It's an amazing slice-of-life story that will make you want to rush home and hug the kids.

As inventive as "Being John Malkovich," as psychologically quirky as "Ghost World" and as honest as the day is long.

If you're in the mood for a horror movie, this ought to do you.

It turns out that puppets can tell us more about who we are as a nation than the most meticulous documentary. In Team America: World Police, the potty-mouthed, crazily brilliant musical from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the result is hilarious, shocking and bound to offend nearly everyone.

Berry gives a riveting performance, but as a deeply decent man trapped in a hell of his own making, Del Toro gives the kind of career performance Berry gave in "Monster's Ball."

Ingrid Bergman makes a charming and beautiful refugee and Paul Henried gives a convincing performance in the role of the ardent anti-Nazi leader. Claude Rains gives one of his best performances as the police chief and Conrad Veidt is properly menacing as the Nazi officer. Sydney Greestreet is wonderful as the slick proprietor of the Blue Parrot and Rick’s rival in the cafe business.

Showing as much courage and talent behind the camera as he has while acting in front of it, Roth has crafted for his first film one of the most bluntly graphic and disturbing movies ever done on the subject.

Eastwood's sepia-toned combat scenes are as graphic, if not quite as jolting, as those in "Ryan." And without a Tom Hanks-size star in the cast, "Flags" is not likely to do "Ryan's" blockbuster business. But "Flags," a true story directed by someone with far more faith in the audience's ability to empathize, is the better movie.

Wrenching performances and painstaking visual and thematic compositions.

A sensational oddity. It sheds light on the creative process, on filmmaking and on the durability of friendship and professional respect despite the odds.

What finally makes the movie so compelling is director Martin Scorsese's scathing vision of New York as a fiery inferno of neon lights and relentlessly hostile populace.

A shocking and hilarious triumph.

Some of the artists appear ecstatically transported as they play. Others are just having one hell of a good time. Believe me, it's contagious.

If only there were a surefire way to describe Guy Maddin's films without scaring off viewers. The quirky Canadian is a genius who produces haunting, exquisitely droll movies that defy explanation.

The perfect sci-fi movie for a post-9/11 world, in that it tells us we're afraid of threats hiding in plain sight.

Breathtaking.

The white-knuckle center of the movie is Sean Penn, who gives an utterly raw performance as Jimmy, father of the dead girl. It's one of the few times that a parent's grief has felt real on the screen through all its ugly permutations.

A perfect blend of summer action, a big movie with a deeply personal story.

Kids and parents alike are gonna dig this wonderful fantasy.

Heartbreaking and hilarious.

"Songs" is a delight. It's a visual feast and often hilarious.

Whether this reserved, hypercautious widower can deal with the arousal she creates in him - let alone be physically able to act on it - is one of the many layers of tension that drive this unusual and absolutely riveting dance.

What fans want are good movies. This one isn't particularly funny or romantic, but it's gripping and tragic. It asks some nasty, yet profound, questions about human desire and behavior.

When director Stephen Frears worked with (Jack Black), he must have yelled "Let 'er rip!" instead of "Action!"

Surges forward with barely a respite. It's like watching a propane factory burn, waiting for the tanks inside to explode, and when they do, we're right in the middle of it.

As gorgeous and gripping as it is faithful to the spirit of Patrick O'Brian's celebrated series of historical novels.

The movie is over in a breezy 112 minutes, but it may be another half-hour before your sides quit aching.

What stands out, not surprisingly, is the work and passion that goes into the shows. But seeing all this from the inside creates an extraordinary level of empathy for those involved.

Funny and masterfully inventive.

One of the best indie films of the year, Humpday is a lighter descendant of "sex lies and videotape," yet burrows just as deep into the male psyche and the human capacity for self-deceit.

This is a movie about the transcendent bond between partners who can communicate without speaking a word, so it’s only fitting that the gorgeous cinematography perfectly captures the movie’s emotional depths.

If you've birthed a tiny human or know someone who has, it's time to find a babysitter, call the girlfriends and get to Bad Moms — the raucous, sexy and crass comedy packed with loads of mother-funny jokes.

A film that's simultaneously heart-wrenching, hilarious and horrific.

The film will stay with its audience long after the closing credits — and inspire a deep hope that a film of its kind never has to be made again.

No movie could capture all the alarming incidents and contradictions that make up the complete N.W.A. story. But in order to stress the group’s most righteous side, the movie downplays their youthful excesses as well as their flagrant sexism.

