Jeon is played to perfection by the director himself. The spare script effectively funnels audience attention into him, who is never less than engaging.

The Whale is a thoughtful, philosophical, political and ultimately sad documentary that ponders the impulses behind, and advisability of, intense interaction between human beings and another smart species.

As violent, amoral and misanthropic as a Jacobean play, Outrage is Takeshi Kitano's first yakuza flick since "Brother" (2000), and arguably his best film in a decade.

At once impressionistic and precise,The Tiniest Place (El Lugar más pequeño) is a beautifully rendered memory piece that insists on the necessity of memory.

Most magically, if one were to listen to their music but not know anything about their heart-wrenching situation, their compositions sound as if they've come from the luckiest and happiest performers in the world.

It's impossible not to root for these guys, or to leave Undefeated without feeling enormously moved by the experience of their joys and disappointments.

Fast and dangerous, Miss Bala is a hair-raising actioner.

Informative and, especially in its last hour, surprisingly dramatic.

Liz Garbus' documentary tells the compelling and powerful story of the late chess prodigy.

This is awareness-raising documentary cinema at its most urgent and necessary.

Stars Chris Diamantopoulos, Will Sasso and Sean Hayes are on the money as Moe, Curly and Larry in a film containing more plot and sentiment than the boys' shorts ever had.

Carl Colby's deeply felt exploration of his father's life and career is as emotionally, as it is historically, intriguing, even if the filmmaker ultimately admits that he's never quite able to get to the bottom of his subject's enigmatic personality.

Eastwood is vastly entertaining as an old-fashioned scout who disdains computers and fancy statistical charts in favor of his own time-tested instincts.

Wim Wenders' stylish 3D mirrors the bizarrely captivating world of choreographer Pina Bausch.

Stölzl's film falls gently between the stools of high-brow camp and genuine seduction by its many period charms, fine actors and lovely landscapes.

But above all it's a portrait of stunned grief, of the devastation families endure, whether through violence, accidents, illness or incarceration.

While the documentary stops short of hagiography, it offers a delicate portrait of a man with an extraordinarily youthful energy and enthusiasm for music, people and life.

This story of suffering and almost inadvertent humanitarianism is harrowing, engrossing, claustrophobic and sometimes literally hard to watch.

If Lawless doesn't achieve the mythic dimensions of the truly great outlaw and gangster movies, it is a highly entertaining tale set in a vivid milieu, told with style and populated by a terrific ensemble.

Robert De Niro and writer-director Paul Weitz find the most congenial material either of them has had in quite some time in Being Flynn.

The film rips right along and never relinquishes its grip.

Dori Berinstein's tender but sharp portrait finds a lot of depths in the woman whom many see as a camp figure.

Paula van der Oest's biopic of South African poet Ingrid Jonker is conventional yet captivating thanks in large part to a terrific lead performance from Carice van Houten.

It's a pleasure to surrender to the movie's lush visuals, which are accompanied by wonderful jazz classics performed by Valdes, Estrella Morente, and Freddy Cole (Nat King Cole's brother), among many others.

Director-screenwriter Ben Wheatley brings a fresh mystery and bite to the hitman genre, although a deeply weird twist and buckets of gore may throw more than a few audience members.

Arthouse audiences could drink this down like a glass of Chardonnay.

Now Batmanglij and Marling deliver another terrific and engrossing venture into speculative fiction, Sound of My Voice.

Martyn Burke's documentary hauntingly dissects the rise of media mortality in the war zone and the mental disorders that follow.

The filmmaker made the film on his family's tobacco farm so perhaps his own memories may filter through those of his fictional characters. Or maybe they're not fictional at all. Jess + Moss is, to put it mildly, open to interpretation.

Australia may finally have a homegrown blockbuster on its hands with the terrifically engaging Tomorrow, When the War Began, an action-packed war film for and about teenagers.

Aubrey Plaza proves she can carry a film with this multiplex-friendly comedy about time travel.

The world's most famous acrobatic troupe delivers a feast of surreal beauty and moments of breath-catching wonder in the skilfully staged 3D film Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away.

Tom Cruise is in fine form as mysterious tough guy Jack Reacher finally reaches the big screen.

In this intense twist on the American Dream, director Andrew Dosunmu vividly captures the pulsating dynamic of New York city's pan-African community, a robust aggregation that subsists amid an often hostile foreign environment.

While it's way behind the "Pulp Fiction" curve, Seven Psychopaths can be terrifically entertaining.

A beguiling romantic fantasy about the creative process and its potential to quite literally take on a life of its own, Ruby Sparks performs an imaginative high-wire act with finesse and charm.

A few bumpy patches notwithstanding, the new feature is an exquisitely designed, emotionally absorbing work of dark enchantment.

