If you were worried Heath Ledger’s death would cast a pall over The Dark Knight, your concerns certainly weren’t unfounded. Ledger was a young actor of exceptional talent, and a loss like that is surely going to resonate. But lay your reservations down. Christopher Nolan’s sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins is a roaring powerhouse for nearly every minute of its two and a half hours, and by the midway point one thing is perfectly clear: The Dark Knight will be overshadowed by nothing.

I’ve reviewed a few Will Ferrell comedies in my time writing this column. Regardless of my personal opinion about the quality of each, the common theme I always come back to seems to be: Either you think the guy’s funny or you don’t. For the record, I like Will Ferrell.

“Okay,” she says, “they’re getting ready to kick everybody out.” “How do they like that?” I ask. She shrugs her shoulders. “We just tell ’em, ‘The movie starts at nine and the seats are reserved.’” There’s only room for about 35 back here on the patio at Sweet Basil’s, the cozy cottage that once housed Café D’Arte, and on Friday nights it fills up fast.

Shalini Chatterjee spent the summer of 1989 hand painting animation cells at New York University. Nineteen summers later the former film student cradles an oversized videocassette inside her West End office and muses on the march of moviemaking technology.

The answer: Occasional hilarity. Very occasional. Rainn Wilson stars as Robert “Fish” Fishman, who in 1986 was kicked out of Vesuvius, a Cleveland hair-metal powerhouse on the verge of world domination. He never recovered from the indignity.

The film not only explores the grueling hardships faced by Engle and his fellow runners, but also the day-to-day hardships of the many people in that region (and throughout the world) who lack clean drinking water.

Coogan is stunning in his commitment to the character of Dana Marschz (pronounced, he insists, “MAR-ss-shh-zuh”). This man is many things: struggling actor, idiotic playwright, terrible husband and appalling educator.

When I’m bored at the movies, which happens from time to time, I like to play “How many times have I seen this?” It’s an easy game, and you can play along. I’ll pitch a movie, and you tally up how many titles you’ve seen that have identical or markedly similar plots.

approach might have been the way to go, especially in a film nearly three hours long. This version of the film is even longer, by nearly 30 minutes — and it’s sometimes a long, self indulgent haul.