Amour (PG-13)
"Amour" (PG-13, 127 minutes). This year's Palme d'Or winner from Cannes is a masterpiece from Michael Haneke ("Caché," "Funny Games") about the closing days of a great romance. The French legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva co-star as a couple in their 80s who have lived in love together for decades, but now, in their 80s, their time together begins to end. Such a story is not melodrama. Nor is it tragedy. It is just about the way things are. A profound and uplifting masterpiece. Four stars  (1/9/13)

The Central Park Five (Unrated)
"Central Park Five" (Unrated, 119 minutes). Many remember the 1989 case when five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and convicted for the assault and rape of a 28-year-old white woman while she was jogging in Central Park. Although they "confessed," they were freed on appeal after DNA evidence and the confession of another man proved them innocent. Stark documentary by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns. Three and a half stars  (12/5/12)

Citadel (R)
"Citadel" (R, 84 minutes). A horrifying thriller painted on a small and very dark canvas. Seen through the eyes of a young husband named Tommy (Aneurin Barnard), who sees his very pregnant wife attacked by a gang of three hooded kid. Left panic-stricken and afraid to go outside because of agoraphobia, he is assisted by a priest (James Cosmo) and a helpful social worker named Marie (Wunmi Mosaku). The social worker advises Tommy to pity the poor kids. The priest goes berserk in condemning the kids and exhorting Tommy that he must go into battle against then. They're demons, he says. Are they? Written and directed by Ciaran Foy. Three stars  (12/5/12)

Fat Kid Rules the World (R)
"Fat Kid Rules the World" (R, 94 minutes). Better than it sounds like it has any right to be. The story of a suicidal high school outsider that miraculously supplies him with a loving and supportive father, a reckless new friend who turns out to be good for him, and even a sexy classmate who likes his T-shirt. Strong lead performances by Jacob Wysocki, Matt O'Leary and Billy Campbell as the father. Three and a half stars  (11/28/12)

Generation P (Unrated)
"Generation P" (Unrated, 114 minutes). "Generation P" appears to be Russian slang for both Generation Perestroika and "the Pepsi Generation," which nicely reflects this film's cockamamie spirit, sort of a cross between Mad Men and an acid trip. Set in the years after the fall of communism, it's said to be huge success in Russia—a daring, transgressive satire. The film's hero is Babylen Tatarsky (Vladimir Epifantse), jobless and homeless at the outset, then reduced to manning a shabby kiosk where he sells cigarettes one at a time. Through a mutual friend, he's lured into Russia's new advertising industry ("It's a Gold Rush! But in a few more years, it'll all be snatched!"). Non-Russians may need a program to understand the players. Two and a half stars  (12/5/12)

Hitchcock (R)
"Hitchcock" (R, 98 minutes). The second feature in a few months, after the made-for-HBO "The Girl," based on the life of the great man. The screenplay centers to a distracting degree on his lifelong marriage to the screenwriter and editor Alma Reville (Helen Mirren). As "Hitchcock" tells it, Reville acted as his chief advisor, censor, muse and friend, and steered him through the uncertain waters leading up to "Psycho." Anthony Hopkins wouldn't seem to be the first choice as Hitchcock, but. I quickly accepted him. The makeup job they did on Hopkins was transformative. Three stars  (11/20/12)

Hyde Park on Hudson (R)
"Hyde Park on Hudson" (R, 94 minutes). Bill Murray plays Franklin Roosevelt as a sometimes lonely and sad man whose vacation getaway is his mother's family mansion, Springwood, near Hyde Park in upstate New York. Here in June 1939, he receives guests whose visit could change the course of world history: England's King George V (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman). Witnessing from backstage is his sixth cousin, Daisy (Laura Linney), with whom FDR has a sweet and secret affair. Murray finds the exact tone, gentle and confiding, for this view of Roosevelt. Three and a half stars.  (12/12/12)