Serves as an amusing itinerary of dining, drinking and sexual dalliance that beguilingly plays with narrative time.

Spectacular rain forest combat scenes are non-stop in an authentic-feeling actioner recounting an aborigine rebellion in 1930s Taiwan.

Frederic Jardin's gripping Sleepless Night maintains a consistently high pitch without growing monotonous.

A pure-bliss celebration of Paul Simon's landmark album Graceland coupled with an interesting if not unbiased look at the controversy surrounding its release.

Well-crafted and intelligent, this film is an illumination of the agony of creation – the self-doubt, the obsession, the life sacrifices – that are the core, not merely the side-effects of those define themselves through "art."

The film's great gift, though, is Romaner. Unbelievably, this is the first film for the Bavarian stage actress. She fully inhabits the role of this complex personality whose passion for love and art collides with her role of wife and mother.

The result is uniquely powerful, putting faces and human consequences to a political dispute that seemingly will never end.

At once entirely frank and downright cuddly in the way it deals with the seldom-visited subject of the sex lives of people with disabilities, this well-acted and constructed film will, at the very least, turn the spotlight on this unusual topic.

Kirby Dick's shocking investigation into widespread sexual assault in the U.S. military is an urgent call to action.

The film has a winning combination for all sorts of platforms as the story is highly intriguing and the music speaks, or rather sings, for itself.

Instantly proves itself an invaluable historical document. Shot verite-style with no narration, soundtrack or other embellishments, Tahrir: Liberation Square simply depicts the events of late January and early February 2011 with a vital immediacy.

This fascinating show-business documentary brings its subject to life, warts and all, in a way that would no doubt have thoroughly pleased him.

It's a marvelously quirky film, with not quite something for everybody.

Nothing about the plot is novel, but the film easily maintains a low simmer that picks up in the final act, as Miller has to fight to keep his sinking ship staffed.

The birds are not only gorgeous but, as they poke for food and rustle around, entertaining.

A tour-de-force turn from the persistently terrific Hugo Weaving lights a fuse under Last Ride, a spare and wrenching road movie delving into the complexities of a fraught father-son relationship.

Likely to spur discussions about workplace safety, employee rights and broader awareness of sexual predation, Compliance is also a suspenseful psychological drama for viewers prepared to tolerate its extremes.

Historical drama set in the early days of the French revolution is intelligent Euro eye candy at its most lavish.

Although there are numerous interviews with various people both directly involved with or peripheral to the action, the most compelling figure on display is a particularly articulate coach who proves all too determined to have his protégé succeed. The fact that he works strictly on commission is certainly no small element of his zeal.

Inherently unpreachy but making its point more effectively than many participants in the debate can, the film should find vocal advocates in a niche theatrical run.

A polished, finely acted tale of love and class in the south of France.

Rising well above the typical making-of feature, the documentary will fascinate buffs when shown alongside the operas themselves.

Overall, the writers have crafted a well-articulated universe with distinct settings and relatable, compelling characters devoted to a thrilling quest for redemption.

While things get a tad buckled town in mayhem and special effects throughout the film’s busy final reels, Wright spends enough time sketching out his mischievous middle-aged men so that their journey...feels worthwhile and even meaningful for a few of them.

Park's unsettling visuals and his handling of the cast make the occasional holes in Wentworth Miller's script practically irrelevant.

A likeably unpleasant slice of adults-only Texas noir, which aims at the funnybone as much as the jugular.

Tony Kushner's densely packed script has been directed by Spielberg in an efficient, unpretentious way that suggests Michael Curtiz at Warner Bros. in the 1940s, right down to the rogue's gallery of great character actors in a multitude of bewhiskered supporting roles backing up a first-rate leading performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Both winsome and sophisticated, Chicken with Plums unfolds like a rich Persian carpet woven of memories and nostalgia in a colorful fantasy Iran of 1958, twenty years before the Islamic Revolution turned the country to somber grays.

A disability-centric documentary that moves viewers without resorting to trite devices, Seung-Jun Yi's Planet of Snail takes a condition most of us would find unbearable and demystifies it while finding room for poetry.

The handsomely shot, expertly button-pushing scare-fest has the polish and the cast to draw older audiences who grew up on shockers built from performances rather than CGI.

Carol Morley's sadly fascinating Dreams of a Life, which plays like a more artful cousin to TV's true-crime documentaries, slowly assembles a portrait of Vincent, unfolding in a way that should earn fans in its niche theatrical run.

In the spirit of the venture, the entire cast gets down and comes off all the better for it. Both Efron and McConaughey get very messed up physically, and both actors seem stimulated to be playing such flawed characters.

