Janice Page

Come on. You want to know if it's funny. And the answer is: kind of.

New rule: All Disneynature films must be narrated by Tina Fey.

It needs only to entertain. And that it does thoroughly, leaving us both charmed and enriched without feeling very preached at. Praise be.

Maybe because Hachmeister has a background in journalism, his movie endeavors to educate by covering a lot of ground in its 90-plus minutes, which is certainly commendable, it's just not that satisfying.

A semiserious documentary about a cult of performance art that until recently was never meant to be taken seriously.

Serves up enough action and passion to stay afloat, but at the end of the day it's just not the perfect ride those earlier films were.

Because Manito is really just an opera without the violins or Viking hats, you probably don't need to have everything spelled out. Its Spanish-English script is secondary to the universal language and timeless drama of family, community, dreams made and dreams dashed.

These children are indeed the faces of war. It's just harder to recognize them because they're the ones someone cared enough to save.

An invitation to see something a little less pretty, and potentially more enduring.

At the very least, some of the answers and observations offered up in this hybrid documentary/drama/thesis project will surprise you.

Coming and going through the wall's checkpoints is a tiresome and undignified process that makes US airport security look like a cocktail reception.

It's fair to say that a meaner documentary might have packed more punch. But it's hard to imagine Michael Moore turning out anything that feels as pleasantly nourishing.

Even when its wires are showing, the movie's soul is always evident.

It's practically a primer on how to rework a literary classic into an impressively restrained movie with something fresh and intelligent to say.

You buy "fair - trade" coffee; you assume you're being socially responsible. But now, along comes Black Gold to tell you that all fair-trade coffee is not created equal, and that Ethiopia, the "birthplace of coffee" and home of some of the world's best beans, may be getting the least fair shake of all.

The film means to provoke a closer look at the faces of good and evil. It questions whether we really live in a world that can be divided neatly into black hats and white hats.

Kings of Pastry, goes inside an intense event that few Americans know much about - a kind of tradesmen's Olympics.

Has a sultry and complex psychological intent all its own, yet it's reminiscent of some earlier Denis works, including ''Nenette and Boni.''

The film is at its best in Utah, both because in David Gribble's exhilarating cinematography we finally get to feel the full power and intoxication of the sport.

A movie that entertains and enlightens without being preachy - in fact, most of its beliefs are strenuously ambiguous; that’s a key part of the joke.

As goofy action comedies go, Shaolin Soccer is one of the best.

May not be as dramatic as Roman Polanski's ''The Pianist,'' but its compassionate spirit soars every bit as high.

There's an honest, unfiltered quality to what you see and hear.

Writer-director Im Sang Soo's coolly stylized political satire doesn't provide a lot of answers, unfortunately, but it does show how the future of a nation might turn on a few drunken insults thrown around at a high-level dinner party.

Meier’s soft touch with the offbeat material is surprisingly mature, to the point of maybe being a bit too reserved.

It's still Black's franchise, though. And part of the problem with this sequel is how little it lets its star just riff with silly abandon, as he did throughout the original.

A so-so documentary about another fascinating, underreported piece of Harlem history.

Whatever blend of fact and fiction is really at work in this latest offering from ''Dog Days" director Ulrich Seidl -- known, by the way, for playing fast and loose with the documentary format -- the irony-laced ''Jesus, You Know" does persuade viewers to sit up and take notice of its inspired conceit.