Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases, movie trailers, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/movies.

* 'THE ARISTOCRATS' (No rating, 89 minutes) A rigorously scholarly documentary about the theory and practice of joke-telling that also happens to be one of the filthiest, vilest, most extravagantly obscene movies ever made - and one of the funniest. (A. O. Scott)

'ASYLUM' (R, 90 minutes) A dreary, claustrophobic soap, with Natasha Richardson, about a 1950's bored wife and mother victimized by her times and her incredibly bad taste in men; based on Patrick McGrath's novel and directed by David Mackenzie. (Manohla Dargis)

* 'BAD NEWS BEARS' (PG-13, 111 minutes) Filled with small, cute kids and large, goofy laughs, and kept aloft by Billy Bob Thornton's ribald star turn, Richard Linklater's remake of this 1976 sports comedy won't rock your movie world. But the fact that the filmmaker keeps the freak flag flying in the face of our culture of triumphalism is a thing of beauty. (Dargis)

'BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS' (No rating, 111 minutes, in Mandarin and French) Dai Sijie, adapting his novel, looks back at the Chinese Cultural Revolution, relating a touching, bittersweet love story that is also a testament to the power of literature in times of political repression. (Scott)

* 'BATMAN BEGINS' (PG-13, 137 minutes) Conceived in the shadow of American pop rather than in its bright light, this tense, effective iteration of Bob Kane's original comic book owes its power and pleasures to a director (Christopher Nolan) who takes his material seriously and to a star (a terrific Christian Bale) who shoulders that seriousness with ease. "Batman Begins" is the seventh live-action film to take on the comic-book legend and the first to usher it into the kingdom of movie myth. (Dargis)

'THE BAXTER' (PG-13, 91 minutes) A "Baxter," in the lingo of this romantic comedy written by, directed by and starring the comedian Michael Showalter, is the safe choice, the also-ran, the guy who is left at the altar when the hero shows up, as Dustin Hoffman did in "The Graduate," to claim his true love. The film's tragic flaw is that Mr. Showalter is miscast - or has miscast himself - in the title role. In the end, "The Baxter" is a Baxter of a movie: well meaning and mildly likable, but unlikely to sweep you off your feet. (Dana Stevens)

* 'BROKEN FLOWERS' (R, 105 minutes) Sweet, funny, sad and meandering, Jim Jarmusch's new film sends Bill Murray's aging Don Juan out in search of a son he never knew he had. He finds four former lovers, including Sharon Stone and Jessica Lange, and reveals once again that he is the quietest and finest comic actor working in movies today. (Scott)

'THE BROTHERS GRIMM' (PG-13, 118 minutes) Despite a few early sparks of promise, Terry Gilliam's big-screen adventure about the brother folklorists (played by Matt Damon and Heath Ledger) sputters and coughs along like an unoiled machine, grinding gears and nerves in equal measure. (Dargis)

'THE CAVE' (PG-13, 97 minutes) In Bruce Hunt's formulaic "Cave," a group of ace cave-divers are flown in to investigate an intricate maze system discovered beneath the ruins of an ancient Romanian abbey, but instead become the prey of mutated demonlike creatures that can fly and see in the dark. Dreadfully dull, muddled and chaotic, with colorless and underdeveloped characters. (Laura Kern)

'THE CENTURY OF THE SELF' (No rating, four hours, shown in two parts) This documentary, a four-part series produced for BBC television that is being shown in theaters in two separate two-hour segments, explores how Freud's seminal theory of the unconscious has been successfully deployed over the past century as an instrument of consumer manipulation and social control. "The Century of the Self" is an unusually cerebral filmed essay that demands focus and patience from its audience as it sets about unearthing a secret history of the 20th century. (Stevens)

'CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY' (PG, 116 minutes) Flawed but fascinating. Some of the departures from the book will make Roald Dahl fans roll their eyes, but some of the visuals will make their eyes (and everyone else's) pop. (Scott)

* 'THE CONSTANT GARDENER' (R, 129 minutes) A superior thriller with a conscience, from John le Carré's novel. (Scott)

