The Company Men could well be the poster movie of 2010.

Winter's Bone is as quiet as a snake.

As it slithers into our consciousness, we are not sure what danger it embodies. What is hidden in the rural Ozarks of Missouri?

A 3-ring circus goes to Lowell, Massachusetts, in The Fighter. Based on actual events, this circus is mayhem.

In the main ring are the daredevils, led by junior welterweight boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg).

The Dude ain't no Duke.

The Black Swan is balletic and bombastic. It soars and bumbles, pirouettes and postures. It fights a featherweight war with heavyweight pretensions.

This year wit has been in short supply at the movies. Actually it's been in short supply in the whole country.

Four Lions is a wayward, fitful attempt at incisive comedy.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 plunges into a very dark, foreboding, disorienting vision.

127 Hours is a phenomenal battle between man and nature. In one corner we have wily hiker/explorer Aron Ralston (James Franco); in the other we have massive Blue John Canyon. It's a fight that goes the punishing, bloody distance.

Two questions a critic asks himself are, "Does the movie deliver what it sets out to do?" And "Is it worth doing?"

Imagine. Imagine if they made a film about John Lennon that wasn't safe and conventional.

Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 is part 2 of the gangster saga based on an actual French bank robber. It follows the notorious exploits of the Gallic outlaw who was introduced in Mesrine: Killer Instinct (2008).

The late Swedish author Stieg Larsson is the literary darling of 2010. His Millennium trilogy -- three novels published posthumously -- has caused an international sensation. I admit that I am among the smitten.

Alfred Hitchcock should not have made musicals. He didn't.

Probably Clint Eastwood should not make sentimentalized, epical films about wish fulfillment. But there's Hereafter.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is made by a short, gray celebrity.

He's also aging.

Woody Allen was born on December 1, 1935, so he's 74 slouching toward 75.

Secretariat is the Galloping Gospel According to a Horse. Granted the horse is the equine king of kings.

Most information today comes to us with absolutely no concern for the sloppy, lazy language in which it is expressed.

Director Oliver Stone based some of his film Nixon (1995) -- an underrated movie -- on Orson Welles's Citizen Kane (1941). It added to the vision and scope.

I know director Clint Eastwood, and Ben Affleck is no Clint. I knew director Sam Peckinpah, and Ben Affleck is no Peckinpah.

As director, Affleck is more Clint Howard and Yosemite Sam.

Australian film -- which had a boom during the 1970s and 1980s -- is ending the present decade with a bang in the form of the brilliant Animal Kingdom. Actually several bangs and a whimper.

There has been a lot of discussion by reviewers whether or not I'm Still Here is a put-on.

The first hour of Lebanon is some of the most excruciating footage you will ever see in a movie theater.

In the first five minutes of The American, popular movie star George Clooney shatters his image.

In Wild Grass 87-year old director Alain Resnais sows his wild oatmeal.

Born in 1922 (now 88), Resnais was a paragon of the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague) in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a film full of sound and fury signifying WTF. It's slick shtik.

Robert Duvall is an acting treasure.

The 79-year old actor has had some of the most memorable roles in American movie history -- often as a supporting actor.

Rodents have often been the stuff of comedy. From Mickey and Minnie to Mighty Mouse to Remy the Rat to Despereaux, they've made us smile.

In Dinner for Schmucks they're the stuff that dreams are made of.

Movies manipulate.

They can get you to identify with a character or root for an action.

Inception is a slick, spasmodic, rambunctious ordeal. It's a convoluted wild-goose-dream chase.

The Kids Are All Right is a sudsy soap opera. It's a concoction of lilac water and spermatozoa -- with lots of wine and whine.

When a critic reviews an independent movie, he realizes it has the creator's heart and soul in it. He may cut it some slack.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the follow-up to the very popular The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's the second film adaptation from the Millennium trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson.

Micmacs is a Gallic mishmash.

It's a sloppy souffle that falls more than it rises. It's airless whimsy.

Toy Story 3 is a Mr. Potato Heady assemblage of nostalgia, excitement, and danger. It flies in all directions, but Woody keeps it pleasurably intact.

Knight and Day is a hoot.

It's a doozy. It's Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote teamed up. By the end, Wile E. has become wily Wonder Woman.

When a screenplay of a movie does not serve its literary source well, it's a major problem.

When a movie is directed tentatively, it's a major problem. When a movie is miscast, it's a major problem.

Go East 50-year old woman. Go East.

Director/writer Nicole Holofcener goes back east for Please Give. It is an auspicious move.

Films that are aimed at a particular target audience can cause a critic dyspepsia.

Kites is an aromatic, cinematic Indian mutton stew -- if that sounds different from usual movie fare, it is.

Prequel, prequel, prequel.

After remakes and sequels, what is left? Originality. Hell, no.

In City Island, actor Andy Garcia reveals a range and humanity he's seldom, if ever, exhibited.

Racing Dreams -- or Chariots of Tire -- is a niche documentary about three young Kart race drivers who aspire to some day be NASCAR champions.

Iron Man 2 is a raucous, mediocre movie. It's a loud, inarticulate shout to greet the summer.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a brutal movie. It's also compelling and absorbing.

In today's movie comedies, wit is as rare as Angostura bitters.

If movie comedies were stored at the supermarket, most would be in the day-old section. They certainly aren't fresh.

A Prophet begins as a gritty prison film and becomes an arresting gangster saga.

Mother is a mother of a movie.

It's a unique, convoluted journey along the bland surfaces and into the dark recesses of mother love.

For those that believe in justice, this movie probably is not for you.

The Runaways is not a potent cherry bomb. It's more a sputtering candle.

How to Train Your Dragon is blue skies and dragons. Lots of blue skies. And lots of dragons.

The White Ribbon is an austere allegory about a farming village and its inhabitants in Germany that can be interpreted as portending their future. In fact, it invites that interpretation.

Chloe is an atrocious movie. It's artsy-fartsy-tartsy.

A female voice-over at the beginning says, "I can become your unflinching dream."

I flinched.

Pretension does that to me.

Green Zone is one depressing movie.

It's well-acted, well-directed, and well-written. So what's the problem?

The Ghost Writer could be the companion piece to Shutter Island.

Actually, Shutter Island should be the companion piece to The Ghost Writer, since The Ghost Writer is the better film.

About halfway through writing a review of Shutter Island, I was caught by an undertow.

I originally thought that the movie was stylistic nonsense. But then I realized that beneath the nonsense were intriguing swirls and tides.

To mix monsters -- The Wolfman is one of those films that was put together like Frankenstein.

It's a patchwork mess, but it lives!

There's still a place in movies for small, literate, well-acted niche movies that focus on character.

In the cinema of explosions and rampant CGI, occasionally character still matters. A Single Man has character.

The Last Station is a tale of venerable conflict, deception, and love.

It's an age-old, old age power struggle. But it's not just in the room down the hall of the retirement home; it's in Mother Russia.

Edge of Darkness gives Mel Gibson's career a needed jolt, actually several jolts.

Every time the movie threatens to lag, there's a startling shock of violence -- and Gibson is usually right in the middle of it.

From Paris with Love is a raucous cartoon.

You have to decide whether or not you want to take this wild ride. It's dippy, dopey, and dizzying.

The Messenger is a film about shock and healing. Forget awe.

At the end of every year, there's a rampage to open movies in LA and NY to make them eligible for Oscar voting consideration.