It's the kind of movie that inspires word-of-mouth recommendations by speaking the international language of culture clash.

Goodbye First Love is like a postcard from a lost Eden, a painfully pure oasis where we're not allowed to linger.

It still has cool creatures and 1960s set design, and the 3-D is the best of the season, but if you try to remember the story or jokes, you'll find that you've been hit by a neuralyzer beam.

Among recent documentaries, First Position soars to the head of the class.

Bernie could easily have gone horribly wrong. But Black and Linklater finesse this tricky material with as much virtuosity as Bernie brings to that broccoli.

This thriller is both skillfully familiar and chillingly strange.

Proficient director Peter Berg ("Hancock") keeps the noise so deafening we can't think about how preposterous it all is.

Too short and undisciplined to be a world-class comedy, but its chutzpah deserves respect.

This is rich material that Moretti mines for both superficial absurdity and deep pathos.

Lacking beef or sufficient spice, it's nonetheless colorful comfort food.

May be too light for vampire purists or fans of the original show, but fresh blood is just what the doctor ordered.

Do yourself and your kids a favor. On the way to multiplex to see "The Avengers," tell them The Fairy is about an all-powerful superheroine. Someday, they'll find the words to thank you.

Damsels in Distress is shockingly tone-deaf. Stillman is still capable of a few amusing quips, but his storytelling is sophomoric.

The fiery finale is good enough to leave the legions smiling. But when a movie is expected to lift an entire industry, "good enough" shouldn't be good enough.

There are enough F-bombs, a couple of chopped-off appendages and a flash of gratuitous male nudity to earn an R rating. But fans of producer Judd Apatow would expect nothing less.

To keep serious cinema from going extinct, this could be sold as "The Hunger Games" cross-bred with "The Lorax," but it's better and more mature than either of those hit movies.

Elles is provocative company, but it leaves us feeling hustled.

The movie is missing the zippy chases and lovable characters of Aardman studio's previous films ("Arthur Christmas," "Chicken Run").

96 Minutes is a mere introduction to Sociology 101, but it's brisk enough to rustle the reading list and keep the conversation alive.

Like a Fishbone show or an LA weather forecast, the dark curtain rises, and there's a promise of more sunshine.

Episodically structured and lethargically paced, the new film attempts to convince us that there's something incredibly charming about an old guy who makes a habit of ogling young women. Actually, the whole scenario is pretty creepy.

An eye-opening primer in cross-species similarity. We learn that apes are violent and territorial but also that they are capable of creativity and tenderness.

Marley is thus a valuable history project but not a definitive or analytical one. For that, we await a film that's less "One Love" and more "Stir It Up."

Despite the crass book promotion, the overlong film is harmless romantic fun that's well played.

Footnote is faintly comic, and director Joseph Cedar mines dark humor from the humiliations of identity checks and pecking orders.

Built on shaky and blood-soaked ground, but if towering technique is all you want from an action movie, then yippee-ki-yay.

This is a film that's not always easy to watch, but just about impossible to forget.

Bully is a good start to a necessary conversation, but its loving voice is likely to be drowned out by haters who hide their own wounded hearts behind Internet pseudonyms and broadcast microphones.