* 'DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE' (No rating, 107 minutes, in English, Russian and Swahili) A harrowing, unblinking look at the consequences of globalization, as seen from the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. Not easy viewing, but indispensable for just that reason. (Scott)

'DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO' (R, 77 minutes) In a sequel to the 1999 hit, the schlubby escort lands in Amsterdam to make lovelorn ladies feel whole, but the entire ordeal is mockery disguised as self-help. This insulting comedy is out of step with the culture, the times and the rebranded Adam Sandler, who was a producer and bit player in this mess. (Ned Martel)

* 'EL CRIMEN PERFECTO' (No rating, 105 minutes, in Spanish) In this antic and outrageous black comedy, Rafael González (Guillermo Toledo) is a salesman in the women's section of a Madrid department store. Rafael's fondest dream is to be floor manager; when his archrival for the position, Don Antonio (Luis Varela), is accidentally killed in a scuffle in the dressing room, Rafael's world begins to unravel. Like the Ferris wheel that serves as the setting for one of its climactic scenes, "El Crimen Perfecto" is a bright, gaudy and tremendously satisfying ride. (Stevens)

'ETERNAL' (No rating, 108 minutes) Lush, lurid and completely besotted with itself, "Eternal" claims inspiration from the life of Erszebet Bathory, a 16th-century Hungarian countess whose antiaging routine required frequent immersions in young, female blood. Merging low art and high production values, this is one of the dullest, least sexy lesbian vampire movies ever made. (Jeannette Catsoulis)

'FANTASTIC FOUR' (PG-13, 105 minutes) Mediocre at best. (Scott)

* 'THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN' (R, 111 minutes) A sex comedy turned romantic bliss-out, with Steve Carell, in which the sound of one prophylactic snapping is just a single sweet note in the glorious symphony of love. (Dargis)

'FOUR BROTHERS' (R, 148 minutes) In John Singleton's slick hybrid of urban western and modern blaxploitation movie, four young men, two black and two white, reunite in Detroit to avenge the shooting death of their saintly adoptive mother. Preposterous, amoral and exciting. (Stephen Holden)

'THE GREAT RAID' (R, 132 minutes) This tedious World War II movie, which re-enacts a real-life heroic rescue of American prisoners from a Japanese camp in the Philippines, slogs across the screen like a forced march in quicksand. (Holden)

* 'GRIZZLY MAN' (R, 103 minutes) Werner Herzog's bold, enthralling documentary about one man's journey into the heart of darkness (and the belly of the beast) traces the life and strange times of the self-anointed grizzly expert Timothy Treadwell. (Dargis)

'HUSTLE & FLOW' (R, 114 minutes) Terrence Howard is superb as a Memphis pimp chasing his dream of hip-hop stardom in a movie that is an awkward mix of realism, misogyny and Hollywood hokum. (Scott)

* 'JUNEBUG' (R, 107 minutes) A Southern "Five Easy Pieces," this deep, bittersweet comedy about a young man's return from Chicago to his family's North Carolina home envelops us in the texture of a culture the movies seldom visit. Amy Adams gives an incandescent portrayal of the man's pregnant, childlike sister-in-law. (Holden)

'MAD HOT BALLROOM' (PG, 105 minutes) This documentary follows fifth graders from three very different New York City public schools as they prepare to compete in a ballroom dancing tournament. The sight of 10-year-olds trying to master the graceful, grown-up motions of the fox trot and the tango is charming, and the glimpses of their lives in and outside of school are fascinating, though unfortunately the film offers little more than glimpses. (Scott)

* 'MARCH OF THE PENGUINS' (G, 80 minutes) This sentimental but riveting documentary follows the one-year mating cycle of emperor penguins in Antarctica when they leave the ocean and march inland to breed and lay eggs. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, the film has no qualms about playing on our emotions. (Holden)

