Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler from a script by Butler, ParaNorman is a marvel of stop-motion animation, built on a script of flat jokes and frantic, frenetic but uninvolving action.

Chicken with Plums, opening Friday in limited release, is a fascinating puzzle: at once a mordant comedy, a tale of unrequited love and a story of heart-breaking artistry.

As one would expect from Cronenberg, there are sudden moments of shocking violence to go with the moments of unsexy sex. None of it will distract you from the fact that this limo, like the whole enterprise titled Cosmopolis, is going nowhere.

In her follow-up to 2 Days in Paris, actress-filmmaker Julie Delpy moves her focus across the Atlantic and switches leading men -- from Adam Goldberg to Chris Rock.

It used to be that a movie that celebrated the use of marijuana was considered shocking, scandalous, unacceptable and inappropriate. To some people, it probably still is.

Here's why I'd almost be willing to give The Campaign a pass on the fact that it's sloppy, inconsistent and only intermittently funny.

They take a very specific couple and make them universal. It could be a primer on what couple's therapy is about, how it works and how the results won't always be life-changing breakthroughs -- at least not right away.

If, in fact, her personal life somehow hurts her standing with her young fans -- if the fans can no longer look up to her as a role model because she's a 22-year-old who got tired of one man and was tempted by another -- well, I'd say it's the best thing that could happen to her.

The Babymakers wants to be a Judd Apatow comedy. Instead, it's like a third-rate Comedy Central sitcom, with dirty words, little nudity and fewer laughs than fingers on one hand.

Both are about intense relationships between young adults that end -- and yet go on. Both are stories of love that has grown one-sided. And both ache with the unavoidable self-pity that goes along with that kind of situation -- while finding the laughs in that same circumstance.

This is the least of Hollywood's worries, for my money. The major studios have a bigger problem -- such as the fact that they so seldom make movies with serious themes or content. And they never address actual political issues if they can avoid it.

In a summer of movies made of bombastic special effects and obvious action, Killer Joe still has the ability to surprise by keeping it down and dirty -- though you'll need a strong stomach to make it to the end.

Ruby Sparks could be a tasty bit of magical realism in romantic-comedy form, the first produced screenplay by actress Zoe Kazan, who plays the title character. Except for one serious problem.

The strangeness of truth compared to the limits of the human imagination gets a crystalline demonstration in Malik Bendjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man.

Unlike negative reactions to my review of The Dark Knight Rises this week, actual news happened last night in the form of a tragedy, when someone walked into a suburban Denver multiplex and killed at least a dozen people.

Gorgeously shot and acted with aching tragic truthfulness, Michael Winterbottom's Trishna is a romance of depth and feeling.

Union Square may grate on you early on but, like its main character, all it wants is for the audience to give it a chance to show what it's really about. In this case, it's not too much to ask.

The Kings of Cool picks up the story of the Savages trio -- the weed-dealing Ben, Chon and Ophelia -- a few years before Savages. Prequel? Not exactly -- at least writer Don Winslow doesn't look at it that way.

Crazy Eyes was spawned by the same boozy mentality (and, sometimes, sentimentality) that has inspired the work of everyone from Dylan Thomas to Charles Bukowski.

Collaborator, an assured directorial debut for actor Martin Donovan (who also wrote the script) is smart, funny and tense, featuring a riveting performance by David Morse.

The first time, it was about creating a concert. This time, say Neil Young and Jonathan Demme, it was about capturing one. And doing it as faithfully -- both visually and, more important, aurally -- as possible.

Woody Allen's To Rome With Love is a valentine to that city, rendered through a series of semi-connected stories set in the Italian hub. It's light and frothy, mixing silliness, romance, magic realism and absurdity.

Kirby Dick's shocking documentary, The Invisible War, details a small part of what seems like an epidemic -- not just of sexual assault in the military but of the closed-ranks mentality that keeps the outrage from bubbling into public view.

Lorene Scafaria's Seeking a Friend for the End of the World strikes a different chord: one that is wistfully romantic, a little melancholy and unexpectedly funny.

How can I enjoy this movie -- when I have such disdain for so much of its music? And yet I did. I had a lot more fun watching Rock of Ages than I expected to; I also resented how much I enjoyed it, as a light, funny spoof of a bygone era.