Claudia Puig

Pan's Labyrinth artfully fuses a war film with a family melodrama and a fairy tale. The result is visually stunning and emotionally shattering.

Depressing and gut-wrenching, but always powerful and gripping.

Director Hayao Miyazaki treats his audience as imaginative and intelligent human beings, rather than catering to kids with rote displays of silliness, stunts and scares.

The harrowing 12 Years a Slave is a mesmerizing period drama for the ages.

Like the best French cuisine, Ratatouille is ambitious and delightful.

Both darkly funny and life-affirming, in an offbeat and offhanded way.

The telling of this simple tale of survival required cutting-edge technology, but we don't notice the bells and whistles: They're on hand to immerse us in an unforgettable personal story.

The film owes much of its success to the inspired pairing of Fincher and Sorkin.

Both a psychological portrait and an exciting action film.

While this decade-long look at the inner workings of the CIA is intriguing, the movie would have benefited by more character development and additional editing.

Sophisticated and universal yet deeply intimate, A Separation is an exquisitely conceived family drama that has the coiled power of a top-notch thriller.

At once futuristic, funny and fantastical.

Bittersweet, intelligently written, deftly acted and painfully honest.

As good as each individual movie is, the third film vaults the work into the stratosphere of classic movies. Key characters are enhanced, new civilizations visited and battles fought more intensely, while feelings and motivations are plumbed more deeply and movingly.

As played by Oscar Isaac, he's snidely funny, world-weary and deeply sad. Though his story is enigmatic, the film itself is brilliantly acted, gorgeously shot and altogether captivating.

Though the lead performances are uniformly good, the film seems hazy in its focus from the start. Many of the scenes seem to simply meander.

A searingly intense and artful tale that grabs hold of the viewer from its jarring and wordless opening scenes and doesn't let go.

Whereas the book was lyrical and moving, the movie is surrealistic and inventive.

The Class is a deeply moving film about the challenges of educating children in a complex and often turbulent world.

The Coen brothers have fashioned a wry and riveting hybrid of a drama, Western, crime thriller and action film that is as powerful and thought-provoking as it is genre-bending.

Rings has moments of edge-of-the-seat excitement, too, such as when the dark riders come looking for Frodo. But it's occasionally tedious when it should be captivating.

Delayed a couple of years, shown to fans at conventions and retooled, Fanboys is an uneven and largely predictable adventure, but it has its moments.

This installment, the best of the three, is everything a movie should be: hilarious, touching, exciting and clever.

Though set in the future, Her is a timely, soulful and plausible love story.

Both a nostalgic throwback to the silent-picture era and an ultra-modern animated tale, the slyly humorous Triplets of Belleville is artful, engrossing and oddly touching.

Sarah Polley's memoir is a poignant, funny and engrossing film, challenging our notions of memory and family mythology.

This is a powerful, poignant and provocative film, told in an unconventional and effective fashion.

Ghost World draws super, natural performances.

The potency of the acting is also undercut by leaden pacing and a sense of claustrophobia.

When the original filmmaker upgrades and expands on an idea and uses new technology while retaining the essence of the original story, it can be just the ticket for jaded moviegoers. Such is the case with Mad Max: Fury Road, an operatic extravaganza of thrilling action and nearly non-stop mayhem.

Every so often a film gets under our skin with its haunting authenticity, reinforcing our faith in the wonderfully transporting power of cinematic storytelling. Winter's Bone is unquestionably that film.

The Queen is the kind of thought-provoking, well-written and savvy film that discerning filmgoers long for but rarely get.

The most gorgeous of all the Pixar films — which include "Toy Story" 1 and 2, "A Bug's Life" and "Monsters, Inc." —Nemo treats family audiences to a sweet, resonant story and breathtaking visuals.

One of the year's most clever and visually arresting computer-animated films, enlivened by a well-developed and credible cast of characters who just happen to be superheroes.

A compelling piece of naturalistic filmmaking, claustrophobic and thought-provoking.

Once is a film for anyone who has ever been transported by the power and passion of music.

An unflinching, powerfully visceral and haunting portrait of the tragic events aboard one of the terrorist-commandeered flights on the fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

With one of the best ensemble casts of any film this year, it's audacious, enthralling and uproarious.

Cinematic poetry in black and white. It also is a deeply affecting tale of the power of resilience and an unflagging sense of humor through the worst of situations

It is by turns comic, dark and surprisingly tender. If one must reduce it to simple description, call it a love story with a twist. Or a twisted love story.

The exhilarating, inventive and suspenseful story hinges on a pair of commanding performances.

A thoroughly compelling political thriller, at once intellectually challenging and profoundly emotional.

Can be taken on many levels, and that's why it works so completely.

Borat is most gloriously funny moving picture for to make people see their stupidness.

Drama, comedy, action and romance are intertwined in this gorgeously photographed and brilliantly directed film. Lead performances are thoroughly engaging despite - or perhaps because of - being wordless.

It takes a filmmaker possessed of a rare, almost alchemic, blend of maturity, wisdom and artistic finesse to create such an intimate, moving and spare war film as Clint Eastwood has done in Letters From Iwo Jima.

The villains are so extreme that they come off like sleazy caricatures. This accentuates the nuanced skill of the two lead performances, but it undercuts the overall effect of this well-constructed, if occasionally flat, pulp thriller.

Features the season's most tragic heroine along with some of the liveliest dead people ever seen on film.

A wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film.

It's a sweet and mildly funny movie that will entertain young audiences, but one aspect is utterly mystifying: The two main characters, father and son bovine creatures, have large, distracting udders.

In Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman's brilliant transformation into the mannered writer takes your breath away.