Ramping up his style to a more dynamic and elegant level than he’s achieved previously, Fuqua socks over the suspense and action but also takes the time for some quiet, even spare moments to emphasize the hero’s calm and apartness.

Tracing the rise of digital movies via a wealth of charts, clips and candid testimonies, this Keanu Reeves-produced and narrated investigation offers a thorough analysis of what's very likely the most important cinematic development since the advent of sound.

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl excel as, respectively, British wild man and hedonist James Hunt and Austrian by-the-books tactician Niki Lauda.

The film may be too meandering for mainstream acceptance, but its focus will make the Paramount Vantage release connect directly with many baby boomers. It's also a warm, funny, poignant scrapbook that evokes a spirit of youth still relatable in later eras.

Much more than a sports film, The Other Dream Team is a rousing document of how one oppressed country reclaimed its identity and won its freedom in large part through its basketball prowess.

Thorny, blood-boiling and finely made.

It may feel like 'Borat,' but Mads Brugger's documentary is a comical look at an unfunny place.

Making a convincingly assured feature debut, TV and web series writer-director Carey's script nails the raunchy-sweet tone required to bring off this R-rated teen-centered comedy with remarkable charm and relatability, mining a rich vein of girl-centered sexual curiosity and experimentation "loosely inspired" by personal experience.

An intelligent, visually sumptuous drama that embraces the grandeur of the Australian literary classic upon which it's based.

The final stretch of The Battle of the Five Armies possesses a warm, amiable, sometimes rueful mood that proves ingratiating and manages to magnify the good and minimize the bad of the trilogy.

Pulling off a rare three-peat, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a tender, spirited coming-of-age CG-animated feature that proves every bit as emotionally resonant and artistically rendered as its 2010 and 2014 predecessors, if not even more so.

This narrative directing debut by Sacha Gervasi remains absorbing and aptly droll despite a few dramatic ups and downs and, led by large performances by Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren.

A quiet, nearly plot-free drama enlivened by beautifully nuanced performances by its four-person leading ensemble, In Our Nature depicts familiar dysfunctional family dynamics with a welcome lack of melodrama.

The picture is fresh and frightening, a strong arthouse contender certain to leave audiences talking.

Few will fail to be moved by this portrait of selflessness in the face of near insurmountable odds.

A meticulously reported chronicle of a case that shook New York in 1989 and remains a mark of shame on the city ten years after the convictions were vacated, the film incisively documents a travesty of justice that echoes the infamous Scottsboro Boys railroading of the 1930s.

Strong, entertaining portrait of a hard-to-pin-down online phenomenon.

Taken strictly on its own terms, Saving Mr. Banks works exceedingly well as mainstream entertainment.

The feel-good documentary is engaging enough to draw a respectable audience at arthouses, but distribs should work for exposure within communities like the ones this school serves.

Jaume Balabueró's effective thriller Sleep Tight puts more value on slow-building bad vibes than on pulled-curtain shock, but its treatment of mental illness and voyeurism, lightly salted with pitch-black humor, will feel pleasingly familiar to fans of the older film.

Some of these trekkers are more resilient than others, but all seem to agree there's a high, maybe insurmountable barrier between them and civilians. However sympathetic we are, they say, we can hardly understand what they've been through. High Ground makes that difficult task a little easier.

Deep, rich and resonant, Bones Brigade will provide fans with an enticing portal to revisit skateboarding's glory days and introduce the era to a whole new generation of enthusiasts.

Ra'anan Alexandroricz's documentary uses a simple framework - a starkly photographed series of interviews with nine retired judges and lawyers instrumental in administering the often arbitrary laws - to deliver a provocative examination of the nature of justice.

The comedy of errors surrounding the 11 years (and counting) efforts to rebuild the devastated Ground Zero site would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Filmmaker Richard Hankin manages to encompass both aspects in 16 Acres, his strikingly coherent documentary chronicling the tortured process.

More than most adaptations, this is a film true to Shakespeare's practice of employing all means at hand to keep the crowd entertained.

Though this gorgeously animated affair showcases the artist's freewheeling style and colorful arabesque imagery, its rambling episodic structure is not quite the cat's meow, even if it remains a thoroughly enjoyable take on Judaism in early 20th century North Africa.

Upstream Colors certainly is something to see if you’re into brilliant technique, expressive editing, oblique storytelling, obscuritanist speculative fiction or discovering a significant new actress.

Though certainly not for everyone (and not for kids of any age), the regret-tinged film displays a distinctive voice and will be embraced by devotees of offbeat animation.

Another charmingly eccentric exercise in meta-fiction from Portugal's offbeat new directing star Miguel Gomes, Tabu chooses to explore its characters without following narrative rules, or rather, by reshuffling hackneyed tropes from film and novels to turn them into strange, modern entertainment.