Here is how cool Hong Kong action superstar Chow Yun-Fat (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) is: while clearly capable of outshining just about anyone and anything in movies today, instead he manages to somehow shine his coolness over everything around him, making action heroes out of Seann William Scott (of “Dude Where’s My Car” and “American Pie”) and model-turned actress Jamie King (“Pearl Harbor”). The result is a popcorn pleasure, an action movie with a little wit, a lot of spirit, and some kick-butt kick-boxing.

Chow plays the Monk With No Name (like the Clint Eastwood character, The Man With No Name), who back in World War II was assigned the task of guarding a sacred scroll. A Nazi officer named Strucker tries to get it, but the Monk escapes. Sixty years later, the Nazi and his grand-daughter are still after the scroll. Strucker is old and in a wheelchair, but the Monk, because of his special assignment, has not aged. It is time for him to find the next guardian of the scroll, however, and it just seems that it might be a petty thief and chop-socky film projectionist named Kar (Scott).

Scott has shown an appealing comic presence in previous movies, but I would never have expected him to be able to carry a leading role as well as he does here. He is buff and he is game. He is confident enough not to take himself seriously, and he does very well. King, playing a “Bad Girl” (that’s her nickname) with a secret, handles herself well. She and Kar fight as a way of getting to know one another (as Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck did in “Daredevil”), so their thrusts and parries help to tell the story.

The fight scenes are staged wonderfully, and the production design is outstanding, especially the underground lair of a ragtag bunch of scoundrels who live in subway tunnels. The dialogue is not completely embarassing, which makes it a big step up from most action films. And Chow, as ever, has all the presence it takes to make the screen come alive.

Parents should know that the movie is very violent, though not as graphic as many PG-13s. Characters are killed, including one who is impaled. There is brief strong language. There are some sexual references, though it is very clear that the “Bad Girl” is, as far as sex goes, a “good girl.”

Families who see this movie should talk about why the monks did not just destroy the scroll. What is there in the world today that is as susceptible as the fictional scroll to being used for devastating purposes?

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy the magnificent work of art, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” And they will also enjoy some other kick-boxing action films by stars like Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

The “con” in “con man” comes from the word “confidence,” because a con man doesn’t use stealth or force to steal from his victims — he wins their confidence, and so they give him their money, often happily, always greedily, because he leads them to think that they will get a lot more back. Doing that requires a great deal of confidence on the part of the crook.

“Confidence” is about Jake Vig (Edward Burns), a first-rate con man who makes one big mistake.

The con goes just fine — he gets the money. But he doesn’t find out until after the con that his victim was a money man for a mob boss called the King (Dustin Hoffman). Jake hasn’t stolen money from some guy who will not be able to go after him because he is too embarrassed to tell anyone or too unsophisticated to figure it out or not connected enough to have the resources to follow up. He has stolen money from a very tough, scary, guy. We know this because it only took a day for the guy to send someone to shoot Jake’s long-time partner. The mark who lost the loot is quickly out of the picture, too. Jake and his remaining partners could run. But Jake does have that confidence and knows that what he does best is talk just about anyone into just about anything. He won’t have to spend the rest of his life on the run from gunmen if he can talk the mob boss into letting him get square with one more great big con. But who is it that is being conned?

This is one of those twisty-turny stories in which it is fun to be in on the con as and even more fun to find that we have been conned ourselves. The big deception at the heart of the story is a little disappointing — oddly uninventive. But the marvelous cast does wonders with smart, tough dialogue. The pleasures of this movie are not so much in the plot as in the small moments of character. That’s where the real surprises and freshness are.

Parents should know that this movie has extremely strong language and explicit violence, including shooting and the death of major characters. Just about everyone in the movie is a thief, a murderer, or both.

Families who see this movie should talk about the con man’s greatest asset — the mark who thinks that he is conning someone out of something.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy David Mamet’s “House of Games,” “The Spanish Prisoner,” and “Heist.”

Chiquita Banana and the Frito Bandito were subtle compared to the caricatures of Latino culture in this movie, but because it was created by Latinos, it is supposed to be all right.

The story is basically a salsa-flavored but otherwise very traditional door-slamming/ mix-up of identical bags farce about a man (Mexican television star Eduardo Verastegui) who has successfully kept the three women he is dating from finding out about each other until they all decide to surprise him at the same time.

