Elizabeth Weitzman

Wrenching performances and painstaking visual and thematic compositions.

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.

Heartbreaking and hilarious.

In Gertten’s hands, Nelly & Nadine isn’t just a war movie but also a touching family history, an unforgettable romance and, above all, a magnificent tribute to the power of persistence in art, life and love.

This is a movie about the transcendent bond between partners who can communicate without speaking a word, so it’s only fitting that the gorgeous cinematography perfectly captures the movie’s emotional depths.

Thematically tough and emotionally rough, Starred Up is the kind of movie you might enter into with some reluctance. But because everyone involved does such an outstanding job, it's also the kind of movie you won't want to see end.

Crucially, Cruise knows just how to pace Cage’s shift from cowardly to courageous. Yes, we get cool effects and impressive machinery. But he and Liman add unexpected humor and genuine tension to the seasonal thrill of blowing stuff up.

The spirit of the series remains true: cheerfully random jokes, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them references and, above all, a silly, stubbornly sentimental streak that only the crabbiest cynic could dismiss.

It’s so much fun you may want to put a few bucks aside for a sequel.

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.

One of the sharpest satires in years.

It's a stunner.

Corporate inhumanity Berlinger ferociously exposes.

Michael Cuesta's perfectly-pitched indie captures the pain of arrested development with so much empathy and insight, you can't help but root for the unmoored, overgrown adolescent at its center.

The latest collaboration between Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean") and Johnny Depp is sharp-edged, surreal, and often astonishing in its giddy creativity. What it is not, however, is a family film.

If this lovely tribute sends viewers in search of the real thing, that would be a neat trick indeed.

It's always a pleasure to find a family film that respects its audience all the way up the line.

The most faithful cinematic depiction of adolescence in recent memory.

Both Rourke and Tomei bring a tender, lived-in honesty to their sad roles.

What makes "Lucy and Desi" so compelling is that we can feel, all the way through, that Poehler enjoys telling their story just as much as we enjoy watching it.

Anyone awed by 1996's "When We Were Kings" - and really, that should be anyone who's seen it - will consider this vivid companion piece essential viewing.

Barker’s fly-on-the-wall approach eschews showy grandstanding and divisive biases. So there’s a better-than-usual chance that viewers on both sides of the aisle will find themselves moved.

This is - allegedly - the final chapter in the series, and everyone involved appears invigorated.

The easily offended will be appalled. The rarely offended may be appalled. But they'll have to stop laughing long enough to realize it.

Layering his film with the songs that made his subject an icon, Tillman is aware that Biggie connected with his audience because he told stories others instantly understood. Notorious does that, too.

Rodriguez's story is almost inconceivable in an obsessively magnified, heavily hyped Internet era. Which makes it all the more important to be shared. Listen, be moved, and pass it on.

The setting and themes are pure Loach, and he’s handled comic scenarios with skill before. But he and his longtime screenwriter, Paul Laverty, have added a lighthearted buoyancy — enhanced by a spirited if obvious soundtrack — that might lead some to call this a feel-good crowd-pleaser.

There are plenty of unexpected moments within this stirring film, but it's no surprise at all that it's been tapped to compete for a Best Documentary Oscar next Sunday.