An exhilarating piece of popular entertainment.

Fiennes and writer Abi Morgan mercifully forsake the gee-golly traditions of similar fame-minded fare...in constructing a narrative as emotionally repressed as its subjects must have been, with each character existing within their own arena of personal and social compromise.

What's best about the film is not the hot romance, but the coldness that lies at its heart.

Don't miss it.

There are some cheap shots, and there's an argument to be made about whether the film is sending up stereotypes or simply perpetuating them. But for every dubious moment, there are plenty that connect.

He’s taken what, on paper, boils down to an extra ridiculous episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and passes it off as high cinematic art.

Like it or hate it, Titanic lives and breathes as a piece of pure cinema.

Given the enormous praise, the film falls short.

An insistent, insinuating film -- both in terms of its plot and characters, and in its impact on the viewer -- Harry's effects are small-scale but so perfectly pitched that they never seem small.

The result is a movie that turns the financial phenomenon of Web startups -- the crazy kids with ideas, and the crazier bankers with more money than sense -- into a moving human drama.

Levinson is at the top of his game with Liberty Heights, his instincts acutely cinematic, his purpose clear.

A very funny film that never sacrifices the lives of its characters to the needs of its story.

Even when it seems mercenary and muddled, X-Men Days of Future Past is enjoyable and well-made and actually about character, a necessary shot of adrenaline born of both inspiration and desperation for a franchise that desperately needed one.

The movie on its own is great, but with this music it's sublime.

The animation is beautiful, the music is catchy and the lyrics are clever.

While it’s only modestly effective at the serious stuff, at least it’s free of sanctimony and preciousness.

Heartfelt and haunting, sympathetic while still aware of the limits of sympathy, Wild incorporates beautiful direction, smart writing and brave acting.

Hanks gives possibly the most compelling performance of his career.

Drags on far too long.

For those seeking even a little adventurousness in their filmgoing experiences, the movie will wear thin very quickly.

Rush is one of those rare sports movies that’s compelling as both a drama and a spectacle.

Undiluted Jackie Chan, not the watered-down stuff he's been doing stateside.

Unlikely to draw the audience it deserves, but those who do see it will have a hard time shaking its gentle, ghostly echoes.

Stars the cult celebrity Om Puri, widely considered by cinephiles to be one of the best actors in the world.

A strange and lovely combination of cinematic nostalgia and offbeat (gay) love story.

The point of this film is the spell it weaves and, by and large, it is successful. It’s the music, it’s the cinematography, it’s the score, it’s Casey Affleck’s hollow speaking voice — they all add up to something that resembles a fever dream facsimile of an eventful movie.

The human imperative informs every aspect of After Tiller, resulting in an unexpectedly warm film.

When the writing is good, Go is good, and when the writing is flat, things fall apart.

If it weren't so pushy about selling itself, The Dish might have been a very special movie.

An often affecting, if standard-issue, Hollywood biopic.

You'll feel moved and uplifted after watching this well-written, funny movie.

Fascinating noir, which will long be remembered for its extraordinary lead performance by Catherine Deneuve.

There's something thin about the picture-both in its ideas and its visual texture.

Cage, not one known for subtlety of late, is truly great in this sad, funny and tender role.

A potent encapsulation of how fame and finance beget fear and grief.

Surely, there will be audiences that see South Park as one of the signs of the coming apocalypse, which may be exactly why another audience finds it so ruthlessly, irresistably funny.

Perhaps you have to have lived through the 1960s to relate.

Show Me Love has the pulse of teen life down-pat, shaming its many sleek and glossy American counterparts at every turn.

The film is starved for the kind of nuance Kore-eda wields effortlessly elsewhere. What’s left without it is something merely schematic.

I’ve given A Field in England two tries now and each time found it to be occasionally ferocious and funny, severely trippy for stretches and at times outright tedious. With that said, I still can’t wait to see what the man does next.

The film is very theatrical and admittedly "staged," but always purposefully.

While the final act might not surprise or stun, it does feature some classic le Carre movements, some trademark Corbijn ease, and a terrifying Hoffman bellowing at the sky – not so bad for just another spy film.

It's not a profound film, but it is heartfelt, and Burns has done his best to keep it clear and emotionally direct.

It gives the audience something serious to ponder. That's rare these days.

An absurdist Eastern European version of "The Godfather," starring the Marx Brothers (and sisters and nephews and...).

This might have been a very good movie if it had lost about one of its three hours.

Delivers its humor with clockwork reliability.

An exercise in outrageous style over substance.

Takes an easy target and turns it into something naggingly weird.

Authentic contemporary heroine.

Simple but charming.

I really wish a younger man than Clint Eastwood had directed it.

Prince Avalanche occupies a strange space between [Green's] broadly comedic fare and devoutly character-driven dramas, and while we’re happy to see him closer to the latter mode once more, let’s hope that he’ll be back in a bigger way the next time out.

