Edward Norton’s commanding performance makes American History X a disturbing study of hatred sold as identity and community, even when its psychological development lacks nuance.
Christopher Nolan makes Batman’s origin feel psychologically earned, physically tangible and genuinely mythic, even if the action occasionally loses clarity.
Quentin Tarantino’s ferociously controlled debut makes the aftermath of a robbery more gripping than the crime itself, even if its swagger sometimes limits its emotional depth.
Steven Spielberg turns Frank Abagnale Jr.’s deceptions into breezy entertainment, but Leonardo DiCaprio ensures the lonely teenager remains visible beneath every disguise.
Martin Scorsese makes greed exhilarating, repulsive and disturbingly easy to sell in a ferocious satire powered by Leonardo DiCaprio’s fearless performance.
Quentin Tarantino turns conversation, nonlinear storytelling and escalating criminal disasters into exhilarating narrative clockwork.
Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane create a convincing friendship, but Ted wastes its imaginative premise on an uneven, predictable adulting story.
Ant-Man finds personality in Paul Rudd’s warmth and playful scale-shifting action, but its clever heist trappings cannot hide a conventional origin story.
Robert Downey Jr.’s guarded charisma and the film’s tactile approach to invention make Iron Man a superb origin story, despite a conventional climax.
Vince Vaughn’s imposing restraint and brutally legible violence make S. Craig Zahler’s patient prison nightmare difficult to forget.
Alex Garland’s Annihilation is a visually audacious science-fiction nightmare whose ambiguity, mournful performances and sensory dread leave a haunting impression.
Deadpool 2 delivers charismatic performances and enlarged action, but its rebellious superhero comedy has hardened into a dependable formula.
Jordan Peele’s doppelgänger nightmare thrives on Lupita Nyong’o’s remarkable dual performance, controlled imagery and convincing family chemistry, even as its expanding mythology becomes less persuasive.
Rose Glass’s fiercely controlled debut traps us inside one woman’s search for absolute meaning, powered by Morfydd Clark’s unnerving performance.
Leigh Whannell turns invisibility into the perfect weapon for an abuser, while Elisabeth Moss and weaponized empty space make this reinvention terrifyingly personal.