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.

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.

How often can you see Cheech Marin nailed to a cross or Lindsay Lohan in a threesome with Trejo and the actress playing her mother?

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.

Predators is sometimes silly and hardly original, but it delivers the thrills.

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.

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

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

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

Abolishing obvious innuendo and employing a deft handling of script and character, the film has all the fixings to play like a sleeper in arthouses.

As uninhibited as its heroine, this film is full of clever surprises.

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.

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

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

What makes this movie truly special is that the source of Buck's uncanny gift is actually an acute childhood sorrow.

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.

Tirador ’s frenetic style and locale will remind many viewers of Fernando Meirelles’ much-admired City of God.

Writer/director Tim Blake Nelson manages a finely tuned balance that is rare in cinema. Moving from the far reaches of comedy to the nether regions of drama, he never skips a beat or sets the pitch too high.

In his densely constructed and pretty damn brilliant film The Juche Idea, Finn takes aim at North Korean president Kim Jong-il's theories on cinema and how its ultimate purpose is to advance political ideology and party loyalty.

Wacky and good-humored, Go Go has a seductive visual appeal that Ferrara exploits to the fullest.

Country Strong is a charmer that makes you forgive all of its false notes simply because the talent plays them with conviction.

This revved-up movie version offers a perfect mix of non-stop thrills and clever dialogue, mixed with an engagingly light touch. Nobody is taking anything too seriously here, and that's the fun of it.

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.

Educational rather than entertaining.

With his (Herzog) idiosyncratic blend of serendipity, bluntness and mischievous irony, he's able to get at deep questions like no other documentarian.

With the stranger in a strange land motif, the movie plays a little bit like the 2007 Israeli dramedy "The Band's Visit" and Liev Shreiber's "Everything Is Illuminated" rolled into one.

The more traditional haunted house feel and fresh focus should please diehards and pull in new fans.

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

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

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

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

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.

Shutter Island is a bear hug to cinema while it’s also an occasionally tart valentine to genre.

If it is possible to watch this work as a movie rather than using it as a referendum on its maker’s guilt or innocence, the audience that craves mature, sophisticated and grown-up entertainment will find much to admire here.

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

Casting is almost uniformly first rate with Cox, Purefoy and the always brilliant Giamatti providing noteworthy standouts.

Evokes a New York sentimentalist tradition that mixes the edge of golden era Cassavettes with the nostalgia of Woody Allen-all of which owes eternal debt to the western European New Waves and Bergman.

This is Rudd's movie and he once more displays an unerring eye for comedy. He comes at it from an actor's perspective rather than a comedian's and it shows as his character as hilarious as he is credible.

Trachinger clearly has the wit and the talent to do thought-provoking and challenging work. All she needs is a producer with similar aspirations, and she'll be well on her way toward fully achieving the promise on display here.

This charmer about late middle-aged renaissance is pertinent for these times and a perfect summer comedy for grown-ups looking to escape robots and superheroes.

Performances are generally first-rate with Hopkins exhibiting an ease and laid-back approach that serves Adam perfectly.

Wiseman's approach will surprise none of his veteran viewers: no voiceover, no real narrative, just a pure evocation of a place that acts both as a specific site and a microcosm of a larger sphere.

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.

It is a dark drama to be sure and it does carry with it a whiff of disease-of-the-week melodrama, yet there is also transcendence in the tale; as bleak as the film is, it is not without hope.

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.

Fans of the first will not be bored. This Iron Man may not be the Godfather II of comic book movie sequels critics hope for but it is a complete blast anyway.

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

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.

This is a curio that demands to be seen.

The script, from first time screenwriters Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson, takes a predictable premise and gives it surprising depth.

An uplifting, high energy documentary.

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 Book of Eli takes the violent, gritty feel of a spaghetti western, marries it with elements of "The Road," places it in the future and gives it a spiritual twist.

Two hours of femmepowering wish fulfillment.

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.

More than just a jocular account of a musical comedy revue, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop is a snapshot of a unique man's psyche at a very peculiar moment.

Shooting in Calais give Welcome a realistic atmosphere with vivid details.

OKA!, like the mysterious horn the characters hunt, is a real find.

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

Stylish, globe hopping, action-packed comedy that starts at full blast and never lets up.

Shannon makes the man's dilemma plain and moving, and that gives Take Shelter a resonance that last long after the final fade out.

Bottom line: It's a good one, fresh, funny and vintage Woody.

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

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 auspicious, controlled and altogether droll debut film that resembles Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" without being derived from it.

Listen closely, however, and amidst the zingers and world-weary chatter, Chekhov's generous humanism comes through loud and clear.

Katz, however, is great with gentle moments (his most dear and haunting is the final scene), and he handles the balance of mystery and family drama quite adeptly.

Mixing old-fashioned content and state of the art effects, this Jerry Bruckheimer production trades ‘pirates' for ‘princes' to revive the swashbuckling, sword fighting spirit of the sort Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn specialized.

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

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.

Lovers of Hate would be a family tragedy if the immature antics of the three characters didn't send you ping-ponging from sympathetic chuckles to guffaws of disgust.

The best parts of Sparling's script play like an absurdist snuff film.

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.

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.

The film can be dry and a little repetitive. For all of that, it still manages to generate a surprising measure of suspense and it produces outrage in abundance.

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."

A lawman seeking redemption can't seem to escape sin in Ed Gass-Donnelly's haunting, rural drama.

What the film does well, however, is grasp the tone and rhythm of the original comic books.

Although the marketing looks like "Transformers 4," Real Steel is the real deal, a Rocky with robots that ought to have audiences standing up and cheering.

This impressive documentary on rarely seen art will have strong appeal for art aficionados.

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

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

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.

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

A CG-steeped period-piece fantasy that weds whodunit drama and punch-and-kick mayhem.

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

It’s a marvelous document of a still vital musician whose unbending indifference to pop fashion has proven him more creatively durable than any other figure from the golden ’60s moment that gave birth to his career.

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 result is a rather revealing film, not only about Sara and the choices she's made, but about the industry itself, with its contrasting pleasures and pressures.

Don't count on special effects: it has been lovingly and traditionally animated to pay homage to E.H. Shepard's original drawings.

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.

Far more charming, quick-witted and high spirited than anyone could have expected...for a film that didn't screen for press. It's gimmicky up the wazoo (not just 3D, but scratch-and-sniff "Aroma-Scope" cards handed out at screenings) and it's all the better for it.

The mix of groin injury and over-explanation could totally reach 9-year-olds and a greying Atkinson is still relentlessly lovable.

A throwback to classic movies like Charade and North by Northwest where beautiful, sophisticated people answer life-threatening danger with bon mots and ingenuity.

The film is a really entertaining look at the Bieber phenomenon; the music in Never Say Never is great and Bieber proves himself to be the real thing as a musician and performer.

Far from a perfect movie, but there are moments when it comes about as close to catching the visceral kick of the pre-iPod rock experience as any film I've ever seen.

Gingerly pieced together, The Woman with the 5 Elephants has a delicacy and indirectness that's alluring and provocative at the same time.

That Sarah's Key never quite descends into melodrama is a credit to the strength of Scott Thomas' performance, more than to the writing.