Crucial viewing for realists and alarmists both.

These three films (adapted from David Peace's novels by different directors), each a singularly gripping work, together form a towering and emotionally complex achievement.

Hudson, taking over the role of Effie played on stage by Jennifer Holliday, is in charge of Dreamgirls from her opening scene, blowing away Grammy-winner Beyoncé Knowles, Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and anyone else who gets in her way.

It stands alone as the best "Star Wars" entry since 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back." Yes, it's that good.

The result is an often-anguished monologue built on pride, despair and self-defense. Accuracy aside, Tyson does work hard to analyze his own, clearly complex character. So while we only get half the picture, it makes for consistently compelling viewing.

The Two Towers moves faster, covers more ground, has more action and -- with the introduction of the marvelous character Gollum -- packs some much-appreciated laughs.

Argo is movie magic. Ben Affleck's third directorial outing, is an entertaining, real-life, race-the-clock thriller that nabs you at the start and never makes a wrong move.

There’s never a false moment.

It's impossible to imagine how the action genre would have developed without Akira Kurosawa's watershed 1954 movie Seven Samurai.

A great movie -- and the best movie ever about the '70s rock era.

We're exhausted because we laughed so much and so heartily at City Lights that we feel considerably weakened. Here's praying that we fast regain our strength so that we may journey to the George M. Cohan theatre to see Charlie again - and again - in this new heart-breaking masterpiece of comedy which he offers pantomimically to a worldful of movie-goers...City Lights is excruciatingly funny and terribly, terribly sad. It makes you chuckle hysterically. You have the greatest time imaginable, and yet, occasionally you find little hurty lumps in your throat.

Gorgeous, fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful.

This is a great and glorious movie, and its makers have a right to be proud of themselves.

Joachim Trier's energetic, inventive debut takes such a novel approach to well-worn themes that it makes most movies look downright lazy.

As far as its entertainment value goes, the picture should be a smash hit, as its impresario has inveigled so many of the top players of the day to put in an appearance on the screen, that it is the most star-studded film of all time. It is also an eye-filling travelogue, an exciting adventure and a very funny film.

"Letters" isn't about numbers or the battle or even the morality of war. It's about the sanctity of life and how we value our own.

The dialogue is superb and the situations natural. The comedy touches are delightful. They spring from the inherent character of the people in the story, rather than the obvious contriving of playwright and director...A satisfying, heart-warming, deeply moving picture.

The most gorgeous movie of the year. This smashing martial-arts romance from Chinese director Zhang Yimou is stunning in other ways, too, like the eroticism that ripples just beneath the surface.

With his rapid-fire delivery and big heart, Rockwell makes Owen his version of “M*A*S*H”’s Hawkeye Pierce, but the film’s layers of well-observed truths go deeper than that.

Every scene has its highlights, from amusing observations about sex to poignant truths about parenting and partnerships. But what you'll remember most is the exquisitely lovely final scene, in which Cholodenko reminds us that all we need is a single moment of perfection -in a family, or even in a film - to believe that somehow, things will always be all right.

This heartbreaking and essential look into the lives of those who put so much into educating other people's children ought to be seen by anyone concerned about the fate of the public school system, and the nation as a whole.

Director William Friedkin, with his scrupulous attention to detail, his determination to convey a sense of realism, achieves such startling effects that one comes away almost completely convinced of the possibility of demonic possession. His movie rushes headlong towards a blood-curling climax (the actual rite of exorcism), a series of scenes so powerful it leaves the audience limp and exhausted.

The picture sparkles with witty dialogue, titilates with droll situations, stirs the heart with its story of the metamorphosis of a London guttersnipe in a fine lady, and its romantic intervals glow with warmth and charm that fascinates the audience.

Delpy and Hawke, who’ve invested this trilogy with the fine shadings of life lived, do extraordinary things with small moments.

It’s a pleasure, all too rare, to watch two splendid actors pitted against each other with equal force such as Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in the exceptional murder mystery, In the Heat of the Night. Over the years I remember a few extraordinary cases of this kind - Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable in “San Francisco.” Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins in “The Prisoner,” Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole in “Becket.”

The vastly divergent paths of Assange and Manning make up the most fascinating aspects of this relentlessly compelling film.

A critic trots out the word "masterpiece" at his own peril, but there it is.

There isn't a dull moment in the picture.