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Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

1. Pink Ribbons, Inc. 2012 You have to agree with the advocates who charge that some corporations are milking cancer. full review
2. What to Expect When You're Expecting 2012 It makes one long for the comparative complexity and subtlety of Valentine's Day. full review
3. Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 2011 It is, like Sesame Street, a captivating story for viewers of all ages. Even those unfamiliar with cherry-red Elmo will immediately fall under his spell. full review
4. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop 2011 Substantially more than a vanity project if less than a three-dimensional portrait of the human stick figure with the shock of orangey hair. full review
5. Cost of a Soul 2011 A haunting and remarkable feature debut. full review
6. Cracks 2011 While Scott's movie has a consistent aura, it lacks a consistent tone. full review
7. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 2011 What the 3-D film lacks in cinematic charm and ingenuity is compensated for by its subject's high-wattage charisma and low-key earnestness. full review
8. No Strings Attached 2011 Kutcher and Portman have terrific screen physics, using their 12-inch height difference to considerable slapstick effect. full review
9. Polisse 2011 The mosaic of cases and caseworkers is like a season of The Wire distilled into two hours. full review
10. Snow Flower And The Secret Fan 2011 A story of much visual grace and, sadly, considerable narrative awkwardness. full review
11. Spork 2011 A potty and potty-mouthed junior-high school musical that is by turns both energetic and slack. full review
12. Super 8 2011 The worst that can be said about the film is that the characters are far more compelling than the mystery they solve. full review
13. 4192: The Crowning Of The Hit King 2010 Narrated by J.K. Simmons, the film is a spectacular highlights reel of its subject's staggering achievements on the diamond... full review
14. Bhutto 2010 While their subject is fascinating and her nation's role in propping up the Taliban has had repercussions from New York to India, the filmmakers don't find a straightforward way to tell Bhutto's story. full review
15. The Company Men 2010 Though not blessed with a cinematic eye, Wells is a gifted storyteller who gets nuanced performances from most of his actors. full review
16. Countdown to Zero 2010 [A] well-researched, anxiety-provoking film... full review
17. Exit Through The Gift Shop 2010 This initiates a role reversal in which documentarian becomes artist and vice versa. full review
18. I Am Love 2010 It is not to everyone's taste. But if you like the lush film operas of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Douglas Sirk, or Luchino Visconti, this one's for you. full review
19. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child 2010 A touching portrait that may not be the last word on the painter, but has facts and context to burn. full review
20. Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work 2010 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is [a] testament to the enduring resilience and indefatigable wit of its subject. Age cannot wither her, nor Botox stale her infinite hilarity. full review
21. The King's Speech 2010 As the speechmaker and his speech teacher, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush elevate each other's game to the stratosphere and beyond. full review
22. Night Catches Us 2010 Making a remarkable feature debut, Hamilton distinguishes herself more as a filmmaker than as a screenwriter. full review
23. Nowhere Boy 2010 Taylor-Wood captures the sounds and textures of Liverpool and Blackpool, where a new beat is playing in the cafes and clubs. full review
24. Rabbit Hole 2010 Wrenching, poignant, and quietly healing. full review
25. Restrepo 2010 In their just-the-facts approach, the filmmakers neither pass judgment on the platoon's mission nor comment on U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. In the filmmakers' eyes, the men came, they saw, they didn't conquer; they do reflect. full review
26. Standing Ovation 2010 A glittery string of backstage conventions. Backstabbing! Pushy parents! Precocious stars! Blind ambition! But if you're a tween (and don't watch Glee), the cliches will be new to you. full review
27. The Tempest 2010 The costumes designed by Sandy Powell - leather gowns and military uniforms, Renaissance in silhouette and detailed with zippers - are the film's most arresting element. full review
28. The Whistleblower 2010 Derives its strength from Rachel Weisz's intelligent performance as the real-life Bolkovac. full review
29. The Art Of The Steal 2009 As a narrative of the facts, it is as one-sided as a plaintiff's brief. full review
30. Bruno 2009 A crude, cringe-worthy, and intermittently funny affair that triggers the gag reflex. full review
31. Creation 2009 While the film's flashbacks and -forwards are disorienting, the performances give the film propulsion and poignancy. full review
32. Crossing Over 2009 A responsible message movie wrapped in an irresponsible exploitation flick that cries fire in a crowded theater. full review
33. Great Directors 2009 Ismailos' 10 mini-profiles might have been better used as DVD extras or a cablecast introduction to an individual director's movie. It's not too late. full review
34. Last Train Home 2009 Fan's fly-on-the-wall perspective enables the viewer to empathize with all the players in the family drama, unlikely to have a happy ending. full review
35. The Perfect Game 2009 A very sweet, very slight family movie that scores smiles and tears of joy. full review
36. Serious Moonlight 2009 More strident than funny, the film illustrates that old French proverb, "Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out." full review
37. Wonderful World 2009 full review