It's a mature, intricately layered visual delight.

The year's most riveting documentary.

Does the finest job of any film in painting a believable portrait of aging, capturing the sadness, confusion, anxiety and defiance of the early stages of dementia.

Let's say it without equivocation: Colin Firth deserves an Oscar for his lead role in The King's Speech as the stammering King George VI.

Easily the summer's, and probably the year's, most enchanting movie, Up is a buoyant delight.

While it's billed as a "re-imagining" of the horror franchise, this Friday is more like a rehash, delivering just what you expect and nothing more.

Epic battles, spectacular effects and multiple story lines make The Two Towers a most excellent middle chapter in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

One of the year's most audacious, savagely funny and unpredictable films, it features an outstanding performance by Michael Keaton as the has-been star of a superhero franchise desperate to be taken seriously.

The film has its funny moments, but they are too few to make the holiday excursion worthwhile.

A haunting and fascinating portrait of so much that is worth exploring: the implacability of nature, the hubris of human endeavor and the line between supreme dedication and madness.

This adorable exercise in whimsy should give "Corpse Bride" a good fight for best-animated-film Oscar.

Through this very specific look at a critical time in Lincoln's presidency, Kushner, Spielberg and Day-Lewis work together to present an honest look at America's most revered statesman. Kushner finds an artful way to weave in the texts of the Gettysburg Address and the 13th Amendment, as well as a creative way to present Lincoln's assassination.

In this spare, unusual and intimate action thriller, Redford's expressions do nearly all of the communicating. He is the sole human cast member and utters only one word during the entire movie, which covers a span of eight days. The ocean — super-charged and becalmed — gets equal billing. If this sounds bizarre, or like an exercise in tedium, it is neither.

Gracefully acted, and the story packs a powerful punch straight to the gut.

Murderball brilliantly captures the intensity of the little-known athletic competition, offering more intimacy and drama than most Hollywood sports movies.

Caché is unsettling and tense, even shocking. And its story of enduring tensions between an Algerian immigrant and a well-off French family is particularly timely.

The supporting cast is strong, as is the deft, sharply witty script. Miller directs elegantly, letting the narrative unfold at a deliberate, artful pace.

Though better than most of Perry's broad comedies, The Family That Preys still suffers from excessive predictability and mawkish sentiment, which detracts from the story's believability.

The Tillman Story is a probing examination of truth, decency and the American way. It also explores deception and military propaganda and lays bare the ravages of grief.

Bruce Dern gives the performance of his career as the headstrong Woody in the brilliant, wisely observed and wryly funny Nebraska. What stands out is the fullness of the character, with mannerisms and expressions that make him wholly dimensional.

This gem features five topnotch, multidimensional performances in one of this summer's most engaging films.

One bad idea can unravel and ruin lives in unimaginably horrific ways.That's the concept underlying the riveting Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a sharply acted and highly entertaining morality play.

Deliver Us From Evil is so horrifying it makes "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" look like a walk in the park.

Amid the style, sass and sexiness is plenty of sentimentality, especially at the satisfying conclusion.

A superbly crafted and darkly funny real-life political thriller, with pitch-perfect performances.

Each character is decent and likable, as well as complex. The four main portrayals are outstanding -- so natural and believable that you are drawn into their story immediately.

It is at once warmly humanistic and boldly innovative, raising philosophical questions but not answering them.

Anderson has taken pains to re-create the '50s with superb production design and gorgeous cinematography. But he seems less concerned with whether the audience is along for the ride. The story can leave viewers at sea, floundering to give meaning to what they are watching.

Miyazaki creates fascinating, fluid and whimsical scenarios.

An enthralling tale of friendship that transcends biases, Ernest & Celestine offers a lovely lesson on acceptance and inclusion.

It's unlikely there will be a film as visually stunning or poetic this year - or perhaps any year - to rival Beasts of the Southern Wild.

The best action thriller of the year.

The ideal culmination of a fantasy series that has artfully blended excitement, adventure and terror with humor, kinship and love.

While the film is heart-wrenchingly sad, it also is mordantly funny, uncomfortably prickly and above all, unflinching in its depiction of a believable sibling relationship.

Through stellar performances, clever writing and exquisite cinematography, the story is fresh and thoroughly captivating.

What makes the movie so winning are its endearing and relatable characters who spout believable dialogue and amusing banter, steeped in clever pop-culture references and sharp observations of human nature.

The film's score and editing brilliantly heighten the film's energy, keeping the audience somewhat off-kilter and unsure where things are headed.

The film employs a largely British cast that is perhaps the most impressive ensemble of any movie this year.

A compelling drama that establishes Ryan Gosling as one of the finest actors of his generation.

The mesmerizing, heart-tugging concert film Heart of Gold confirms Neil Young's stature as a national treasure.

When was the last time you saw a blockbuster that was impeccably executed and simultaneously thought-provoking, audacious and unnerving while consistently being fun and entertaining?

If The Pursuit of Happyness didn't star Will Smith and his adorable son Jaden, it might be just another tearjerker rags-to-riches story. But their chemistry raises the level of the film, making it heartfelt and compelling.

Farhadi's latest film is almost hypnotically compelling, spinning an intricate web of predicaments, emotional reactions and resolutions in a domestic drama that leaves the viewer reeling by its conclusion.

The movie version feels like a stately, but watered down, episode of "Masterpiece Theatre" fused with "The English Patient."

A shape-shifting film, it resembles a poem. At other moments, it is closer to a symphony. Most often, it approximates a fervent prayer.

This Korean-made film takes the well-worn creature-feature genre and spins it on its head thrillingly.

Michael B. Jordan is superbly multi-dimensional as Grant.