Nick Nolte, looking as haggard as the mug shot that accompanied his recent DUI arrest, plays Bob, a junkie gambler living in France who plans to knock over a casino that also harbors a priceless art collection. Well, at least that's a twist. Nolte brings a raspy authority to the role, and director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) surrounds him with colorful characters, including Tcheky Karyo as a conflicted cop and Nutsa Kukhianidze (a name built to go up in lights) as an anorexic hooker who can't get Bob to screw her. This remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1955 Bob le Flambeur tries for a stylish, shambling grace. But like Bob, it can't quite get it up.

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.