Joe Williams

It bodes well for the future of the franchise that Renner and Weisz share not only a gripping predicament but something more important: chemistry.

It's often obscenely funny, but it tickles more than it stings.

Footnote is faintly comic, and director Joseph Cedar mines dark humor from the humiliations of identity checks and pecking orders.

Because Short Term 12 is a small movie about a challenging subject, you may have to accept my word that actress Brie Larson and director Destin Cretton are bright discoveries, but it shouldn’t be long before the wider world can see these talents with the naked eye.

Although Steadman’s artwork seems like sloppy pen-and-ink caricature, there’s a method to the madness.

An entertaining tour of Tinseltown served with poisoned popcorn.

Titanic technical achievement.

The movie is more of a character study than a biography, as Bernstein dispenses his gentle wit and wisdom for the camera and for an elite class of student.

Summer Wars has engineered a truce between the familiar and the fantastical.

If you root for documentaries with heart, The Other Dream Team is a slam dunk.

After we hear the hit parade that poured from rural Alabama and meet the men who led it to the top of the charts, we realize that Muscle Shoals could call itself Hitsville, USA.

The sharpest parts of the movie hack through the Hollywood jungle with an insider's certitude. But Apatow is so grounded in the comedy circuit that he can't quite capture the emotional wavelength of the life-and-death drama.

In the infidelity drama Leaving, British reserve gets overtaken by French passion, and the subsequent events have the horrific momentum of a slow-motion car crash.

This true story does a great service by honoring the memory of 22 brave men and women and by dramatizing the internal debates within the French population. But in staying true to life, it sacrifices some of the pacing and clarity of a conventional thriller.

The story is sustained by the stubborn love between the siblings and by the conviction of the two fine actors who portray them.

After watching the trailers, I was expecting torture, but this smart, subversive movie made me laugh. So shoot me.

If you require a plot, look elsewhere.

Mainstream moviemaking at its most proficient, with a zippy script, comfort-food casting and a breakout performance by a deserving star.

This stylish film reminds us that great images endure after bodies and buildings crumble.

The documentary ends on a hopeful note, as Indians themselves have taken control of their image.

It's a tart trifle, but in the madding crowd of year-end movies, Tamara Drewe rocks.

Mainstream audiences will note that Hudson has never been better and that the tearjerking taps into something universal. For audiences seeking shelter from superhero carnage, Wish I Was Here is a lovely place to be.

While Walt and El Grupo is less than a penetrating analysis, it's more than a Mickey Mouse advertisement.

Because the movie captures the period so well and argues so convincingly that the Runaways' very existence was revolutionary, it doesn't have to exaggerate the highs and lows to create a more salable story.

While the big-headed, spindly puppets don't evoke enough emotion to make the movie a must-see, Burton's 3-D design team pours its heart into the monochrome surroundings, from the suburban décor to Victor's laboratory to the carnival midway.

Turturro, who previously directed a musical called "Romance and Cigarettes," lingers on the sensual movements of the performers and the character faces of the onlookers.

It's a comedic dramatization with a looming shadow of the surreal.

This documentary reconstructing the life of the ultimate cult author is like a three-act thriller, and the character at the center of the story is a mute man of mystery. Salinger would have recognized the irony, even as he hated the film for invading his privacy.