We’ve seen stories like Wildlife done many times before but rarely are they done with such grace and humanity.

The strength of the film comes from the symbolic devices that decorate the strikingly illustrated social ladder.

It’s mostly light-hearted, and sadly the tone can sometimes conflict with the deeper themes the film is trying to get across. But still, this animated movie makes up for any shortcomings with its overall style and atmosphere.

There is still life behind the eyes of each weary face and still deep-felt reasons to strive for a better tomorrow, even in the wake of such destruction and desolation.

The Falling Sky doesn’t spoon-feed you any information; rather, it blows it up your nose. This production, without explanation, works brilliantly in immersing the audience in the electricity of the Reahu ritual. Not knowing what is going on or what is heading towards you instills a discombobulation that allows you to surrender to the void and go with it.

The Lost Leonardo tells the tale of the most scrutinized painting of all time in fascinating, exhaustive detail.

Mickey And The Bear is remarkable, maximizing its heartbreakingly honest script and emotional directing. Bolstered by a phenomenal cast and an ending that will leave the audience breathless, there is not a single misstep in the entire production.

Confirms that despite all the technical tools at their disposal, one thing counts head and shoulders above razzle-dazzle eye candy (or anything else, for that matter): the story and characters, and Monsters, Inc. introduces worthy additions to the Pixar pantheon.

Time Bandits has a wonderful, Zelig-like quality to be whatever you want it to be. Do the diminutive bandits represent the Pythons? Sure, probably, to some extent. Is the film a fairy tale disguised as a revisionist history lesson? Yes, you can see it that way. Does it offer a commentary on the ills of modern society? I think so. Is it a combination of all those things and more? Very likely.

Kurosawa has not attempted to make a thriller but a vivid deconstruction of one.

Does it lose focus from time to time? Sure, and its cumulative effect suffers because of it, but Drljača nails the little moments that matter.

To its credit, Working Woman is laser-focused on its theme. There are no superfluous characters or side-plots. There’s no best friend to confide in, no hilarious sidekick. There’s just a woman who feels all alone like there’s no one she can trust, no one who will understand her.

What does come as a surprise, somewhat, is Fincher’s departure from his clinical precision; he adopts a looser approach here, no less precise, but much warmer than, say, the steel-blue, fierce indictment that is The Social Network. “Photographed in Hi-Dynamic Range” to approximate the look and feel of a late-1930’s feature, Mank is incredibly dense, lush, and extravagant.

The film goes beyond a nature movie with excellent photography and the determination of the animals it documents.

Provides lethal evidence of what becomes of those who deposit their sincerity into the command of a religious lunatic.

Meticulous in its descriptions of well-intended individuals caught up in these ferocious waves of street crime.