Thematically tough and emotionally rough, Starred Up is the kind of movie you might enter into with some reluctance. But because everyone involved does such an outstanding job, it's also the kind of movie you won't want to see end.

Zootopia is so well done I forgot it was animated.

Crucially, Cruise knows just how to pace Cage’s shift from cowardly to courageous. Yes, we get cool effects and impressive machinery. But he and Liman add unexpected humor and genuine tension to the seasonal thrill of blowing stuff up.

This is boilerplate rom-com fare with few plot surprises. But thanks to witty dialogue, strong performances and sure-handed direction, the movie’s also smart, hilarious and an absolute delight.

This is crucial work, evidenced by a line on a wall of R.I.P. graffiti that reads simply, "I am next." This film of common folks fighting the seemingly inevitable is just as moving.

The spirit of the series remains true: cheerfully random jokes, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them references and, above all, a silly, stubbornly sentimental streak that only the crabbiest cynic could dismiss.

It’s so much fun you may want to put a few bucks aside for a sequel.

Cloudy 2 is loud, weird and chaotic — just as kids like it.

Kind of like all the other characters Annette Bening plays, year after year - never to nearly enough applause.

An usually insightful rendering of an ordinary family, Hirokazu Kore-eda's contemplative Japanese drama is the sort of movie that makes its greatest impact long after you've seen it.

This extraordinary hybrid of a movie lives and breathes the game, yet its achievement is bigger than that. There's a touch of old-fashioned romanticism here, but more crucially there's strategy going on inside Bennett Miller's movie that turns it into something cool and special.

The gristle inside this movie is one of the things that save it from being simply a series of challenges.

A memorable, monstrous fable that's consistently gripping.

One of the sharpest satires in years.

Rotates around a rusty little robotic hero who's built, as the movie is, with such emotion, brains and humor that whole universes exist in his whirring tones and binocular eyes.

Greta Gerwig is spreading her wings as a filmmaker — and she soars with Lady Bird.

It's a stunner.

Entertaining and smart, with a great, career 2.0 performance from Ashton Kutcher.

The finished "Ring" cycle, a combination of "myth, science and legend" made to order as Wagner imagined it, was unique to every viewer's eye. The making of it will be spellbinding to everyone.

Corporate inhumanity Berlinger ferociously exposes.

There's a wonderfully steely spine inside of Tom McCarthy'sWin Win," but it's hard to see at first because it's inside the doughy, everyman person of Paul Giamatti.

Michael Cuesta's perfectly-pitched indie captures the pain of arrested development with so much empathy and insight, you can't help but root for the unmoored, overgrown adolescent at its center.

True, sometimes director Steven Spielberg lays it on so thick you think he has a trowel. Inspiring scenes are flooded with sunshine. John Williams’ score swells and kvells. (Of course, Spielberg didn’t become America's most popular director by being its subtlest.)

There's no bells and whistles here, no 3-D or useless grey fluff, just Pooh as he's always been, silly and true.

There are laughs in Magic Mike XXL.... But the real eye-openers are the moments of sex-positive, woman-positive and emotion-positive contemplation.

This version feels a lot less like a long advertisement for Lego products than the original, which featured multiple "here's how to build something cool" segments. And "LEGO Batman" uses pop culture better than the original.

This terrific film certainly contains the spark of discovery.

Rory Culkin’s turn in the deeply felt and haunting Gabriel is so powerful you can’t look away.

There are two types of superhero movies: the ones that brood and the ones that swing. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is proudly the latter, filled with high-energy action.

The latest collaboration between Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean") and Johnny Depp is sharp-edged, surreal, and often astonishing in its giddy creativity. What it is not, however, is a family film.

If this lovely tribute sends viewers in search of the real thing, that would be a neat trick indeed.

The comedy of discomfort that runs through Cyrus is often about several things at once. But the most prevalent emotion in this quirky yet genuine movie is the awkwardness that comes with trying to fit into someone else's life.

Gideon’s Army does what the best documentaries have always done: It makes us think about something we’d rather not.

This dramatic thriller finds a spot somewhere between your brain and your stomach, and drills in.

It's always a pleasure to find a family film that respects its audience all the way up the line.

Entertaining, inventive and old-fashioned in the best way.

The movie is so entertaining it hardly seems right to say it's susceptible to holes being picked in it, but it is.

