Filled with horrific but colorful anecdotes, director Joe Berlinger’s incisive look at the mobster life of Boston career criminal and FBI informant “Whitey” Bulger is essential viewing for fans of lurid, true underworld tales.

Much like “La Belle Noiseuse,” the 1991 Jacques Rivette film it resembles, this contemplative drama washes over you.

All of the actors' vocal performances are spot-on, including McAvoy's gentle Arthur, Nighy's salty GrandSanta and Ashley Jensen's cute stowaway elf Bryony, a chipper little pixie that would make Rudolph's pal Hermey proud.

The cast hits the right notes. Fraser, switching between affable good sport and heroic goofball, clearly doesn't mind this stuff. He realized early on with "George of the Jungle," "Dudley Do-Right" and the "Mummy" movies that his B-movie build and persona is perfect for live-action cartoons.

Hoult's genuinely awkward charm and Palmer's tomboyish wholesomeness disarm an audience overfamiliar with this story. The two ably communicate the primitive and irrational feelings of falling in love.

The performances save the movie from a treacly inevitability.

The actors make the raucousness feel as easy as the cinematic couples therapy.

Monument Valley makes an appearance, and there are soulful moments of slow motion. There’s enough heart here to make up for whatever first-timer miscalculations ride along too.

Filmed over six years, “Ashes” is joyous and uplifting, full of spirit, memorable athletes (including Olympian Adrien Niyonshuti) and remarkable achievements, both big and small.

Ridley and Benjamin have done more than capture Hendrix’s moves and sounds. They’ve captured his spirit.

Though Argento and Aattou lack the searing chemistry needed, the social politics are consistently intriguing, and everything - not to mention everyone -looks absolutely stunning.

You can get a little lost following the chain of drug dealers who Lila and Eve gun down. Then again, narrative coherence isn’t really the point. What is vital is Davis’ wrenching performance as a mother who’s done everything right, but remains powerless to keep her children safe.

The success here is mostly due to nuanced performances and an appreciation for what these kinds of films require.

If you wait for the grift, you’ll only be disappointed. There are no jolting twists or shocking reveals. The reward lies mostly in accepting each character on his or her terms.

Where Sissy Spacek seemed otherworldly and haunted in De Palma’s film, Moretz (“Hugo,” “Kick-Ass”) is sadder. She’s a terrific young actress.

There's no denying that paparazzo Ron Galella is a New York character. What's at issue in Leon Gast's entertaining documentary is whether he's an artist or a creep.

The final result somehow undersells a man whose life and death were watershed moments in the gay rights movement.

It's Franco's straight-faced turn that grounds this proudly lowbrow caper from his "Pineapple Express" collaborators, David Gordon Green and Danny McBride.

There's nothing in director Ryan Piers Williams' script that elevates this film above others with similar themes. But his heartfelt approach can be seen in the committed cast -- led by O'Nan but also including ­Valderrama, whose quietly ­authentic work is a nice surprise.

We could have lived without another ’90s-influenced exercise in gritty wonderment. But thanks to a perfectly-matched lead, Shia LaBeouf, the movie makes enough impact to justify its existence.

The result isn't bland, but it's not exactly Bond either.

All those who have to drag themselves to work every morning will surely find some comfort in Seth Gordon's cheerfully outrageous revenge comedy, Horrible Bosses.

How much control are you willing to cede when you see a movie? Because director Radu Mihaileanu is fiercely determined to manipulate your every emotion.

A Dangerous Method concerns itself primarily with sex, but what's most shocking is how conservative it turns out to be.

"This is a woman's trip," it is announced in Tyler Perry's For Colored Girls, and how you respond to those words will likely determine how you respond to the film itself.

Hartley fans will certainly see his influence, especially in dialogue and movement that are so precise as to feel choreographed.

Ouija: Origin of Evil offers some easy scares and cheesy fun, but if nothing else, it gets points for not losing sight of its characters amidst those scares.

Though Mann and Perry are game, it's Efron who carries the movie.

If you can look past the annoying quirks, you'll probably have a good time. As Steve says, sometimes, it pays to compromise.

The movie is tense and coiled for its first hour, then becomes routine in its second half.

Sokolinski, a French pop singer better known at home as Soko, is fully in tune with Winocour’s sharp vision. Her intense, almost accusatory turn feels like the opposing image of Keira Knightley’s intellectual neurosis in 2011’s similarly themed “A Dangerous Method.” Where that film found some lightness within the dark, this one drags an historic darkness into the light.

