A sharp shock of a film in an Awards season very full of movies so noble they become immobile. It's wildly unlikely to get much love from the Academy, and that's fine-bluntly, it's too good for them. With its bloody stew of history and hysteria, action taken from movies and atrocities taken from fact, Django isn't just a movie only America could make-it's also a movie only America needs to.

For fans, this is exactly how the story of Jean Valjean's transformation from thief to saint should be delivered: smothered in bombast.

Playing like a mash-up between "Enter the Void" and "The Raid," Day of Reckoning is an uncommonly assured slice of bargain bin cinema, as arresting to watch as it is impossible to comprehend.

A masterwork from a master filmmaker.

What Audiard has created here is nothing less than the rare combination of high art and beautiful filmmaking with visceral power and gut-level emotional reality - it's like a symphony of fists, or a brutal assault by angels.

One of the best kid's films of the year, full of delight and action and charm and comedy.

A "Good Evening" indeed at the movies.

Every frame of silent, lip-biting, pent-up tension in the series has been holding its breath for this -- a 600-minute soap opera suddenly exploding into a Grindhouse slasher.

The result is a masterpiece of moving pieces, a dizzying and obscenely beautiful film that boils down Tolstoy's text to its most basic elements by making literal the theater of high society.

This is not really a biopic of the great President as the title might indicate, but rather a fascinating, savvy look at the inner-workings of the political process and how things in the White House get - or don't get - done.

It's a real film, and a fun one, made with gonzo good humor and plenty of action from the opening brutal battle over which the sound of The Wu-Tang Clan's 1993 single "Shame on a N***a" roars.

Consider it a force in the Best Animated Film Oscar race.

Killing Them Softly tries hard - and succeeds - to be a film of the now with its political parallels right in front of us. Yet it's also an invisible companion to the dirty business at hand - and it is a business.

The emotional journey is articulated with so much nuance, and such a vigorous belief in human possibility, that everything The Surrogate touches becomes its own, and is made new.

This is a curio that demands to be seen.

With a razor-sharp script and Jennifer Garner winning laughs in a nice change-of-pace role, this cynically funny and pointedly pertinent not-so-subtle spin on the national battle between right and left wing politics scores lots of comic bullseyes.

Alcoholic movie characters run the gamut from lovable millionaire (Arthur) to Skid Row bum (Henry Chinaski from Barfly) to all-out, suicidal depressive (Ben from Leaving Las Vegas). As written and performed, Winstead's Kate triangulates between all these approaches and finds a sincerity that plays to the intellect, not to the rafters.

This magnificent stop-motion cartoon is alive - "it's alive! - with laughs and heart.

Arnold's newest testament to passion and squalor strikes a tone somewhere between Cary Fukinaga's emo "Jane Eyre" and Sophia Coppola's revisionist-hip "Marie Antoinette."

Sure it's fun - and painful - but it's not thin.

Rebel Wilson is the peroxided Aussi who stole scenes as Kristen Wiig's roommate in "Bridesmaids," and this is the role that will turn her into a star.

There's more to it than a black-and-white political conclusion, and the laundry list of California documentary heroes in the credits suggests this film is humanist before it's agenda driven.

Clint Eastwood and a superb cast hit it out of the park in Trouble With The Curve, a great entertainment filled with heart, humor, family drama and fantastic acting.

Easily one of the year's best films and one of the best ever in the well-worn cop genre.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a sweet surprise, a funny, touching terrific and quite wonderful movie that gets it all right about the joys and heartbreaks of growing up circa 1991.

If there was any doubt Ben Affleck has turned into an exceptional director, his wildly entertaining, pulse-pounding thriller Argo will handily erase those thoughts.

Director Rian Johnson's resulting film, a cornfield neo-noir, is the coolest, most-confident sci-fi flick since 2006's "Children of Men."

It seems odd to call a detailed portrait of toxic romance lovely, but Keep the Lights On truly is.

The Master is big screen marvel intended for 70mm projection (a rare treat), with some beautiful imagery, but often inaudible dialogue. Phoenix's lived-in mumble comes off about as clear as Fenster from The Usual Suspects and Amy Adam's precise diction can't even save her harshest talking points.

Filled to the brim with top-shelf performances from an impressive cast, and with enough well-executed (and often shocking) violence to keep moviegoers of all stripes wide awake, Lawless is a minor classic in the making.

