3602012
Mr. Morgan has written some good movies, notably "The Queen," and Mr. Meirelles has won fans for neo-exploitation titles like "City of God." There's no way to know what went wrong with "360" and whether it was this uninvolving and shallow from the start.
full review
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry2012
The fluidity and convenience of digital moviemaking tools explain some of its freshness, as does Ms. Klayman's history as a budding documentarian.
full review
Bestiaire2012
Mr. Cote ... forces you to look at the often unseen. It may not be pretty, but it is essential viewing.
full review
Brooklyn Castle2012
It's deeply satisfying watching these public school, hard-knock kids win, and Ms. Dellamaggiore knows it.
full review
A Burning Hot Summer2012
Here and elsewhere you linger in moments that, like memories and dreams, can feel severed from storybook time.
full review
Casa de mi padre2012
"Casa de Mi Padre" demands that you not take it seriously, and for the most part that's easy to do.
full review
Cosmopolis2012
Mr. Cronenberg's direction throughout "Cosmopolis" is impeccable, both inside the limo and out.
full review
Dangerous Liaisons2012
Schadenfreude carries a delectable tang no matter the language, and as the history of Hollywood shows, stories about pretty people behaving badly remain reliably alluring.
full review
Deadfall2012
"Deadfall" brings to mind those dark, old-fashioned entertainments in rotation on Turner Classic Movies that suck you in with their genre machinery, sullen beauties and despair.
full review
The Devil Inside2012
Clearly, when a cheapie pickup like "Paranormal Activity," which Paramount released a few years ago, turns into franchise gold, there's just no stopping the banality.
full review
The Forgiveness of Blood2012
The Albanian tradition of blood feuds partly inspired Mr. Marston to make this story, yet what gives it shape are the more familiar conventions of the classic art film, including narrative ambiguity, ellipses and silence.
full review
Headshot2012
A dreamy, elliptical neo-noir about a cop turned killer turned something else altogether.
full review
The Hunger Games2012
Again and again Katniss rescues herself with resourcefulness, guts and true aim, a combination that makes her insistently watchable, despite Mr. Ross's soft touch and Ms. Lawrence's bland performance.
full review
I Wish2012
Whenever its children are on screen, lighted up with joy or dimmed by hard adult truths, the film burns bright.
full review
Intruders2012
It's a pleasure to find that Mr. Fresnadillo has assumed the mantle of horror classicist to make "Intruders," using shadows and directorial sleights of hand to coax forth its slow-building scares rather than just pouring on the usual guts and gore.
full review
Last Ride2012
Mr. Ivin doesn't have a strong narrative line to play with or become distracted by, but he takes off on some lovely detours, whether he's narrowing in on Chook or going wide to take in the world that waits beyond.
full review
A Little Bit Of Heaven2012
A cringe-inducing romantic comedy turned cancer tragedy turned inspirational hosanna about living in the moment, embracing your bliss and other cliches.
full review
Meet the Fokkens2012
"Meet the Fokkens" holds your interest, mostly because the sisters (who turned 70 in May) are good company, no matter who they are.
full review
The Pact2012
In the end, like a lot of genre movies, this one pulls from different inspirations, and so weighs in, by turns, as overly predictable and satisfyingly recognizable (part of genre cinema's one-two punch).
full review
ParaNorman2012
The story, an amusing if not especially fresh tale involving a witch and some Puritans, is principally a vehicle for the movie's meticulously detailed pictorial beauty, which turns each scene into an occasion for discovery and sometimes delight.
full review
Teddy Bear2012
A largely likable tale about a 38-year-old man-child trying finally to grow up.
full review
Unforgivable2012
"Unforgivable" isn't one of Mr. Techine's greatest achievements, but it's engrossing even when its increasingly populated story falters, tripped up by unpersuasive actions, connections and details.
full review
We Have a Pope2012
Mr. Moretti finds broad comedy in the antics of some clerics, who can seem as sweet as children, but in Melville there is pathos and there is tragedy, and not his alone.
full review
The Woman in the Fifth2012
Although Mr. Pawlikowski often shows Mr. Hawke in medium and long shots, the actor draws you close.
full review
Bellflower2011
There's more here than initially meets and sometimes assaults the eye, including the hyperbolic dudeness of it all.
full review
Buck2011
Holds your attention and heart for a tight 88 minutes.
