FREEZE FRAMES

BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED - ``Steven Spielberg presents'' a childish comedy about senior citizens. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy play an old couple who're losing their home to a redevelopment project. Flying saucers solve the problem. Directed by Spielberg clone Matthew Robbins; packed with ethnic and racial stereotypes. (Rated PG) BROADCAST NEWS - A romantic comedy where, surprisingly, none of the romances quite come to pass. The characters are an energetic TV producer, an anchor who reads the news better than he understands it, and a go-getter who's stuck permanently in second place. Written and directed by James L. Brooks, the picture is less pretentious and much funnier than his ``Terms of Endearment.'' Holly Hunter proves herself a star, and Albert Brooks has the most hilarious scene of the season. In all, one of the year's most enjoyable surprises. Look out for some rough language, though. (Rated R) GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM - The hero, a military disc jockey during the Vietnam war, insists on speaking to GIs in their own irreverent language; the authorities want him to stick to dull music and ``morale boosting'' news items. It takes the instincts of a Robert Altman to direct a film that elevates the insanity and absurdity of war into a sardonic cry of protest. Barry Levinson doesn't manage this, but he comes up with a few biting scenes when he isn't indulging the improvisational excesses of star Robin Williams. Three cheers for Forest Whitaker, who steals the movie as sidekick. (Rated R) IRONWEED - Putting aside all their Hollywood glamour, Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep play two homeless alcoholics trying to survive on the streets of Albany, N.Y., where the chill of winter bids to freeze their love and even their lives. The performances are superb, and the screenplay, by William Kennedy, is compassionate. But Kennedy's novel goes beneath the surface of its characters' lives by exploring a shadowy ghost-world that haunts one of them. The film stays closer to the surface, touching on its more mysterious aspects and then pulling back abruptly to the real world. Directed by Hector Babenco. (Rated R) THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE - Tawdry doings in a Dublin boardinghouse, where the title character lives a wistful and sometimes inebriated life. Directed by veteran filmmaker Jack Clayton, who pushes the emotions of the characters so hard that the story bogs down at times. The acting packs a wallop, though. As the heroine, Maggie Smith gives her smartest, most deeply felt performance in years. As an inconsequential man who might be her suitor, Bob Hoskins smolders more intensely than in ``Mona Lisa.'' Peter Nelson wrote the screenplay, which includes some unappetizing sex activity, from a Brian Moore novel. (Rated R) MOONSTRUCK - Our heroine is engaged to an Italian charmer, but when he goes back to Sicily to see his mother, she falls in love with his cantankerous brother. Cher and Nicolas Cage have a ball in this ethnic comedy of manners, and there are moments of pure magic when moonlight does its romantic work. Too bad Cage throws the movie's tone off a bit when he takes his character's earthy feelings too seriously. Directed by Norman Jewison, back in top form again. (Rated PG)