Risks trivializing history and pandering to feminist fantasies, but it may be the year's most fearless movie.

A disturbing and daring thriller with an exceptional performance by 13-year-old Laurien Van den Broeck.

Has a doozy of a surprise ending that doesn't really stand up under close scrutiny - but you'll have so much fun getting there, it's easy to go along with Lee and company for the ride.

A devastatingly straightforward chamber piece that goes straight to the heart of what this city was feeling in the days right after Sept. 11.

Familiar though it is, the skillfully made movie finds vigor in the been-there-done-that.

A pleasingly weird, dryly funny little indie.

The evidence adds up cleverly and the script doesn’t coast on its status as a nice family movie in order to avoid delivering a satisfying conclusion. It’s meaty, like a roast leg of, well, you know.

This multi-pronged labor of love doesn't always work, but it often does, sometimes in ways that take your breath away.

Picture Monty Python writing an unusually odd "Twilight Zone" episode directed by surrealist Luis Buñuel. Or just empty your mind of all sense: This is Rubber.

Sylvarnes, who scripted, directed, edited and photographed this amazing first feature, makes spectacular use of digital video.

Unlike previous glossy docs such as “The September Issue,” Gospel is far more than a dressed-up Vogue infomercial.

On several levels, this film is a real-life horror story that puts most Hollywood movies to shame.

Viewers unfamiliar with the politics of the era might feel lost as the plot unfolds, and the 139-minute running time might be a bit much. But why quibble?

The filmmakers follow this compassionate and articulate man as he returns to Rwanda a decade later to revisit his demons.

Find Me Guilty belongs to the odd couple of Dinklage and Diesel, whose volatile performance finally proves he is much more than an action star.

A smart, dark road comedy.

A thinking man's buddy movie.

From the rapid-fire, purposely unreadable opening credits to the final baby POV shot of a birth, this is a dazzling and brutal exercise in cinematic envelope-pushing.

Only in his early 20s, Zephyr Benson makes a remarkably assured debut as writer, director and star of Straight Outta Tompkins, his tongue-in-cheek title for his past as a middle-class drug dealer in lower Manhattan.

Gogol Bordello plays a mix of punk rock and Gypsy music that recalls the work of the Serbian No Smoking Band. Onstage, Gogol Bordello puts on a visually outrageous show that one member describes as "kick-ass."

A purely entertaining, scary flick will infuriate the culturati who like their movies like they like their Atlantic articles: long and academic. However, despite some issues, this Janelle Monáe film is a breathless watch.

What keeps the movie nervy and kinetic is that, for a good hour, it never seems that Jack and family are anything but average people who somehow manage to survive one hellacious trial after another, even when it comes to having to kill another human being.

It's a credit to the actors, particularly the superb Campbell, that completely preposterous material can be made strangely touching.

The only thing missing is the mud that the big boys love to sling. But the Stuyvesant candidates are kids - give them a few years.

Kaling’s script addresses issues such as sexism in the #MeToo era, ageism and racial prejudice in her disarmingly light and sneaky way.

You'll delight in their friendship - and weep when they're separated by the inevitable.

Unusual and utterly disarming documentary.

Kim's wittiest effort to date, with a wordless performance by Jae Hee that recalls Keaton and Chaplin.

Offers some stunningly beautiful sequences and an engaging, if at times quite dark, story line.

Except when Norton is playing retarded, he and De Niro basically compete to see who can under-act the other. It's positively mesmerizing.

Vastly more explicit (be warned) and intelligent (than "Angel Eyes"). It also leads to much darker - and more interesting - places.

A solidly entertaining if predictable time-travel film that boasts something most DC movies sorely lack: a strong lead performance.

It's like animation come to three-dimensional life, and f/x addicts as well as sci-fi fans will not want to miss a split-second.

Genuinely charming, treacle-free family films are tough to find these days, so I'm happy to heartily recommend We Bought a Zoo as heartwarming holiday fare that even jaded adults can share with the kids.

Frankel has a fine eye for telling detail, and the result, while sentimental, is as irresistible as the dessert cart.

