An excellent legal thriller elevated to superb drama by the actor's (Clooney) central performance.

With a steely, unblinking resolve, Downfall stares into the abyss, but does not pretend to comprehend it.

You also see a man, flawed and imperfect, finding his way through with his music, constantly searching for his place in the world.

An artsy bore.

Impossible to resist.

Even for a sport already filled with horrific accidents and tales of unlikely survival, the mountain-climbing nightmare told in Touching the Void is astonishing.

A portrait of a family reeling with pain and resentment -- and rising to the challenge of dealing with it head-on.

The movie is enchanting yet strangely menacing, and it becomes clear that Pawlikowski is no mere love fool.

The Dark Knight is dark, all right: It's a luxurious nightmare disguised in a superhero costume, and it's proof that popcorn entertainments don't have to talk down to their audiences in order to satisfy them. The bar for comic-book film adaptations has been permanently raised.

You could describe Read My Lips as a love story, but that would make the movie sound much more conventional than it really is. See it now, before the inevitable Hollywood remake flattens out all its odd, intriguing wrinkles.

Although it deals with some monumental themes, Mademoiselle Chambon also feels wispy and inconsequential.

Might have been unbearable if Linklater hadn't filled it with so much self-deprecating humor, undercutting the pretentiousness whenever it threatens to become too thick.

Here is an excellent crime thriller made with grown-ups in mind: Yep, it must definitely be fall.

An exuberant, disarming entertainment.

It's a punchy, straight-up genre picture, a crime drama that might have once starred Charles Bronson or Steven Seagal.

It just requires an open mind, a love of film and a willingness to dream.

Juno comes on all wisecracking and aren't-we-clever, but don't be surprised if you find yourself getting choked up -- with happy tears -- by the end.

Although it is structured like a thriller, and its plot dominated by Benjamin's detective work, The Secret in Their Eyes is really a cautionary tale about the consequences of a life of too much apprehension and propriety.

There isn't a moment in the entire film that doesn't feel genuine.

What makes Master and Commander so bracing and transporting -- what makes the movie feel unlike any adventure film you've seen before -- is the precise detail and care with which Weir places us aboard the HMS Surprise.

The Secret of Kells manages to feel simultaneously old-fashioned and mesmerizingly modern,and the slight story at its center has the emotional weight of a classic fable: A boy's wild, fantastical adventure, simply told.

This is more of a poignant, haunting study of well-intentioned but doomed folly, embodied by a heroine whose bravery renders her blind to the world that is crumbling around her.

No is an exploration of the power of the media to manipulate hearts and minds. The moral of the story: Always go positive.

Blancanieves is funny, inventive and daring enough to change the story’s ending, going out on a note of bittersweet, unexpected melancholy.

Django Unchained is the most brutal film Quentin Tarantino has ever made. Unlike "Kill Bill" or "Inglourious Basterds," where the violence was thrilling and carried a visceral kick, the carnage here is often ugly and difficult to watch.

Mendes' approach to action is classical and elegant - no manic editing and blurry unintelligible images here - but what makes the movie truly special is the attention he gives his actors.

The Wrestler presents a fascinating peek at the workings of the pro wrestling industry (the tenderness and humor the athletes share backstage is the complete opposite of the ferocity they display in the ring).

Delivers an even bigger sugar rush than the hit Broadway musical.