The small moments loom large in this moving, bittersweet and often funny documentary.

In Rob Corddry's hilariously manic turn, it has the most memorable showcase for a goofball co-star since Michael Keaton in 1981's "Night Shift."

What finally sticks in the mind about "ZDT" is its precision. What the film says about getting information from terrorism suspects in an era of high-tech surveillance depends on your point of view. What is unquestionable is how powerful its full scope is.

The best movies are ever-shifting, intelligent and open-hearted enough to expand alongside an audience. American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s harrowing meditation on war, is built on this foundation of uncommon compassion.

The film peels back the layers of a mystery. Who knew what, and when? And how could someone choose this path? The film is rich with artfully framed interviews of newly discovered family members, like Reuveny’s quarter-Jewish German cousin considering a religious conversion. Even the music and finely observed interiors are so cinematic that you often forget this is a documentary.

The movie is by turns a romance, a chick flick, a coming-of-age film and even a stoner movie. There’s something for everyone, with the possible exception of cretins who don’t appreciate great writing, casting, directing and especially acting.

A singularly full-hearted and moving film.

Both lovely and wrenching, So Yong Kim's intimate drama feels so honest, it's often difficult to watch.

What unfolds is a smart, tense nail-biter that’s bound to leave some clinging to the shoreline this summer.

Angry, quixotic, tragic, heroic — Crimmins’ life is stunning. Catch this portrait and you can definitely call yourself lucky.

There’s social commentary in all of this, but it takes a back seat to a surprisingly compelling narrative of the two combating teams.

Gordon-Levitt is flinty, and Willis, on his A-game, is fiery. Together, they take us on a helluva trip.

Fury excels in showing the ground-level, guttural intensity and claustrophobia of battle.

Though slickly packaged, Robert Kenner's unsparing exposé is harder to watch than any horror film.

DeGeneres and company make Finding Dory memorable.

All the popcorn movies you're planning to see will still be at the multiplex if you wait another week. This shimmering beauty will be gone in a flash. Catch it while you can.

The film is both heartwarming and soul-shattering. Its theme of an unbreakable bond between man and his best friend is reminiscent of "My Dog Skip," "Homeward Bound" and "Old Yeller."

Director Marc Webb's action-adventure is grounded in a recognizable reality, but is also full of thrills. It's dark and mysterious, but doesn't skimp on fun.

This movie has one of the finest final scenes in a movie this year and, if there were justice, Baetens would break out as an international star.

Though we wander a bit, the trip is a delight, thanks to the witty company.

By far the most rousing, expertly cast movie this year, David O. Russell's movie takes a roundabout way of telling its true story.

A fairy tale about the infinite power of film, it boasts all his swaggering trademarks: rapid-fire dialogue, gleeful violence, endless cultural references. But it's the sharp-eyed deliberation that makes the greatest impact.

Karasawa captures the flinty, ferocious nature of her subject, Elaine Stritch, with just the right amount of clear-eyed respect.

This adaptation of a 10th-century folk tale is less sumptuous than Ghibli maestro Hiyao Miyazaki’s surreal classics, yet it’s also more affecting than most of them. An allegory about the irrecoverable joys of childhood, it may make parents hug their kids now.

Slow West isn’t a grand epic of that genre. It’s more like “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “Dead Man” or the recent “The Homesman,” using familiar signposts to tell a simple, compelling, terrific story.

The wonkiness is at a minimum and Reich delivers it with tales from his own life, since he’s the son of a dress store owner and a mom who helped in the shop. Essential viewing, no matter how you cut it.

Sure, Bay indulges some signature cinematic fetishes. But he shows restraint with the slowed-down, sexed-up shots. War is gritty here, not glamorous. Result: characters, stakes and emotions feel authentic — all the more so thanks to terrific actors including James Badge Dale and Pablo Schreiber as actual ex-military men and family men who battled terrorists.

Gritty, funny, rich adaptation of a Pete Dexter novel.

Ferreras is similarly frank, but heavy doses of humor and empathy, along with gorgeous hand-drawn animation, keep things from getting too morbid.

Thor: Ragnarok, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is so delightfully funny that it’s almost a shame when the film reverts to its campy, melodramatic roots. Thankfully, that’s not hammered too hard.

One drawback: While the swooping and careening visuals capture the depth and darkness of an arena experience, the sound doesn’t. As burly as the acoustics in a theater may be, they’re spindly compared to the sucker-punch fans prize at an actual Metallica concert. Luckily — for its visuals alone — “Through the Never” has enough grit and power to deserve two fists up.

While Spacey, Tucci, and Bettany are the standouts, every cast member locates disturbing notes of villainy or humanity.

