Elizabeth Weitzman

A smashing success on its own terms, though as a transcendent love story it lacks the firm foundation in human reality that characterizes Lars Von Trier's superior "Breaking the Waves."

This is as essential a historical document as you could ever hope to find. It should be considered required viewing for every American who has the slightest interest in our nation’s history, politics, or culture. And, come to think of it, also for those who don’t.

Assayas - whose previous work, though noteworthy, never hinted at this kind of ambition - gives the film a journalistic quality, while admitting that only a recombination of facts and fiction could do the story justice. It certainly results in explosive viewing.

An evocative vision of self-destruction, a gorgeously crafted time capsule, and a fantastic showcase for Oscar Isaac in the title role.

Take us on an indelible tour through the highest and lowest points of the human experience.

There is never a shortage of options if you're looking for an intimate foreign drama about family bonds. But the eloquent insights of director Claire Denis stand alone.

Few films have been more unsparingly intimate.

It’s Prince, though, who lifts the movie into another realm. It’s no exaggeration to say that hers is one of the most noteworthy child performances in recent — or, for that matter, distant — memory. She is so charismatic, and so unfailingly natural, that every one of her scenes feels organic.

Pulse works as a hypnotic meditation on contemporary alienation. Traditional horror fans, however, will search in vain for signs of life.

Bar-Lev has created a film remarkable in its ability to capture both the worst and best of human nature.

Friedlander offers a nicely subtle performance, but the other actors - including Alan Cumming, Deborah Harry and Amy Sedaris - appear to have turned up as a favor to the director. Don't feel obliged to follow their lead.

Will you relate more to the bitter, or embrace the sweet? The choice itself is Jonze’s ultimate gift to us: an invitation to leave his film ready to communicate, debate and, most crucially of all, connect.

Short, sharp and to the point, Vacancy has a single goal, and that is to scare the hell out of you.

This animated documentary, from former Israeli soldier Ari Folman, blends both tactics to devastating effect. Perhaps only animation could give us the distance that makes his subject bearable: the personal cost of his own participation in the 1982 Lebanon War.

This was, undeniably, a risky proposition; no one wants to airbrush history. But by thoughtfully employing cutting-edge technology, Jackson has instead created an essential portal connecting audiences of the present to his subjects in the past.

Steven Spielberg's best war film -- and one of the two or three best movies the director has made.

Reichardt and her outstanding team ensure that we are fully invested in her striving heroes, and equally anxious for their promising young country, as well.

With costumes taking precedence over character, the movie ultimately seems more concerned with atmosphere than action.

Overlong and dramatically thin.

It's irrefutably art, and undeniably vital.

If we're allowed just a couple of truly singular discoveries in twelve months, it's a good year; when one of them is a film as exhilarating as Spike Jonze's feature debut, it's a banner year.

Rahim and Arestrup are both so outstanding that if this were an English-language film, they'd probably be nominated for Oscars, too.

Once isn't especially complex, but the chemistry between its appealing leads (who contribute to the lovely score) feels deeply true. You'd have to look awfully hard to find such sincerity in a Hollywood romance.

Director Daniel Burman examines the ways people cope with the passing of time, whether it's weary mall employees, a broken family or the diminishing Argentinean-Jewish community.

Teller delivers a career-making performance as Andrew Neyman, a 19-year-old jazz drummer who wants to be great. Like Buddy Rich great.

Crudup tends to take average parts in standard genre films and turn them into something special.

An usually insightful rendering of an ordinary family, Hirokazu Kore-eda's contemplative Japanese drama is the sort of movie that makes its greatest impact long after you've seen it.

If you take The Alto Knights on its own terms – as an eccentric but engaging curio – there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

In this film, a single word is worth more than all the expensive effects imaginable.

Those who've read and loved the book should be satisfied, but it's reasonable to hope for more from the final entry.

With this moving, contemplative portrait of an artist who has suddenly become an old man, de Oliveira refuses to patronize either his hero or his audience.

The script unfurls too many obvious setups, but director Eric Valette is smart enough to rely on his most authentic effect — Dupontel’s natural intensity.