Grumpy T'Challa may be on the throne, but it’s the women who rule. And Michael B. Jordan adds fire as Killmonger.

Both Rourke and Tomei bring a tender, lived-in honesty to their sad roles.

Maguire’s portrayal of Fischer’s volatility, disconnect and inner demons is gripping. It’s his best performance since “Wonder Boys” (2000). Schreiber hardly says anything, yet he’s gloweringly good. He acts with his jowls and brow and swept-back hair, making the sort-of rock-’n’-roll Spassky a polar opposite, but strategic equal, to Fischer. Saarsgaard is also terrific, lending a quiet air of solemnity and thoughtfulness.

A delirious, manic, push-the-limits comedy of gaudy amorality that tests the audience’s taste. But it’s a gamble that works, since you leave this adrenaline trip wasted, but invigorated.

Anyone awed by 1996's "When We Were Kings" - and really, that should be anyone who's seen it - will consider this vivid companion piece essential viewing.

Belafonte still finds ways to address injustice - and now we have over 50 years of his example to follow and his music to enjoy.

Speaking of committed: Duvall, at age 83, nearly steals the show. Always the most inscrutable of the great ’70s actors, Duvall uses his great, unassuming American face to convey pride, confusion, pain and compassion — sometimes all at once.

Gorgeously photographed, and as loosey-goosey as its hero, Captain Fantastic takes some unexpected turns. Is Ben eccentric or irresponsible? Is he raising free-thinking iconoclasts — or training a new generation of Unabombers?

A kind of historical detective story made up of haunting montages, including a theater performance featuring a heartbroken musician that's absolutely chilling.

This may be a sci-fi fantasy about giant man-eating bugs, but it’s grounded in human facts and folly. Little here is safe. Nothing is predictable. It’s surprising how effectively the silence increases the scares, too.

With his second film, Alvarez has mastered the tension of Hitchcock and the misdirection of a magician, proving himself to be a filmmaker of merit even when dealing with more realistic horrors.

Directed by, and starring, Don Cheadle, it's more about truth than facts. Did this all happen just the way it's laid out? Definitely not. But if the notes are wrong, the themes are right.

By the time Barney gets one final, heartbreaking chance to screw things up, this rich, satisfying film has you hooked.

What makes Southside With You work so beautifully is that it could be a romantic comedy about two strangers, but because the characters are based on two people we feel we know pretty well, it adds another layer to the unfolding relationship drama.

Washington isn't a visionary director, something he's proved before in "The Great Debaters" and "Antwone Fisher." But he is a fine actor, and if nothing else Fences preserves his career-best performance, as a loving, bullying, wounded, roaring bull of a man.

This is - allegedly - the final chapter in the series, and everyone involved appears invigorated.

The easily offended will be appalled. The rarely offended may be appalled. But they'll have to stop laughing long enough to realize it.

This is the kind of movie "Trolls" set out to be and with this kind of innovation in animation, it succeeds on far more levels as well. There are just so many laughs to be had but there's also plenty of warmth with a lot of focus put on each contestant's family.

For the uninitiated, this fun French documentary detailing the camaraderie and division between filmmakers François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard reveals a time when "the cinema" was something to get excited about and literally fight over.

This incredibly moving, touchingly honest and transcendent chronicle of how a handful of people coped after Sept. 11 is not only one of the best distillations of that day, but a monument to humanity lost and gained.

Layering his film with the songs that made his subject an icon, Tillman is aware that Biggie connected with his audience because he told stories others instantly understood. Notorious does that, too.

Rodriguez's story is almost inconceivable in an obsessively magnified, heavily hyped Internet era. Which makes it all the more important to be shared. Listen, be moved, and pass it on.

The first film in a while to have a decent heart while quickening your pulse.

The setting and themes are pure Loach, and he’s handled comic scenarios with skill before. But he and his longtime screenwriter, Paul Laverty, have added a lighthearted buoyancy — enhanced by a spirited if obvious soundtrack — that might lead some to call this a feel-good crowd-pleaser.

Every parent in New York should see this movie and then ask why, when solutions exist, our woefully broken school system has yet to be fixed.

For all its venom, “Maps” is one of the more compassionate movies from Cronenberg (“A Dangerous Method,” “Eastern Promises”). The corrosive humor and icy tone eventually give way to melancholy. No one here can be saved.