Patricia Clarkson

England, 1959. Free-spirited widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer, Mary Poppins Returns) follows her lifelong dream by opening a bookshop in a conservative coastal town. While bringing about a cultural awakening through works by Ray Bradbury and Vladimir Nabokov, she earns the polite but ruthless opposition of a local grand dame (Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects) and the support of a reclusive, book-loving widower (Bill Nighy, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). As Florence's obstacles amass, she reminds herself that a town without a bookshop is no town at all.

Science-fiction features often involve time travel or strange worlds. In Christopher Nolan's heist thriller Inception, the concepts converge through the realm of dreams. With his trusty associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a fine foil), Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, in a role that recalls Shutter Island) steals ideas for clients from the minds of competitors. Fallen on hard times, he's become estranged from his family and hopes one last extraction will set things right.

Woody Allen's cynical sensibility so superbly dovetails with Larry David's acerbic misanthropy, it's a wonder they haven't worked together before. But no matter: fans of Allen, David, and especially David's Curb Your Enthusiasm will delight in the ability of Whatever Works to find humor in the darkest and most abrasive of life's corners.

It must be true that getting out of town can do a fellow a lot of good, because Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the best movie Woody Allen has made in years. Okay, you're right, 2006's Match Point already claimed that honor and, as Allen's first film made in England, established the virtues of getting away from overfamiliar territory (namely Manhattan). But the Woodman's first film made in Spain matches the ice-cold Match Point for crisp authority, and yields a good deal more sheer pleasure besides.

Sean Penn gives another powerhouse performance in All the King's Men, leading a topnotch cast in writer-director Steven Zaillian's underrated adaptation of the Pulitzer prize-winning 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. When you consider that the previous 1949 film version earned well-deserved Academy Awards for director Robert Rossen and actors Broderick Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, it's no surprise that Zaillian's film was expected to earn similar acclaim, but lukewarm critical reception and disappointing box-office gave it the stigma of a noble failure.

Without force-feeding its timely message, Good Night, and Good Luck illuminates history to enlighten our present, when the need for a free and independent press is more important than ever. In 90 breathtaking minutes of efficient and intricate storytelling, writer-director George Clooney and cowriter Grant Heslov pay honorable tribute to the journalistic integrity of legendary CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow, Director George Clooney who confronted the virulent and overzealous anti-Communist witch-hunting of Wisconsin Sen.

The miracle about Miracle is that it gets so many details right in telling its 24-year-old story about the historic victory of the U.S. hockey team at the 1980 Olympic Games.

When young Alan Parrish discovers a mysterious board game, he doesn't realize its unimaginable powers, until he is magically transported before the eyes of his friend, Sarah, into the untamed jungles of Jumanji! 26 years later he is freed from the game's spell by two unsuspecting children.

After Sudden Impact, no one could have expected the Dirty Harry sequel to follow. But The Dead Pool is fairly inspired, even playful--check out a "chase" scene between Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan character and a remote-controlled toy car wielding a bomb--and it ended the long-running series on an unexpectedly positive note. This time, Callahan investigates a series of murders that appears to be on a "death list," while becoming romantically involved with a television reporter (Patricia Clarkson).