A tough psychological drama, it may stretch some audience sensibilities.

Smart, empathetic and wholly believable.

This is strictly talking heads fare, broken up with movie clips, stills and home movies; fortunately, Jack Cardiff's ephemera are better than yours.

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

Writer/director René Féret tells the absorbing and ultimately tragic story of this gifted young woman now forgotten by history.

Ultimately, the film is made for longevity, like all the best Disney titles are. However, it's also a ready-made Broadway show, with numbers, dialogue and even drama-club histrionics all pre-packaged for immediate adaptation to stage.

Compellingly taut and existentially thoughtful, this exceptional Euro-American hybrid is perfectly pitched for the kind of crossover success previously enjoyed by Guillaume Canet's 2006 surprise hit "Tell No One."

Cody's snappy, spot-on writing and Reitman's clear-eyed direction should suit audiences looking for a black-as-night dramedy with bite.

The movie is really best enjoyed as a fun little addendum to a profanity-laden chapter in New Media history.

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.

You'll be happier with the film if you don't expect fidelity to source material, but that doesn't mean you'll hate it if you loved Niels Arden Oplev's movie.

Though Warrior excels at the big stuff-fighting sequences and rousing crowds and victories that all but force audiences to stand up and cheer - the film is at its very best in the small moments, the little looks.

The movie, largely improvised and totally believable, is often very funny, and the glimpses of life inside what remains a very repressive regime are fascinating, but in the final analysis, despite a fairly grim denouement, there's little here you haven't already seen in Hollywood flicks like "Singles."

This drama is something of a miracle itself: a film dealing with religion that is refreshingly free of dogma.

Though rife with clichés, Starry Starry Night has just enough nostalgic melancholy and quiet whimsy to make its coming-of-age narrative and elegy to childhood emotionally and visually compelling.

Some may say giving Mr. Killen screen time equals a bully pulpit, that it would be reckless and cheapen the heartfelt message. To the filmmakers credit they offered generous portions from both sides.

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

This oddball tale of life on a snowy mountainside is consistently upbeat and surprising, with action intensity that stays sturdily at "Goonies" level.

Most of its truth (and any irony) is undercut by director Vikram Jayanti's fawning approach.

Some points are driven home over and over again and that repetition robs the doc of a bit of its power, but overall Countdown to Zero is effective and frightening.

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.

Stylish and funny.

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."

To say the movie is understated is an understatement, yet it’s justified.

While it matches "Pygmalion" and "Educating Rita" in topic and pedigree, Queen to Play merely hints at plot points and character development, which leaves it to coasts on the reputations of its stars.

With a powerhouse cast that also includes Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, Ben Foster, Anne Heche, Cynthia Nixon and Ice Cube, the carefully crafted and trenchant drama will appeal to more audience members than it will to critics.

This is Steven Soderbergh at his best delivering a gripping, chilling and powerful movie experience that will have audiences talking (and freaking out).

Don Hahn’s documentary is an animator’s attempt to invigorate what is otherwise a dry story.

Though less splashy than "Red Cliff," or for that matter "Hero," or even "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," the picture nonetheless embraces a classic melodramatic approach to an otherwise familiar Ching Dynasty tale, delivering one of the most bracing Asian period films in many years.

Reilly delivers another one of his trademark "nutty pal" performances that continue to win him fans.

The drama boasts a stellar cast, exquisite performances and a tense atmosphere. It is a film that the author's fans and lovers of mature, measured storytelling will embrace.

Unbeatable entertainment if you want to climb on board for the ride.

There's no denying the film's refrain that legends are lessons, but Brave is sadly remedial.

Enter the Void was never going to be another "Avatar." It won't be another "Irreversible" either.

While the anthropomorphism Joubert employs to tell the lions' story may strike some as cloying, ultimately that doesn't distract from this tale of survival in an inhospitable environment.

The juxtaposition of the tragedy and the lunacy of the circumstances are not completely disparate; satire is an appropriate weapon here, but it's the drama in Peepi Live that truly resonates.

The Sleeping Beauty lacks either the dramatic intensity or the sexual frankness that drew attention to her previous films "Fat Girl" and "The Last Mistress."

While this film has the trademark Solondz black comedy, it does not probe into deeper emotions as successfully as "Happiness" did.

The premise is fetching and feels like a mystery, particularly as the film orchestrates its story to make the work of the Alps group seem like a kind of heist.

The bad news is that if you haven't seen "Thor," "Captain America" and "Iron Man 2" - that's six hours and three minutes of homework - The Avengers won't make sense. The good news is if you're a human under the age of 45, you probably already have.

A messy if initially intriguing take on sci-fi-underpinned high school angst for the vlogging age, Chronicle eventually grows repetitive and stale.

Aimed at kids, Arthur Christmas could be a little trying if you're over 10, but if you want an easygoing flick to get you into the mood for the holidays you could do a lot worse.

The work is a brutal rite of passage that will click with anybody who has put it all out there and lost once, twice or thrice. And still got up to face the music again.

Notwithstanding Steven Soderbergh's name among the nine credited producers, this is strictly mid-level assembly line product, designed to ride entirely on the modest marquee value of second-tier or past-prime stars.

