FREEZE FRAMES

L'ANN'EE DES M'EDUSES - Endless scenes at a topless beach are a main concern of this tediously filmed drama about the summer romances of a mother and daughter. Directed by Christopher Frank, the French production is also known as ``The Year of the Jellyfish.'' (Not rated) GOOD WEATHER, BUT STORMY LATE THIS AFTERNOON - A young man brings his fianc'ee home to meet his gentle but quarrelsome parents. Not much happens in this offbeat French comedy-drama, which takes place almost entirely in one apartment on a single afternoon. But the mood is oddly beguiling, and there's an exquisite scene when music swells in the background and the characters start singing, for no reason except that they really love each other, deep down. Directed by Gerard Frot-Coutaz. (Not rated) HEARST METROTONE NEWS SHOW - A spectacular collection of classic newsreels, focusing mainly on the 1930s. No frills, but lots of history and a rare chance to see the evolution of newsreel styles from primitive to less primitive. Assembled by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. (Not rated) ISHTAR - Elaine May's comedy about a pair of no-talent musicians who take a singing job in Morocco and get mixed up with a could-be terrorist and a slippery CIA agent. Dustin Hoffman gives a wry and wiry performance, and Charles Grodin is uproarious in a supporting role. But the funny scenes are as far apart as oases in the Sahara, and silly plot twists undermine the movie's satirical digs at international connivers and urbanites out of their element. An ordinary pile of sand with a $40 million price tag. (Rated PG-13) THE KILLING DETAIL - ``A Whimsical Journey Through Barry Flanagan's Work'' is the subtitle of this brief French documentary on the sculpture of a Welsh artist. The trip would be more ``whimsical'' if it didn't seem so sexist. Unfortunately, director Carine Asscher gives the same visual weight to art objects, a female model, and extreme closeups of snails. (Not Rated) MY LIFE AS A DOG - When his mother becomes ill, a Swedish boy is carted off to live at a relative's home, where he has comic misadventures and learns the serious business of coping with loss and uncertainty. Splendidly acted, and directed with touches of visual poetry by Lasse Hallstr"om, but a little heavy on trite sexual-awakening scenes. (Not rated) PROJECT X - A young military pilot is assigned to a laboratory that carries out experiments with chimpanzees, and he suspects the research is more sinister than it appears. Matthew Broderick is likable but unexciting in this likable but unexciting movie. Directed by Jonathan Kaplan on his best behavior; one misses the freewheeling emotional charge of his ``White Line Fever'' and ``Heart Like a Wheel.'' (Rated PG) PSYCHOS IN LOVE - And love finally cures them of their murderous ways, but not before a lot of grotesquely comic gore and ``splatter'' scenes. Amateurishly directed by Gorman Bechard, whose style recalls the supercheap ``nudie movies'' of 25 years ago. (Not rated)

RATINGS: Films with ratings other than G may contain varying degrees of vulgar language, nudity, sex, and violence.