* 'MARGARET CHO: THE ASSASSIN TOUR' (No rating, 85 minutes) A live taping of Ms. Cho's standup performance on May 14, 2005, at the Warner Theater in Washington. Equal parts inspired clown, committed activist and ferocious Republican-baiter, Ms. Cho seeks out the bruises on American culture and gleefully applies pressure. (Catsoulis)

* 'THE MEMORY OF A KILLER' (R, 120 minutes, in Flemish and French) Directed by Erik Van Looy, this nicely kinked Belgian thriller features a range of good guys and bad, including one whose sense of morality and world-weariness seem straight out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film. (Dargis)

'MR. AND MRS. SMITH' (PG-13, 112 minutes) What counts in a movie like this are stars so dazzling that we won't really notice or at least mind the cut-rate writing (from Simon Kinberg) and occasionally incoherent action (from the director, Doug Liman). Sometimes Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie succeed in their mutual role as sucker bait, sometimes they don't, which is why their joint venture is alternately a goof and a drag. (Dargis)

* 'MURDERBALL' (R, 86 minutes) The brutal, highly competitive sport of wheelchair rugby is the subject of this exciting and uplifting (but never mawkish) documentary about the redemptive power of fierce athletic competition. (Holden)

'MUST LOVE DOGS' (PG-13, 92 minutes) This tepid sitcom about computer dating wastes the talents of its stars (Diane Lane, John Cusack, Christopher Plummer, Stockard Channing) in stale, dated material that makes Nora Ephron's trifles look like Chekhov. (Holden)

* 'RED EYE' (PG-13, 85 minutes) The sights and sounds of two people talking become a nerve-jangling duet for cat and mouse, hunter and prey in Wes Craven's nifty, tense thriller. (Dargis)

'THE SKELETON KEY' (PG-13, 104 minutes) Kate Hudson in a T-shirt and underwear, intimations of unspeakable evil, slamming doors and equally slamming edits, and an introductory course in hoodoo, a folk religion born in the South - all this and Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard and John Hurt, too. (Dargis)

* 'SKY HIGH' (PG, 102 minutes) This witty Disney adventure comedy imagines a high school for superheroes, hidden above the clouds, where the students are divided into Heroes and Sidekicks. The movie poses the age-old question "Is there life after high school?" and with a cheerful wink answers, "No, not really." (Holden)

'A SOUND OF THUNDER' (PG-13, 103 minutes) A bloated, incoherent adaptation of a spare, elegant Ray Bradbury story. "This can't be good," one character remarks. No, indeed. (Scott)

'STEAL ME' (No rating, 95 minutes) When a 15-year-old kleptomaniac lands in rural Montana searching for his prostitute mother, his arrival sends waves of sexual excitement through every female within pheromone-sniffing distance. Overheated material redeemed by natural performances and a screenplay that probes the bond between mothers and sons with unusual fearlessness. (Catsoulis)

* 'TONY TAKITANI' (No rating, 75 minutes, in Japanese) In this delicate wisp of a film with a surprisingly sharp sting, a lonely man awakens to life for the first time at 37 during a brief idyll. Directed by Jun Ichikawa, from a short story by Haruki Murakami. (Dargis)

'TRANSPORTER 2' (PG-13, 88 minutes) Ex-Special Forces operative Frank Martin (Jason Statham), the blank-faced professional driver with more tricks - and lives - than James Bond, is back in this purely shallow, but never dull, sequel to "The Transporter." This time, he's in Miami and will do whatever it takes to save the life of a young boy who's been kidnapped and injected with a deadly contagious virus. (Kern)

* '2046' (R, 129 minutes) An ecstatically beautiful story in which time is marked not by the hands of a clock, but by the women who pass through one man's life, "2046" is the eighth feature film from the Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai and the long-awaited follow-up to his art-house favorite "In the Mood for Love." A film about longing, loss and the delicate curve of a woman's back, it is also an unqualified triumph. (Dargis)

'USHER' (No rating, playing with three shorts with a total running time of 95 minutes) A 40-minute version of Edgar Allan Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher," which favors literateness over melodrama and psychological kinks over special effects. Directed by Curtis Harrington with old-fashioned stateliness, "Usher" may be stilted but it is also quite touching. Accompanied by three of the director's early shorts. (Catsoulis)