It’s rare that a movie with so many F-bombs and drawings of male reproductive organs has such a witty Ken Burns gag. Fist Fight is a knockout.

Not all of the twists work, but most are self-knowing enough to keep you guessing until its (literally) groundbreaking conclusion.

Watch Mulligan's face as she goes from weary to awakened, and see it all come together.

Director Joe Berlinger mixes archival footage, concert scenes, interviews and present-day reunions to meld a harmonious, fair-minded, energetic and enlightening portrait of one masterpiece's moment in time.

There is never a shortage of options if you're looking for an intimate foreign drama about family bonds. But the eloquent insights of director Claire Denis stand alone.

Both charmingly retro (dig that swingin’ score!) and confidently modern (girls run the world!) it’s a hip heist movie with a few laughs and some lovely fun.

Sorrentino’s dazzling tribute to Roman indulgence is a bittersweet, slightly surreal epic.

Though not as impactful as Anderson's strongest works - including its adolescent cousin, "Rushmore" - "Kingdom" unfolds with an asymmetrical lyricism of its own.

This heartbreaking documentary should be shown in every high school and college — and everywhere intolerance is suspected.

Neither Francophiles nor film fans could ask for anything more than François Ozon's latest, a charming comedy.

The very best — and, alas, the very worst — of human nature is captured in this heartbreaking and inspiring documentary.

It's a tough, understated part to play, and Edgerton does a terrific job.

A gross-out comedy motored by girl power that’s funnier than hell. Raunchier, too.

Capturing family on film — the real rhythms of family, with all the annoyances, awkwardness and affection — is tough. Tougher still is wrestling a story around the murky emotional waters of Midwestern relatives. Yet one needn’t be cut from that cloth to see the hilarious beauty, and the beautiful honesty, in Nebraska.

Like so much in this astounding, consistently beautiful and challenging movie, the answer depends on what you bring to it. Think of it as the Ultimate Anti-Summer-Blockbuster.

It's irrefutably art, and undeniably vital.

At its best, this beautiful, off-the-cuff comedy-drama recalls John Cassavetes' shaggiest, most honest work.

Dano, Bello, Howard, Davis and Leo — the last nearly unrecognizable — are equally strong. Villeneuve, whose last film was the Oscar-nominated “Incendies,” uses them all perfectly, and Prisoners works best when it’s not what you thought it was going to be. But even on familiar ground, it’s hard to let go of.

Oduye, especially, is utterly absorbing. Even in those few moments when the movie follows a slightly more straightforward line than it needs, she is always engagingly, beautifully real.

Gradually the film turns its very specific story of one immigrant into a moving group portrait.

This wildly entertaining Bollywood action-comedy, with Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan in two roles, pays homage to such '90s flicks as "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "The Matrix," adding whimsy and loads of heart.

In a nice bit of sorcery, Disney’s taken their 1991 animated classic — and their 1993 Broadway hit — and combined them into a groundbreaking delight, anchored by a breakthrough performance by Emma Watson.

Entertaining, smart and snappy, this terrific doc, a Sundance favorite, digs into the country's use of steroids and how it affects sports, pop culture and the self-image of young men.

Given the evidence compiled here by director Frank Pavich, there’s reason to believe Jodorowsky’s “Dune” was more influential for never actually existing. It wound up being inhaled, like some ethereal alien spice, by a generation of moviemakers.

An absolute delight, as merry as the day is long.

It's an impressive achievement, and even Berg's taste for the obvious — like shots of Old Glory, still waving through the worst of it — can't overwhelm the humanity behind the drama. Real people, real danger — and real self-sacrifice.

Craig is cruelly efficient. Dave Bautista makes a good, Oddjob-like assassin. And while Lea Seydoux doesn’t leave a huge impression as this film’s “Bond girl,” perhaps it’s because we’ve already met — far too briefly — the hypnotic Monica Bellucci, as the first real “Bond woman” since Diana Rigg.

Both leading actors are teenagers who’ve never acted before — and they are both phenomenal.

The film rests, though, on the sturdy shoulders of Chastain and McAvoy. They don’t share the intense chemistry this couple really needs, but they commit to the individual stories with touching persuasion.

There are great clips and good insight, and it’s all as loose and cool as an Austin night out.

This gem captures the unpredictability of a kid’s long summer day.

Terrific and gripping.

It's very funny at times, but it isn't a comedy. It is that very rare of beasts: a new and original motion picture.

As for the ever-impressive supporting cast, neither a delightfully befuddled Jim Broadbent nor a wild-eyed Helena Bonham Carter can upstage Alan Rickman, who again proves invaluable as the slithery Prof. Snape.

