew Modine evokes all the forced maturation processes of war. Among his crew, Eric Stoltz is especially good, and singer-pianist Harry Connick Jr., in a neo-Sinatra turn, does a gratuitous song as well as some decent acting as a tail gunner. The film, however, does little that wasn't done far better—and with more immediate passion—by such World War II-era action films as Howard Hawks's Air Force. (Warner)