Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): ***½

HBO's Ricky Gervais Show is basically an animated version of British comedian-actor-writer Gervais' hugely popular podcast--previously a radio show--and while calling it the funniest cartoon series ever based on a radio show/podcast may sound like damning with very faint praise, what's important is that it is indeed funny. Sometimes screamingly so.

(Sometimes screechingly so, if you count their running "Monkey News" segment.)

The premise of the show is simple: Gervais sits in a radio studio with his frequent cohort, Stephen Merchant (a frequent creative partner in crime, including co-writer and co-director of the UK Office and the series Extras, in which Merchant also appeared). They are joined by their producer Karl Pilkington, who Gervais dubs the "round-headed buffoon," and they chat and muse on various odd news, thoughts, history and so on.

An action-packed adventure, director Shane Acker’s animated fantasy epic 9 is the feature-length expansion of his Academy Award-nominated 2004 short film of the same name. The screenplay is by Pamela Pettler (Monster House); and directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch) are among the feature version’s producers. 9 is set in the too-near future, after an apocalypse. The stellar voice cast includes Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Martin Landau. It opens Wednesday, 9-9-09 (of course). And now, thanks to GreenCine and Focus Features, you can win our new 9 contest.

 Five (5) winners will receive the 9 prize bundle, including the official movie soundtrack CD, book, mini-poster and trading cards (featuring all characters). Click link below for details on entering.

By David D'Arcy

"Persepolis is a simple story told by simple means," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "Like Marjane Satrapi's book, on which it is based, the film, directed by Ms Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, consists essentially of a series of monochrome drawings, their bold black lines washed with nuances of gray. The pictures are arranged into the chronicle of a young girl's coming of age in difficult times, a tale that unfolds with such grace, intelligence and charm that you almost take the wondrous aspects of its execution for granted."

David D'Arcy talks with Satrapi and Paronnaud about the importance of humor, perils of miserabilisme, the current state of comics and animation, and the ways Iran is now perceived - and misunderstood.