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

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

Great as it is, this is not a ticket buying kind of movie.

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

What transpires gives fresh meaning to ‘sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.'

With Natalie Portman dominating the action and exhibiting a screen maturity not seen from her before, this all-stops-out Grand Guignol melodrama exhibits more than enough blood, sweat and tears (emphasis on the blood) to score nicely beyond the ballet crowd.

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

Making the Boys is at once political and personal. It is a history lesson, a sociological study and a memoir. It is a tale told with warmth and humor. And it is irresistible.

Features some of the most exhilarating action sequences the screen has seen in years.

Spectacle and spectacular are often confused for one another in stories of epic adventure, but Immortals is the rare film where they are one and the same.

It's by the book advocacy docmaking at its best.

In a family market that's been woefully weak of late, Megamind should not only rescue Metro City but the box office, too.

Spurlock is at his trouble making best throughout the film, especially when he persuades longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader by offering him a free pair of Merrell shoes.

This documentary on one of the most universal, photographed, analyzed, opined upon and slavered over human experiences manages to astound.

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.

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.

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 is the perfect summer movie and perhaps the best Pirates of them all.

In keeping with the flamboyant clan of despots that were the Husseins, the drama is ultraviolent and over the top and made absolutely mesmerizing by Dominic Cooper's electrifying turn in both roles.

Whether audiences have the stomach for 150 minutes behind bars remains debatable, but there is no denying the persuasive power of a film that takes no prisoners and pulls no punches.

With a sterling cast and an emotionally powerful performance from newcomer Liana Liberato, Trust packs a real dramatic punch.

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.

A fun and surprisingly affecting little adventure, Kung Fu Panda 2 ranks among the best films DreamWorks has ever done.

The beauty of the film and what ultimately makes it more timeless than trenchant, is the way it side-steps the entire issue of Hanna's sex.

The Guard may be a formula movie but McDonagh does wonders with the familiar character types and action climax.

Particularly impressive is veteran cinematographer Dean Semler's inventive cinematography that manages to put the audience right in the middle of the races like never before.

As in "L'Humanité" and "Twentynine Palms," the director presents a cogent study of emotional excess with a sure handed control that harkens back to Robert Bresson.

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

Veteran British director Ken Loach fields one of his most accessible and lightly-toned offerings to date with this comedy about a football fanatic trying to sort out his life.

Ferrera proves herself to be just as talented in dramatic roles.

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.

Andrea Dunbar's portrait here is unforgiving; comparable to Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest" or Tobias Wolff's brass-knuckled dad in "This Boy's Life."

A whimsical essay about the final days of a villager suffering from kidney failure it is undoubtedly one of the filmmaker's most accessible works.

Monsters is enormously satisfying in the way it combines suspense, romance and sci-fi. It heralds a bright new talent in Edwards. If he can do all this for no money, imagine what he can do with a real budget.

For the small but enthusiastic documentary crowd and the comic's diehard fans, it's a must-see.

Big questions are tackled in this little documentary, the same ones that have been danced with for centuries.

This is one of those movies in which the lead character is so self-possessed, wise, well spoken and witty, that she sounds far too adult to be a teenager.

The action, fantasy and suspense elements are all highly enjoyable, but if the romance didn't work this movie would fall apart.

Adam Green's inventively gruesome slasher is the widest unrated release in 25 years.

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.

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.

Mike Leigh has a knack of making the ordinary extraordinary. Here he deals with themes of class, family and depression over a period of a year, breaking it up into seasonal chapters.

Despite all the boobs, The Change-Up is very fair to its female characters-well, at least to Mann and Wilde, who both ring true, even if Wilde is almost too good to be true...It sounds like a trifling detail, but those details are sorely missing from most "date movies," in which even the women laughing in the audience exit feeling like they're the butt of the joke.

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.

At barely 80 minutes, the film seems like a slight little adventure, but Fleischer fleshes out his twists and turns to make it feel like a fully-rendered story.

A refreshingly pure, honest and original love story, Waiting For Forever is one from the heart with superb performances from a talented cast.

The most surprising courtroom drama since 1985's "Jagged Edge," The Lincoln Lawyer is a don't-miss cinematic page-turner with enough twists to fill five movies.

The deadly sins of envy, lust and salacious gossip in deepest rural England provide the motor for Stephen Frears's black romp, featuring vivacious former Bond girl Gemma Arterton.

Let Me In eclipses "Twilight" in every way, leaving you thirsty for more of this haunting, touching and unforgettable thriller.

