Lou Lumenick

One of the best films released so far this year, At Any Price signals the arrival of Iranian-American Ramin Bahrani in the ranks of major US directors.

Utterly delightful.

Mud runs over two hours, climaxing with a shootout that belongs in a different movie. It’s a rare misstep in an art-house movie that will pull mainstream audiences along as inexorably as the Mississippi River. Go see it.

Like Roald Dahl's book, Tim Burton's splendidly imaginative and visually stunning - and often very dark and creepy - new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is squarely aimed more at children than their parents.

Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel do some of the best work of their careers playing longtime friends navigating their twilight years in Paolo Sorrentino’s witty, wise and swooningly beautiful dramatic comedy Youth.

Between D-Day, the sheer ambition of Paul Thomas Anderson's historical epic and Robert Elswit's dazzling cinematography, this is a must-see movie - even though its emotional temperature rarely rises above freezing and the climax goes way, way, way over the top.

A grim, challenging movie that will amply reward audiences willing to go along with its ride into the dark depths of its characters' souls.

Sweet without being sticky and funny without getting silly, Whip It introduces Barrymore as a director with a keen eye, a good ear for tone and an inspired touch with actors.

The most devastating spoof of reality TV since Albert Brooks' 1978 "Real Life."

Walken was largely typecast in quirky roles as a result of playing the title character's brother in "Annie Hall," so it's something of a delightful irony that 35 years later, Walken finds his most rewarding role leading a terrific ensemble in what amounts to one of the best Woody Allen movies that Allen wasn't involved in making.

Duvall and Spacek are so in tune with each other's rhythms -- despite their 20-year age difference -- that it's hard to believe they've never acted together before.

Emotionally honest, feel-good saga with a universality that stands out in a season of singularly depressing and cynical Hollywood product.

A remarkable accomplishment, an absorbing documentary about the joy of reading that's also a positively gripping literary mystery.

An enthralling 3-D IMAX documentary.

It's a sharply written, unforgettably directed character study with brilliant performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams - far more intimate but no less intense than director Paul Thomas Anderson's Oscar-winning last film, "There Will Be Blood.''

A crowd-pleasing baseball movie for people - like me - who don't like baseball movies...Probably the finest baseball movie since "Bull Durham".

Thomas Vinterberg (“The Celebration”) directs with restraint that makes the story all the more affecting.

There is no shortage of indie movies about economically challenged women. This one is different, in that the women actually do something besides just talk about it.

The Martian is a straightforward and thrilling survival-and-rescue adventure, without the metaphysical and emotional trappings of, say, “Interstellar.’’ It’s pure fun.

The quirky High Fidelity really deserves being called the first must-see movie of the century.

After years of diminishing returns, Woody Allen spectacularly returns to form with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his funniest movie in years and arguably his sexiest.

I was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down my cheeks.

It's a positive hat trick by John Cameron Mitchell.

Astonishingly sharp and stunningly beautiful images of galaxies as far as 100 billion light-years away.

A documentary that exerts a car-wreck fascination as it follows the icon through her 75th year (she's now 77) while looking back over her tumult-filled life and career.

Jack Black gives the performance of his career in the title role of Bernie, under the pitch-perfect direction of his "School of Rock'' director, Richard Linklater, who expertly crafts a black comedy with a deceptively sunny surface. It's the best movie I've seen all spring.

Norton, returning to cracking form, doesn't try to make the selfish and smug Monty sympathetic -- but he lights up the screen, especially in two fantasy sequences.

As hip, funny and truthful a sleeper as has ever flown under Tinseltown's radar.

A gorgeous and witty piece of stop-motion animation.

Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young amounts to the most hilarious Woody Allen movie in forever.

Timothy Spall, a character actor best known as Wormtail in the “Harry Potter’’ series, delivers an Oscar-caliber tour de force as eccentric British landscape painter J.M.W. Turner in the exquisite Mr. Turner.

A summery confection crammed with fresh young talented faces that's hard not to love.

Helen Mirren outdoes even her Oscar-winning performance in "The Queen" with her tour de force as Countess Sofya Tolstoy in Michael Hoffman's delightful The Last Station.

