I'm declaring a moratorium on the "found footage" mock documentary. And, while we're at it, how about the same thing for movies shot to look like they're hand-held documentaries, even when they're just fiction films?

Like Paul Greengrass' United 93, this film focuses on urgent action in tightly enclosed spaces, which also leads to an occasional lack of clarity when we're not sure what we're seeing.

Thoughtful but funny in a low-key way, Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope examines the idea of papal succession through a fictional story that reminds us ...

The key here is the mix of tones Spurlock achieves: a blend of boyish gee-whiz fascination and a winking sense of the absurdity of grown-ups devoting their lives to this sort of fantasy and role-playing.

The Island President may already be too late, in terms of the changes it hopes to effect. But Nasheed remains a courageous and inspiring figure, particularly now that he's been forced from office by stand-ins for the kind of forces he has been trying to combat.

Lee Hirsch's Bully can't help but move you. It's an important and powerful film, one that should be required viewing for kids of any age -- and their parents.

Indeed, all these shows had their forebears in the days of radio. But, for the sake of argument, let's leave our family-tree tracing to the early days of TV. There are really only four models for most reality shows, four shows from which all others spring.

Ed Helms understands comedy. But the kind of improv that writer-directors Mark and Jay Duplass do made him a little nervous.

Our urban schools are screwed up; our teachers are under siege and burnt out; and the parents of the children who cause the most problems are the leas...

I'll give Will Ferrell credit for this: There aren't many actors who would make an entire comedy in a foreign language just as a joke. Now -- if only the joke itself were funny...

While Hill, writer Michael Bacall and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller want to spoof cop procedurals, they also want to make an actual cop-action film. That blend of comedy and action is a tough one, almost as tough as romantic comedy.

Playing like some disjointed hybrid of Strangers on a Train and The Parallax View by way of Death Wish, Seeking Justice is never terrible - just never...

Silent House is one of those gimmick-movies that you can easily imagine beginning with a conversation along the lines of, "Hey, you know what would be...

There seem to be an endless series of student competitions about which to make documentaries - and any number have been made over the years. From Sp...

Friends with Kids is never as funny as I wanted it to be -- but I'm starting to think that few films can be. It's a smart romantic comedy that should amuse both halves of the couples who see it on date night.

Footnote, Joseph Cedar's fourth film, won the award for best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2011 and was one of the nominees for this y...

You shouldn't see Jiro Dreams of Sushi on an empty stomach. Indeed, you should have sushi in ready proximity once you have seen this fascinating look...

Writer-director Taika Waititi may be the founder of his own school of humor: call it "cruel-reality" comedy, Kiwi division, as practiced in his film, ...

While there are shows that make me laugh on a regular basis (from Curb Your Enthusiasm to The Big Bang Theory to Hot in Cleveland), there are many, many more that don't.

In some ways, War is the bromance version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which could have been by McG but, instead, was by Doug Liman, who is like McG with a functioning brain.

This nearly four-hour documentary by Barak Goodman, a long-time "American Experience" producer and director, is a smear job, though more the death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach than a straight-ahead takedown.

Mayor Jon Gnarr Kristinsson -- better known as comedian Jon Gnarr -- relaxes in a rocking chair in a comfy sitting chamber, just off the conference room that's part of his suite of offices in Reykjavik City Hall.