With a tour-de-force performance from James Franco and an imaginative shooting style that relies on two cameras and inventive angles, what could have been static and deadly dull comes blazingly to life in this powerful and compelling story of one man's will to survive.

With Natalie Portman dominating the action and exhibiting a screen maturity not seen from her before, this all-stops-out Grand Guignol melodrama exhibits more than enough blood, sweat and tears (emphasis on the blood) to score nicely beyond the ballet crowd.

Michael Apted opts for a certain dated and mannered appeal with a whiff of nostalgia for more innocent times, which lends added enchantment.

Barney's Version is one of those rare films whose caricature of life undeniably illuminates. It's the vivid story of the topsy-turvy character so flawed you love him despite yourself.

On the heels of another revelatory turn in True Grit, Bridges is sensational again, here in a groundbreaking performance.

This intelligent, emotional drama should resonate strongly with fans of character-driven stories and those interested in tales of American political struggle.

Ultimately, the film is made for longevity, like all the best Disney titles are. However, it's also a ready-made Broadway show, with numbers, dialogue and even drama-club histrionics all pre-packaged for immediate adaptation to stage.

The absorbingly bittersweet result ranks as one of the best non-fiction films of the year.

With first-rate performances from Sean Penn and Naomi Watts and a compelling script, this suspenseful, taut drama should keep audiences nailed to their seats.

Ford is hilarious and brooding, deeply wrinkled and deeply intimidating. He's got the best lines, courtesy of screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna (of the repellent "27 Dresses" and the much better "The Devil Wears Prada").

Leyser has done his job with this, his first feature, burnishing Burroughs' legend and making manifest the enormous shadow he still casts over writers and artists of all stripe.

Great as it is, this is not a ticket buying kind of movie.

It's important to note that Waste Land is not a landscape film about the landfill itself. Instead, Walker, who also premiered a second documentary at Sundance, "Countdown To Zero," about the threat of nuclear proliferation, shows that Waste Land is ultimately about the pickers, Tiaõ, Zumbi, Suelem among others, who rise up through the power of their own artistic accomplishments.

Monsters is enormously satisfying in the way it combines suspense, romance and sci-fi. It heralds a bright new talent in Edwards. If he can do all this for no money, imagine what he can do with a real budget.

In a family market that's been woefully weak of late, Megamind should not only rescue Metro City but the box office, too.

For all lovers of old style animation it should build up the same cultish following as "Triplets."

As in "L'Humanité" and "Twentynine Palms," the director presents a cogent study of emotional excess with a sure handed control that harkens back to Robert Bresson.

Mike Leigh has a knack of making the ordinary extraordinary. Here he deals with themes of class, family and depression over a period of a year, breaking it up into seasonal chapters.

Films have punctured The American Dream before, but rarely so devastatingly as The Company Men does.

A refreshingly pure, honest and original love story, Waiting For Forever is one from the heart with superb performances from a talented cast.

Big questions are tackled in this little documentary, the same ones that have been danced with for centuries.

Kids will fall in love with it as a movie treat full of heart, laughs and fantastic songs, and it could have crossover appeal as a Valentine date night treat thanks to all its pointy-hatted romance.

The film is at once clever, poignant and timely.

A whimsical essay about the final days of a villager suffering from kidney failure it is undoubtedly one of the filmmaker's most accessible works.

The action, fantasy and suspense elements are all highly enjoyable, but if the romance didn't work this movie would fall apart.

Plenty of people die in I Saw the Devil, but it is that first attack on Ju-yeon in the movie's opening minutes that reverberates through the epic 141-minute running time.

It's worth remembering that eleven years passed between "Judy Berlin" and 3 Backyards, both of which earned Mendelsohn best director prizes at Sundance.

The most surprising courtroom drama since 1985's "Jagged Edge," The Lincoln Lawyer is a don't-miss cinematic page-turner with enough twists to fill five movies.