38. Defiance 2008 Defiance is a wobbly stool, a seat propped up by the uneven legs of ethics debate, Holocaust movie and action thriller. Still, the fascination and novelty of Nazi-killing Jews who don't perish in the death camps packs quite the wallop. full review
39. Elegy 2008 The delicious conflict of a thinker poleaxed by his feelings inflames Isabel Coixet's smoldering Elegy, based on Roth's novella The Dying Animal. full review
40. Man on Wire 2008 [A] heart-stopping, knee-buckling and transcendent account. full review
41. Momma's Man 2008 ... insightful and involving... full review
42. New York, I Love You 2008 The result is a dinner of appetizers that are individually tasty, if not completely satisfying. full review
43. Play The Game 2008 Surely, there is a way of expressing the joy of sex without the potty-mouthed dialogue that desecrates the persona of a television and movie icon. full review
44. Broken English 2007 As a director, Cassavetes is a keen observer of character and social interaction. full review
45. Encounters at the End of the World 2007 A contrarian spiritual journey as provocative as it is hypnotic, Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World literally treks to planet's end. full review
46. Evening 2007 Evening might be the most shocking waste of natural resources since the despoiling of the Amazon rain forest. full review
47. No End in Sight 2007 Lucid, concise and devastating. full review
48. Paranoid Park 2007 Intriguing and obliquely involving. full review
49. Phoebe in Wonderland 2007 Barnz has made a poignant family movie that, despite its thematic material and brief profanity, is appropriate for mature 10-year-olds and older. full review
50. Save Me 2007 This earnest, well-acted melodrama has compassion for all of its characters, who include gay men and the Christians dedicated to healing them of their 'brokenness'. full review
51. Trumbo 2007 A ousing documentary as ornery, orotund and captivating as its subject. full review
52. Curious George 2006 When children are so into a movie that they don't make a peep or kick the back of your theater seat, it is a success.
53. Keeping Up With The Steins 2006 Despite problems of tone and tempo, Steins is appealingly cast.
54. Mission: Impossible III 2006 Whatever your feelings about Cruise, Mission: Impossible III is nirvana for thrill seekers.
55. This Is England 2006 Until the final scene of Meadows' edgy, uneasy film, the suspense is killing. full review
56. Brokeback Mountain 2005 Much as it is about love, Brokeback is also a potent study of repression that comes alive in Ledger's shattering performance.
57. Elizabethtown 2005 Not even the soundtrack can save this Crowe effort.
58. Four Brothers 2005 Easily the best 1975 B-movie made in 2005, Four Brothers is a raucously entertaining vigilante film.
59. Grizzly Man 2005 A Shakespearean character study that packs the sheer terror of The Blair Witch Project.
60. Neil Young: Heart of Gold 2005 It's movie and music bliss.
61. Nine Lives 2005 [Garcia] leaves you thinking deeply about these people. And leaves you wanting more.
62. This Film is Not Yet Rated 2005 At its best, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Kirby Dick's hugely entertaining catalog of MPAA follies, inventories the inconsistencies of the institution that has rated films for 40 years.
63. After Innocence 2004 In her clear and compelling film, Sanders lets the innocents do the talking.
64. Big Fish 2004 For me, a Will who wishes she were an Edward, the movie inspired by the Daniel Wallace novel is a minor classic.
65. A Good Woman 2004 It might be empty calories, but A Good Woman is a tasty bonbon, the equal of the recent film version of Wilde's An Ideal Husband.
66. Hotel Rwanda 2004 A gut-punch of a drama.
67. Vanity Fair 2004 The movie has the look and feel of an ornate runaway carriage that cuts its own path through town and country. With Nair at the reins and Witherspoon as the passenger, we are in good hands and spirited company.
68. Vera Drake 2004 Staunton is heartbreakingly fine.
69. Anger Management 2003 Unpredictably funny.
70. Daddy Day Care 2003 I don't know whether [Murphy] has lost his mojo, or just his edge. I just hope he finds it before his next movie.
71. The Hours 2002 Though Daldry elicits brilliant performances, particularly from Meryl Streep and Claire Danes, on balance The Hours is more pretentious than penetrating about existential despair.
72. The Pianist 2002 It is a chilling account, as barren of emotions as a Samuel Beckett play, and yet it is indescribably moving.
73. Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams 2002 To the delight of gadgetheads and the dismay of the rest of us, Spy Kids' paraphernalia is better developed and considerably more fun than its story.
74. Bully 2001 Closer to teen pornography than to teen tragedy.
75. Manic 2001 While it neither succeeds nor satisfies as drama, it's a great calling card for the actors involved, principally Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
76. Bread and Tulips 2000 See Venice and sigh.
77. Happy Accidents 2000 Anderson constructs a story where past and future converge to redefine present-tense romantic anxiety. And in so doing he offers a redefinition of love.
78. Malena 2000 Renato does not intervene to correct the false impressions of the townspeople, nor does he courageously stand for Malena ... What happens instead is far more compelling, but no less merciful and moving.
79. The Original Kings of Comedy 2000 Boasts the highest laughs-per-minute ratio of any in this season's hilarity.
80. Our Song 2000 That rare thing, an American movie that looks at teenagers' life with sensitivity and empathy and humanity.
81. Becket 1964 The pleasure of these two extravagantly gifted actors at the top of their game -- their diction! their conviction! their beauty! -- is enormous. full review
82. Gojira 1954 Morally compelling aspects of Honda's film lost to Americans are now restored.