Calvin Wilson

The Oscar-nominated No has the gritty feel of a foreign film from the 1970s. As such, it may take a few minutes for most moviegoers to adjust to its rhythms. Ironically for a film about advertising, there’s nothing slick about it — and therein lies much of its greatness.

The Big Short is the film that “The Wolf of Wall Street” wanted to be.

In our increasingly polarized time, A Fantastic Woman bridges the gap between ignorance and understanding through the transcendent power of art.

The story unfolds not as contrived drama, but with all the surprise and inevitability of real life.

Good Time is not so much a crime drama as it is a meditation on the genre’s virtues and limitations.

Bursting with style and imagination, The Incredibles 2 sets a standard that few superhero flicks — animated or live-action — can match.

Keeping Up With the Joneses is hardly worth the effort.

In an Arnold film, plot is pretty much beside the point. Instead, she focuses on the subtleties of character — and her insights can be both enlightening and terrifying.

Perhaps the greatest triumph of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that it justifies the enormous hype. Working from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan, director J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”) brings fresh energy to the franchise while adhering to the storytelling values that made it matter in the first place.

Lean on Pete is not the sentimental boy-and-his-horse flick that audiences might expect, and it’s certainly not for children. It’s a contemplative art film of subtle beauty.

This isn't just another crime story, and it would be misleading to suggest that it has anything to do with stylish gunplay, exhilarating car chases or brutal fistfights.

Brilliant performances aside, Clouds of Sils Maria is overlong and much too self-indulgently an “art film.” It might have benefited from being just a bit more grounded.

The Big Picture ends perhaps a bit too ambiguously, but there's something refreshing about its faith in the moviegoer's intelligence.

Portman is eminently watchable as Lena, who slowly realizes that she’s in way over her head. And “Ex Machina” star Isaac virtually redefines creepiness.

Like Elizabeth Olsen in "Martha Marcy May Marlene," Oduye brilliantly slips inside the skin of a sensitive young woman who's having trouble finding her place in the world.

A far more interesting film than its title implies. And a film you’ve never seen before.

Far from being preachy, Loving is a beautiful film about daring to love, without fear or compromise.

This may not be Scorsese’s best film, but it’s unquestionably his most impassioned.

Director David O. Russell ("Three Kings") delivers a film of staggering impact.

An enthralling lament for an era in which beauty is in danger of becoming extinct.

Oyelowo takes full advantage of his close physical resemblance to King, but he wisely avoids mere impersonation, delivering a performance that’s as sensitive as it is spellbinding.

As enchanting as it is ambitious.

Fences is perhaps best appreciated as a showcase for the brilliant acting of Washington and Davis.

The performances are first-rate, with Lindhardt particularly moving as a guy who's in deep denial about just how much he can expect from a relationship with an addict.

Black Swan is ridiculously over the top, but in a way that makes it fascinating to watch.

Sophisticated comedies have gone out of fashion, largely because Hollywood finds it easier and more profitable to simply gross out moviegoers. But Please Give has real class -- and for that it deserves our gratitude.

If you long for a film in the tradition of such grown-up entertainments as “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The English Patient,” this is one to get lost in.

Superbly acted, and a return to form for Tavernier, who guided jazz legend Dexter Gordon to an Oscar nomination for "'Round Midnight" (1986).