Days of Being Wild is less accomplished than later Wong efforts like Chungking Express and In the Mood for Love, but it's smart filmmaking nevertheless. [19 Nov 2004, p.46]

In Devos’ hard-charging performance, she’s also fascinating, and that’s all a film requires.

Hrebejik directs with a sure hand, deftly balancing comedy and drama in a most involving and satisfying manner.

Less tiring than a three-hour tramp through the halls, and considerably less expensive than a plane ticket, National Gallery gives the feeling of having seen everything there is to see.

Low-key yet has a lot to say about class struggle.

An impeccably acted and directed - but quite icy - portrait of deception and betrayal.

Isn't Allen's finest work by a long shot, but an undeniable part of its fascination is trying to figure out what -- if anything, even unconsciously -- he's trying to say about how he treated Farrow.

If there's an awkward moment, it's the scene in which the monks take part in a sort of Last Supper, drinking wine while Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" plays in the background. You keep waiting for Natalie Portman to twirl into the room.

You would be hard-pressed to use the word "accessible" to describe Film Socialisme, and that's exactly the way the master wants it.

A meditation on literature, love and remembrance that is able to find humor and hope in the dark days of the Cultural Revolution.

Hermila Guedes is hot as the damsel in distress. She carries the movie on her slender shoulders, providing erotic charm and believable acting.

May be the most purely entertaining foreign-language crossover since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

If you’re willing to overlook some monstrously big plot holes and logic gaps, this half-animated Chinese blockbuster is an agreeably bonkers, occasionally disturbing cinematic ride.

Pedro Castaneda, a nonprofessional appearing in his first film, and Veronica Loren tug at your heartstrings with their portrayals of the lead characters.

A pleasing alternative to the season's Oscar-baiting movies.

Fighting arrives fully charged by the charisma of its star, Channing Tatum, who has landed the lead in the upcoming "G.I. Joe."

It's the oldest bittersweet story in the book, of course, but music-video director Marc Webb approaches his feature debut with great confidence, flair and a minimum of schmaltz.

So this bourgeois-bohemian movie is, in a way, as serene in its obliviousness to the exterior world as its man-child subject. It's not essential, but it is endearing.

The presentation is conventional, but the subject matter isn't. Besides, when was the last time you saw anything resembling good news coming out of the Middle East?

Some bits are too stagy, but for the most part this long night feels like an interview that could have actually happened. Miller is so good - dumb, smart, wounded, wounding, a lollipop of sweet poison that you'd buy every day until it killed you - that you feel you not only understand her but all actresses.

A grabber from start to finish that should win new fans for cult-favorite To.

As sensuous as its title, Silk is an exquisitely felt love story that unfolds as delicately as a blooming flower. And as slowly.

It's full of passionate performances (except for the wooden Li), sizzling swordplay, bold and dazzling hues, and breathtaking landscapes.

Like the similar, and slightly superior, "The Conjuring" last summer, Oculus eschews the buckets of gore common to R-rated horror movies and takes a relatively subtle, psychological approach — even if the somewhat disappointing ending leaves the door open for a sequel (or three).

Saraband -- the term means an erotic dance for two -- is like watching four people take turns trying to swim with one of the others clinging to an ankle. It's grim and gripping.

By the time the closing credits roll, you'll be ready to run out and hug a tree.

White-haired Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers -- the group was blacklisted during the McCarthy years -- is in especially fine voice.

It's a sly, low-key comedy in which he casts himself as a neurotic, self-absorbed curmudgeon.

The film leisurely unfolds as a series of vignettes about class distinctions and crime, with an unexpected ending. It is beautifully filmed in CinemaScope and strongly acted (especially by Solha), and makes for mesmerizing viewing.

If you have an appetite for audacious, one-of-a-kind filmmaking, this one's for you. Just don't say you weren't warned.

It's the dancing that makes Pina a visual delight. It should appeal to dance mavens, and to folks who have no idea what a pas de deux is.

