It’s a tale as messy as its muddy fields, and it’s a must-watch.

While I needle “Conclave” for being far from realistic, its meticulous detail is evidenced immediately by the ceremonial removal of the papal ring from the corpse and the sealing of his apartment. Visually, the entire film’s a stunner.

It is not only an amazing technical accomplishment, it's also the wittiest and best-voiced animated movie to come along in years.

Beautifully composed, The Last Mistress, Breillat's 11th film, deals with the theme she has put forth in such previous work as "Romance" and "Fat Girl": how women deal with sexual desire.

The slacker comedy-drama-romance-whatever Gigantic will fulfill all your alterna-movie weirdness requirements.

The film's disclosure that Camorra money is involved with the reconstruction of New York City's Ground Zero will give viewers something to think about.

Similar to the recent Emmanuelle Devos drama "Gilles' Wife," but it's as cool as that one was melodramatic.

Sincerely directed by one woman (Phyllida Lloyd, who did "Mamma Mia!") and smartly written by another (Abi Morgan), the film stars an unsurpassable Meryl Streep, whose ability to empathize with her characters has never been more gloriously impassioned than it is in this titanic performance.

After winning raves at last year's New York Film Festival, Pablo Larrain's Tony Manero, from Chile, is receiving a run here.

Not since “American Movie” has there been such an entertainingly clumsy, warts-and-all documentary about making a movie, this time courtesy of Cincinnati filmmaker Tom Berninger.

Perhaps the sharpest casting is J.K. Simmons as a gruff wedding guest named Roy, who got trapped in the time-loop earlier after a misguided cocaine binge with Nyles. He pops up occasionally to hunt Nyles with a bow and arrow or a shotgun to seek revenge. You will cherish the 65-year-old Oscar winner’s interpretation of being high on coke.

The less you know going in, the more you'll enjoy it. Suffice it to say that it's a hugely entertaining thriller disguised as a chick flick.

Not a film for all tastes, but it's a considerable artistic achievement.

It could turn someone who never heard of the Flaming Lips into a devoted fan.

Brilliantly idiosyncratic.

A brutally funny deconstruction, a hybrid of “Watchmen” and “Superbad” filtered through John Woo. It’s a boisterously original piece of entertainment . . . that isn’t for everyone. Note the rating, which should be triple-R, as in Really, Remarkably R.

Dizzy with celebrity, New York society and gay life (if all that isn't the same thing), Infamous is more fun. But "Capote" is a better movie.

Schrader's strongest movie since "Affliction," is another meditation on American masculinity powerfully told with great wit and style.

Even with his clothes on, this is Mortensen's best and richest performance, worthy of serious awards consideration. He lends a moral complexity to Eastern Promises that makes it much more than just a very accomplished action thriller.

Director Marc Silver expertly interweaves the courtroom drama and its larger social and human connotations.

This is a guy comedy being mismarketed as a chick flick, complete with a poster that looks like a page from Lucky magazine.

Davis, a hugely underrated actress..., is deadpan perfection as Joyce, wearing oversized glasses and a wig that makes her look like an older version of Thora Birch's character in "Ghost World."

Not only does Black Christmas provide real chills, it introduces devices - like the opening, which is shot from the slasher's point of view - that inspired John Carpenter's Halloween and countless genre flicks to follow. [20 Dec 2009, p.61]

Much of the plot stretches credulity, but the way it's constructed keeps tension high.

Gut-Bustingly funny moves are pretty rare, so hustle over to Kung Fu Hustle, actor-director Ste phen Chow's exhilaratingly hilarious and affectionate send-up of Hong Kong action flicks.

The twists are executed superbly, right up to a climax that fits the David Mamet definition of what makes for a perfect ending: It is both surprising and inevitable.

It’s the darkest, scariest and undoubtedly finest acted of the entire detective series.

Not many people are making silent horror serials these days, but Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin pushes his love of lurid melodrama to the limit in his latest demented treat, Brand Upon the Brain!