As the unpredictable, mischievous inmate with the unlikely name of Emil Rottmayer, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s sidekick role in Escape Plan may make audiences weep for the films we missed out on while he made speeches in Sacramento.

As seen in Charlie Victor Romeo (code for “Cockpit Voice Recorder”), the events are almost unbearably gripping.

There’s a potentially fascinating series waiting to be mined here, even if it is buried beneath bland visuals and a pedestrian script on the big-screen.

With a snappy score made up of American standards and tons of Gallic spice, “Love” wins us over.

Though Nair leaves us guessing as to Changez’s motivations, she also uses a pretty heavy hand in laying out the movie’s themes. The changes between the novel and the screenplay are equally unsubtle, especially in regards to the ill-conceived romance.

A frenetic, overstuffed but imaginative fantasy.

While their story is feather-light, Khoury and his actors have each type down perfectly. Worth seeing with friends, but you won't want to make a date night out of it.

Haywire, clean and no-fuss as it is, needs more action scenes to match Carano's game.

This unhurried, novelistic movie is worth looking into.

Just when it seemed Hal Hartley was going to be forgotten, along comes the Long Island-based auteur’s terrific new feature. It’s a follow-up to his opus “Henry Fool.”

Sophie Barthes directs this gloom-laden English-language version of Gustave Flaubert’s novel. The tragedy accelerates impressively, but the well-acted film doesn’t leave us wiser about the enigmatic, ever-doomed figure at the center of things.

Though based in truth, Mark Jacobson's script is built on age-old clichés. And nobody knows how to end the film, so it just fizzles out.

To outsiders, in fact, Breaking Dawn: Part I will probably look like the weirdest, most expensive chastity commercial ever created. But Meyer's massive fan base will see something else entirely. They'll see a faithful, well-made depiction of the most eventful book in a beloved series. They'll see the actors they adore embodying characters they cherish.

Writer-director David Riker's film is tough going, but worth it.

Queen and Country features characters from the earlier movie. And it’s good. But “Hope and Glory” it is not.

You won't find a tale more true to our city than the extraordinary history of Pale Male. It's just unfortunate that Frederic Lilien's documentary is as clunky as his subject is graceful.

Birbiglia is a great storyteller, but not a natural actor. Matt should really be played by someone with more skill - and by someone in his 20s, rather than a 33-year-old who pretends to be in his 20s by acting as clueless as possible.

Kline sinks his old smoothie teeth into the part of Flynn, but is careful not to draw blood too easily. The man’s pathetic nature, after all, doesn’t spring from his movies. (Flynn worked right up to his death, in 1959.) It’s deeper than that, but also more shallow. Walking that knife’s edge is a trick. Kline finds exactly the right path.

This mundane romantic comedy is notable for one reason only: its leading couple.

This insightful doc from director Andrew Rossi addresses topics that get more polarizing each year: the high cost of college, the factors that dictate who’s educated in this country and the culture that surrounds those decisions.

If you flinch at "boo," you'll find plenty to jump at here. Just don't expect striking originality, or even genuinely memorable eeriness. Still, every time "Dark" starts to feel like a generic thriller, it's saved by the distinctive stamp of co-screenwriter/producer Guillermo del Toro.

There's not much to the movie, in which we watch the participants crack jokes and complain about their in-laws over corned beef. But when the diners include Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, director Arthur Hiller ("Love Story"), "Animal House" producer Matty Simmons, and anachronistic announcer Gary Owens, it's worth pulling up a chair.

It's a stinking good time - for the kids, at least.

Where the film fails, ironically, is in the central love affair. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is undeniably gifted, but his Stravinsky is a blank, stoic presence only comfortable at a piano.

There is a train-wreck quality to this film. The story is so astounding, you can’t look away. But as a documentary, there are so many questions both unasked and unanswered that it feels more like reality TV, mostly about the spectacle.

It can sometimes be hard to sit through, but another song is coming soon, and anyway, close your eyes and imagine you're on vacation, sipping vino in a piazza, soaking in the street life.

Often insightful and more than a little depressing, this is a story that only gets uglier as it goes on.

While Sigman conveys a credible state of tense disbelief throughout, it's increasingly frustrating to watch Laura so passively accept her dire fate.

Some of the accusations feel more sordid than satisfying.

Challenging and thoughtful, but is also, like its characters, a prisoner of its own anger.

The moments when Spy falls apart are when the film fancies itself the real thing. The times when it works are due to its leading lady.

Though Alvarez keeps us watching, he takes no real chances. Buried under all those enthusiastically mangled bodies is the comfort of familiarity. He may have intended to remake a single film, but we’ve seen this movie countless times before.

