Joe Neumaier

Can’t-look-away stuff, though it’s tough to believe your eyes and ears.

A fascinating and informative, if sometimes stodgy, documentary about the most secret wing of Israel's anti-espionage unit.

Amid all the hokey hill stuff, Lawrence's hard eyes and manner draw us in.

Intimate and intellectual, the film — with a title taken from J.D. Salinger — focuses on the type of person you pass on the street, see in a coffee shop or sit next to on the subway who makes you wonder what life he’s led. One full of melody and muse, it turns out.

Falls short of being revelatory, yet has a mysterious, sturdy power that grows on you.

The result is a film almost too reliant on its players to push it through.

Like the last gift buried under singing Billy Bass fish, dancing Coke cans, joke books and mounds of wrapping paper, there's a glimmer of fun in Four Christmases that almost gets vacuumed up with the tinsel.

Sadly, the film gets mired in traditionalism, something the man himself always railed against. But worth a look for seeing intellectual bravery (still) at work.

Director John Scheinfeld's film, utilizing interviews with friends and collaborators, hits a high note on Nilsson's friendship with Ringo Starr and his fear of stage performance.

Trippy in the right way, and wholly enchanting.

Winds up feeling like a form of emotional tourism. The images recall Terrence Malick, but the film fills "atmosphere" into dry narrative holes where a story should reside.

Like a more personal, less pretentious version of Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Babel," this spiraling dissection of circumstance, choice and fate is more about thoroughness of vision than tricky storytelling.

Director Samuel Maoz's gripping you-are-there feel does for tanks what "Das Boot" did for submarines, and that chokehold only gets tighter as this taut drama about the 1982 Israeli-Lebanese war goes on.

There’s visual poetry here and haunted performances from Mezzogiorno and Timi -- who plays two roles, and is especially gripping as Dalser’s grown son.

A quiet, oddly serene movie with a curious soul.

Even after experiencing the film, what they've gone through - and how they deal with it - deliberately remains a mystery.

High art swings sort of low in this watchable but thematically repetitive drama.

Director Lee Chang-dong's soulful, affecting film is as quiet as a tomb and has a disturbing, critical underside that's hard to shake off.

Haneke's superb cast provide beautifully measured hints at the disconnect between the ribbon's symbolism and the entire town's unspoken atrocities.

The film features plenty of elements that seem familiar from previous cinematic dystopian visions — class warfare, decrepit living, a feeling of terminal velocity — yet you can’t help but admire director Bong Joon-ho’s high-wire act.

Wiseman films it all without comment, letting the rhythm of the place tell the story.

Talk about style over substance: The sheer volume of musical, comic-strip and video-game influences, riffs and licks in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" can get exhausting, but they also are what lift this romantic coming-of-age tale from this world to someplace totally ... else.

The poetry in The Place Beyond the Pines can be elusive, but also easy to get lost in.

The movie’s spell is solid, even if it doesn’t soar to the heights it could.

Avatar clears the hurdle in terms of being optical candy. Its story, though, is pure cheese.

The final result somehow undersells a man whose life and death were watershed moments in the gay rights movement.

Watching Ushio Shinohara and his wife Noriko make their art, we’re reminded of how much life is inside even the most abstract of pieces.

There’s atmosphere here, but nothing else.

Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal utilize the footage Kim and Scott Roberts had taken throughout the disaster, showing how residents suffered, survived and came together to help when official assistance let them down.

A thoughtful drama about guys who have a moment in the big time before returning home to an odd reflected glory.

Aiming for lightness but landing with a thud, Frances Ha is a well-meaning blunder. Director Noah Baumbach’s ode to Brooklyn twentysomething life is a flibbertigibbet fable that, like a self-absorbed flirt you meet at a party, grates on the nerves despite being easy on the eyes.

An emotionally devastating drama that isn't for the squeamish.

