Joe Neumaier

The faces and voices are endlessly compelling as they talk about what inspires them to lay down beats and recall the early days in New York. Ice-T, disentangled from acting, makes himself a fine focal point.

Keshavarz's vision is clear and heartfelt, and everyone has an urgency in their eyes.

This beautifully photographed drama is well-played throughout with great conscience without becoming heavy-handed.

This trip through the seminal performance artist's (often literal) body of work is sometimes too cozy, yet Abramovic might argue that objectivity is impossible if truth is the destination.

Director Megumi Sasaki's film feels like a cozy visit with neighbors whose insights are priceless.

A well-done, conscientious and funny little film that recalls "Clueless," only with more heart.

Toscanini plays a role in the tale, as does Einstein and a young Zubin Mehta. If director Josh Aronson tries to follow a few too many strands of the story, it's only because there's so many tantalizing ones.

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.

Quirky, but infinitely more interesting than big-budget Hollywood cousins.

Weixler is a delight, and director Tom Gammill captures the right level of deadpan to pull this off.

Is it all valid? Perhaps. Should the film's questions be addressed? Absolutely.

As the team gets in shape, a hot new ringer is brought in and the fallen son redeems himself - and director Steve Rash's movie wins us over.

Its hard sell wears you down and draws you in, even as you know you're being manipulated.

Yelling is a prosaic look at a hard life. Like Sweetness, the movie finds its way by instinct.

The genuinely sweet nature of this sometimes clunky movie is mixed with a little sass, and wins you over.

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

Though he has a true appreciation for detail, Joffe has the scar-faced Pinkie so scurvy that Rose ought to run the minute she sees him.

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

Those who only know Chiwetel Ejiofor from his quietly powerful work in the Best Picture-winning “12 Years a Slave” should see him here — to experience his range.

Johnson's feel for the rhythms of reconnection are steady, and she and her fine actors make Return one of only a handful of films to honestly address what to many is heartbreaking reality.

This fantasy adventure lacks focus when it should be laser-sharp, and stumbles when it could soar.

It's not a lightning show, but "Flash" still shines.

As a vampire might say, "Be- vaaare , all who enter here above the age of 7! What lies on the screen ... is not for you !"

Every generation gets the time travel it deserves. Project Almanac isn’t “Time After Time” (1979) or “Back to the Future” (1985) or “12 Monkeys” (1996), but the new release does turn out to be a surprisingly jaunty trip for jaded Gen-Y kids.

Peace, Love and Misunderstanding has a place for everybody in its heart-of-gold band.

Their mundane meetings underscore how easily secrets are leaked, but unfortunately, scenes of meetings between Presidents Reagan (Fred Ward) and Mitterrand seem hollow and naive. Kusturica and Canet are strong, though, as is Willem Dafoe as an American intel officer.

A cool documentary that pivots adroitly between viewpoints and ambitions.

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.)

The film isn't easy to watch, but its portrait of perseverance and ecological commitment is enlightening.

The scope of director Peter Chan's military drama is impressive, though this sometimes-rousing depiction of strategy and loyalty in mid-1800s China pales next to recent, similar historical epics like "Red Cliff" and "Mongol."

Director Malcolm Venville, who made the British gangster flick "44 Inch Chest," has a strong handle on the tone, so even the familiar twists feel fresh.

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.

Trouble With the Curve is easily digestible in chunks – if it were a CBS show, it'd be called "Postseason With Morrie" - and it has an affectionate view of grubby motels, greasy diners and small-town scoreboards.

Through it all, Tatum and Hill are totally winning.

The politician who almost pathologically asked the question "How'm I doin'?" clearly never needed a view outside his own. Which is as New York as it gets.

The shadow of Terrence Malick falls hard across this Texas crime drama, a beautiful-looking prose poem that starts strong but winds up with nowhere to go.

The movie is filled with fun '50s Americana.

A fascinating, alternate-universe look at the dawn of the music-sharing phenom — once a cause of concern in the industry, yet now a footnote to our all-digital music marketplace.

Writer-director Kari Skogland adapts a beloved Canadian novel gracefully and with plenty of spunk, the same way its main character moves through the world from cradle to grave.

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.

A gripping, personal examination of a seemingly unresolvable conflict.

The modern stuff is undeniably fawning. But given the eye-popping visuals, you understand the enthusiasm. Especially if you left your heart, and thousands of dollars in quarters, in an arcade.

Oddly engrossing, off-kilter drama.

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 movie grips us partly because Bakri’s performance is alternately casual and calculated.

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

It's a shame neither actress can truly "go for the jugular," as Alan says at one point. This is a work that would allow for it.

Often it’s the fighters themselves who best sum up the appeal of “the sweet science.”

Cahill, who did the equally heady, intriguing drama “Another Earth” (2011), keeps the tone consistent. He makes certain his cast walks a savvy tightrope, keeping things taut.

Peepli Live may not consistently hit the mark, but it's savvy and humane, which goes a long way.

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

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.

Once it's high-concept plot kicks in, Gervais' hilariously self-deprecating persona is really all that keeps it grounded.

Either the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movies are getting better, or I've accidentally buried my brain for the winter. The third entry in the franchise - Chip-Wrecked - is, dare I say, the charm.

Branagh, working from a script by Chris Weitz, gives the film emotional heft. James’ performance — never saccharine, often staunchly independent — makes the story’s more regressive elements float away.

Affectionate but also winking (the "Star Wars"-riff title gives away its lack of objectivity), with a good history of how far fandom has come, "A Fan's Hope" is really for those who've turned to the far side, but is ready to turn on a tractor beam for everyone else.

If you're able to think of characters as just air bubbles to get past, then dive in, the excitement's fine.

Director Justin Chadwick ("The Other Boleyn Girl") shows admirable restraint bringing this true story to the screen, and Litando does much with glimmers of emotion and wells of dignity.

Families who have already raced to “Monsters University” and “Despicable Me 2” will find Turbo an acceptable third-place finisher. A sort-of escargot-meets-“Cars” adventure, it has some sharp vocal turns and remains fun even when its inventiveness runs out of gas.

The Lifeguard is one of those deceptive movies that, to its credit, winds up being about more than just an easy-to-describe tagline. In this case, that line would be: “Woman goes back to hometown, sleeps with high school boy.”

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

Quiet moments after big decisions are where the power lies in this absorbing French drama.

At least Leonardo DiCaprio, grounded and sure, has commitment to spare. His portrayal of Hoover is undeniably terrific.

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

Important and gripping.