The women are Cici (Colombian actress Sofia Vergara), who seems to be channeling Charo as a big-hair, tush-shaking spitfire; Lorena (Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez), a serious, poetry-loving “take off your glasses and let down your hair and presto–you’re a beauty contestant” lawyer; and Patricia (Texan singer Jaci Velasquez), a pampered debutante with her daddy’s credit cards and a cute little dog. When they find out he has been seeing all of them, they are angry with each other, not him. As they have to work together to keep him hidden until he wakes up from a tranquilizer-induced stupor, they discover that they are getting more from themselves and each other than they ever got from him.

The movie has signifiers of Hispanic culture (everyone stops every day to watch superstar astrologer Walter Mercado on television) but it stays very generic because it wants to avoid splintering its audience by identifying its characters as being from any particular culture. The result is as shallow as a sit-com, without any of the real ethnic flavor of movies like “Mi Familia” or “What’s Cooking.” And it wastes the talents of its attractive performers by forcing them to try to disguise outlandish plot hoops that make no sense with over-the-top mugging and yelling.

Parents should know that the movie concerns an unfaithful lover. A character mixes pills and liquor (and when he passes out, no one takes it seriously). Characters drink to excess to deal with troubles and find it a bonding experience. Characters lie and steal with no concern for the consequences. While it is nice to see Hispanic characters who are not servants, sidekicks, or drug dealers, the portrayals are stereotypes, and the movie includes some stereotypes of women as well.

Families who see this movie should talk about why Papi had a hard time making up his mind and why the women blamed each other instead of him.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Mi Familia,” “Tortilla Soup,” and “Selena.” Mature family members will enjoy “Like Water for Chocolate.”

Spunky and easy to watch, this feel-good movie bridges the distance between old country and new with the deft touch of a David Beckham penalty kick. For any girl whose athletic endeavors were ever questioned by conservative parents, “Bend it Like Beckham” is a color-drenched fairy tale where you know from the opening credits that the story will end in the “happily ever after” category for our plucky heroine. Yes, this sunny little movie is about second generation Indian families in England striving to maintain traditions that kids, more British than Indian, find increasingly irrelevant. However, no matter what your cultural background, the central theme that you should follow your bliss no matter what the hurdle is universal.

For those who like such comparisons, you might think “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” meets “Footloose” with soccer instead of dancing. Jess (Parminder K. Nagra), doe-eyed and almost unbelievably well balanced, is a young Sikh woman awaiting her A-level results in the suburbs of London, near Heathrow Airport. She is the obedient daughter of her tradition minded parents who have mapped her life’s flight path from law degree to Indian husband to perfecting her ability to cook ‘aloo gobi’. They have also allowed her to develop her natural soccer playing talents by turning a blind eye to her practices in the park with her best friend, Tony (Ameet Chana).

Jess’ life is about to change as her older sister, Pinky (Archie Panjabi), launches the family into a tizzy of wedding preparations for her on-again, off-again nuptials. Since Pinky is soon to leave the house, it is time, think their parents, that Jess settle down, give up soccer for studies and find a serious Indian boyfriend. Just as her parents are telling Jess to curb her sports pursuits, she is offered the opportunity to take her playing to the next level. Jess is spotted playing in the park by Jules (Keira Knightley) a kindred spirit who is a founding member of the all-women’s soccer club, the Hounslow Harriers. The Harriers, independent young women completely dedicated to their sport, represent everything that Jess would like to be in the world beyond the loving community of her family. What follows are the first rebellious steps into adulthood for the otherwise model teen, Jess, as she gains confidence and independence on the field, while discretely stepping out of her parent’s protective boundaries.

Some of the characters are two-dimensional and border on archetypes if not stereotypes, including Jules’ super-feminine English mum (Juliet Stevenson) who frets about her daughter’s tomboy “sportiness” and Jess’ mum (Shaheen Khan) who is more concerned about Jess’ cooking abilities than her happiness, however, they are both played with a light, comic touch. For cameo fans, Jess’ father is Bollywood superstar Anupam Kher and the Captain of the Hounslow Harriers is Shaznay Lewis, the lead singer for the Brit pop group, All-Saints.

While the story might not seem strikingly original, the color-drenched tones of the movie, the over-lit action scenes and the genuine appeal of the characters, especially Jess, make this film a welcome repast, engaging and entertaining from the first moment to the last. Even if the answers seem a bit pat, it is nice to think that complicated relationships and challenges can be resolved with the proper communications and the ability to make nice, round chappatis.