Michael Starrbury’s astute script draws us in slowly, depicting the realities of Mister and Pete’s lives in progressive reveals.

Has moments of honesty, but more often the barren landscape - both outside and inside - drains the emotions out of the film.

Snitch is like watching an elephant on ice: inelegant, but you admire the effort.

Upstream Color is weird, but it’s worth the time.

Acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's meditative, at times maddening expression of human mystery and barren landscapes is gorgeous to look at, intriguing to think about and, at times, hard to sit through.

A pensive and searching drama that explores how deep into the national psyche these murders in the Katyn forest went.

The result was remarkable, but the story of it, while true to the moment, needed — ironically — much more dynamism.

Lars von Trier's end-of-days drama Melancholia feels as if it's something from another world...but even by his standards this remote yet lovely funereal dirge is in its own orbit.

This stately chiller owes a lot to 1960s British flicks like "The Innocents" and "The Haunting," but unfortunately heads towards cliches with every step.

This quiet drama is not for everyone. It may not even be for fans of Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr, whose spare, naturalistic films can be, well, trying. (The director has said that "Horse" will be his final film.)

This unhurried, novelistic movie is worth looking into.

Sadly suffers from more than a dollop of boredom. Like the ornate dollhouse that plays a part, "Arrietty" is lovely and well-appointed, but filled with only what you bring to it.

Flow makes you thirsty for more information.

What Room 237 is really about is how movies inspire passion. Which is a great thing, even if it comes out in wack-job ways.

Fans of Dario Argento and Mario Bava will appreciate the references. Even for newcomers, there are minor chords to enjoy. If only there were less screaming.

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is better known for horror films; this is a movie where the horror is internalized, and hideously truthful.

Though it’s more testimonial exhibit than movie, “Unjust” remains a crucial document.

Certainly, the West Memphis 3 deserve more chances to detail how the justice system went nightmarishly awry. But take this as ultimately more personal journal than investigation.

His years of success aren't as gripping as Kapadia, and Senna's legend, would have us believe. He had no demons besides fame, and no hurdles besides a recklessness that went with the territory.

It's strange to call a film with so much nudity and simulated sex "old-fashioned," but The Sessions nicely bridges that gulf.

If you're looking for an incisive portrait of self-generated stardom, you won't do better than this.

The actor (Garcia), whose banked anger has been a secret weapon since "The Untouchables" 25 years ago, paints a fascinating portrait of a man moved by fate.

Scott Thomas breathes more emotion into Juliette's affectless, haunted demeanor than most actors do with pages of dialogue.

Boasting perhaps the most bored-sounding voice-over ever, this unexceptional drama imagines itself - much as its young heroine does - to be far more noteworthy than it actually is.

Though diligently paced and sharp to look at, the mysteries inside Mother are, finally, bloodless.

Hey, Michael: It's the robots, stupid. Despite all the mechanical mayhem, none of the Transformers stand out.

Enough Said doesn’t have the intimacy of Holofcener’s “Walking and Talking” or “Lovely & Amazing,” but it still cuts close the bone. Often so close we have to smile in self-defense.

This beautifully observed drama creates an intimate feel and gently observed moments of connection and angst. Then things move forward with almost too heavy of a heart.

Saulnier accomplishes something rare here. He has an ability to convey depth of feeling and ominousness without tricks or even musical cues.

This exquisitely acted, genuinely creepy minimalist drama does spin its wheels a bit before a cool conclusion. But the movie has a spark of creativity not seen in “Chappie” or “Eva,” two of the recent robots-among-us flicks.

When a movie is this strange, it's gotta count for something.

Stories about mythic figures at the end of their days are compelling — but they still need some zing. That’s what Mr. Holmes is missing.

Fascinating and, when you see Afghan versions of Simon Cowell and Co. reacting to tryouts, a reminder of how fame and the thirst for it is the same in any language.

An extraordinary morsel of a movie, and yes, you'll want sushi afterward. But it won't taste like Jiro's.

