Ben Stein's documentary, which connects Darwinism and Hitler and claims that scientists who believe in "intelligent design" have been blacklisted, is provoking plenty of sound and fury in protesters.

The last time a movie portrayed Jesus and Mary Magdalene as a sexually active married couple, it provoked a near-universal outcry from conservative Christians.

Christmas movies have always tested the line between spirituality and schmaltz, between pious sentiments and crowd-pleasing entertainment. Who can forget how Jim Carrey camped it up in Ron Howard's chintzy adaptation of Dr. Suess's moralistic How the Grinch Stole Christmas? This year's batch includes the usual family movies (Cheaper by the Dozen 2), musicals (Rent), and noirish crime stories set oh-so-ironically during this time of good cheer (The Ice Harvest).

From the Lethal Weapon franchise to ostensibly serious historical epics like Braveheart and The Patriot, Mel Gibson has made one bloody-minded revenge movie after another, so it was perhaps only a matter of time before the actor-director tackled the theme of forgiveness. But as moviegoers found out when the much-debated The Passion of the Christ opened on February 25, he can't quite let go of the gore.