In a crackerjack and very lean 100 minutes, the lithe and physically dynamic Jolie burns up the screen and shows the boys how it's done.

Movies don't get much funnier than Ted.

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.

The documentary will resonate with New York Times' readers and fans of personal stories.

A Hitchcockian thriller with a bit of "Unstoppable" and a little "Unknown," Source Code is a pulse-pounding flick.

As divisive as his documentary "Kurt and Courtney," this made-for-British-TV doc by Nick Broomfield begins with the promise of neutrality - but it's a promise the film can't keep.

While it is captivating stylistically, and the primer on the China/Taiwan relationship is great fodder for political geeks, even in its deepest moments of intrigue and pathos this is a cable TV movie at best.

An entomologist's delight, Jessica Oreck's movie about Japan's insect mania is worth watching even if you're repulsed by creepy-crawlers.

Jones delivers her line readings so robotically that even her truths sound like lies. She's got the look of a Hitchcock blonde, and the movements of a deer in the headlights. Even her kisses look fake.

Directors Keith Scholey (who also wrote the narration) and Alastair Fothergill spent nearly three years capturing this remarkable footage, and have edited it judiciously with an eye to entertainment.

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

Fun for every member of the family, despite marketing that suggests it may be intended for only the youngest of the bunch.

Equally nostalgic and fresh-faced, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench is a bohemian musical that owes as much to Cassavetes "Shadows" as it does the French musicals of the '30s.

The unexpected directions in their family dynamics and unflinching scenes of the volatile Marc keep Prodigal Sons absorbing.

There's plenty of atmosphere and awe, even if it's in the service of a story that starts rote and finds its sea legs only when half the divers have sunk their bones to Davy Jones.

While it isn't the only adaptation to give flesh (or ink) to Cleary's indomitable misfit, it's the most accessible retelling to date.

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.

Using clips from home movies, newsreels and public access TV, Davis does a heroic job of bringing the edgy and diffuse mixed-media New York art scene of the '80s back to life.

The Big Year turns out to be one of the smartest and funniest films this year.

Severe Clear provides a view of the early days of the war and reminds you of all the promotion and idealism that conflict came with.

Blend of sardonic humor and bitter poetry.

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.

The Father of My Children is a protean charmer just like Grégoire Canvel, the title character modeled on the late Humbert Balsan.

The film is terrific: smart, sexy and funny.

Eclipse has its cheesecake and eats it, too.

The title's no joke: the film presents Ceausescu as he presented himself to the world and wanted to be remembered.

Just when we thought there were no new twists to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto comes this documentary: focused, sorrowful and revelatory.

This comic fantasy will delight kids and parents alike.

It's easy to get depressed by much of the behavior depicted in Phillip the Fossil, yet the talents behind the picture are a cause for optimism. The last thing they appear to be is hypocritical.

This handsome period piece should develop a strong afterlife on DVD and in schools.

Bhutto's story is an epic one, and Hernandez and O'Hara prove up to the task.

If you're a fan of upper-crust New England intellectuals or one of them yourself, Ceremony is probably your perfect movie.

Whether Rossi's cautious optimism about the future of a legendary but troubled journalistic institution is justifiable is a story yet to be written, but Page One assures us that if the paper goes down, it will go down swinging.

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.

The Rum Diary is so visually enchanting that many viewers may be too lost in a haze of charm to care that the film never develops Thompson's then-nascent wisdom any further than the young writer did in the novel itself.

So satisfying and surprisingly fun.

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.

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

It's funny, clever, touching and real.

Fans of "Train of Life" will undoubtedly embrace the picture's similarly ragtag collection of clever, lovable misfits.

The equally simple and profound take-away from One Lucky Elephant is that the best thing we can do is let Flora be Flora.

An odd little film that aims only to please itself.

The perfect family film in every way, moms, dads, kids and even those Martians are gonna love this funny, warm and wonderful tale.

Cary Joji Fukunaga's romantic thriller Jane Eyre is to 19th-century literature what "Black Swan" is to ballet: a thoroughly cinematic, occasionally exhilarating reimagining of a repertoire standard.

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.

In its small moments, say when Walhberg sighs that his robe misspells "Micky," The Fighter feels clued-in to the very small, very tough world of a man trying to make his way out of his block-and after getting to know his family, you want to help him pack his bags.

David Lowery's St. Nick provides plenty to marvel at.

The most compelling thing about it is what it captures: a snapshot of America's ongoing and endless cultural war at a moment when things begin to shift.

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.