It’s rare when a psychological drama gets us into a character’s head without tricks or a voiceover. This drama from Alex Ross Perry burrows so deep that it’s scary.

Director Andrew Dosunmu’s film is big-hearted and rich, frequently using slow motion to underscore an artful intimacy.

This terrific, full-meal chronicle of the men and their mouths lets us hear from them not only during debates, but also in subsequent interviews, memoirs and articles.

Smith ("American Movie") sees the poetry in everyday people, and lets his rambling story find its own rhythm.

His humor works best when it's throw-away, but "Zohan" throws everything up to get a yuck. It's a shock to see how many "yuck!" moments Sandler settles for.

Calvary is like a philosophical Agatha Christie mystery. That’s certainly not the worst thing to be. But it’s also the film’s undoing, because the reliance on specific genre cliches undermines the movie’s more serious intentions.

The movie hits a beautiful, celebratory note.

Gandolfini scoops up another chance to show off the gentleness he left at home during six seasons of “The Sopranos.”

Wahlberg and Johnson are the saving graces of an in-your-face movie.

Adventureland has the structure of a Tilt-a-Whirl ride: It goes where you expect, and may fill you with dread.

His story, like the current release "A Separation," shows a glimpse inside Iran of everyday reversals of fortune, and how easy it is to get caught in the crosshairs of bureaucracy, bad judgment and bad luck.

Australian director Cate Shortland’s straightforward approach to the blinders worn by Hitler Youth creates a disconcerting and eerie film, made even more memorable since it’s seen through the prism of childhood’s end.

There’s politics involved, along with personal stories, extraordinary tense standoffs and down-and-dirty drug business.

And always there’s Wojtowicz himself, who died in 2006. His patter and persona must be seen to be believed. This guy was a piece of work, and so is The Dog.

Without excessive emotion or drama, director Javier Fuentes-León's film - and Mercado's performance - gently captures the power of emotions whose silent rattle is even stronger than reality.

Jodorowsky turns his own youth into an odd, hypnotic mishmash.

What's cool and always kicky is seeing a country's irreverent movie trash being treated with such, well, reverence.

Laughter may be the best medicine, but in Obvious Child, it’s also a helluva cure for dealing with a serious topic.

The result is cool and semi-comical, but also serious.

Writer-director Julia Loktev sustains the tension for long, Antonioni-esque passages that portend something momentous. The film delivers in unexpected ways, and then ponders what it means.

Kidman is able to draw you in even as the movie's solemn, morbid obviousness wears you out.

Stripped of his former pretty-boy image, the Texas-born actor is snarly and gnarled, and understands what Nichols is aiming for. That’s crucial, as Mud needs something to stick to.

A terrific, quirky New York-set character piece.

If Hitchcock had done a coming-of-age drama, it might have resembled this haunting, nervous, sad movie about an early twentysomething.

Thor: The Dark World may not be thunder from the movie gods, but it is — shock! — an entertaining journey into mystery, action and fun.

Jack Black adds new depths to his slippery comic persona in Bernie, a movie that may not ultimately add up to much, but which is filled with wonderfully odd details of weird Americana.

Carla Gugino has yet to find the right movie that clicks with her spunky outsider appeal, but The Mighty Macs, a gauzy, inspiring true-life drama about a girls' basketball team, at least gets her close and provides a lot of assists.

The moments when Spy falls apart are when the film fancies itself the real thing. The times when it works are due to its leading lady.

Director Scott Teems' film is as quiet as untilled soil -- not always a good thing -- but Holbrook has a handle on where to dig.

Digs up familiar ground without adding any fresh dirt.

The movie sometimes has the feel of an Olympic sprinter running in place. There’s so much energy expended to get to one spot. Constant searches beget more searches. It all gets exhausting.

The twists and turns involve a high-level assassination, corrupt cops, squint-inducing violence and plenty of fearlessness.