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May 9, 2013 Its tone is ultimately sour, but at its brittle, nasty core, Ben Wheatley's slasher-tourism comedy fits squarely in the tradition of British class-resentment pictures like Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ruling Class.

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May 2, 2013 Carlos Reygadas' beguiling Post Tenebras Lux features a faltering marriage, a glowing red CGI devil and several impenetrable non sequiturs. It's simultaneously beautiful and discordant, comprehensible and elusive; no wonder it earned both boos and the Best Director prize at Cannes.

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May 2, 2013 The singer-songwriter and the son who's desperate to escape his legacy are the subjects of Daniel Algrant's sympathetic if simplistic biographical drama.

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April 25, 2013 The action comedy Pain & Gain wants very much to be a sardonic social commentary in the Fargo vein — but the director's appetite for glossy consumerism gets between him and the story's moral.

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April 18, 2013 Dreaming of a simpler era while throwing a raft of digital effects at the screen, this budget sci-fi adventure can't quite decide what kind of dystopia it wants to explore. Stunning visuals and deliberately robotic performances make for a pretty but confused futurescape.

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April 11, 2013 The eternally off-kilter character actor David Cross has nearly found a match for his talents in the apocalyptic It's A Disaster. Not everything works in this madcap adventure at the end of the world, but Cross can notch a win on his belt for his turn as baffled straight man in this toxic charmer.

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April 4, 2013 In most movies, the creepy ex-boyfriend would be an ominous antagonist, or even a supporting character. But in Antonio Campos' eerie thriller, the spotlight is all on the titular nutcase.

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March 28, 2013 Silly and serious by turns, Rodney Ascher's documentary essay entertains nine theorists who seek to puzzle out secret meanings in Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece The Shining. Their ideas don't always hold up — but this fascinating film certainly does. (Recommended)

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March 21, 2013 The Bronx and its graffiti artists get a cheery, charming portrait in writer-director Adam Leon's debut feature, Gimme the Loot. Echoing the films of Richard Linklater in its vibrant authenticity, the film captivates in an agreeable 81 minutes. (Recommended)

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March 14, 2013 The thoughtful, simple From Up on Poppy Hill is an ode to a quieter past in the midst of a rapidly developing Tokyo. Though it doesn't necessarily appeal to a youthful audience, the warm and quiet beauty of this animated import saves it from its overtly explicit thematic concerns.

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March 7, 2013 Earnest to a fault, this feel-good documentary can't quite mask the commercial cynicism behind the story of the rock band Journey and its up-from-obscurity frontman.

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February 28, 2013 South Korean director Park Chan-wook makes his English-language debut with this taut horror thriller. Though at times the narrative wears thin, tense imagery and a haunting narrative keep the action moving along to a terrifying finale. (Recommended)

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February 21, 2013 There are two very different movies going on in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's new drama, Snitch: One stars Johnson as a concerned father, the other stars The Rock as an undercover drug dealer. The warring conflicts make for a film that works against itself.

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