This is an exciting, exceptionally well-made futuristic thriller that also happens to be loaded with lived-in touches and punchy ideas.

Madrid, 1987 operates on a dizzying number of levels - as a romantic comedy, a sex farce, a study of culture clash, ageism and idealism - and the highest compliment you can give this ridiculously talky movie (which plays better if you speak Spanish) is that you're a little sad to see the characters go on their way once they part, probably forever.

This is a gorgeous, flashy, widescreen epic, like "Boogie Nights" or "Casino," about the most essential things in life: Family, friends and love. But most of all, love.

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.

This is writer-director David O. Russell's idea of a romantic comedy, and it's terrific - one of the freshest, funniest, most elevating crowd-pleasers of the year.

Maya is as consumed with finding bin Laden as Jake Gyllenhaal was obsessed with finding a serial killer in "Zodiac," only he was doing it as a hobby.

The experience of watching Funny Games, be it the original or this version, is never forgotten, whatever your ultimate impression of the film.

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

Star Trek Into Darkness gives you an exhilarating, tingle-inducing rush — that rare feeling that comes when a gigantic entertainment is firing on all fronts, exceeding your expectations.

The movie fares less well when the plot and Simon’s neuroses come to the surface, but there is some tremendous suspense in the movie’s final scene.

A funny and constantly surprising exercise in comic tension.

Gere has never been better cast.

Roberts inhabits the character with a gravity and poignancy that she had never even hinted at before.

Often grim, but never nihilistic: Even at its darkest, Dizdar gives the movie an optimistic bounce. The movie is often shockingly funny, too.

Gets everything right.

What Sunshine State lacks in momentum, it makes up for with a Dickensian sprawl of characters -- 50 in all -- who possess the depth and humanity that has become a Sayles trademark.

Sitch keeps the tone consistently light, scoring big laughs all the way to the film's climax.

If this rousing, technically dazzling movie doesn't get you going, then you probably didn't like football to being with.

Its lingering hangover, however, is decidedly pleasant.

There's some genuine suspense in Lantana, including one unbearably tense moment that is worthy of Hitchcock. But the movie's most unnerving aspect is the way in which it suggests true happiness may be impossible to regain once you've lost it.

Swinton single-handedly carries The Deep End past its nagging ambiguities.

All of Egoyan's movies have revolved around characters with damaged, fragile psyches, but rarely have they been illustrated as deftly -- and as gracefully -- as in Felicia's Journey.

Light on plot but heavy on observation: Wang concentrates on exploring the unseen ways in which mother and daughter rely on each other.

Milks Carter's story for maximum "inspirational" value, and at times the movie skirts dangerously close to afterschool-special territory.

Suggests that professional wrestling is more than a multibillion-dollar industry: It's also a way of life.

Although the movie never so much as flirts with melodrama, there is still a bittersweet undercurrent.

A very complicated movie. It is also pretty wonderful.

Lives up to its advance buzz as a showcase for some wonderful performances and a sharp storytelling eye by director Gavin O'Connor.