There are touching interviews with a couple of former inmates...The most riveting part of The Decomposition of the Soul is their return to the prison, which was closed in 1989 and turned into a memorial to its victims.

The narrative is fractured, David Lynch-style. Everything eventually makes sense -- sort of.

Wanted is like a 12-armed heavy-metal drummer after a case of Red Bull, flailing and thundering through two hours of impossible action.

May be boomer-baiting formula, but this ingratiating, big-hearted holiday treat is as British as plum pudding - and the closest thing on the market to the famous Ealing comedies.

There are family photos, interviews with colleagues, newsreels of early shows, a chat with his mother and vintage interviews with an unbelievably young and sexy YSL.

Legendary hipster filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s wryly funny exercise in genre bending hits so many grace notes it ends up being his most satisfying film in years.

It's a slow, exhaustive and exhausting process that takes a toll on the viewer, despite the intrinsic power of the underlying material.

After 23 years and three attempts, Predators finally delivers a solid sequel to the Arnold Schwarzenegger B-movie classic.

The kind of movie that is beyond criticism.

Leconte turns up the erotic heat in the most gorgeously photographed black-and-white film since Wim Wenders' sublime "Wings of Desire."

This wispy story is distinguished by its sweetness of spirit, and it comes straight from Kold.

May well be the first film ever to show people having sex while wearing gas masks.

A lively and poignant comedy with lots of laughs and juicy roles for a roster of seasoned performers who should be seen more often.

Jokes about flatulence, human excrement and the size of someone's manhood also come into play, but they never cheapen this lush and enjoyable film.

To say that Vulgar is not for all tastes might be the understatement of the year. For starters, this black comedy has a male rape scene that makes the one in "Deliverance" seem mild by comparison.

Bullet Train is a fun flick, to be sure, reminiscent of director Guy Ritchie’s better crime comedies such as “The Gentlemen” with Hugh Grant. But, as the title suggests, it’s louder and faster. And, a warning to the squeamish, there’s a swimming pool’s worth of blood.

Now it can be told. The erotic film "Emmanuelle" helped end the Cold War. That's one tasty tidbit from Disco and Atomic War, a subversively funny documentary.

Delivers its provocative message in the measured tones of a college professor -- yet there's no danger of falling asleep in this lecture.

Unlike "Dirty Harry," this film doesn't particularly have an overt political ax to grind. But it thankfully strips away the veneer of glamour that Guy Ritchie and his imitators have applied to British crime films over the last decade or so.

It's a tribute to Birbiglia's storytelling chops that the most engaging part of the film is when he's talking directly to the camera. The fleshed-out story, with its first-rate cast, almost feels like gilding the lily.

A gritty romp that makes the cliché-prone heist genre feel fresh again. It runs far deeper than any “Ocean’s.”

Noyce paces this amazing story well, and even if his young actors don't seem to have physically suffered as much as they would during such a long journey, he makes extremely good use of the bleak Outback scenery.

Gripping and even-handed film.

Reijn’s film, which was written by Sarah DeLappe and Kristen Roupenian, succeeds in making a young basement horror movie for today. And, as least year’s “Scream” reboot showed us, it’s a genre that’s been stuck for far too long in 1996.

That it is such a powerful and indeed beautiful film is simply extraordinary.

Isn't always easy to watch, but Bojanov's film is so compelling you just can't turn away.

One of the season's most delightful surprises.

As this eye-opening documentary shows, the suits who run MLB are the real bad guys here, treating the aspiring ballplayers as so much sausage.

Combines a wise script with funky performances, especially by Aselton, who could give Jennifer Aniston a run for her money.

A physically impressive, well-acted, sometimes emotionally powerful - and mostly apolitical - re-creation of that awful day that has some conservative pundits praising Stone as some sort of born-again patriot.

A welcome change from horror movies like "Hostel' and "Saw" and their mind-numbing gore and violence.

The dazzling 14-minute chase includes cars, motorcycles, a couple of 18-wheelers - and nonstop martial-arts battles and leaps inside and on top of the vehicles. That scene alone will justify the price of admission for many.