Scott Brown

Watching his deft, effortless character work chafe against the outermost boundaries of the stand-up format, you sense the transgressive energy of Richard Pryor filtered through leading-man charisma — albeit tinged with hostile paranoia.

Zathura is a rarity: a stellar fantasy that faces down childhood anxieties with feet-on-the-ground maturity.

So Much So Fast (spanning five years) elegantly presents both a critique and a celebration of American optimism.

Blessed with excellent turns by Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, this feel-gooder revels in its hip-to-be-square hyperliteracy, and neatly exceeds its own PSA-ness, practically amounting to a black, preteen "Good Will Hunting."

The film is a furious full-court press, its subjects aflame with the kind of passion only youth can furnish.

Beerfest panders shamelessly to the 15-year-old in this 30-year-old... without assuming he is a 15-year-old. It's R-rated puerility for actual immature grown-ups.

Ken Takakura, a great rain-creased oak of an actor, delivers a quietly massive performance.

As a documentary, Jesus Camp could lose its haunted-house score and contrapuntal Air America refrains and still deliver its message: that, here and elsewhere, fundamentalism is no longer content with a separate peace. It wants the meat.

The collection can be summed up in four words I never thought I'd see together: science-fiction chamber music.

Refreshingly, it's actually about action, albeit arbitrary action, and how it defines us and keeps us alive.