The film is dark, both literally and figuratively. Only at the very end do we get a glimpse of the sun.

A classic social drama in the proud tradition of "Norma Rae," "Silkwood" and "Erin Brockovich."

Love, Antosha manages to be both a deeply sad farewell and a fascinating introduction.

Fast-moving, psychologically savvy.

Like a Pixar movie shorn of the cutesy and manipulative aspects that marred “Inside Out,” the animated remake of The Little Prince, hitting theaters and Netflix, is as fragile and beautiful as the beloved rose guarded by the wee fellow of the title.

Panahi is keenly aware of his limitations — both governmental and budgetary — and has crafted a taut, intimate and blood-pumping story around them. Talk about great art being born out of impossible circumstances.

It’s the gargantuan and deeply satisfying Spider-Man: No Way Home in which the former Billy Elliot proves he’s more than a teen idol with a perfect American accent. This time, his Peter’s got gravitas, emotional oomph, brutality, believable love, an anguished scene in the rain! The movie is the actor’s best performance yet, in anything, Spandex or no.

Actors tell us that dying is easy, comedy is hard. But comedies about dying are hardest of all.

It's also a terrific, career-capping role for Eastwood, who claims he's now retired as an actor. He shows off his comic chops more fully than in any film since "Bronco Billy" more than a quarter-century ago.

If Like Someone in Love frustrates, it also has ineffable grace in the framing of Kiarostami’s long, languid shots, the changes he captures in the light, and the way the actors’ smallest movements become fascinating. This enigmatic study of identities built on social deceit offers more than easy answers ever could.

Brutality and tenderness are a potent mix in War Witch.

Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar offers up a grisly Halloween trick-and-treat in his first full-out horror movie, an eye-popping and genuinely shocking gender-bending twist on Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo.''

Literate and engrossing, with excellent performances.

In his fourth outing with the director, cinematographer Andreas Sinanos produces stunning scene after stunning scene, almost as if each frame were a small painting.

An acid trip of a movie about a piece of Los Angeles history that exists no more: the Ambassador Hotel.

The acting is uniformly superb, the camera work and set design are haunting, and The Orphanage delivers well-earned tears at its beautiful conclusion. Go see it already.

All of this is punctuated with refreshingly strange wit.

Best movie I've seen so far this year? Hands down, it's Tom McCarthy's superb The Visitor, which turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star.

Magnificent if overlong and oddly structured surfing documentary.

DiCaprio may well receive a Best Actor Oscar for his tour de force as the conflicted FBI director -- greatly abetted by Hammer (who played the Winklevoss twins in "The Social Network'') in his first major role as the flamboyant but frustrated Tolson.

Packs a dramatic wallop that makes it one of the year's best movies.

A cinematic enchantment, a low-key 1970s-style kids’ movie brimming with sincerity and heart. It’s one of the best films of the year.

"The Sixth Sense" was no fluke. Unbreakable, writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's dazzling reunion with Bruce Willis confirms he's one of the most brilliant filmmakers working today.

Hugh Grant is no less great (and has terrific chemistry with Streep) in his juiciest role in years as St. Clair.

Richard is flawed, never villainous or heroic, and rarely follows his own fervent advice to be humble. You leave in awe of what he accomplished, but not admiring the whole man. Few biopics dare to have layers anymore.

We get to know three of these courageous, funny, smart and perhaps permanently damaged men in a film that largely avoids telling us what to think and makes an effort to get near the truth of the soldiers' experience.

This year's actress to watch is Elizabeth Reaser, who delivers a tour de force as a determined German mail-order bride who comes to 1920 Minnesota in Ali Selim's captivating indie Sweet Land.

Iraqi-Kurdish director-writer Hiner Saleem is in no hurry to tell the story, and viewers drawn in by the warm-hearted tale and charmingly eccentric characters will be in no hurry for the closing credits.