Annlee Ellingson

The Selfish Giant is devastating social realism in the mode of Ken Loach's "Kes."

Documentarian Amy Nicholson puts a human face on the deterioration of the iconic New York amusement park by focusing on the fate of her favorite ride.

"Breathing" takes its humorous, contemplative tonal cues from Neil himself.

Inconsistencies cause more confusion than the magic Rose is presumably going for.

Moving performances from Una Noche's charismatic non-pro cast, Mulloy's keen eye for visual detail and stunning cinematography by Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder of Cuba's turquoise water exploding against the sea wall offer a compelling portrait.

Johnny Severin and Nicholas David Brandt's otherwise clever and original script takes an unexpected turn at nearly every intersection, resulting in a funny and big-hearted coming-of-age romance.

The hint at disagreement among the performers about who can and cannot call themselves Muslim is particularly provocative — a debate that would have been better off played out on-screen rather than summarized after the fact.

At once short on details and incredibly forthcoming, Barbara Kopple's documentary doesn't dig into specifics about Mariel's personal struggles with mental illness nor the WillingWay lifestyle that she and her boyfriend Bobby Williams espouse.

An entertaining and insightful portrait of boyhood.

All of this is ridiculously silly, of course, with low-rent special effects to boot. But you may laugh despite yourself.

There's a lot of movie here with unexpected developments, held together by the irresistible chemistry between Derbez and his adorable pint-sized co-star.

Written with a poet's ear and directed with an artist's eye, Forgetting the Girl plumbs the psyche of an unassuming studio photographer.

Director David Frankel has crafted a sweet, funny, heartfelt film, and while we may know all along how it all turns out, Paul's signature performance still gives us chills.

Greenbaum shoots the game play especially well, employing dynamic camera work and kinetic editing to convey the drama of what non-fans might consider a static sport.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't show its subject's creative process as much as that of her collaborators.

Enemies Closer suffers from wincingly bad dialogue delivered as if by jocks in a high-school play and action choreographed as if for a gymnasium stage.

Haunter offers a freaky, visceral experience — without a hint of gore.

It's to Coiro's credit that no one emerges as a villain — and that, however painful, on the other side lies hope.

Writer-director Francesca Gregorini builds unbearable tension into scenes that otherwise risk tilting toward melodrama and brings the eye of a fashion photographer to the film's hallucinatory dream sequences.

[A] contemporary B-movie Western with designs on stylistic flair.

Freezer is a snappy action flick that makes good use of its close confines.

The juxtaposition of such country-music icons with the story's cringe-worthy treacle has one siding with Michael's bah-humbug attitude.

A Case of You is perfectly enjoyable as far as indie rom coms go — just not particularly original.

Zea gives a natural performance amid a neighborhood of painful stereotypes (including a nosy Asian shopkeeper), but she doesn't adjust her cadence, let alone accent, for the historical flashbacks, bringing a modern sensibility that limits the effectiveness of these scenes.

The Nut Job features decent CG animation, especially of animals, but the writing isn't particularly clever, relying on obvious puns and slapstick humor.

Writer-director M. Blash's sophomore film is ethereal and trippy, told less in scenes than in oblique snatches, not unlike the experience of emotional paralysis. This approach grows wearying.

Baggage Claim promotes painfully outdated social mores.

A focused, if at times melodramatic, take on the play's beating heart.