A darker and more ambitious meditation on impermanence, Samsara relies on blunt force and unforgettable imagery, overcoming the hazy logic of Fricke's editing to earn your awe.

This over-the-top sequel caters to the lowest common denominator in the best possible way, and it's so fully committed to brainless bombast that it muscles audiences to applaud by sheer force of will.

It's Cronenberg's most willfully weird movie since "Spider," and it should prove a tough sell despite Pattinson's ample star power.

Think of it as someone making a peanut butter and chocolate swirl of Mad magazine and The New Yorker - two unique tastes making one great treat.

Deftly veering from comedy to drama, director David Frankel (who also guided Streep to one of her 17 Oscar nominations in "The Devil Wears Prada") never loses sight of the humanity and universality of the situation.

Fox is smart to keep turning this stuff out before star Gordon grows too old for the role. He's terrific in a Leave it to Beaver way, perfectly capturing the angst of being in-betweener.

Journalist and director Allison Klayman doesn't mask her awe of the man, who comes off as a cross between a wise Buddha-figure and Santa Claus - he's made for history, and he's making it.

Step Up Revolution has again found some of the most kinetic talents in the country.

This smart and sophisticated romp takes surprising directions as it examines the creative process of writing, the delicate balance of relationships, and the mysteries of men and women.

Red Hook Summer begins as a gentle character comedy and then erupts into a sudden reversal that is possibly the most powerful and disturbing sequence Lee has ever created. It's a film that makes you laugh, weep, rage and gasp, and, love it or hate it, you will definitely talk about it afterward.

A fine film in a strong summer, but it lacks the spark that made its immediate predecessor a masterpiece.

The audience for this movie will have to be an adventurous one, and even then a substantial portion will be outraged by what they see.

Greenfield's fly on the wall view of obscene wealth punctured like a toy balloon is as current as a blog or a headline.

Reiner has crafted the perfect summer film in The Magic Of Belle Isle. No, not one with a lot of noise and battles and comic book heroes, but rather a wonderfully laid back family story set around a gorgeous lake, about the everyday problems of real people from 7 to 70.

Savages is one of Stone's best movies with a ménage et trois love story giving some human dimension to its three young leads.

Meet the new face of superheroes: Marc Webb's totally teenage and totally fun take on the Spider-Man franchise.

Movies don't get much funnier than Ted.

By way of remarkable sleight-of-hand, Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike both is and is not the freewheeling, fun-loving, male stripper extravaganza its trailers peddle.

Seek this one out though, because it's too unique and too defiantly strange to survive for long in today's Darwinian and consumerist exhibition environment.

This film stands out as one of the year's best.

A charmingly lo-fi love story.

The Invisible War is that rare, issues-driven documentary that is so powerful it's apt to change minds.

Too bad the film's obscure star will be a hard sell to non-music geeks or anyone born after 1965, because this film's a blast.

Blending a perfect brew of classic '80s songs, big laughs and rockin' performances, director Adam Shankman manages to make this film adaptation of the hit Broadway jukebox musical a red hot summer blast for people who grew up with glam metal - or just can't escape it on the radio.

What it provides (instead of the thematically clever dialogue of typically subtle French comedy) is biting wit, poignancy and, forsaking some structural nuisances, the summer's best bromance.

Like Carrie without the telekinesis, this horror movie replaces the supernatural with blunt brutality and dark humor to terrific effect.

Europe's Most Wanted is so full of laughs and great characters, it's easily the best in the series. Like "Toy Story 3," the Madagascar gang just gets better with time, and this new adventure is funny, exciting and heartwarming.

The director of quirky fare with a rabid cult-like following has made a charming, magical and really funny new work about two unique young kids discovering love over one unforgettable summer, and it's the director's most accessible movie yet.

You'll laugh and be offended, but if you watch it and don't want to be part of the solution, you'll know which side of the line you're on. Activism takes some unique forms.

A superb vehicle for Sacha Baron Cohen's over-the-top socio-political outrageousness.

It's a great time at the movies and a wickedly clever cinematic treat.

The Pirates! Band of Misfits is one of the funniest animated films in years, or to put it in terms you scallywags can understand: it's a treasure trove of laughs.

Sound of My Voice offers promise and pay off at the same time. Star and writer Brit Marling is having a rare double-whammy of a debut.

A winning cast and solid writing from screenwriters Keith Merryman and David A. Newman (Friends With Benefits) should appeal to men and women alike.