The truth is that even at 71 minutes much of this film feels padded, as though Stigter couldn’t let go of the subject but also wasn’t sure how to expand it further. Because Kurtz’s concept is so moving, however, the film retains much of the power he brought to his book.

The humor is sharp and so are the judgments, which pile on until the characters are nearly suffocated under the weight of so much disdain.

A bizarrely off-key animated comedy.

If Boyd’s perspective is limited, his focus is sharp.

So is he a martyred patriot or a misguided traitor? And is it possible he’s both? Poitras comes down firmly on one side, and she makes a strong case. But the movie would have been stronger still if she’d acknowledged the alternative view.

Even those who've long noted Polley's intelligence on screen will be amazed by the perception she displays as a filmmaker.

Samuel Maoz’s Israeli drama Foxtrot is willfully confusing, emotionally chaotic, and occasionally anarchic. It makes complete sense from one angle, but no sense at all from another. In other words, it reflects its subject perfectly.

Granik took a big risk here, making a purposefully small film that rejects familiar notions of dramatic conflict. But her approach works well enough that the most jarring note becomes Foster’s movie-star presence.

Immensely moving and strikingly original, Kelly's story of a brilliant, disturbed teen (Jake Gyllenhaal) drowning in the cultural morass of the 1980s now feels bloated.

This mordant, macabre look at the American obsession with fast food, television and murder is icily funny.

While their latest achievement can't quite one-up "WALL-E," it offers soaring highs that are bound to enchant viewers of any age.

It's part grim Beckett-like drama, part joyous picaresque, and all quite mesmerizing.

Terrifically sneaky psychological thriller, which takes great pleasure in watching carefully constructed family values come tumbling down.

If any life story should make for a compelling biography, it's certainly Hugh Hefner's. Unfortunately, this love letter is so lacking in any edge, the end result is not just unsexy but unforgivably staid.

It’s undeniably thrilling to watch Gonzalez Iñárritu and Keaton aiming so high. Whenever they’re brave enough to leap into the unknown, Birdman soars.

A technical and visual tour-de-force.

Exhibiting the same sort of patience as his sensible hero, Philibert has created an extraordinarily humane portrait of a partnership between one adult and his very fortunate charges.

We have little to hang onto once the film falls apart. Between the ongoing sermonizing and that final, sharp shock - which is gravely mishandled - we feel cowed into submission, rather than led towards enlightenment.

Though some see Treadwell as an idealistic martyr who made the ultimate sacrifice for his passion, others vilify him as an arrogant fool who courted his own end.

A charming coming-of-age drama.

Redford will surely earn a well-deserved Oscar nomination for this role, to which he commits with unerring dedication. But the real star is writer/director Chandor, whose painstaking approach is exquisite in its spare integrity.

It's miles away from big-budget, pop-culture entertainment, but you may be surprised by its impact.

One of the freshest, richest, most original films to come out of Hollywood in a very long time.

Writer-director Claudia Myers' clunky debut feature makes the case that first-timers should probably focus on either writing or directing.

Every scene has its highlights, from amusing observations about sex to poignant truths about parenting and partnerships. But what you'll remember most is the exquisitely lovely final scene, in which Cholodenko reminds us that all we need is a single moment of perfection -in a family, or even in a film - to believe that somehow, things will always be all right.

Clear-eyed and open-hearted, The Straight Story (which is based on reality) tells a simple tale, and it does so with a rare, blessed simplicity.

David France's survey of AIDS advocacy should be invaluable to every frustrated movement, as both a road map and a reminder of how vital personal activism remains.

The movie's beating heart is the friendship between the women, who had found some sort of happiness by the show's 2004 finale. Now they're all at a personal crossroads and need one another more than ever.

Sorrentino’s dazzling tribute to Roman indulgence is a bittersweet, slightly surreal epic.

To call it a difficult watch would be an understatement; it often feels, in its stark honesty, like a horror film.

Assayas and his cast hit so many perfect notes, you'll swear you've seen these characters and heard these conversations before - not in Chekhov's thematically similar "Cherry Orchard," which was an obvious influence, but in your own life.