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is the first must-see film of Hollywood’s summer season, if for no other reason than its jaw-dropping evocation of Roaring ’20s New York — in 3-D, no less.

In his own twisted way, Lou is just as much a bloodsucker as Dracula, in a horror story that this tabloid veteran can attest is not as far removed from reality as you might assume.

It's a stirring reminder of a time when anything seemed possible - these American heroes boosted morale eroded by the Vietnam War, as well as bringing the whole world together to celebrate their success.

It's got more imagination than half a dozen movies combined; there's nothing else out there like this, and to me that's a very good thing.

Sequels don't get much better - or smarter - than the action-, drama-, romance- and comedy-packed Spider-Man 2, which miraculously improves on the webslinger's hugely popular first screen adventure in every imaginable department.

Jersey Boys tells a familiar story, yes — but rarely told this well and with this much heart and soul.

Lassie is a dog movie even non-dog lovers will lap up.

This is a beautifully acted chamber piece --especially by the magnificent Blake, who is married to Norris in real life.

Theron is very good as a woman struggling for respect in a sexist environment. There are also small but telling performances by Susan Sarandon as Hank's worried wife, and Frances Fisher as a topless bartender who aids in the investigation.

One of the 10 best American movies released so far this year, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is the surprisingly satisfying first theatrical film inspired by a long-running series of historically themed dolls.

A thoughtful, rousing and beautifully crafted epic.

2046 is a bit overlong and not for all tastes, but fans of "In the Mood for Love" will relish this second helping, which is more emotionally substantial than the first.

One of the summer’s most entertaining and provocative movies.

Hilarious French farce.

Sort of a Bollywood "Citizen Kane," a decades-spanning drama with a compelling Abhishek Bachchan as a ruthless Indian business tycoon who refuses to take no for an answer.

Director Frears, in a radical shift from "High Fidelity," again (as in "Dangerous Liaisons") shows he's a master of period detail and subtle storytelling -- and the performances couldn't be more on the money.

An often compelling, tragicomic psychological analysis of Dubya, viewed through the prism of his relationship with an allegedly disapproving father.

Ride sounds a bit like a Lifetime movie, but in Hunt’s capable hands it’s a brisk, funny and touching comedy for boomers.

A more nuanced picture of the only president to resign from office emerges in Penny Lane’s clever documentary.

Page and Church work so brilliantly together as a comic team that it's worth enduring the leads' utter lack of chemistry together - not to mention the fact they're both wildly miscast.

Doesn't have a particularly well-defined point of view, but it is a succinct, entertaining and valuable record of a time that in some ways now seems as remote as the Roaring '20s.

There’s nothing hugely original about the script by Richard Wenk (who cowrote “Expendables 2” with Sylvester Stallone), but Washington is a master at putting his own inimitable and stylish spin on even the most familiar situations.

What elevates Men, Women & Children considerably above a dramatized (and occasionally over-dramatized) lecture on the dehumanizing aspects of the Internet is the consistently high caliber of acting (including, yes, Sandler) and spot-on narration by Emma Thompson.

It may not have songs by ABBA, but Bran Nue Dae is roughly Australia's far less elaborate answer to "Mamma Mia!" -- a cheerful and proudly corny musical that's pretty hard to resist if you're in the right frame of mind.

A blood- freezing German thriller, a very stylish variation on "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven."

This familiar scenario works because of well-written and acted characters. The disciplined direction is by Peter Cattaneo, who tackled somewhat similar material in "The Full Monty" a decade ago.

The animation, supervised by director Timothy Bjorkland, is deliberately crude, but it complements the wacky story line just as well as the excellent musical numbers, one of which is a spot-on homage/parody of Sondheim.

Quietly persuasive and very timely documentary.

A bittersweet confection that few holiday filmgoers will be able to resist, thanks to melt-in-your-mouth performances by Juliette Binoche, Alfred Molina and Judi Dench.

Laura Dern — only nine years older than Witherspoon’s fresh-faced 38 — could also net a Best Supporting Actress nod for her outstanding work as Cheryl’s spunky and nurturing mothe.

For those willing to work a bit at it, this is the sort of artistry many American independent movies aspire to - but rarely achieve.

Thornton is in great form as the sardonic Vic, whose disposal of an apparently dead body in a trunk is a hilarious set piece.