Kids should especially like this magnificent and heartwarming look at the life of young Oscar.

With bubbles of nascent arousal frothing at the film's feminine surface, Moth Diaries' commercial potential is likely to hinge on whether or not audiences can stand to be confronted with the confusion they felt as adolescents.

The kids, especially Néron and Nélisse are irresistible and supporting players are well-cast. Human dramas like Monsieur Lazhar are a rare breed these days and this exceptional example is one to be cherished.

Lockout isn't high art, but it's ridiculous fun.

Visually sumptuous and with a real literary beauty in both its narrative structure and dialogue.

The result is the best slice of Pie yet: a savvy sequel that's flat-out hilarious raunchy fun.

A gripping new documentary that's essential viewing for anybody who believes that the impact of global warming is tomorrow's problem.

It's a mixed blessing to see these dramas play out in Norwegian, surrounded by what we tend to imagine are more liberal perspectives on sex.

An orgiastic barrage of violence, The Raid: Redemption is, at least in its finest moments, one of the most breathless, blistering action movies in recent memory.

As action, as allegory, as cinema, The Hunger Games is the best American science-fiction film since "The Matrix," and if Ross and his crew stay with the series for the next two books, we may get that rarest of things: a blockbuster franchise that earns our money through craft, emotion and execution, not merely marketing and effects.

Is the result - a slapstick, bizarro melodrama where Ferrell plays the Mexican born and bred scion of a wealthy farmer - meant more for Spanish speakers or stoned and giggly Americans? It's a tough call.

Drew Goddard's giddily brilliant The Cabin in the Woods has a lot on its twisted mind.

A family drama that looks for answers in coincidence (is it really ever coincidence?), this endearing and breezy comic fable watches Jeff's coming of age and promises nothing after his moment of truth.

Jonah Hill is masterful at delivering an absurd story with so much sweetness, the nonsense ceases to get in the way.

Although Westfeldt's sharp screenplay is mostly talk, it's very good talk.

A smart, winning and comic, if at times bittersweet, treat.

Joseph Cedar's Footnote is a wry, wise little film that revels in the cataclysmic import of a life's most ostensibly trivial details.

This is purely warm, wonderful, wise and hilarious family entertainment that is fantastic movie fun for everyone.

This Is Not A Film and "A Separation" masterfully show Iranians that are full of the same passions, concerns and desires as the rest of the world-an incredibly important accomplishment now that the drumbeat to war grows louder each day.

Norton's tale of an undetected community of tiny people is perfectly suited for a cartoon and this beautifully rendered, almost old-fashioned version is a gem.

An impressively dark and well-crafted crime tale about, of all things, cattle farming and "the hormone mafia underworld."

It's a stirring mix of sports and human drama that exudes an almost earthy sense of genuineness.

The Dish and The Spoon boasts the efficiency and tidiness of early American indies like Rob Nilsson's "Heat and Sunlight," while it relocates its foreign film-like emotional landscapes to more native climes.

It's a mood piece more than a conventional documentary and it should do comfortably above average business on the theatrical documentary circuit, particularly given its location on the list of Oscar nominated documentaries.

It's full of really subtle dichotomies and internal conflicts, but what makes Julius' story seem authentic is how totally incongruous it feels.

Meticulously thoughtful and economical in its execution, from its camerawork to its editing, Farhadi's carefully wrought narrative and the ways it handles the fragile emotions of its characters truly sets it apart, not only from contemporary Iranian cinema but world cinema in general.

In Darkness takes its place among the many great European films to tackle the subject. Plenty of quality-seeking adult moviegoers will be lured to the arthouse and thoroughly moved.

Director David Mackenzie's quietly accomplished film straddles the arthouse world and cult movies with a unique poetic vision.

Kill List is a major breakthrough for writer/director Ben Wheatley, whose assured and painstaking handling of this difficult material makes for an unforgettable viewing experience.

Instead of venturing into mournful "Terms of Endearment" territory, the film - and the filmmakers - commit to a relentless determination to live.

Streamlined, beautifully shot and casually thrilling, Haywire's superior action fun should hopefully draw audiences eager for R-rated, no-frills fare.

Ultimately an inspiring, stirring and unforgettable human drama in the face of a horrifying war. It is highly recommended.

It's an emotional powerhouse of a film, an unforgettable and rewarding motion picture experience.

The messy uplift audiences can expect from this butterfly awakening they'll get in spades.