A Brazilian woman and her mother are taken to a remote desert by her insane husband, beginning a 59-year existence among the sand dunes for three generations of women. Portuguese with subtitles.

This documentary looks at a group of Filipino transvestites who emigrate to Israel, where they care for the elderly during the day and go out in drag at night. English, Hebrew and Tagalog with subtitles.

Jean-Pierre Melville's taut 1969 study of the French Resistance movement during World War II - and a small band of men (and a few women) who fought the Nazi occupation - is nothing short of a masterpiece. 2 hrs. 25 (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Master filmmaker André Téchiné's exquisitely filmed story about unrequited love is a brilliant extended meditation on our faith in love's power to redeem us. It follows French engineer Antoine (Gérard Depardieu), who has spent 30 lonely years pining for his only love, Cécile (Catherine Deneuve), showing up in Tangiers, where she lives with her husband, to claim her. 1 hr. 38 (adult themes, sexuality, nudity) - T.D.

Edward Norton stars as a master magician in late-19th-century Vienna whose sublime trickery gets him in trouble with a dastardly royal. A wonderful anachronism of a movie, with its clip-clopping horses, gaslit lanterns, and Hollywood stars (Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel) elocuting in quasi-Euro accents. 1 hr. 49 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Equipped with strategic energy reserves and a PowerPoint presentation, Al Gore discusses the perils of global warming in this engaging and challenging documentary from Davis Guggenheim. 1 hr. 40 (suitable for those 10 and older) - C.R.

This smart, intriguing study of identity, marriage and, perhaps, madness begins in a blithe, jokey way: a man shaves his mustache, anticipating the surprise of his wife, friends and coworkers. But no one says a thing, nor seems to notice. Did he ever have one? Does he even exist? 1 hr. 26 (nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

Easily one of the best computer-animated features to come out of Hollywood in a while, this creepy-crawly, freak-show yarn is also one of the weirdest. Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg oversaw the project, about a house that swallows passersby and the three young friends who try to do something about it. With the voices of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Steve Buscemi, Kathleen Turner and others. 1 hr. 31 (scares, adult language, themes) - S.R.

A must-see documentary that uses footage recorded by three New Hampshire National Guardsmen during their yearlong stint in Iraq. The results are bracing, troubling, illuminating. 1 hr. 36 (violence, profanity, carnage of war, adult themes) - S.R.

Anguished and heartfelt, Oliver Stone's film about real-life Port Authority officers trapped in the rubble on 9/11 is a hushed prayer of deliverance - for the officers, for their wives and families, and for the nation. 2 hrs. 9 (intense sequences of devastation and grief) - C.R.

Sad-sack Americans take on Germans in a drinking competition in this dismally flat comedy. You'd have to be very drunk indeed to find this funny. 1 hr. 50 (crude humor, nudity, profanity, excessive drinking) - D.H.

Improbable-but-true story of Vince Papale, the 30-year-old substitute teacher turned part-time bartender turned Philadelphia Eagle. An uplift-the-neighborhood, stand-up-and-cheer, go-Eagles inspirational about the little energizer that could. With Mark Wahlberg as Papale and Greg Kinnear as Dick Vermeil. 1 hr. 39 (profanity) - C.R.

A stormy quasi-comedy destined to polarize audiences, this is a specimen of the "Family - can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em" credo. The superlative Alan Arkin and Toni Collette lead a cast in the sometimes cartoonish film about a fractured clan unified during the course of a road trip to a junior beauty pageant. 1 hr. 41 (drugs, sexual candor, profanity) - C.R.

Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle star in this icky, stylized teen psychothriller - half edgy art flick, half exploitation fare, and all bad. With Martin Donovan and Edie Falco as a preternaturally dysfunctional husband and wife. 1 hr. 27 (sex, nudity, profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Will Ferrell stars as a NASCAR hero in this gloriously knuckleheaded spoof of Southern-fried stock-car culture, and the fame, glory and product endorsements that go with it. Sacha Baron Cohen practically steals the show as Ricky Bobby's speedway rival, an erudite Frenchie whose car is sponsored by, yes, Perrier. 1 hr. 50 (profanity, comic mayhem, adult themes) - S.R.

(McCarter) Two mysterious men disturb the dreary calm in a seaside boardinghouse in the early Harold Pinter play. Previews start Friday; opens Sept. 15.

(Academy of Music) The story of a lion cub swept into the circle of life is beautiful to see on its national tour but needs originating director Julie Taymor's intervention to solve glitches. Through next Sunday. - H.S.

(Hedgerow) A funny, energetic production of an English farce involving a British M.P., a sex scandal, and a corpse on a windowsill. Lots of entertaining door- and window-slamming. Through next Sunday. - T.Z.

The annual festival of unconventional theater, dance and music is presenting 160-plus shows in venues across the city through Sept. 16. Information: 215-413-1318 or www.livearts-fringe.org .

This heartbreaking, pulse-pounding drama about the lone hijacked commercial airliner that failed to reach its target on 9/11 has been made with unwavering realism - even when events leading to the crash in a Pennsylvania field are a matter of conjecture. Cast with unfamiliar faces that seem as familiar as the crowd in an airport waiting room, the picture is visceral and haunting. 1 hr. 51 (real-life violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

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