Michael Rechtshaffen

A spirited, revealing documentary.

In the wonderfully droll Kitchen Stories, Norwegian filmmaker Bent Hamer takes an already inspired premise and weaves it into a spry absurdist comedy that also manages to find some considerable warmth.

Not since Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg teamed up in "The Other Guys" has an onscreen pairing proved as comically rewarding as the inspired partnership of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.

Packs a quiet wallop.

Peddle has more in mind than creating a stylized mood. His first narrative feature makes some astute observations about adolescence and identity, including that of the culturally shifting American South, in a way that is at once immediate and timeless.

[An] enlightening, life-affirming documentary.

The film probes that tricky-to-reconcile bridge between honoring the fallen and moving forward.

What the production may have lost in a “nasty-wasty skunk” of an antagonist, it gains in an inspired voice cast (led by Benedict Cumberbatch) and a dazzlingly merry and bright visual palette.

As captured through the ceaselessly unflinching lens of Sharif’s borrowed video camera, Nowhere to Hide offers an uneasy prognosis that is at once graphically gut-wrenching and doggedly life-affirming.

It plays like "Bonnie & Clyde" as made by a committee comprised of George Romero, Sam Peckinpah, Tobe Hooper, Sergio Leone and John Waters -- but Zombie still manages to inject a pervasive flavor all his own.

Bunker Spreckels was the real deal — a true original who was as entertainingly gonzo as Bunker77, the documentary that affectionately pays tribute to his brief but eventful life.

Vividly photographed by René Diaz and adroitly edited by Dan Swietlik, A River Below skillfully — and quite compellingly — navigates the murky complexities of contemporary reality filmmaking.

This smartly assembled wake-up call concerning the nation's lousy spending habits proves to be as unexpectedly spirited as it is dispiriting.

Ekachai's film takes a more compassionate view of its subject and boasts a dynamic performance by real-life kickboxer Asanee Suwan.

Serving as a potent reminder of the stellar athletic ability that, in time, had been overshadowed by his admittedly outsized personality, the affectionate It Ain’t Over offers a winning coda to the career assessment of the late, great Yogi Berra.

Neither long nor dumb, Hannah Fidell’s The Long Dumb Road is in reality a terrifically entertaining odd couple road comedy expertly navigated by costars Tony Revolori and Jason Mantzoukas.

An endlessly intriguing documentary.

Goes a long way in bringing sexy back to a soggy genre, benefiting greatly from the presence of its likable leads.

Filmmaker and Columbia professor Joseph, and playwright Beaty, in his feature writing and acting debut, infuse the movie with an intense New York City realism and an evocative street poetry that conjure up early John Cassavetes and Spike Lee.

A creeping naturalism inhabits virtually every frame of Dayveon.

Expertly tossing off the type of well-sharpened banter that was the domain of Gable and Lombard and Tracy and Hepburn, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- no matter what their off-camera status -- make one swell combative couple.

Packing plenty of visual zip and terrific character faces into its compact running time, De Jong never allows the considerable quirkiness to upstage the storytelling.

It might not be way up there in "The Incredibles"/"Finding Nemo"/"Toy Story" stratosphere, but the charming Cars is nevertheless a thoroughly pleasant way to mark Pixar Animation Studios' 20th anniversary.

A moving testament to the boundary-shattering language of music.

Preferring to maintain his focus on the tender relationship between father and son, as well as the gently amusing camaraderie that exists among groups of males in both countries, Koguashvili challenges conventional notions of masculinity to often delightful effect.

In Genesis 2.0, the prehistoric past and the near future intersect at a most intriguing — and disturbing — juncture.

A typically intelligent if occasionally overwritten political thriller, boasting a powerhouse cast.

A penetrating, mournful portrait of sexual identity in contemporary Guatemala City.