This is a story told in shards; Wong is so obsessed with visual details – faces refracted as if in a broken mirror, or fragile arcs of blood being traced out on the pavement by the feet of two feuding kung fu masters – that the story he’s trying to tell is partly obscured by them.

Retains enough of Soderbergh's usual indie sensibility to make some sly but contentious points.

The first live-action endeavor from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is filled with the verve and clarity of his animated action sequences while lending just enough gravity and remote plausibility to the stunts and gadgetry to keep it from becoming a glorified cartoon in and of itself.

Definitely worth a chance: although everyone in this fog-shrouded setting makes grand sacrifices, all you'll lose are a few tears.

A good-natured farce. It's also really, really funny.

A two-hour slice --of comedy pie.

It's Lathan -- with her passionate performance, physical grace and drop-dead-gorgeous looks -- who makes Love and Basketball so entertaining.

A gorgeous dreamscape of a movie...one of the most exhilarating experiences of pure cinema that will be offered this year.

In the House is crafty and juicy and ought to delight anyone whose ever thumped their chest about being a storyteller. I must confess, however, that somewhere in the third act the air started to leak from the balloon.

Strangely enough, this movie provides a lot of the James Bond veneer that has been missing from recent James Bond movies.

Its series of quiet but moving realizations of the utter ubiquity of the Nazi horror in every single aspect of life, even something as hidden as a sexual sub-culture, is powerful indeed.

The kid performances are impressive and the subtext of a region still shaking off the effects of a long-ended war gives seed to some much needed discussion.

Pussy Riot: A Punk’s Prayer is about an interesting topic, but the film itself is not quite up to snuff.

Not as touching or boldly transgressive as its ultra-violent peers.

By no means any kind of masterpiece, but viewed as one might any number of American or European independents of similar theme and nature, it not only stands its ground, but is at times one or two notches better than many of them.

Egoyan and Hoskins fans will definitely want to see this film. Others will feel their fingernails grow as they watch it.

A fascinating portrayal.

Certainly one of his (Scorsese's) most profound works.

Strong, stirring, triumphant and tragic, The Imitation Game may be about a man who changed the world, but it’s also about the world that destroyed a man.

Its honesty and insights are refreshing.

This is a beautiful, surprisingly uplifting movie, made by someone who actually understands people.

A highly recommended treat.

Good luck finding a modern martial-arts epic that can even hold a candle to it.

The script also happens to be quite literate and laceratingly funny, and Damon -- no big surprise here -- turns out to be the perfect actor to deliver Will's zingers.

A mix of forward-looking sci-fi, classic themes, deft plotting and superb writing and direction, Edge of Tomorrow may be the pure-pleasure blockbuster to beat this Summer.

A very small film, as they say in the movie business, but its stylish suspensefulness is nicely leavened by Connell's obvious, and welcome, love for his hapless characters.

22 Jump Street is a success, as there is a little good ol’ fashioned “heart” beneath its post-modern veneer.

Among the stronger American horror films of the year.

Sometimes feels like an acting class gone berserk, with Penn indulging his high-powered cast

This is a pretty leaden cinematic experience.

Like the political turmoil which inspired it, Shadow Dancer is fueled by the fire to do the right thing and the sacrifice that must follow, and for 100 minutes, it’s a crackerjack ordeal to behold.

Although Mansfield Park is an enjoyable film, you can't help but wish that it were as brave, feisty and unconventional as it keeps telling us its heroine is.

Eventually falls into the same candy-coated trap it's trying to expose. But the fact that a movie can acknowledge the trap exists is a step in the right direction.

Love it or hate it -- and I suspect, frankly, most people are going to hate it -- this is like no other film you've ever seen.

Gorgeous and troubling.

If only this movie were rich enough, strong enough to be worthy of this (Dafoe's) performance.

Best of all is a Halloween party where the Falls are complimented on their "costume," then outed.

What we remember are the visions of genius and the total turkeys. Rarely do you get both in the same movie, but director Tim Burton pulls it off in this oddly affectionate bio-pic of Ed Wood.

In a film about how hard it is to know what you want, and then to express it, Swanberg gets to the heart of the matters of the heart with disarming doses of both charm and wisdom.

Sunshine's historical reference-heavy narrative walks a fine line between novelistic tragedy and comically overstated melodrama, falling down on the job more than once.

Taylor’s film so egregiously picks and chooses from Brown’s life that the result is a holey and unsatisfying document that fails to give due respect to much of the singer’s life (especially the more unsavory stuff).

Rarely a moment is ever wasted, a consequence ignored, and though the climax is a corker, the final shot is even better. Prisoners requires and rewards your attention in equal measure. Be ready.

A crowd pleaser, but there's something a bit prim and pre-determined about its conclusions.

Quills -- like the Marquis himself--is a posey, pungent, ultra-theatrical yet weirdly seductive mess which wants to have its cake, eat it too and discuss the whole concept and context of its meal (constantly, contradictorily) while it does so.

The nuanced performances by Maud Forget and Lou Doillon help give Bad Company its extraordinary credibility.