Joe Neumaier

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.