Parents should know that there is an implied sexual situation between a couple committed to marrying each other. Jess makes it clear that she will not sleep with a man until she is in a serious relationship, however some of her acquaintances refer in passing to their own more casual dalliances. A friend comes out to Jess in a very delicate way, while there is a parental misunderstanding about another character’s sexual orientation.

Several of the under 21-year-old characters do have a beer or a glass of wine, however they drink responsibly and are of legal age in the UK/Germany, where the scenes take place.

Parents should know that Jess hides her soccer playing from her family and lies to protect her secret. While she eventually learns that lying to her family about something so important to her is something she cannot do, for most of the movie she deliberately goes against her parents’ will and rebels against their decisions.

Families who see this movie should talk about why Jess feels she cannot talk to her family about her love of sports and how she defends her subterfuge. When discussing with Joe why her parents do not want her to play soccer, Jess says that it takes her away from everything they know. What finally makes Jess realize that she must talk to her parents about the matter? How does her father’s cricket experience impact his view of Jess’ soccer playing? What might be the common bond between Irish Joe and Indian Jess?

Families who enjoy this movie might like to see “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002), which shares a similarly ebullient approach to cultural differences. For those who enjoyed the South Asian elements of this movie, “Monsoon Wedding” (2002) is a lovely tableau of an Indian family preparing for a celebration (mature material). For those interested in the soccer theme, “The Cup” is a lighthearted look at a Buddhist monastery where the young novices are intent on watching the World Cup. Families who enjoyed the first-love element of this film might wish to see the Scottish coming-of-age gem, “Gregory’s Girl” (1981), or the Australian first-crush and cultural clash flick “Flirting” (1990).

There are two odd couples in this movie. One is the traditional pairing of two opposite characters just for the fun of seeing the sparks (and the inevitable “I learned so much from you!” conclusion). In this case, one character is a deeply repressed executive assistant who designs clothing for overweight cats (Adam Sandler as Dave) and the other is a decidedly un-repressed therapist specializing in anger management (Jack Nicholson as Dr. Buddy Rydell).

But just as mismatched as this odd couple are the two competing scripts. First is the original script credited to first-timer David Dorfman. The second “script” adds in the core elements of any Sandler film, contributed by producer-star Adam Sandler, including many pre-adolescent jokes about body parts and their functions and a lot of references to 80’s pop culture. The result is an uneven blend of pretty low humor and REALLY low humor on the theme of utter humiliation. It is only barely saved by the sheer pleasure of watching Jack Nicholson.

“Anger Management” is a variation on every odd couple movie ever made, but especially “Analyze This,” which also paired an Oscar-winning mega-star best known for drama with an alumnus of Saturday Night Live and sketch/stand-up comedy, making the comedian the straight man and letting the distinguished actor go wild. It would be funnier to hear Nicholson sing “West Side Story’s” “I Feel Pretty” if it wasn’t the same song that we heard De Niro sing in the sequel, “Analyze That.” But it’s still pretty funny.

Adam Sandler plays the same part he has in all of his movies — an engaging if immature man with anger management issues. As he often does, Nicholson plays a guy who just might do anything at any moment. Both play off of the way that we know them. Sandler uses our image of him so he won’t have to do anything new but Nicholson uses his so that he can play with it and even surprise us.

Dave is sentenced to anger management after a misunderstanding on an airplane and ends up in Dr. Rydell’s therapy group. After another misunderstanding, he is sentenced to a full-time program that has Dr. Rydell moving in with him, going to work with him, and taking him on a road trip to Boston. Rydell forces Dave to confront a childhood bully and pick up a pretty girl. He even persuades Dave to break up with his loyal girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei). All of this is intended to get Dave to acknowledge his real feelings.

Parents should know that this movie is extremely raunchy for a PG-13, with constant jokes about penis size, plus jokes about lesbian porn stars who enjoy three-way sex, a drag queen prostitute, a mentally ill girl, masturbation, premature ejaculation, flatulence, and prison rape. It has comic violence. Characters drink and smoke.

Families who see this movie should talk about some of Dr. Rydell’s comments, especially when he says that there are two kinds of anger, explosive and implosive and that sarcasm is anger’s ugly cousin. How do the people in your family handle their anger? It might also be interesting to talk about Sandler’s attraction or compulsion to explore these themes. It’s hard to escape the sense that he is working through some of his own issues with this material. I hope so. It would be nice to see him move on — or grow up.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “Analyze This,” “What About Bob?” and “Honeymoon in Vegas.”