full review
First Position2011
An appealing, largely upbeat documentary about young ballet dancers duking it out, sometimes on point and in tulle, for top honors at the Youth America Grand Prix.
full review
Ironclad2011
The action is cluttered and the story overly compressed, with a lot of yammering about who's aligned with whom and why (no wonder Mr. Giamatti's eyes keep rolling) in between the geysers of red.
full review
The Kid with a Bike2011
A quietly rapturous film about love and redemption from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne...
full review
Knuckle2011
While it's frustrating that Mr. Palmer doesn't dig deep into the complexities of the fights, one of the movie's strengths is the honesty with which he confesses his doubts about them.
full review
The Last Rites of Joe May2011
With a few vital strokes - a long, chilly walk and a tired trudge up some stairs - Mr. Farina and Mr. Maggio bring you close...
full review
Mysteries of Lisbon2011
Made for European television and originally divided into six one-hour episodes, the movie now runs an absorbing, astonishingly fast four and a quarter hours.
full review
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia2011
A metaphysical road movie about life, death and the limits of knowledge, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" has arrived just in time to cure the adult filmgoer blues.
full review
Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow2011
The camera movements are graceful, almost ethereal, yet the objects themselves - with their impastos of organic and inorganic materials, their metaphoric resonances, historical allusions and intimations of war - feel unmistakably weighty.
full review
Snow Flower And The Secret Fan2011
For those who may have wondered if foot binding, wife beating and a crooning Hugh Jackman could fit into one movie, here's the short answer: no.
full review
Surviving Progress2011
Zippily edited and nicely photographed, "Surviving Progress" is a fine summary of a hot ugly mess. But like too many short documentaries, it can't do justice to its complex topic or finally to those of us watching.
full review
Trishna2011
Life is suffering, as the Buddha said (including in Hardy's emotionally grinding novels), but it's more complex and contradictory than the ginned-up realism Mr. Winterbottom delivers here.
full review
Undefeated2011
While "Undefeated" travels well-tilled inspirational ground, it's also an irresistible story of football, faith and the lust for happily-ever-after black-and-white endings.
full review
All Good Things2010
It's a pretty picture or would be if the ominous music and camera position didn't seem directed at the man portentously lurking in the background.
full review
Cave of Forgotten Dreams2010
What a gift Werner Herzog offers with "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," an inside look at the astonishing Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc - and in 3-D too.
full review
City of Life and Death2010
The horrors it represents can be almost too difficult to watch, yet you keep watching because Mr. Lu makes the case that you must.
full review
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer2010
The good stuff, as far as Mr. Gibney's movie and Mr. Elkind's book theorize, involves the power brokers who...might have had something to do with his downfall.
full review
Cold Weather2010
With only the most natural of conversations and an exacting relay of close-ups, intimate two shots and meditative landscapes, Mr. Katz reveals how the self-knowing individual becomes known to others, and me turns into we.
full review
Henry's Crime2010
Its mood is so muffled and point so submerged, it's difficult to see why Mr. Reeves and the rest of the cast pooled their talents to make a movie about a nowhere man going no place in particular in Buffalo.
full review
I'm Still Here2010
Whatever their actual intentions, I'm Still Here does take on, at times forcefully and effectively, the pathological fallout of the Entertainment Industrial Complex.
full review
Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work2010
To their credit, the filmmakers don't try to make her look good, and while they omit some of her uglier routines, they don't (perhaps can't) ask you to love her. That's a wise move.
Rubber2010
By embracing irrationality as his operating principle (or at least by pretending to), Mr. Dupieux lets himself off the narrative hook.
full review
Tiny Furniture2010
By playing a version of herself (and asking her family to go along for the ride), and by closing the distance between art and life, she has gotten at something real.
full review
True Grit2010
The Coens, who like to play with genre, often with giggles and winks, haven't mounted an assault on the western. But in Mattie they have created a character whose single-minded pursuit of vengeance has unmistakable resonance.
full review
Vanishing On 7th Street2010
Working from a script with diminishing returns by Anthony Jaswinski, Mr. Anderson smartly frontloads the movie, drawing you in with long shots of deserted cityscapes, the quiet punctured by periodic bird calls and dog barks.
full review
The Yellow Sea2010
A rush of a movie from South Korea that slips and slides from horror to humor on rivers of blood and offers the haunting image of a man, primitive incarnate, beating other men with an enormous, gnawed-over meat bone.
full review
The Proposal2009
Like most Hollywood romantic comedies these days, The Proposal is all about bringing a woman to her knees.
full review
Alexander the Last2009
Alexander the Last, a 72-minute series of loosely connected scenes, follows an actress's lurching conversations and tentative gestures in life and the theater.
