Lawrence Toppman

The film's main virtue, a large virtue indeed, is that it does not give anything away before its shockingly apt time.

The terrific Spellbound really isn't about the ability to tear words apart letter by letter. It's about nerve-wracking competitiveness.

Kandahar found itself in real-life controversy last December, when one of its actors was accused of murder.

One of those rare thrillers where the cops aren't fools, villains don't turn stupid at crucial moments, and career assassins seldom miss targets.

You won't forget Nobody Knows, the quietly harrowing tale of four abandoned Japanese children.

Charming Stuart Little improves on original tale.

Finally! For the first time, Hollywood has made a whimsical, witty, feature-length version of Dr. Seuss that's neither overblown nor smutty nor emotionally hollow.

Haneke peels back the layers of Georges Laurent as slowly and dispassionately as a scientist dissecting a diseased mouse. The ending arrives with the power and inevitability of Greek drama.

Nolan’s tale is not only a trip through mental labyrinths but a reminder that memories may cripple us, unless we learn to let them go.

It's a unique vision of war from the point of view of a Marine who never pulled a trigger against a foe.

You know you’re in a top-drawer Marvel Comics adaptation when even the Stan Lee cameo is clever.

Menno Meyjes' provocative film might be called an example of the haphazardness of evil.

A lot of chaotic fun.

It may cast a spell on anyone who has known loneliness, exclusion, feelings of inferiority or a desire to be encased in a hard shell to protect a soft interior.

The simple, utterly satisfying Premium Rush delivers just what the title promises.

Perhaps Zeitlin isn't really making an issue of class distinctions. Maybe he's just suggesting that we don't know these people very well, and our lives would be richer if we did.

The film's full of in-jokes, from the Spanish-language billboards to the name of Banderas' character.

The saga regains its grandeur with a complicated but easy-to-follow story. The characters are as satisfying as the effects.

This film has two of Fincher's happiest trademarks: It's full of information and stretches over a remarkably long time (165 minutes), yet it's neither confusing nor overextended.

It's tense, strangely funny in a lot of spots and – if you grew up loving old-fashioned, seat-of-the-pants baseball, as I did – the most depressing movie of the year.

You may not realize the imprint it has left until its last season comes to a close.

The writer-director waited until he had the clout, budget and prestige to attract a top-flight cast, then turned Colored Girls into a movie with a little less darkness but plenty of heart and guts.

The best war movies don't preach against war: They remind us of the costs for soldiers and families and ask us to consider whether those costs are worth paying. The Messenger does that without firing a bullet or putting us on a battlefield.

Fierce, fast and funny.

Evans makes a terrific raconteur, imitating voices and putting us behind the scenes.

In an era when most scripts are written by committees of monkeys, hearing one man's intelligent voice is an almost forgotten pleasure.