The film is at once clever, poignant and timely.

The result is a lively mix of informative and enlightening storytelling, with a healthy dash of poignancy.

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

With first-rate performances from Sean Penn and Naomi Watts and a compelling script, this suspenseful, taut drama should keep audiences nailed to their seats.

Films have punctured The American Dream before, but rarely so devastatingly as The Company Men does.

It's worth remembering that eleven years passed between "Judy Berlin" and 3 Backyards, both of which earned Mendelsohn best director prizes at Sundance.

Put simply: Scott Pilgrim is a blast! The total package is a wildly comic journey into the head of a true original. If you are under 25 you will find all of it really, really funny.

Further exploration of this psychological question might have made for a more substantial, less enervating artfilm. One less liable to be experienced as an approximation of cinematic waterboarding.

The entertaining non-stop action has the potential to give the film wide cross-over appeal and cult status.

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.

Unsurprisingly, the strongest moments of the film are musical.

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

A surprising follow-up to Doremus' low-fi but equally concept-driven 2010 Sundance feature "Douchebag," Like Crazy has appealing performances, a notable tone of realism in the acting and so many borrowed mannerisms from better or more interesting films it feels like a YouTube mash-up made by a Wes Anderson junkie who's studying Sophia Coppola movies while writing a term paper on "Garden State."

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.

A fascinating, strangely funny and remarkable film about events so incredible you'll likely have a hard time believing what you see onscreen.

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

The feature directorial debut of Martin Zandvliet, Applause has moments of flourish and moments that reach towards something as pared down as Thea's play.

Leon Gast's profile of the photographer is not devoid of entertainment value or unhelpful in understanding the history of photojournalism, however, the movie is as ephemeral as one of Galella's snapshots of a coked out, B-list celeb exiting Studio 54 circa 1975.

A superb ensemble cast makes the most of the comedy's numerous detours and storylines.

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

With the best use of motion capture yet, Spielberg has translated the story of the youthful Tintin, his spirited pooch Snowy and the eccentric Captain Haddock into a first class action adventure that serves as the perfect cross between "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Spielberg's own "Indiana Jones" series.

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

Uncomfortably tense but worth savoring, particularly because of Tilda Swinton's devastating lead performance.

The overarching lesson is twofold: environmental issues are never as simple or as cut-and-dried as we would like, and the first order of business is to get the science right.

Williams embodies Margot's inner turmoil with an unfussy sense of terrified instability.

Strictly for patient, gay-friendly audiences, this drawn-out melodrama about an ageing drag star in overstays its welcome.

Although its claims about Hildegard's modernity and relevancy should be taken with a grain of salt, one readily imagines Vision attracting a cross-section of the curious, not limited to feminist cinephiles and true believers.

The case may be plausible, but Gibney's method - a singularly unimaginative trawl through archival footage and listlessly edited talking heads - is life-sapping to watch, and his editorial contributions laughably literal-minded.

A powerful and provocative look at the seismology of the Iranian social order and the connective tissue that sustains Iranian women in particular.

Compared to this summer's grab bag of superheros vying for a franchise, the apes rise (pardon the pun) to the challenge of making us care.

The sweetest runaways you'll ever meet are pre-teens Kylie Lawless (Kelly O'Neill) and Dylan Dunne (Shane Curry).

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.

With high production values and a glossily enjoyable mise-en-scene, the film is watchable.

While the film is likely to find outright rejection among those who remain jittery with each turn in the War Against Terror, it should find a warm reception with fans of dark, outrageous humor.

The film reaches way beyond the usual activist crowd by making itself as formally compelling as it is tightly argued.

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

As entertaining as it is educational.

The film is light-fingered and charming.

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 superbly well-crafted film, faithful to its cultural and cinematic heritage, and easily one of the most enjoyable entertainments of a still nascent 2011 post-holiday season.

A movie whose confusing narrative and at times intriguing parts are at war with each other, and never quite gel.

The film has a narrative grip and pitiless portrait of idealism run amok that's hard to resist.

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

Surprisingly, George Clooney's direction is somewhat underwhelming with crucial conversations oddly lacking in tension.

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.

Cairo Time remains smart, compelling and appropriately sad at its finale.

While the scenario has all the smirking charm of Stillman's earlier movies, the sobering realities of off-campus life are never even alluded to, and the humor of insularity eventually becomes stifling.

Like Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There"-which never once came out and said the name "Bob Dylan"-Nowhere Boy bites its tongue and refuses to say "The Beatles."

Barney's Version is one of those rare films whose caricature of life undeniably illuminates. It's the vivid story of the topsy-turvy character so flawed you love him despite yourself.

A clearly personal effort, Somewhere demonstrates Coppola's featherweight touch with big subjects like identity and human connection.

July has mounted a surrealist fable about the delicate balance between relationships and the inner monologue inside each lover, with its incessant demands and individual needs. Unevenness is an aesthetic here - not so much a flaw as a conscious choice.

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.

Plenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time.

A charming oddity, a character-driven drama with just enough fringe genre elements to both enhance and distract, though ultimately hewing closer to the former to make the latter only a minor annoyance.