Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat is a personal, autobiographical stand-up act from Martin Lawrence that should please his fans.

Runteldat is a live comedy concert that opens with reels of newsmen talking about Lawrence’s tumultuous last few years, including his arrest for disturbing the peace and his collapse and subsequent coma while jogging on the hottest day of the year. Lawrence gives a voiceover monologue about the struggles both in his life and on the job as a stand-up comedian and we see him backstage calmly preparing himself to deliver his act to an enthusiastic Washington DC audience. When he gets to the show, he gives his notoriously raunchy act and has his fans in stitches, but also finds time to take a comedic but responsible look at his life. By the end of the show, even those turned off by his dialogue will be impressed by what he’s learned.

Martin Lawrence is undeniably gifted, and always shines even when his material doesn’t. He’s better off here than in some of his recent movies, as he just gets a chance to make us laugh rather than having to worry about a plot. The movie title comes from his life being a topic for public discussion and speculation (“Guess what Martin just did, run n’ tell dat”) and he doesn’t hesitate to tell his side of the story. His language, as well as his takes on sex and race, are filthier than all four comics in The Original Kings of Comedy but he’s always likeable and relatively unegotistical, making this film a real treat for fans of stand-up comedy.

Parents should know that this film has more coarse language than anything else you are likely to see all year, and anyone who has been offended by his previous acts, from You So Crazy! to Def Comedy Jam should skip this one. He avoids being sexist or racist himself, and addresses both topics extensively. Interestingly, his only references to drugs and alcohol are commenting on what an ass he made of himself when he had too much of either.

Martin consistently brings up the theme of living life to its fullest. Families can discuss the risks and rewards of working as hard as Lawrence does (he talks about stand-up being one of the hardest things anyone can do) and getting as far as he has if that means embarrassing oneself with substance abuse and having his private life in the public eye.

Anyone who enjoys Martin Lawrence Live should check out the aforementioned stand-up concert films as well as Martin’s best, Bad Boys and Blue Streak.

M. Night Shyamalan knows what scares us. It scares him, too.

As in “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable,” writer/producer/director Shyamalan’s latest is a story of a crisis of faith, a wise child, and something out there that is very, very disturbing but ultimately part of a pattern that supports and embraces all of us.

Mel Gibson plays Graham Hess, a recent widower who lives with his two children and his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) on a farm in Pennsylvania. He had been a minister, but lost his faith when his wife was killed. Now he winces when people call him “Father.”

He wakes up one night with a sense of dread. His children are not in bed. He runs out into the cornfield and his children show him that the stalks have been bent into a mysterious pattern. It can’t have been made by a machine, because the stalks are not broken. And it can’t have been done by hand, because the shapes are too perfectly even.

It turns out that the strange signs have appeared all over the world. Graham wants to believe that the shapes are a prank or a hoax. He cannot bear the thought that his family could be vulnerable to more injury or loss.

Gibson is outstanding in a role that calls for subtlety, maturity, and a mixture of vulnerability and strength. The children, played by Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin, are just right. They act like smart kids who know what loss is and are scared but also tantalized by what is going on around them. Shyamalan’s skills as a director are getting stronger and stronger. His use of the camera to tell the story is masterful. There is a moment when the screen goes completely black that had the audience gasping. He has clearly been paying attention to Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg, and has a few tricks of his own to contribute. His only mistake is in leaving too little to the imagination. Like his characters, he likes to have everything explained.

Parents should know that this movie has extreme tension and peril, though it is not graphic or gory. Some audience members will find it very scary. Some will be comforted by its ultimate conclusion, but others will find it disappointing, even sugary or superficial. They might even be offended at its deterministic take on things.

Families who see this movie should talk about whether they see patterns and purpose in what occurs around them and what it means to them. Where do people find their faith? What kind of person says that it doesn’t feel right not to swing? They might also want to look at websites like this one to find out more about efforts to contact life on other planets.

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy more benign stories about contact with aliens: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Contact. They may also want to try the very creepy The Others and one of the scariest movies ever, the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

There is a very rich tradition of books and movies set in schools. One reason is that like another popular setting, submarines, they present a closed environment. But the real reason is that schools and teachers play such a definitive role in our lives, not just during our formative years but always.

This movie is about one of those teachers. It has a lot in common with such classics of the genre as “Dead Poet’s Society,” but this time the story is told from the perspective of the teacher, rather than the students. And the teacher is the kind only the luckiest of us are able to have once or twice in our school careers.

Kevin Kline brings all of his considerable charisma and magnetism to the role of an inspiring and committed teacher of classical history named Mr. Hundert, whose high standards do not come from rigidity or humorlessness. He believes that “a man’s character determines his fate” and that it is his job to mold the character of his students. In an early scene, he gently admonishes a student not to cut across the grass, telling him to “stick to the path,” not just because it was better for the lawn, but because it was better for him. And he begins his class by having a student read aloud the boastful statement of an ancient conqueror whose name has all but disappeared from history. Hundert tells his class that “ambition and conquest without contribution is without consequence,” and he asks them, “What will your contribution be?”

A new student named Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) provides Hundert’s greatest challenge. He is insolent. He seems to value nothing but pleasure and shocking people. He knows that he will have the protection of his father, a Senator. But he also knows that he will not have the attention or understanding of his father, and it is missing that which makes him bitter and angry.

Hundert is patient and sympathetic. We get a glimpse of Hundert’s feelings about his own father, a sense of disappointment that may make him more willing to give Bell some latitude. Hundert gently persuades Bell to care about succeeding on the school’s terms. And that means competing for the school’s highest honor – winning the “Mr. Julius Caesar” competition.

