This isn't just a story about a couple of misfits who find happiness by finding each other. Deep down, Abe -- and Miranda, for that matter -- have issues that can't be resolved by finding love.

Todd Solondz's films are like tests: At what point does the human quality of Abe's suffering -- as he undergoes a cascade of misfortune -- overtake your distaste for him as a person and push you to feel empathy?

I founded ASF with a singular mission: to support women filmmakers.

I've been a fan of Todd Solondz's dark, even mean-spirited brand of humiliation comedy since Welcome to the Dollhouse, and the squirmy problems of his put-upon heroine, Dawn Weiner. But he lost me with Life During Wartime.

"I'm a little rusty at chess," Williams says. "Matthew [Broderick] has got me by a hair." Williams smiles at the memory -- and seems tickled simply by the fact that he's a working actor.

The strength of designer Tom Ford's film, A Single Man, is not some flashy or gorgeous visual style but the acting. Ford brought out an award-winning performance from Colin Firth.

I have nothing against transgressive cinema; but Antichrist has the feeling of pushing buttons for its own sake, like a child smearing its own feces on a wall. Why does Lars von Trier do it?

Maybe this is as close as writer/director Todd Solondz will ever get to a feel-good movie.