The Artist
Here is a loving movie about the American past that only a Frenchman could make.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Making a Le Carré novel into gripping cinema is a tough task when the author's layers take over.
Melancholia
Lars Von Triers visionary film is a schizophrenic episode with Armageddon thrown in.
Shame
Lost-in-sex Michael Fassbender cranks pitiless Manhattan up a notch.
Crazy Heart
In Otis "Bad" Blake, director Scott Cooper creates a fine American archetype.
Young Adult
Jason Reitman's and Diablo Cody's look at a stunted life is carried by "Mavis" Theron.
Contagion
Here's a competent and often terrifying disease flick in which touchy-feely means death.
Fair Game
An account of pre-Iraq Washington intrigue that's too noble for its own good.
In the Electric Mist (Dans la brume électrique)
Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman make Tavernier's thriller a weird, strange trip.
The Machinist
Brad Anderson's study of guilt's effect on paranoia is all about Christian Bale.
Sex, chips and dogs
Three movies in three separate decades with vanity and frailty as constants.