Bill Goodykoontz

It’s terrific. This was something of a surprise, as it seems almost impossible to tell this kind of story without a treacly narrative and clichéd notes of inspiration — against-all-odds kind of stuff, which so easily slips into melodrama.

It’s fascinating and funny while forcing us to consider the line between technology and art.

There is so much love and understanding of all the genres the film is skewering that What We Do in the Shadows transcends its lowbrow inspirations. It's a real treat.

Trachtenberg is patient building this world, and the actors do a good job inhabiting it. Winstead is a terrific actress, and she makes Michelle's desperation and inventiveness believable. Goodman is never better than when playing a nut, and while we aren't sure if that's what he's doing here, the possibility makes for an intriguing portrayal.

What's surprising here, and pleasantly so, is the restraint shown by Mortensen and Fassbender -- and by Cronenberg.

The film is quiet, patient, allowing for lived-in performances that get at the enormous change in the characters' lives.

Hello, My Name Is Doris is at times self-consciously quirky and precious and implausible — and Sally Field is so good in it that those complaints seem pointless.

The story is intriguing enough to make Mud a good movie. Led by Sheridan and McConaughey, the performances make it something more.

A thick film of sleaze coats every frame of Nightcrawler, a movie that takes a hard look at media culture and provides Jake Gyllenhaal a terrific opportunity to creep us all out.

It unfolds in ways both comic and affecting.

Catching Fire is a great leap forward for the franchise. Seeing as it’s all about hope and what it represents, here’s hoping the next two are just as good, if not better.

Frot's performance is so towering, so convincing, that it smooths out all the film's rough edges. It's a triumph.

Witherspoon is an outstanding actress whose material doesn't always fit her talents. "Wild" meanders a bit, in its trips from present to past and back, but Witherspoon remains the constant, doing what sounds simple enough but proves so difficult: soldiering on.

Things get gross and gory — it’s a Ti West film, after all — but more than anything else, West is having fun. Lurid fun, yes, but fun nonetheless. And if you’re a fan of horror and filmmaking, you will, too.

When you watch the movie, you’ll know more about these characters than they know about each other. But Moshe, who also wrote the script, brings the truth to light in dramatically satisfying ways.

Gondry’s illustrations are as fascinating as the chats. Sometimes they look like markers on a napkin. Other times they are reminiscent of something made on the old Lite-Brite toy. They’re always delightful.

Jacobs, while making a fairly funny movie, does not settle for easy answers or melodrama.

Sound City is a music geek's dream, a rollicking look at a dumpy California studio where a lot of musicians found magic. It's also a bit of a mess, like all good rock and roll ought to be.

There's no hard-and-fast rule that says you have to like the main character in a movie. It's more a custom, really - a custom that Ben Stiller stretches nearly to the breaking point in Greenberg.

There is so much to enjoy about Encanto — the songs, the gorgeous animation, the cultural traditions. All of which make the script’s serious shortcomings all the more surprising and disappointing.

"Norman” takes a largely unlikable character and inserts him into the center of its story, a gambit that seems like a surefire recipe for disaster. It’s not, thanks to Richard Gere.

Too bad. You sense that someone could have made a good movie with this material. Unfortunately, Leth didn't.

It's refreshing to see an animated movie that doesn't look as though the idea for the Happy Meal came first.

Frank is a true original, a film that heads in one direction only to veer off in another, yet never loses sight of where it's going.

Zwick can't seem to decide what the movie is - a refreshingly frank comedy about sex and commitment, or a more-serious look at illness and its effect on relationships.

For most of the film, Weitz, riding a fantastic performance by Demián Bichir as the landscaper in question, succeeds in showing the day-to-day struggles that exist beneath the political rhetoric and upper-case headlines.

It’s the kind of movie that, if you give yourself to it, you’ll love.

Capernaum is a tough slog, no doubt, even by tough-slog standards. But that’s a big part of what makes it so rewarding.