This chronicle is impossible not to watch.

We already know Kristen Wiig can act. So the real revelation in The Skeleton Twins is Bill Hader, who turns in a performance so overflowing with poignancy that he deserves to be considered on any early awards list.

You don’t have to be a sports fan or a Cold War buff to relish the compelling political investigation and fierce rink action in this brisk, terrific movie.

A superbly acted and strikingly evocative work, with careful attention to period detail and its many emotional beats.

What the film doesn’t show enough of is how these people got their positions of power. We get much more of the other side, the legitimate scientists, and too much of a magician who pops up to describe cons and double-talk. But he shows how a bunko artist is a bunko artist, whether on a corner or on CNN.

This little gem is best saved for those -- both young and old -- who prefer to find surprises under the tree.

Trier's voice and vision, are thrillingly unique. His ever-searching camera, which never stops moving, takes us into places we've never been, know too well and won't soon forget.

So many horror films trade depth for a thrill. The Babadook has both. It dispenses with cheap scares and draws tension from a slowly enveloping dread. And when you think you know where it’s going, that’s when it goes in for the kill.

Compared to a really great poker game, sometimes “Molly’s” comes up a little short. It definitely keeps you too long at the table. And there are times — like every Sorkin script — where it won’t stop talking. Really, buddy, shut up and deal...But when the chips are down, its stars come through. And in the end, we all walk away winners.

There's never an emotional moment here to compete, or even compare, with his last film, "Boyhood." But there's not supposed to be. Everybody Wants Some!! is as laid-back and low-pressure as a Saturday afternoon at someone's dorm room.

In Linden's assured hands, each character gets just enough time to contribute to the greater whole. They're all recognizable, not as clichés or stereotypes but as realistic individuals.

Like “The Deer Hunter” — from which it swipes its Keystone State milieu, its haunted veterans, and its self-endangerment metaphor — Out of the Furnace gets under your skin.

It is how the film never loses sight of the closeness of the combatants, turning national intimacy into a tragic casualty.

It's guilt that gives life, shape and depth to this uncommonly perceptive film.

It’s hard to imagine the lives behind the voices that are part of the movies. But In a World ..., the debut feature from actress-turned-writer-director Lake Bell, not only gives the people who do movie voice-overs a closeup, it savvily and wittily uses what we hear as a metaphor for what we are.

Galifianakis, though, is the key here. Able to smash a scene to smithereens with the simplest of lines, the hirsute comic is as unpredictable as ever, yet takes director Todd Phillips’ bait to up the stakes.

Fans will want to replay the extensive archival footage over and over. Newcomers are more likely to pause halfway through, search out the superlative soundtrack, and immerse themselves in the music that inspired this rare, fall-and-rise story in the first place.

Just when we thought Quentin Tarantino had shown us all the cojones he has, in rides Django Unchained.

The film treats kids' inner lives as more than a fantasy, which is a rare and beautiful thing.

Meticulous staging and Piccoli's world-weary presence balance any silliness, making the issues here feel relevant and real. The method is not pointed political satire but gentle enlightenment.

The perfect answer to cries of "I'm bored," Marshall Curry's outstanding documentary won't just entertain your family for a little while. It'll also inspire everyone to get back outside, and find a new passion.

The result may be depressing, but the performance footage balances it with rousing evidence of Winehouse’s eternal talent.

More than just a morality tale, The Green Prince is a thrill-a-minute spy caper too strange to be real, though it is.

Perfect for families and exquisitely shot, this entry from the Disneynature division is even better and fresher than last year's "Earth."

This companion piece to Loach’s 2006 drama “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” tenderly conveys the generosity of working people. It’s the last biographical fiction movie the 79-year-old Loach has said he’ll direct.

The film is a mystery uncovered like a detective story, wrapped in a love letter.

History has made his midair stroll meaningful, but the film shows how even then, everyone - from Petit to his accomplices to the cops who were waiting for him atop the North Tower - recognized the stunt's crazy poetry.

Short Term 12 wraps up with one of the most touchingly memorable last moments of any film this year. Despite a title that’s hard to recall, this brief but resonant movie sticks with you.

This full, footage-rich documentary shows respect for the social, legal, political, religious and pugilistic battles of the former Cassius Clay.

The movie loses its way toward the end, shifting from wry black comedy to slightly overdone pathos. But there's plenty here to appreciate, making the title perfectly apt.

We’re not in Disney’s world. Berger knows his Grimm, and he suffuses his entrancing fairy tale with a moving sense of melancholy.

China’s government can’t handle dissident artist Ai Weiwei. He turns every move to suppress him into brilliant conceptual art.