Hellion is a glimpse into rural American childhood that’s both tense and melancholy.

Has moments of power that push through a fake-out script.

Coco’s angry frustration, Pug’s bruised confusion, and the police helicopters constantly hovering above the defiant bikers say enough.

The real star, though, is the ocean itself, which is so stunning in its furious majesty that we fully understand every risk they’re willing to take. Finally, a 3-D ticket worth paying for.

Younger kids looking for the cute connection between hesitant teen Hiccup and his loyal dragon, Toothless, may be stunned by the film’s violent tone. At the same time, it’s the unflinching edge that gives the film its unexpected depth.

Barratier directs with a jaunty artifice more typically seen on stage, but with the exception of Arnezeder, his cast turns theatricality to its advantage. They're offering us a sunny fantasy during a cloudy time, and seem well aware that we're unlikely to resist.

It’s worth seeing Robert May’s vital judicial expose — not only to learn about the titular scandal, but also to appreciate both the highs and lows of human resilience.

Upstream Color is weird, but it’s worth the time.

Whether the young ensemble attains it remains to be seen. The standouts, though, are Naughton, Pennie and Perez De Tagle.

What we really want is to get to know them. Instead, the film too-aptly reflects life in their line of work: brief interludes rather than intimate soul-baring. That's a shame, since there can't be that many 70-year-old identical twin prostitutes with a 50-year history in the business.

The movie's no knockout, but at least it gives us one good performance, and one great one.

At first, Elie Wajeman’s moody French drama looks like so many other stories to come before it.

The movie could have gone several ways, too — and it is heartbreaking to watch this ambitious story choose the wrong one and get lost in space.

Only in its final scenes do the usual WKW themes emerge in full bloom, but purists shouldn't miss it.

Jackie Chan's cameo as a monastery cook is a tiny joy. To see Chan use his once-great physical skill on a hunk of bread dough is to see a giant work in miniature.

Director Ryan Murphy achieved a major casting coup in landing Julia Roberts to play Gilbert - or Liz, as she's called here. As it turns out, though, a lesser star may have been a better choice.

Just as precise and self-consciously precious as predicted. Which doesn't mean it hasn't got moments of charming wit buried under all its archness.

One of the world's top disturbing tourist attractions is now finally getting the spooky film it deserves

Director William Eubank seems more concerned with building to an epic, superpowered ending rather than anything making a lick of sense. In the spirit of the characters and audience, though, it feels right.

Morris mixes piercing sit-downs with disturbing evidence. Though soldiers, including the notorious Lynndie England, express remorse, it's haunting to hear how several prisoners were "nice guys" or known to be innocent, yet no connection is made between those remarks and the images of torture.

Kiefer and Donald Sutherland share emotionally taut scenes set in lush, mountainous country. They both look great and act well.

A limited amount of original footage -- awkwardly enhanced with reenactments -- gives the film a somewhat narrow focus. But in a way, the dry tone fits.

Though there's too much movie-style self-deception, Sheridan is excellent, and his scenes with the consistently engaging, criminally underemployed Campbell Scott are subtle and serene.

First-time feature director Omid Nooshin deftly downplays his budgetary limitations. He creates a sense of tension on the confining set and draws as much as possible out of a strong cast, led by Scott.

To see these children of waitresses, salon workers and fathers on disability burdened because they stepped up is humanizing and heartbreaking.

At heart, Middle of Nowhere offers material we've seen many times before. But between her perceptive direction and Corinealdi's layered performance, this modest, micro-budgeted story has been beautifully packaged.

Director James Gray is best known for hard-edged dramas like "Little Odessa," so it's surprising to find he has such a well-developed romantic side. This isn't your average date-night flick, though.

Lengthy clips of leaders including Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael bring us back to emotional moments in this country's history.

In the end, you get a Sunday morning sermon when what you really want is a Saturday midnight screening.

In his directorial debut, Krasinski doesn't seem to believe in his hideous men so much as he appears intimidated by them.

Despite the genre and setting, this is still very much a performance piece, and Lively is more than just a pretty face and bikini bod. She has to do a lot with very little to work with other than a scene-stealing seagull.

What Pete's Dragon lacks in original plot, it makes up for in heart

Director Chen Shi-Zheng's film has a graceful energy, and three strong performances help make this serene drama - and its shocking conclusion - quietly moving.

With musical numbers and fight scenes as big as its heart, director Nikhil Advani's action-comedy really does sample it all.

Without excessive emotion or drama, director Javier Fuentes-León's film - and Mercado's performance - gently captures the power of emotions whose silent rattle is even stronger than reality.