Bell does care, perhaps more deeply than Hundert knows. Hundert bends the rules to put Bell in the final competition. But he has to make an important decision that will determine the outcome, taking into account the needs not just of Bell but of the school and the other students in the competition as well. Many years later, he must revisit those choices and reconsider the role he has played in the lives of the young men put under his care.

The first three quarters of the movie works well. Like the students, we cannot help being captivated and inspired by Hunderdt. But when the scene shifts to the present day so that Hunderdt can examine his own contribution and find that he has done both more and less than he thought, the story lurches into melodrama.

Parents should know that this movie has some mature material including very strong language, nudie magazines, and a reference to co-ed skinny dipping. Characters drink and smoke. The issue of character and integrity is a theme of the movie.

Families who see this movie should talk about Senator Bell’s statement that it is his job to mold his son’s character, not the school’s. In what way did he try to mold his son’s character? How was his son like him and how was he different? Is it possible to mold someone else’s character? What role does a school play, and what role do teachers play? Who else influences a person’s character and values? How much do we create for ourselves? What do we learn from Hundert’s reaction to Elizabeth’s news about moving away? What do we learn from his reaction to breaking the headmaster’s window? What do Hundert and Bell learn from their final encounter? What will your contribution be?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy some of the school movie classics like “Dead Poet’s Society,” “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” “The Browning Version” (original version), “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “Stand and Deliver,” “Lean on Me,” “School Ties,” “A Separate Peace,” (all with mature material), “Goodbye Mr. Chips” (the first version, with an Oscar-winning performance by Robert Donat, is better than the musical with Peter O’Toole), and the neglected miniseries gem, “The Lawrenceville Stories” (sharing Edward Hermann as headmaster with “The Emperor’s Club”).

Four words I didn’t plan on saying: Bring back Chris Tucker!

The bad guy in the movie may be evil, but he doesn’t do nearly as much damage to Jackie Chan as the script does. It’s a cute idea, miserably executed.

Chan plays Jimmy Tong, a guy who knows nothing about kick-boxing (“Everyone in China is not Bruce Lee,” he tells a friend) but drives very, very fast. He ends up as a chauffeur for a James Bond-style spy named Clark Devlin (Jason Issacs, as cool as a vodka martini). When the spy is injured, Jimmy puts on Devlin’s tuxedo, a high-tech wonder that gives its wearer the power to defy gravity, sing and dance to soul music, and, oh yes, fight.

Devlin’s new partner is Del (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a newbie out to prove herself. She thinks Jimmy is Devlin, so the two of them go off to save the world from a deranged wacko who wants to control the world’s drinkable water supply. There is too much time spent doing everything except what Chan is really good at, and when we finally get down to the fight scenes, they are nowhere near his usual standard, except for one brief moment when, wearing only the tuxedo pants and not the jacket, only his legs “know” how to fight.

The plot is even dumber than most of these things (oh yeah, I always schedule a huge formal party at my house the same night I plan to put my plan for total world domination into play), the attempts at humor are far below average, and there is no spark at all between Chan and Hewitt. The usual outtakes at the end show us one supposedly funny moment that perhaps reveals more of the reason for the lack of chemistry on screen than they intended. The movie is too gross for kids and too uninteresting for anyone else.

Parents should know that the movie has crude humor and gross violence. There are some vulgar sexual references. Characters drink and smoke (there is an anti-smoking joke). Del uses her cleavage to get past a security guard and both spies pretend to romance people to find out what they are hiding.

Families who see this movie should talk about the different kinds of courage. Jimmy is very brave about some things but not about others. What are you brave about? What do you find harder to be brave about?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy Chan’s much better films, including “Rush Hour” and “Shanghai Noon,” and especially his early Hong Kong work on movies like “Drunken Master” and “Miracles.”

Another year, another Austin Powers movie. And that means 30 very funny minutes surrounded by 60 minutes of far less funny jokes about body parts and body functions, primarily those relating to the bathroom.

Mike Myers returns as Austin Powers, his nemesis, Dr. Evil, and the odious Scottish Fat Bastard. He also plays the new title villain, a Dutchman named Goldmember because of an accident that left him with gilded private parts. Each of Myers’ new characters is less interesting than the one before. Powers takes such pleasure in being himself that he is fun to watch, but Dr. Evil is still his best character since Wayne Campbell and Linda Richman when he was on Saturday Night Live. But the more recent additions are not very memorable. Like Fat Bastard, Goldmember’s primary characteristic is disgusting personal habits. Then there are frequent jokes about prejudice against the Dutch. Huh?

The best part of the movie is the appearance by a number of guest stars. Try to see the movie soon, before all the surprises are given away. Beyoncé Knowles of Destiny’s Child gives sweetness and snap to her role as Foxy Cleopatra, a gentle tribute to the Pam Grier characters of 1970’s blaxploitation movies. There are some great riffs on situations and relationships from the earlier movies, but there are also some excruciating replays of some of their jokes (mostly apparently gross bodily functions) and even excruciating replays of some of the jokes from this movie.

Parents should know that, once again, the movie has a great deal of material that would get an R in a drama. Because some words miss being naughty by a vowel or two and the sexual acts are apparent rather than real, they pass muster with the MPAA. Parents should be very cautious about letting children and young teens see the movie without viewing it first themselves.

Families who see the movie should talk about the fact that most of the major characters feel unloved by their fathers. How does that affect them?

Families who enjoy this movie will enjoy the other two Austin Powers movies and some of the movies that inspired them, like “Our Man Flint” and “Foxy Brown.”