Newcomer Friend, a Leonardo DiCaprio lookalike who can also be seen in small roles in "The Libertine" and "Pride & Prejudice," has a winning manner, but Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is a terrific, long-overdue vehicle for Lady Olivier.

In the end, The Walk finds a graceful way to pay tribute not only to Petit’s bravery and determination — but to the thousands lost on 9/11 in the buildings this daredevil loved so much.

While My First Mister has considerable charm, it suffers somewhat from comparison with "Ghost World."

Chemistry is the usually misfiring engine that drives romantic comedies, so it's a pleasure to report that Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are practically combustible together in Friends With Benefits.

Bahrani's unsentimental film is perhaps most interesting as a look at a colorful, little-known world that has recently been targeted for urban renewal.

Many indie films about adolescents these days - like Gus Van Sant's "Elephants" - are willfully amoral. Mean Creek isn't - and it's the first indie since "Thirteen" that parents should make required viewing for teens.

While Clooney and especially Blanchett give solid performances, and McGuire plays effectively against type, the movie is best appreciated as an exercise in vintage Hollywood style.

It's Willis who delivers the goods in scene after scene, triumphing over a thin script, often bland direction.

The story is still so compelling - and the principals still so eager for attention - that the filmmaker's pedestrian treatment can't take away from the impact.

It's a welcome alternative to the homogenized Hollywood releases that proliferate during the holiday season.

A little gem.

While highly entertaining and sometimes inspired, Black Mass is more like Scorsese lite. In perhaps the most memorable sequence, Bulger sardonically tests a childhood friend (Joel Edgerton) for loyalty by teasing out a “secret” steak sauce in what’s basically a reworking/homage of Joe Pesci’s famous “I’m funny, how?” scene in “GoodFellas.”

Piles on enough eye candy and action sequences to please fans, plus more humor than the three "Rings" films - even if it only occasionally achieves the trio's grandeur.

A fascinating snapshot of contemporary teenagers.

Some of the year's most arresting female performances justify White Oleander, a highly episodic melodrama.

A real old-fashioned crowd-pleaser.

Unknown actually has enough of a sense of humor to admit what it is: hybrid corn. But it's been crossbred from Hitchcockian stock.

A serious, wrenching and oddly poetic documentary.

Wind Chill is very much Blunt's show - there are no other major characters save Holmes - and she even gets to climb a telephone pole in her Prada heels. Brava!

Mixes fact and speculation in a way that's already raised the ire of some on the right as well as on the left.

It's a bit less good than McCarthy's earlier films -- Jeffrey Tambor has a large, superfluous role that abruptly disappears, and Ryan, a fine actress, makes a less than entirely convincing spouse for Giamatti. This one is a crowd-pleaser nonetheless.

The house itself - which walks down the street in one impressive scene - is memorably voiced by Kathleen Turner.

The film's most memorable performance is by Eamonn Walker, who is scarily good as the singer known as Howlin' Wolf.

Cross “Dog Day Afternoon’’ with “The Big Short’’ and throw in a dash of “Network’’ and you’ve got Money Monster, a clever financial thriller with comic overtones that’s a solid investment of your time thanks to stellar work by George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Satisfying, well-acted drama.

The lyrical The Road Home is less political and less flashy than some previous films by Zhang Yimou.

It would be a crime in itself to reveal the surprises of Nine Queens, which provides two solid hours of corking entertainment.

The Agronomist uses archival footage and music to tell a moving story that's all too common in the Third World.

Martin's most adventurous film in many years, may be next best thing to a quick shot of nitrous oxide.

Unpretentious and unexpectedly moving.

There are moments of brilliance, like a claymation sequence that manages to simultaneously send up '60s holiday cartoons and "Ghostbusters'' (with Frosty the Snowman instead of Marshmallow Man).

It's a tribute to the sheer professionalism of this crossover charmer that it holds your interest for two solid hours.

Besides terrific performances, it boasts terrific cinematography by Giles Nuttgens that contrasts stunningly beautiful and grimly ugly Scottish landscapes - complementing the hunky Joe's ugly soul, which manifests itself in a truly nasty sex scene involving pudding, catsup and Cathie.