Sony Pictures Classics

CHICAGO – In a remarkable idea for a film, director Morgan Spurlock (”Supersize Me”) funds his new documentary, “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” by selling sponsorships for financing. However, the process is redundantly explored, and no new ground is broken.

CHICAGO – When life collides with history, human beings are often both the perpetrators and the victims. In the excellent film “Winter in Wartime,” a boy grows up quickly when confronted with the realities of that history and life in the last days of World War II.

CHICAGO – Two of the best documentaries of 2010 were recently released on DVD and both are well-worth your time in the very near future as they serve as prime examples of the vitality of the form of non-fiction filmmaking. Both “A Film Unfinished” and the Oscar-winning “Inside Job” are riveting filmmaking, proof that subjects that one might consider dry can be turned into a devastating experience.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – How many of us can honestly say that we have the level of devotion to anything that we would put our lives at risk to protect it? How many of us can say that when faced with almost certain violence, we would stand up and refuse to run in the other direction for any imaginable reason? The moral and spiritual dilemma at the foundation of Xavier Beauvois’s award-winning “Of Gods and Men” is a fascinating one that drives this complex drama in a way that sears it into memory.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Presuming the Academy makes the logical choices, the competition for the Oscar for 2010’s Best Animated Film should feature three of the best films of the medium in many years – “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” and the least-heralded of the three, the beautiful “The Illusionist.”

Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Mike Leigh (“Happy-Go-Lucky,” “Vera Drake”) has long ago been correctly-labeled as one of our most remarkably-attuned writer/directors when it comes to capturing the tragedy of the everyday human condition on film. His latest work, “Another Year,” may seem like just another slice of life and it’s certainly not the drama to see if you need fancy hooks with your popcorn, but realistically presenting the highs and sadness of an unfulfilled life is much harder than it looks.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Nigel Cole’s “Made in Dagenham” works because of the strong, believable performances of its ensemble, even if it doesn’t quite resonate with the same strength as other tales of ordinary people who became revolutionary role models. Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike, Bob Hoskins, and a talented group of mostly newcomers rarely hit a false note and characters one can believe in go a long way in a film such as this one.

CHICAGO – There’s a very good reason why casual moviegoers are weary of films purporting themselves to be avant-garde. Such a term seems to suggest that a level of effort is required from the audience to fully digest and enjoy a particular work of cinematic art. They are the opposite of disposable entertainments devoured by mainstream viewers like escapist munchies.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Director Charles Ferguson is an absolute genius at distilling incredibly-complex subjects down to their bare essentials without dumbing them down in the slightest. He produced the best documentary about the Iraq War in the amazing “No End in Sight” and he’s now delivered a nearly—equal masterful feature on how our economy got to where it is today with the excellent “Inside Job,” arguably the best documentary of a great year for the form.

CHICAGO – Chiwetel Ejiofor (pronounced choo-ih-tell edge-o-for) has been a stalwart film actor ever since his dramatic debut in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad”. Since then, he has been a go-to character actor for directors as diverse as Spike Lee, Woody Allen and Stephen Frears.