'VALIANT' (G, 80 minutes) Homing pigeons versus falcons are the combatants in this shoddily made animated movie about heroes and villains in World War II. The talents of many fine British actors are squandered in the voice-overs. (Holden)

'WAR OF THE WORLDS' (PG-13, 117 minutes) The aliens invade (again). Effectively scary and visually impressive. (Scott)

'WEDDING CRASHERS' (R, 113 minutes) A wink-wink, nudge-nudge Trojan horse of a story, this amiably raunchy sex comedy pivots on two Lotharios persuasively inhabited by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn. They love the ladies but really and truly, cross their cheating hearts, just want a nice girl to call wife. Credited to the screenwriters Steve Faber and Bob Fisher. (Dargis)

Film Series

9/11/03: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF NEW YORK (Sunday) The Two Boots Pioneer Theater concludes its run of Richard Karz's documentary about the second anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. New Yorkers who share their thoughts and opinions on that day include Ray Kelly, the police commissioner; Russell Simmons, the hip-hop mogul; Joe Torre, the Yankees manager; the Rev. Al Sharpton; Shirin Neshat, an Iranian-born artist and filmmaker; Dolly Lenz, a real estate broker; and Ti-Hua Chang, the local television news reporter. 155 East Third Street, at Avenue A, East Village, (212) 591-0434; $9. (Anita Gates)

CMJ FILMFEST (Through Sept. 17) Advance screenings of fall 2005 films, held in tandem with the CMJ Music Marathon, begin on Wednesday. Features include Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home," about Bob Dylan's life and music in the early 1960's; Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown," with Susan Sarandon, Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst; "Walk the Line," with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon as Johnny and June Carter Cash; and "Brick," a film noir murder mystery set in a 21st-century high school. Loews State Theater, 1540 Broadway, at 45th Street, and DGA Theater, 110 West 57th Street, Manhattan, (212) 258-0890; free with CMJ Music Marathon pass ($445). (Gates)

PINEWOOD DIALOGUES (Tuesday) The Museum of the Moving Image presents its third in a series of filmmaker dialogues. A discussion with David Cronenberg follows a screening of Mr. Cronenberg's new film, "A History of Violence," a drama about a small-town diner owner (Viggo Mortensen) who kills two would-be robbers. 7 p.m., 35th Avenue, at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, (718) 784-0077; $18. (Gates)

REPERTORY NIGHTS (Through Nov. 6) The Museum of the Moving Image continues its annual film series with "Persona" (1966), Ingmar Bergman's psychodrama about an actress (Liv Ullmann) recovering from a nervous breakdown who has an unusual effect on her nurse (Bibi Andersson). It will be screened tomorrow and Sunday. Other auteurs represented in the festival include Akira Kurosawa, F. W. Murnau, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and François Truffaut. Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 p.m., 35th Avenue, at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, (718) 784-0077; $10. (Gates)

SUMMER SAMURAI (Through Thursday) Film Forum concludes its four-week celebration of the Japanese warrior-action genre with Kihachi Okamoto's "Sword of Doom" (1966), Hideo Gosha's "Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron" (1978), Hiroshi Inagaki's "Samurai Saga" (1959), Gosha's "Goyokin" (1969) and Mr. Okamoto's "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo" (1970). 209 West Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue, South Village, (212) 727-8110; $10. (Gates)

TRUTH AND DARE: NEW YORK KOREAN FILM FESTIVAL (Through Sunday) BAMcinématek's festival of recent films from Korea, now in its fifth year, continues this weekend. Features include Kim Tae-Kyun's "Romance of Their Own" (2004), a romantic comedy about a country girl who moves to Seoul; Lee Jae-Han's "Moment to Remember" (2004), a drama about a happily married couple dealing with the wife's Alzheimer's disease; and Ahn Byeong-Ki's horror hit "Bunshinsaba" (2004). BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100; $10. (Gates)