Few films are either as magical or as enchanting as Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. At the same time, few fairy tales are as perverse, terrifying or as deeply disturbing.

Children of Men is a stunning powerhouse, and it is almost impossible to grasp all it is attempting to say in just a single viewing.

Almodóvar has crafted an instant classic. Volver is miraculous, a joyous enterprise running the emotional gauntlet like no other melodrama I’ve seen in ages.

In a year of so many retreads and also-rans, where much of what’s hit the multiplex looks exactly like what was there just a month ago, The Prestige offers entertainment and wonderment unlike anything else currently in theatres, and that might be Nolan’s greatest magic trick of them all.

I can’t help but think that the vibe Elizabethtown generates and the mood it creates are both only going to get better with time.

Good Night, and Good Luck. is the must-see event picture of the Fall. It is breathlessly exciting, reexamining with acute detail a moment in our nation’s history that should not, cannot, be forgotten.

Cronenberg is a filmmaker willing to push boundaries and ask tough questions others don’t just shy away from, they sprint in the opposite direction in total fear. A History of Violence is no different.

Junebug is the type of movie you want to see twice in quick succession.

Always an astonishing visual craftsman, House of Flying Daggers is as impressive as anything Yimou’s ever done. The shifting colors and landscapes flow in and out of one another like a dreamy netherworld, while the tiniest woodland sounds sparkle and hum with the majesty of a symphonic orchestra.