Michael Rechtshaffen

While Stewart didn’t live to see the enactment of a new California law last fall that will see the phasing out of the practice already banned elsewhere in the world, his passionate documentary, boasting stirring underwater photography and an equally poignant Jonathan Goldsmith score, speaks urgently on his behalf.

The skillfully assembled documentary Wasted! The Story of Food Waste proves as eye-opening as it is mouth-watering.

Mott, who started out in Hollywood working in the fabled William Morris Agency mailroom, nimbly choreographs all the updating, resulting in a breezy, cute-and-clever confection that’s tailor-made for a sultry midsummer’s night.

The film offers a valuable life lesson in the powers of determination and timing, but most of all it's darned entertaining.

A uniquely compelling, exhaustively researched documentary by Israeli filmmaker Maya Sarfaty that never settles for pat answers.

What begins as a quirky portrait of the artist as a gringo mariachi troubadour proves to be a telling study of a lost soul whose palpable passion for his music acts as a surrogate for more meaningful human contact.

The assessment of Candy’s life and legacy provides ample cause for laughter while also provoking plenty of tears.

Resistance is futile. It's impossible not to be swept up into the uplifting world of Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary that can be neatly summed up as the "Spellbound" of competitive ballroom dancing.

The updated classic is a chiller of a political thriller in its own right.

Manages to deliver more laughs than most of the competition.

Unlike the highly charged “Sicario” and other recent drug trade-themed movies, the film, shot in New Mexico, eschews explosive confrontations and political judgments in favor of complex, thoughtfully portrayed characters and tense, compelling situations.

There has been no shortage of films tracking the immigrant pursuit of the American dream, but few have been as laugh-out-loud delightful as The Tiger Hunter, a sparkling first feature by Lena Khan.

Layered with elements that are both amusing and touching but never threatening to collapse into a big heap of sentimental mush.

As documentaries go, few arrive with as much ripped-from-the-headlines urgency as The Will to See, an eye-opening return visit to the backdrops of some of the world’s worst atrocities.

Inextricably rooted in lead Arndis Hrönn Egilsdöttir’s quietly defiant performance, The County tells an immersive, timeless David vs. Goliath story set against a contemporary backdrop of shifting societal norms.

Dancer becomes a gentle inquiry into how a gifted performer disrupts his life in order to test his passion.

The film is at once gently intimate and breathtakingly expansive in scope.

Although the blandly nondescript title doesn’t exactly suggest the promise of deep intrigue, Philipp Stölzl’s Chess Story masterfully confounds expectations as a tautly calibrated, intricately constructed Chinese puzzle of a period drama set during Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.

A strikingly poetic documentary that illustrates the push and pull of life's opposing forces.

As keenly observed by Korem and cinematographer Jacob Hamilton, Dealt achieves the neat trick of giving its main subject a rewarding character arc.

An intense Mel Gibson performance anchors this brutally effective crime thriller.

A deeply personal, often wrenching documentary.

There's a new bogeyman in town, and he makes all other pretenders to the terror throne look like a bunch of cuddly Disney characters.

A highly satisfying documentary tracking the hoop dreams of basketball bright light Sebastian Telfair as he made that rare leap from high school all-star to NBA draft pick.

Falling closer in tone to "Shaun of the Dead" than "28 Days Later" or the George Romero movies, Zombieland has its tongue planted firmly in its rancid cheek while still delivering the visceral goodies.

A gleefully discomfiting portrait of male bonding that delivers some of the year’s biggest laughs.

Montréal Girls emerges as a vivid, immersive paean to artistic expression and youth’s unhindered possibilities.

Despite the clunky bits, "Tomorrow" still manages to deliver the blockbuster goods.