by Roger Ebert Alex was born with both male and female sex organs. Although "reassignment" surgery was considered after birth, she has lived as a woman until the age of 15, when "XXY" takes up the story. She uses hormones to subdue her male characteristics, but now she has become unsure how she really feels. Alex is neither a man in a woman's body, nor a woman in a man's body, but both, in the body of a high-spirited tomboy who broods privately in uncertainty and confusion.

by Roger Ebert I first got to know the Czech director Jiri Menzel through his whimsical 1966 Oscar-winner "Closely Watched Trains." Looking up my old review, I found a sentence that also could apply to his latest film: "If you're charged up emotionally, you'd better lie down for an hour or two before going to see it. It requires an audience at peace with itself."

by Roger Ebert The opening scenes of "L.A. Confidential" are devoted to establishing the three central characters, all cops. We may be excused for expecting that they will be antagonists; indeed, they think so themselves. But the film has other plans, and much of its fascination comes from the way it puts the three cops on the same side and never really declares anyone the antagonist until near the end. Potential villains are all over the screen, but they remain potential right up to the closing scenes. What the three cops are fighting, most of the time, is a pervasive corruption that saturates the worlds in which they move.

Q. Now that you have seen just how awful a "Death Race" movie can be, is there any chance that you might go back and retroactively give the original a higher rating than your zero stars condemnation? I know that the star ratings are essentially meaningless but as is, it suggests that the new one is better than the original and, good Lord, not even (name deleted) would say something that insane. Peter Sobczynski, eFilm critic.com, Chicago A. I wrote back to you, explaining that the lowest rating a movie can receive for being bad is one-half star. To receive no stars, it must be, in my opinion, somehow immoral. In "Death Race 2000" (1975), cross-country racers received 100 points for every wheelchair they mowed down, 70 points for the aged, 50 points for kids, etc. I considered that immoral. But you, Peter, with your mastery of debate that I have come to admire over the years, responded: "I agree on your point. However, I would argue that the obviously satirical nature of the material and the subtext commentary about the increasingly debased and violent nature of popular entertainment elevates 'Death Race' from being completely immoral. By not having any of that subtext, I would argue that the new one is far more immoral than the original in addition to all of its other artistic sins. Additionally, while the notion of extra points for running over people in wheelchairs is a nasty one indeed, the punch line of the scene is that Frankenstein avoids hitting the old people when he comes across them and instead mows down the people who deliberately wheeled them out in the street to die." Quite true. Now I can only fall back on my long-standing decision not to revise past reviews, because I think they should remain as I wrote them, and because with more than 8,000 reviews on the Web site that would commence a never-ending task.

An open letter to sports columnist Jay Mariotti, who resigned from the Sun-Times and lashed out during a TV interview announcing that newspapers were dead: Dear Jay, What an ugly way to leave the Sun-Times. It does not speak well for you. Your timing was exquisite. You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to Beijing at great cost, and then resigned with only an email. You saved your explanation for a local television station.

"Sixy Six" (PG-13, 94 minutes). July 30, 1966 is the day England won the World Cup. It is also the day selected by the luckless Bernie Reubens (Gregg Sulkin) for his bar mitzvah. Good-hearted coming-of-age movie about life's disappointments and rays of sunshine, with Helena Bonham Carter wonderful as Bernie's mother, and Eddie Marston spot-on as his underdog father. Rating: Three stars.

"The Axe in the Attic" (Unrated, 110 minutes). A devastating documentary that visits the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and witnesses the destruction still unhealed, the lack of an effective government response, and a pattern of apparent racism. Filmed by two Vermonters, Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, who made a 60-day rod trip through the region. Rating: Three stars.

"The Grocer's Son" (Unrated, 96 minutes). Antoine (Nicolas Cazale) left his village 10 years ago, but returns home reluctantly to help his mother run the only grocery store. He's angry and self-centered, but driving a grocery van through the painterly landscapes of Provence, and meeting the elderly customers, has an effect on him. So does the merry young woman from Paris (Clotilde Hesme) who he seems to be fleeing from. Humor, warmth, kindness, insight and scenery. That's enough. Rating: Three stars

"Traitor" (PG-13, 113 minutes). Don Cheadle plays a Sudanese who as a boy sees his father killed by a car bomb. As an adult, he exists as a double agent between the United States and terrorists jihadists. So deep are his conflicts, and so fine is the acting, that there are fundamental doubts about which side he is traitorous to, and which side has his loyalty. With Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, Jeff Daniels. Rating: Three stars.