It's not unusual for a Henry Jaglom film to fall into a black hole of narcissism, but he has outdone himself with his latest, a satire on Hollywood's unshakable self-absorption.

Consistently compelling and required viewing for anyone remotely interested in pop culture.

Hou intends to celebrate the classic 1956 children's film "The Red Balloon," and he has done a beautiful job. In fact, he may well have created a future classic of his own.

An exhausting combination of generic thriller, political tract and sentimental weepie.

Bursting with so much amped-up energy, you may need to rest once it's finally done.

It's wonderful. Epic and heartbreaking and just as grand as it needs to be.

Nichols approaches his subject with thoughtful empathy, and while his themes are enormous - he's addressing no less than the state of our nation - he wisely underplays even the most important moments.

First-time filmmaker Edet Belzberg may be the first person to assign any value to the lives of the homeless Romanian youngsters featured in her harrowing documentary.

It's a rare thrill -- in this cinematically hollow year.

Along the way, the movie documents a movement while deftly skewering a cynical media and ever-gullible public. So whether we're being had or just enlightened, Banksy's definitely found a new medium in which to create his own works of art.

Arnaud Desplechin's sprawling drama exudes a go-for-broke determination that is frustrating and exhilarating.

Director Jafar Panahi has long been an eloquent and passionate representative for Iranian women. But judging by this deeply poignant comedy, they may not need a mouthpiece much longer.

A raucous, riveting account of the greatest party you were never invited to.

Where Kim's best-known movie, "The Isle," was a stomach-churner, this beautifully composed canvas is the sort of film one falls into, resurfacing at the end with great reluctance.

Even those who adored Alec Guinness as the small-screen George Smiley will appreciate Gary Oldman's perfectly attuned turn as a Cold War spy drawn back from forced retirement.

We can, thanks to movies like this one, continue to bear witness. But we will never truly know the reality he tries so hard to unearth, and that remains our burden to hold.

Dropping in amusing anecdotes and tender memories, a deeply reflective Young revisits - and often reinterprets - both his recent and classic work.

The title might as well refer to the viewer who tags along on Louis' often-silent journey from solitude to some tentative form of family. Some will consider the experience insurmountably frustrating; others will find it exhilarating.

The Past is not as nuanced as its predecessor — and not as impactful, either. But this is still far more complex than most family dramas.

Bong's primary point is dead-on: Battling bureaucracy, from dishonest government leaders to indifferent civil servants, is the biggest horror of all.

The beginning is awkwardly earnest, but the play matures considerably while retaining its youthful energy and enthusiasm

It's not sharp or ironic, but drab and downbeat. Unfortunately, it's also going to feel utterly familiar to those who've seen their share of independent dramas in the last 15 years.

In this visually and emotionally severe landscape, Reichardt has created the sort of film that will inspire grad students to write passionate thesis papers - and casual moviegoers to feel as lost as her would-be settlers.

The performances are impeccable, but while director Joachim Lafosse carefully creates an atmosphere of suffocating dread, he could have let a little more air into this simmering hothouse.

The plot makes absolutely no sense.

A film that is both deceptively modest and deeply resonant.

This sensitive drama will appeal to anyone who has strained against the confines of family - or basked happily in its comforts.

It's a stunner.

Though overly self-conscious, this "Tale" is nonetheless wry, observant and frequently heartbreaking. It's also bound to make you feel better about your own holiday plans.

The story's fractured structure - and Christopher Doyle's dreamlike cinematography - make for a striking mood piece.

And oh, what stories these heroes have to tell - and what incredible sights they brought back with them.

While it's visually stunning, the pretentiousness makes it hard to take seriously.

Though not as impactful as Anderson's strongest works - including its adolescent cousin, "Rushmore" - "Kingdom" unfolds with an asymmetrical lyricism of its own.

Some of the artists appear ecstatically transported as they play. Others are just having one hell of a good time. Believe me, it's contagious.

You’ll get several movies for the price of a single ticket in Ryan Coogler’s (Creed) period drama-thriller-romance-musical Sinners. And while some of these disparate elements are more successful than others, the combination is audacious enough to leave you simultaneously awed and overwhelmed by his outsized ambitions.