The Incredible Hulk is anchored by terrific performances from Norton and Tyler—welcome additions to the strategic and well-timed humor, including references of previous incarnations of the Hulk, such as the actual comics themselves or the 1970s TV series. In fact, although I am hardly an expert on either, it seemed that the film’s story was inspired more by the television show than anything else. After seeing this cinematic version, I can see how many people—including director Louis Leterrier—felt they could do better than Ang Lee. Aided by terrific special effects, this film manages to make the Hulk more realistic-looking than the somewhat cartoony earlier version.

In Sergei Bodrov’s latest film, Mongol, the director gets inside the head of Genghis Kahn so that we understand a little about what made him tick. And he’s well aware that getting touchy-feely about despots isn’t popular. “Look,” he says. “Don’t you think it’s kind of ignorant to judge people who lived eight hundred years ago, who were fighting on horses with swords, after what’s happened in the 20th Century? It was the worst century, and the most inhuman. You had two world wars, the Holocaust, Nazi camps, Stalin’s camps, nukes, chemical weapons. It was insane and cruel, just the worst century in history. And you’re still just talking about the cruelty of the guy?”

Besides the obvious value placed on friendship and forgiveness—as with Sex and the City—Reprise also offers an intelligent artistic and philosophical look at the dilemma behind its American counterpart: Is artistic magic even worth recapturing? Trier’s answer is interesting, and might even explain the runaway success of the film version of Sex and the City: Anything worth doing is worth doing a second time, and worth doing better. “The first time is never any good,” one of Trier’s characters opines. It’s an optimistic and progressive view of life. The problem will be getting past the film’s first twenty minutes. Resist the urge to walk out; give it just ten more minutes than you might be inclined to… I think the film will win you over.

A powerful quote from Phillip Yancey opens the film, immediately and unmistakably establishing Merchant’s objective for his film: “No one ever converted to Christianity because they lost the argument.” Spot on. I have been praying that God would begin to strengthen His Church; I sincerely believe that Merchant’s documentary is part of His answer to that prayer. God faithfully cleanses His own house first; if nothing else, Merchant’s documentary will provide an accurate, broadly-scoped and distressing perspective on how our culture views the Church. If you live in the Portland, Oregon area, I highly encourage you to see this film while it plays there this week, June 13-19.

Shyamalan’s obviously aiming toward something meaningful, though. While the resolution of the plot—and even the textual theme—iterates the notion that we don’t know why nature does what it does, or what we could possibly do to influence it, the subtext offers a pretty plain answer when Alma asks Elliot about his treasured mood ring (!!): “What color was love?” The sad thing is that the mood ring reference is the one that really describes what’s up with The Happening. After all, what does the green mood mean? “Average, not much going on.” And that’s too bad, because we really are doing horrible things to our planet. The subject deserves a much better treatment than this shoddy, predictable variation on the zombie genre.

What is great about the comedic element of the film itself is that the comedy is underplayed. This is not the gag-reel type of goofball comedy. Instead, these are two guys who could very easily exist in reality—and could just as easily get themselves into and out of these awkward situations. This adds to the charm of the film. As we watch the motivations and lives of both main characters, there is no clear winner or loser. You want them both to win. Conrad knows how to put his characters—and his audience—through the wince-inducing moments in life.

Let me be clear: I loved War, Inc., and can’t wait to see it again. Politics and humor tend to be starkly polarizing, however, and I imagine such polemics will make it difficult to appeal to a general audience. Furthermore, the war theme may still be too raw for movie-goers to be able to navigate through the political pie crust and sink their teeth into the delicious satire underneath. And that’s too bad, because this really is one of the best examples of the genre I’ve seen in some time. The onscreen chemistry between Cusack and Tomei is wonderful; both turn in fantastic performances. They’re also joined by Hilary Duff, surprisingly strong as she lampoons her real-life pop-star status in her role as pop-star Yonica Babyyeah.

Kung Fu Panda’s animation not only looks impressive, but seems somewhat new and fresh. Unfortunately, I don’t quite know how to describe it; but the talking animals in this movie look little like their Disney ancestors, and the movie is all the better for it. Add to that an incredible cast of voice talent—Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan (and, yes, only in animation would we ever believe Dustin Hoffman as a Kung Fu master)—and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a delightful animated movie… or any kind of movie for that matter. The lack of an original storyline keeps the film from being great, but I’ll bet you won’t hear too many people complaining as they leave the theater, no matter what their age. The film’s tagline is “prepare for awesomeness.” Indeed.

“I think our film helps to educate kids,” says Chris Bell, director of the upcoming documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster. “I showed it to about five hundred high school kids in Toronto, and a lot of those kids came up to me and thanked me for telling them the truth and not hitting them over the head with statements like they hear in commercials—like, ‘Steroids will shrink your balls.’ Then there’s the one with the statue of David falling apart, and it says, ‘Steroids won’t make you a great athlete, they’ll destroy you.’ But then they watch Barry Bonds hit 756 home runs and they’re thinking, ‘Will it really destroy you?’”

As a whole, for a silly movie, Sandler is not quite as dopey as he has been in movies such as Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy. However, he is not the sweet character that I enjoyed in 50 First Dates. The unfortunate detractors are Sandler’s insistence on hardly taking a step without a pelvic thrust, and walking around with at least five pairs of socks in his shorts. It’s just too much to watch for over an hour… well, even for thirty minutes! Still, the film is far from vapid, and there are several aspect of You Don’t Mess with the Zohan that I actually really like. It provides plenty of thought and conversation fodder, the value of which leads me to believe that Sandler’s film successfully (if comically) makes its point.