Ten to See

In Theaters

The Cabin in the Woods - If you're a regular around these parts, this recommendation should come as no surprise.  Drew Goddard's directorial debut is a raucous thrill ride through the most familiar - and in Goddard's capable hands, reinvigorated - tropes of the horror genre, resulting in the freshest, funniest horror flick to hit theaters in years.  Fans of Joss Whedon will appreciate the wit that he brings to the project as a co-writer and producer, and the twists and turns will keep you guessing up to the wonderfully strange finale.  With The Cabin in the Woods, the horror genre isn't merely celebrated; its existence, even importance, is demonstrated.

Bully - The buzzy Weinstein documentary is in the midst of a nationwide expansion with a new PG-13 rating, and it's a shame that it hasn't been posting bigger box office numbers to reflect its wider accessibility.  The film is a powerful look at a very timely topic.  Though the film is called Bully, it focuses on the victims, the kids who go to school each day knowing that they're going to suffer, despite how much they keep their heads down or try to be "good sports."  This is one of those documentaries that wants you to get involved, and in that subgenre, it's one of the most effective I've ever seen.  Hopefully schools will rally around this movie and organize special screenings, because this is a movie that, if seen widely enough, can play a part in affecting real change.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi - In this charming, strangely melancholy documentary, we're introduced to Jiro, a master sushi chef who runs a small, exclusive restaurant in a the basement of an office building in Tokyo.  Jiro is a charming protagonist whose dedication to his career was catalyzed by a difficult childhood, resulting in a similarly distant parenting style in his own adult life.  Now, Jiro trains his sons and other dedicated apprentices in the well-practiced techniques that have earned him three Michelin stars.  The film is beautifully constructed, with sharp cinematography, evocative scoring, and brilliant use of sound, and the picture it paints of a dedicated artist is enough to make anyone drool (even a non-fan of sushi like me).

Titanic 3-D - When I was in second grade, my parents showed my brother and I Titanic, back in the days when such a massive movie required two VHS tapes.  At the film's end, I ascended to my bedroom in a storm of tears.  When my parents came to comfort me, I told them, "I'll never be happy again," so shaken was I by the doomed romance and the historical resonance of James Cameron's Oscar-winning masterwork.

All these years later, one of the best movies of all time is back in theaters, in jaw-droppingly gorgeous IMAX 3-D.  Yes, the writing is still as corny as ever, but the film has such scope, something that few films dare to aspire to.  The special effects hold up surprisingly well, and the performances are just as great as they were back in the day.  It's a treat to see Leo in a more carefree role, so consistently dark and serious are the parts he takes nowadays.  And Kate Winslet is still lovely in her rebellion.

As I sat down in the dimming lights of the theater, I realized that it was the first time I was seeing Titanic in its entirety since I was a kid, having only watched bits and pieces on TV in the intervening years.  It was like seeing the movie for the first time.  The tears flowed just as freely, but as I left the theater, profoundly aware of what a strong effect the film had had on my young appreciation of film, I felt the opposite of what I had before.  How could I ever be sad in a world where such magnificent experiences as Titanic 3-D exist?

Jeff, Who Lives at Home - The Duplass brothers, writer-directors of such great indies as Baghead and Cyrus, have outdone themselves with Jeff, Who Lives at Home, a surprising star vehicle for Jason Segel.  Segel is known for his comedic timing, and has flexed some of his dramatic muscle on How I Met Your Mother in recent seasons, but never has he delivered as fully-realized a performance as he does here.  As conspiracy theorist and Signs aficionado Jeff, Segel brings just the right balance of outright quirkiness and somehow-grounded faith, and Ed Helms serves as a world-weary counterpoint as his brother.  While the constantly-zooming camera and a pretty limp subplot in which Susan Sarandon's character has a secret admirer detract a bit from the overall experience, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is still one of the best movies of the year so far.

In Darkness - It seems every year brings a new batch of Holocaust movies, and yet there are still always more stories to tell.  In Darkness is one of the best I've seen, chronicling the attempts of a Polish sewer worker who uses his knowledge to help protect a group of Jews in Nazi-occupied Lvov.  The lengthy film takes its time building and (very rarely) releasing tension, and the gorgeous, claustrophobic camerawork reflects the horror and danger of the situation.  It's no wonder the perfectly-wrought film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film as the Oscars this year.

At Home

Shame - I'm still reeling a bit from Michael Fassbender's Oscar snub for his incredible performance in Shame.  It was easily the best performance of the year, and the best since Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood.  Fassbender bares all in the NC-17 film about a sex addict feeding his addiction while working on his relationship with his sister (a stunning Carey Mulligan), and I'm not just talking about hit manhood.  The mental and emotional fragility, the psychology underlying his character's disturbing actions, all add up to a complex portrait that is impossible to look away from.

We Bought a Zoo - Cameron Crowe's gooey family flick caught me totally by surprise.  While the premise is simple enough to be totally contained in the title, We Bought a Zoo manages to deliver the warm, fuzzy goods.  Matt Damon is great as a dad who leads his two kids on a strange flight of fancy, and the supporting cast, especially Colin Ford as the angsty teenage son bitten by the love bug, is solid.  The animals provide some laughs, but it's the humans who might garner some tears.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Stephen Daldry's adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's post-9/11 novel was lambasted by critics and largely ignored by audiences, though it somehow managed to snag a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars.  The film may not live up to its moving, vivid source material, but it does manage to paint a fantastic portrait that is true to the book while finding its own voice.  Jeopardy! contestant Thomas Horn plays Oskar Schell, a boy looking for answers after his father dies in the World Trade Center.  His journey takes him across the five boroughs of New York City, supported by Oscar-worthy Sandra Bullock as his mom and Max von Sydow as a mute traveling companion.  Eric Roth did a brilliant job adapting a gimmick-filled masterpiece, but for whatever reason, it didn't click with the masses.  Grab a box of tissues and experience the strange catharsis of understanding a tragedy through a child's eyes.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - Title punctuation aside, Brad Bird (The Incredibles) makes a stellar live-action directing debut with the fourth entry in Tom Cruise's action franchise.  The film features exhilarating action set pieces (often with Cruise doing his own stunts) that help make up for the been-there-done-that story.  The supporting cast includes Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner and funnyman Simon Pegg.