Vin Diesel just keeps making me madder and madder. Despite his hulking hugeness and the fact that he once worked as a bouncer (or so we’re told — maybe that’s just a good story to tell on Leno), he’s clearly not the thug he’s been playing onscreen for the last few years. He’s written, produced, and directed films — *Multi-Facial* and *Strays* — that have played in competition at Sundance and screened at Cannes. How can someone like that possibly be satisfied playing the grunting, amoral Neanderthal, the one who communicates primarily with his fists?

I suppose it’s meant to be taken as satire that adolescent mash notes written in flowery language, in silver ink on purple notepaper, crammed with sparkly things and left by a secret admirer — real eighth-grade homeroom stuff — are juxtaposed here with the random, anonymous, drug-fueled, fun-free sexcapades of the overprivileged students of Camden … more…

Documentarian Arthur Dong avoids demonizing the conservative Christians at the center of Family Fundamentals, his heartbreaking look at the religious right and their gay children. But those who disagree with their views on human sexuality won’t be able to help but scoff when one of them asserts that there are no gays, just “heterosexuals with … more…

That’s cool. Cuz like these Russo guys, Anthony and Joe — who I bet get called Antny and Joey — lookin’ for their Mamet instead found their Sturges or their Capra (before he went all gooey), like a real doozy of an old-fashioned crime caper thingie. So knowin’ a ton of stuff about life only from old movies maybe ain’t such a bad thing.

There have been several previous screen adaptations of *The Lost World,* one as early as 1925, but now the cycle of inspiration has come full circle, as A&E and the BBC bring us a new TV miniseries (soon to be released on DVD and VHS) with special effects from the BBC computer nerds who gave us the amazingly realistic documentary *Walking with Dinosaurs,* who were of course inspired by *Jurassic Park,* which was perhaps inspired by Conan Doyle’s novel itself.

Not only are haunted houses bad for neighborhood property values, but they’re really pointless, aren’t they? The first time some unholy voice from beyond the grave intoned “Get out,” you would, wouldn’t you? So what’s the upside for a spook looking to instill fear on an ongoing basis? Much better to haunt someplace the mortals … more…

*The Tuxedo,* an action comedy worthy of neither label, is a veritable hotbed of questions like these. Most are along the lines of Why this? and Why that?, with the implication being that no one involved cared much to make a movie that didn’t completely misuse its cast, didn’t utterly abuse all sense of logical storytelling, and didn’t hold in complete contempt the idea that humor might rise above a level appreciated only by 10-year-old kung-fu fanatics suffering from attention deficit disorder.