The Impossible (PG-13)
''The Impossible" (PG-13; Running time: 114 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13.) The tsunami that devastated the Pacific Basin in the winter of 2004 remains one of the worst natural disasters in history. We were Spain when it struck, and we sat mesmerized watching the news on TV. Again and again, that towering wall of water loomed from the sea, tossing trucks, buses and its helpless victims aside. Surely this was a blow from Hell. In Juan Antonio Bayona's film, a terrifying triumph of special effects, they seem lost in it, engulfed by it, damned by it. One of the best films of 2012. Rating: Four stars.  (12/19/12)

Killing Them Softly (R)
"Killing Them Softly" (R, 97 minutes). Set in a dreary and barren post-Katrina New Orleans, a cruel drama about organized crime with a cast much better than it deserves. After an ill-advised stick-up of a high stakes mob-organized poker game, a series of mob executions threatens to pretty much wipe out the local syndicate. Okay. But no suspense, romance or humor? Only dry, weary dialogue, suffering and blood? Afraid so. Starring Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins. Two stars  (11/28/12)

Life of Pi (PG)
"Life of Pi" (PG, 125 minutes). a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that seemed unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "life." The story involves the 227 days that its teenage hero (Suraj Sharma) spends drifting across the Pacific in the same lifeboat as a Bengal tiger. The movie quietly combines various religious traditions to enfold its story in the wonder of life. How remarkable that these two mammals, and the fish beneath them and birds above them, are all here. One of the year's best. Four stars  (11/20/12)

The Matchmaker (Unrated)
"The Matchmaker" (Unrated, 110 minutes). A comedy told in flashbacks linking Haifa in 1968 and 2006. The story of the strategic error of hiring Arik Burstein (Eyal Shechter) Yankele Bride (Israeli standup comic Adir Miller), the matchmaker for whom Arik worked as a teenager ("You don't know what you want. Yankele knows what you want") to spy on potential grooms. At night in those years, Yankele ran a shady gambling den in partnership with a flashy blonde named Clara Epstein (Maya Dagan). Yankele knows what he wants, and her name is Clara. Three stars  (12/12/12)

New Jerusalem (Unrated)
"New Jerusalem" (Unrated, 94 minutes). The story of two lonely men, 30ish, and the existential crisis of one of them. Sean Murphy (Colm O'Leary) is an Irishman who served with the U.S. National Guard in Afghanistan and is now living in Virginia. He works with Ike Evans (Will Oldham) in a used tire store in Richmond. Ike is concerned that Sean seems inward and depressed. He has been saved by Jesus, and assures Sean that Jesus will save him, too. I don't believe the film takes a position in favor of either character. It's simply an intense study of these two men and their barren work in a shabby store by the side of a highway. Three stars  (12/5/12)

Playing for Keeps (PG-13)
"Playing for Keeps" (PG-13, 105 minutes). Tells the story of George (Gerard Butler), a has-been soccer star whose career is foundering but who is a completely nice man with none of the character flaws that soccer stars have been known to possess. Moving to Virginia to be near his ex-wife (wonderful Jessica Biel) and young son (Noah Lomax, a natural) he finds himself a seduction target for all the trophy wives and divorced moms in the grandstands. Unreels pretty predictably. Two stars  (12/5/12)

Red Dawn (PG-13)
"Red Dawn" (PG-13, 93 minutes). Opens with a hard-fought high school football game, before the next day in Spokane, Wash. is interrupted by the thud of bombs. The young gridiron stars of the Wolverines race outside to see enemy aircraft flying overhead in formation, dropping paratrooopers from the skies. An alarming sight, but the movie reassures us that an invasion by communist North Korea can he vanquished by the members of the team and their girlfriends, using mostly automatic weapons stolen from the North Koreans themselves. They're all instinctive combat fighters, even a cheerleader. Light on dialogue, heavy on mindless action. One and a half stars  (11/20/12)

