12 Years a Slave [2013]

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Solomon Northup, a free black man born in the North and sold into slavery in the South, and he is as painfully brilliant as the beatings he endures. Steve McQueen directs, and he is black, so there is no saccharine — just filmmaking.

d: Steve McQueen | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
What’d You Say to Pats? | Wesley Morris [Grantland]

The Ides of March (2011)

George Clooney directs an elementary story of an idealized presidential candidate (played by Clooney) who turns out to be just as human as any politician, and aid Ryan Gosling realizes what everyone already knows — that politics is a cynical business.

d: George Clooney | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
the State of the Union | Make it mandatory. | My name is Molly.

The Hangover Part II (2011)

The second “Hangover” is darker (with more male nudity) and better than the first, thanks to Bangkok, where Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis find violent monks and a drug-dealing monkey — and Helms reworks Billy Joel’s “Allentown.”

d: Todd Phillips | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
I think it’s happened again. | Pig! | “The Hangover”

Win Win (2011)

Paul Giamatti plays exasperated and put-upon like no one else, but he is calmer and more natural this time as a struggling lawyer and high school wrestling coach. Giamatti is great, and so is newcomer Alex Shaffer in comedy about trying to do the right thing.

d: Thomas McCarthy | imdb.com | trailer | Heart attack
Eminem | Beat the crap | Give me a slap. | JBJ | She’s a druggie.

Duplicity (2009)

Clive Owen and Julia Roberts are rival corporate spies and lovers, except they have no sexual chemistry and Roberts looks old. The caper tale — told in flashbacks and in exotic cities — isn’t nearly as clever as it thinks it is. The film outsmarts itself.

d: Tony Gilroy | imdb.com | trailer | How do I know you?