"Elegy" (R, 108 minutes).Ben Kingsley as a crafty literature professor who singles out one female student every semester for his attentions. Penelope Cruz plays the prey who gets to him--gets under his skin, and inflames his jealousy. Then the story takes a dramatic turn. With Patricia Clarkson, Dennis Hopper, Peter Sarsgaard. Rating: Three stars

By Roger Ebert She was Germany's uber-groupie, a provincial Bavarian girl who lucked her way onto a magazine cover, became a famous model, slept with Jimi Hendrix and Mick Jagger, and had something a little more than that with Keith Richards. Along the way, she was also involved with a radical commune, was on the cover of Playboy, traveled the world with a playboy in the bus he constructed for her and gave a face to the word Eurotrash.

"Hamlet 2" (R, 92 minutes). British comedian Steve Coogan stars as the harassed flywheel of a drama teacher in a Tuscon high school. Threatened with a shutdown of his program, he desperately stages a sequel to "Hamlet," using a time machine to bring back all the characters, as well as Jesus and Einstein. Manic and funny, with a perfect cameo by Elisabeth Shue, as herself--sort of. Rating: Three stars.

By Roger Ebert If I've seen one movie about a team of underdogs, I've seen a dozen. But I hadn't seen "The Longshots" before. It's based on the true story of 11-year-old Jasmine Plummer, from the south Chicago suburb of Harvey, who in 2003 became the first female to play quarterback in the Pop Warner football tournament.

By Roger Ebert Here is one of the strangest and most original war movies I've seen. Whether it is successful is the question. "La France" centers on the story of Camille (Sylvie Testud), wife of a French soldier during World War I. She lives within a long walk of the Western Front, and after receiving an alarming letter from her husband, boldly sets out to find him.

"In Search of a Midnight Kiss" (R, 97 minutes). Two lonely people seeking a New Years' Eve date meet through Craigslist. She interviews him at a cafe to be sure he's not a loser. In a way, they both are, but on a long day's journey through the night they reveal themselves, and we care about them. Powerful, sensitive acting by Scoot McNairy and Sara Simmonds. Glorious b&w cinematography. Written, directed by Alex Holdridge. Rating: Three and a half stars.

"I.O.U.S.A" (Unrated, 58 minutes). A chilling and understandable documentary warning that the U.S. is broke and headed for disaster. It's bi-partisan, features experts from both parties, points out that next year the national debt will reach nine trillion dollars. It sees a 21st century with the Chinese ascendant and the U.S. economy collapsing. If you, like me, are fuzzy about topics like the debt, the trade balance and the Fed interest rate, the movie explains them with frightening clarity. Bottom line: We have to pay higher taxes and spend less. We have to. Pass it on. Rating: Three and a half stars.

By Roger Ebert In 1968, at the height of the war in Vietnam, social upheaval seemed in the air. There was campus unrest, worldwide street demonstrations, the turmoil at the Democratic convention in Chicago. The year inspired a group of important documentaries and feature films, and starting, today, Facets Cinematheque will showcase them in a program titled "40 Years After: Filming the '68 Revolution."

By Roger Ebert In "Mephisto," a movie that takes place in Germany during the rise of Nazism, there are many insults, but the most wounding is simply the word "actor"! It is screamed at the film's hero by his sponsor, a Nazi general who is in charge of cultural affairs. We stare into the actor's face, but are unable to determine what he is thinking, or what he is feeling. Maybe that is what makes him a great actor and an ignoble human being.

"Death Race" (R, /// minutes). Hitchcock said a movie should play the audience like a piano. "Death Race" played me like a drum. It is an assault on all the senses, including common. Walking out, I had the impression I had just seen the video game, and was still waiting for the movie. Mostly involves ceaseless battles between armored cars which use machine guns, rocket launchers, etc., and explode with alarming regularity. With Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson and Ian McShane. Rating: One-half star.

By Roger Ebert Manny Farber has died. The great iconoclast of American film criticism was 91. He coined the term "underground film," contrasted "termite art" with "white elephant art" in a way that started you thinking about movies in such terms, and once described the auteur theory thusly (I quote from memory): "A bunch of guys standing around trying to catch some director pushing art up into the crevices of dreck."