The Art Of The Steal2009
A hard-hitting documentary about a high-cultural brawl.
The Eclipse2009
Makes good on its name by sometimes obscuring its themes and even point, which can have its charms though also severe drawbacks.
full review
Extract2009
Fitfully funny with a low joke-to-minute ratio, Extract plays like two irreconcilable and unfinished sketches, neither particularly fertile comedic terrain.
Five Minutes of Heaven2009
A feature-length talkathon built on a sketchy premise and strong star turns from Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest2009
Feels like the concluding chapter it is, with neatly tied loose ends and closing remarks, though it unfolds as something of a secular passion play.
full review
Ondine2009
In Ondine, a film about a fisherman and a mythical sea creature, Neil Jordan shows his fondness for fantasy worlds.
full review
Vincere2009
A sustained, alternatingly exhausting and aesthetically exhilarating howl of a film.
White Material2009
A striking film filled with images that sometimes reveal their full meaning only when their beauty curdles in the chain of signification.
full review
Diminished Capacity2008
The actors look as if they're having a reasonably fine time, but there's no sense of commitment here, no sense that this was a movie that absolutely, passionately had to be made.
Downloading Nancy2008
Downloading Nancy is a nasty exploitation flick tarted up with art-house actors and psychobabble.
Harvard Beats Yale 29-292008
Kevin Rafferty makes the case for remembrance and for the art of the story in his preposterously entertaining documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.
I Sell the Dead2008
A fine pair of grave robbers, (director) Mr. McQuaid and (producer) Mr. Fessenden plunder freely from the movie crypt, unearthing other chomping, glowing mysteries and monstrosities.
Momma's Man2008
A touchingly true film, part weepie, part comedy, about the agonies of navigating that slippery slope called adulthood.
Theater of War2008
In his inspired, inspiring essayistic documentary Theater of War the filmmaker John Walter jumps from art to history and politics and back again.
Unmade Beds2008
A lovely, somewhat messy movie about lovely, messy young lives.
Boarding Gate2007
Boarding Gate plays with various genre codes and conventions very differently than most run-of-the-mill modern thrillers.
The Devil Came on Horseback2007
Brutal, urgent, devastating -- the documentary The Devil Came on Horseback demands to be seen as soon as possible and by as many viewers as possible.
Evening2007
Proves that not every book deserves its own film.
The Order of Myths2007
Wise and soberly affecting documentary about the separate but unequal Mardi Gras festivities that take place each year in Mobile, Ala.
Paranoid Park2007
Paranoid Park is a haunting, voluptuously beautiful portrait of a teenage boy who, after being suddenly caught in midflight, falls to earth.
Colma: The Musical2006
An itty-bitty movie with a great big heart, Colma: The Musical is about how we learn to give voice -- joyfully, honestly, loudly -- to the truest parts of ourselves.
Copying Beethoven, (Klang der Stille)2006
In Copying Beethoven Ed Harris proves an ideal substitute for the deaf, brooding composer, acting with a violent turbulence that sometimes floods the room.
Last Holiday2006
This story of a gentle soul (Queen Latifah) who learns to live only after learning of her imminent death is as witless as it is formulaic.
Mission: Impossible III2006
Although he slams into stationary objects with his customary zeal, Tom Cruise is off his game here, sabotaged by a misguided attempt to shade his character with gray.
This Is England2006
A modest, near-flawless gem, This Is England is a humbly, if insistently political, autobiographical homage to a lost world of youth.
The Treatment2006
The Treatment is a movie with its heart and head in the right place. Too bad its aesthetic sensibilities and technical coordinates are not as well situated.
Kill Your Idols2004
S. A. Crary's music documentary examines New York's No Wave scene of the late 1970's an offshoot of punk, the anti-New Wave.
CSA: Confederate States of America2003
Satire via sledgehammer, Kevin Willmott's fake documentary imagines an alternative American history in which the South won the Civil War.
I Like Killing Flies2003
A quick-sketch portrait of Kenny Shopsin, of the legendary or notorious, depending on your experience, Greenwich Village eatery that bears his name.