Shot mostly in black and white and imbued with a romanticism that's at once nostalgic and exhilarating, Tetro sneaks up on you. What threatens to be a mere exercise in style proves to be as involving as it is inventive.

A comedy of discomfort -- and one of their (Coen brothers) best, most insightful and most provocative films.

Involves the gradual revelation of the hopes, fears and insecurities of well-observed characters.

Up in the Air may not end up as the best picture -- that will be decided by the Academy -- but it has landed in the middle of the discussion because it's laser-focused and right on time.

The combination of a literate script, an adroit cast and an economical style is simple addition that achieves an alchemical feat: the best film of the year.

An exciting cloak-and-dagger thriller.

A stark, contemplative and hauntingly brilliant film.

Bursting with smart dialogue, surprising situations and humor that springs from richly imagined characters.

The success of the three, separately screened films -- the first set in 1974, the second in 1980 and the concluding segment in 1983 -- depends not on their specifics, but on their ability to sustain an atmosphere that's appropriate to the dark but haunting story.

Essential viewing for art-film buffs and crime-flick fans, but also for anyone who's looking for a great story, terrific acting and masterful filmmaking.

Sophisticated comedies have gone out of fashion, largely because Hollywood finds it easier and more profitable to simply gross out moviegoers. But Please Give has real class -- and for that it deserves our gratitude.

Winter's Bone is the best film of the year.

The Kids Are All Right probably could have used a few more scenes to come to an even more satisfying conclusion. But it's a terrific film anyway.

Nev and the filmmakers prove to be charismatic, and at times hilarious, investigators of the unfolding mystery.

A film that's at once timely and timeless.

An exhilarating balancing act, at once a science-fiction romp, a paranoid thriller and a philosophical treatise.

Beauty comes to us unexpectedly. That's the message of Poetry, a Korean movie about an aging housemaid that turns out to be one of the best films of the year.

The Tree of Life is a religious experience. Overtly. Audaciously. Unashamedly. No film has ever reached as high toward the face of God and, in our commodified future, few are likely to try.

A lovably quirky comedy-drama with a rhythm all its own.

With such supercharged material under the hood, a magnetic man behind the wheel and a nimble director manning the pits, Senna is simply the greatest sports film I have ever seen.

Into the Abyss makes a strong case for the inhumanity of capital punishment, regardless of the crime or the criminal.

The film is a raw, unsparing look at the downside of humanity.

The result, Pina, is the most spirited and spectacular film about dance since Robert Altman's "The Company."

That action is bloody, but Fiennes' choices as director are unassailably apt and artful. Coriolanus is a triumph.

The best film of the year and perhaps the purest love story in cinematic history.

Not just a reboot - it's a rejuvenation. From the first image of sensory awakening to the final acceptance of adult responsibility, it pulses with the warm blood of a very human hero.

The conclusion of Christopher Nolan's superhero trilogy is a hugely ambitious mix of eye candy and brain food. If it doesn't have the haunting aftertaste of the previous serving, that's only because Nolan couldn't clone Heath Ledger. But beefy substitute Tom Hardy is a hell of a villain.

A cinematic miracle, a film that carves out a vivid space that has nothing to do with wizards or extraterrestrials, but quite a lot to say about the fantastical creatures that roam through the humanity in us all.