Rise of the Guardians (PG)
"Rise of the Guardians" (PG, 97 minutes). Hyperactive 3D animated fantasy regarding the plight of Jack Frost, who nobody seems able to see. Called upon in a crisis to help the Guardians (Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc), he saves the day. Younger children like the breakneck action, magical ability to fly, and the young hero who has tired of being overlooked. Their parents and older siblings may find the 97-minute running time quite long enough. Three stars  (11/20/12)

Scrooge & Marley (Unrated)
"Scrooge & Marley" (No MPAA rating, 88 minutes). "Scrooge & Marley" opens on a bleak Christmas Eve in a Chicago gay nightclub owned and operated by Ebeneezer Scrooge, a mean-spirited skinflint who takes pleasure in firing people. As played by David Pevsner, he lurks in his office and doesn't join the cheer around the piano bar. Because the origins of the story are well known, it comes as no surprise that he is about to be visited by three ghosts from Christmases past, present, and future, most notably Past, his one time lover Marley, played in horror film makeup and style by Chicago actor Tim Kazurinsky, a Second City veteran who brings a macabre zeal to the role. Two and a half stars  (11/20/12)

Somewhere Between (Unrated)
"Somewhere Between" (Not rated, 88 minutes). Director Linda Goldstein Knowlton follows the stories of a four Chinese girls adopted into American families. We watch them live quiet normal lives, with a drive to excel that is motivated by their quests for their roots. Three stars.  (1/9/13)

Starlet (Unrated)
"Starlet" (Unrated, 103 minutes). A story about two women, one 22, the other 85, who are linked by one of those accidental plot twists explaining why they come together. Jane (Dree Hemingway, Mariel's daughter) is a leggy 22-year-old blonde. Sadie (Besedka Johnson) plain-spoken, no-nonsense, with not a shred of "sweet little old lady" about her. They meet through Sadie's yard sale and Jane is compelled to befriend Sadie. Oh, but there's a lot more to it than that, which you'll probably enjoy more while watching the film without knowing. Memorable portraits of two women in the San Fernando Valley. Three stars  (12/5/12)

Struck by Lightning (Unrated)
“Struck by Lightning” (NR, 84 minutes). A precocious suburban high school student wants to get into Northwestern University, but his grades and student activities are not enough. He concocts a scheme to blackmail students to write for him. We've seen these high school students, as well as this dysfunctional suburb before, but the underlying tone of defeated ambition packs a small punch. Three stars.  (1/2/13)

Tales of the Night (Unrated)
"Tales of the Night" (Unrated, 84 minutes). Michel Ocelot is a French animator whose new film "Tales of the Night" uses computer animation to create silhouette films of a sort first used in the dawn on the cinema. He tells six fairy tales here, none too long to outstay its welcome, all told with a pleasing energy. There is a linking device: In a movie studio, presumably in Paris, an experienced older man at a computer is helping two young actors explore roles they might want to play, and in the process they create the stories and costumes. Three stars  (11/20/12)

West of Memphis (R)
"West of Memphis" (R, 147 minutes). The fourth documentary about one of the most angering cases of wrongful conviction in American judicial history. The West Memphis Three were tried and convicted of what were described as the ritualistic satanic cult murders of three young boys in Arkansas. This film argues successfully that the defendants were innocent, and the case against them deeply flawed. A controversial plea bargain set them free after nearly 20 years, and grave suspicion is generated by the film about one of the stepfathers of a victim. Four stars  (12/7/12)

Zero Dark Thirty (R)
“Zero Dark Thirty” (R, 157 minutes). Two hours of a loner CIA female strategist who knows she is right — and the payoff that she is. Jessica Chastain stars as “Maya,” who was right all along, providing the film with a timely heroine. Lots of murky action in the big capture and death, but lacking the split-second and relentless action of Bigelow's “The Hurt Locker.” These characters are less compelling, and the outcome less meaningful. Three stars  (1/2/13)