Picture "Raging Bull" with a sleazy prep from the Brooklyn hipsteropolis of Williamsburg, and you'll get the idea of The Comedy, a character study that tries to make the revolting compelling.

This digitally tricked-out fairy tale makes for a reasonably engaging kids’ fantasy, but at best we’re talking about a junior varsity “Lord of the Rings.” It’s March. What did you expect?

But on evidence of the likable but draggy and awfully thin Muppets from Space, Kermit & Co. are showing their age. Miss Piggy is about five years away from Norma Desmondhood, and Kermit is ready for his pipe and cardigan, Mr. DeMille. [14 July 1999, p.048]

Looking at the Mexican drug wars from both sides of the border, Cartel Land is punchy and vital but not particularly informative.

The Sons of Tennessee Williams, which offers touching interviews with many older gay men, somewhat awkwardly connects this history with the efforts of a gay Mardi Gras crew to keep going in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

There's a winning emotional truth in the father-son scenes in this Spokane-shot sleeper, directed with skill and sensitivity by Jonathan Segal.

Given the rarity of such movies, and such opportunities for an actress like Clarkson, Cairo Time earns some indulgence for a pace that Westerners may find languid.

It's good-natured myth-making cut into kid-size pieces.

While Fienberg's direction is no great shakes, the film showcases its veteran cast.

Despite its visual brilliance, its all-round cleverness, and the way it demonstrates a profound understanding of genre, the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There doesn't quite come off.

Some of the film's flourishes are ill-judged.

A satisfying Irish stew made from very familiar ingredients.

A movie that won’t knock you out with originality but may charm you with its wit.

The sincerity and simplicity of the film, however, lift it somewhat above the ordinary run.

When a movie wades into the vast pool of World War II and Holocaust titles, the viewer expects a splash. One Life is, at best, a spritz. It delivers a lot of what we’ve already seen before, but on a less-than-cinematic scale. Yet spending some time with Hopkins and exploring a speck of light in one of the world’s darkest chapters is just satisfying enough.

As mechanical and predictable as a cuckoo clock, it shouldn't work half as well as it does.

Generally rises above the easy clichés you find in most such movies.

Finally, someone took the source material at its terribly written word and stopped treating the whole affair so seriously.

Often charming and sweet, and always prettily photographed.

Too much screen time is devoted to producers Lloyd and Susan Ecker, fans who serve as on-screen narrators and serve up tidbits from Tucker’s 400 scrapbooks, some of which, frankly, seem highly improbable.

Having written this script for themselves, Sharp and Jackson are a scream. Imagine if a vodka Redbull transformed into two human beings — that’s who they are.

A ragged piece of filmmaking, but the odds are you'll have as good a time watching it as Nicholson and Sandler seemed to have making it.

Don Cheadle has a fine time jiving through Talk to Me - accent, please, on the middle word. It's a black "Good Morning, Vietnam."

The animation IS great and absolutely so fantastic you'll want to reach out and touch the creatures - or swat them off your uncomfortable 3-D glasses.

Instructive, cathartic or just too painful? You decide.

The gospel according to The Gospel is this: There's a party at God's house, and you're invited.

A compelling and beautifully photographed documentary.

Simply not as involving or moving as it should be.