Joe Neumaier

This often haunting stop-motion Claymation movie ultimately suffers from what bedevils many live-action movies culled from short stories: a herky-jerky plot.

This is a mother's tale, and in Swinton's expert hands, Eva must ultimately deal with the fallout from an uncomfortable truth: She just never liked her kid.

As the cracklingly cool The East shows, they’re the real deal. It’s not easy to make a thriller where brains and guts are so clearly in cahoots.

The movie itself is an intriguing but ultimately unspecial Feds-vs.-hoods drama. But as the sinister, snakelike South Boston criminal Whitey Bulger, Depp delivers.

Sturgess is solid and Kingsley predictably sneaky, but the atmosphere -- scurries through the Catholic/Protestant border, tense stand-offs, spontaneous riots -- is what's genuinely gripping.

Together and apart, Hatami and Maadi are magnetic. Hatami, a star in Iranian cinema, lets us see Simin's intelligence and defiant sense of self-worth often with nothing more than a gesture.

Combining the dysfunctional family reunion and the home invasion thriller, You’re Next tries, somewhat valiantly, to add new twists to the usual bloody horror-flick shenanigans. But aside from a few fresh chords, it’s same-old, same-old.

Gritty, funny, rich adaptation of a Pete Dexter novel.

Finally, a found-footage thriller that merits, and expands on, this irrationally popular format.

Plot is not the movie’s strong suit. But stylish set pieces are, including one epic blast-a-thon alongside a pool.

With his rapid-fire delivery and big heart, Rockwell makes Owen his version of “M*A*S*H”’s Hawkeye Pierce, but the film’s layers of well-observed truths go deeper than that.

Scenes of Favreau at the grill bantering with Leguizamo and Cannavale could almost sustain an entire movie.

Gibney puts mystery back into a story we thought we knew.

This summer's best popcorn flick.

A "Blair Witch"-y creepshow that owes a lot to Japanese horror.

The Double belongs to a very specific club. If you’re on its wavelength, it’s a dive into quirky, murky fun. But even if you are, this oddball offering is vague and slippery, a calmer brother to “Brazil” or Orson Welles’ Kafka tale “The Trial.”

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

Emphasizing the importance of new media, Stelter is ready to bring the paper back to the future, though this terrific tale of an establishment in transition ultimately plays like "All the President's Men," with the intrigue coming from inside the building.

Has a mature tapestry of characters, a welcome sense of humor and, most crucially, a lovely Juliette Binoche.

The wonkiness is at a minimum and Reich delivers it with tales from his own life, since he’s the son of a dress store owner and a mom who helped in the shop. Essential viewing, no matter how you cut it.

It's a big fat missed opportunity.

Neighbors stakes its claim in suburban-property cliches. Given the dull, stale results, maybe the end of the world was a better fit.

Noah, Darren Aronofsky’s often ludicrous, occasionally thoughtful epic, puts theology front-and-center, and doubles down on its blockbuster ingredients — like adding huge rock monsters with glowing eyes.

Terrific and gripping.

This mellow chronicle of Nat Hentoff is like a tour through New York’s past.

For all the trickiness and bluster, Shutter Island is dead inside.

The forced coming-of-age parable that filmmaker Joe Wright laces with fairy-tale symbolism is heavy-handed from the get-go.

Kung Fu Panda 2 plunks down squarely in the spot marked for "chop-socky action with heart."