Waltz with Bashir ****

"Waltz with Bashir," like "Persepolis" before it, uses animation to illuminate a documentary. Spurred by a conversation with an old friend about a recurring nightmare, director Ari Folman realizes that he doesn't remember what happened to him when he was a soldier during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. His interviews with fellow soldiers from that time, as well as conversations with psychologists, are depicted and illustrated, as he begins to remember the fearful circumstances of the time. Eventually he gets to the atrocity that his mind had walled off. This is strong stuff, and beautifully told.

Rated R. 90 minutes. Ari Folman - Director / Writer (writer) / Producer, Serge Lalou - Producer, Gerhard Meixner - Producer, Yael Nahlieli - Producer, Roman Paul - Producer, Max Richter - Composer, Feller Nili - Editor. Produced by Bridgit Folman Film Gang. Distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Principal participants: Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman, and Dror Harazi.

Defiance ***

"Defiance" is interesting because of its subject: the true story of Jews who hid in Belorussian forests and joined with Russian resistance fighters against the Nazis. Largely through the efforts of four Bielski brothers, especially Tuvia (Daniel Craig) and Zus (Liev Schreiber), more than 1200 people were saved from the death camps. Part action story, part history lesson, part romance, part survival tale, and shot on location in Eastern Europe in all seasons, the movie makes a strong impression. Here for your consideration is a different perspective on the passivity of the Jews in the Holocaust. Schreiber and Craig are forceful and believable. The score by James Newton Howard is particularly good - soulful, longing, with echoes of the classics.

Rated R. 137 minutes. Edward Zwick - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Clayton Frohman - Writer (screenplay), Nechama Tec - Writer (book "Defiance: the Bielski Partisans"), Pieter Jan Brugge - Producer, Eduardo Serra - Cinematographer, James Newton Howard - Composer, Dan Weil - Production Designer, Steven Rosenblum - Editor. Produced by The Bedford Falls Company. Distributed by Paramount Vantage.

Principal actors: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Allan Corduner, and Mark Feuerstein.

Revolutionary Road ****

A rather lavish production of the iconic '50's angst novel about the pangs of dreams deferred and life in the suburbs, "Revolutionary Road" features strong, earnest performances by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead roles, and an Oscar-nominated performance by Michael Shannon as the crazy but truth-telling inmate of the loony bin. This movie deserves more recognition than it has gotten.

Rated R. 119 minutes. Sam Mendes - Director / Producer, Justin Haythe - Writer (screenplay), Richard Yates - Writer (novel), Bobby Cohen - Producer, John Hart - Producer, Scott Rudin - Producer, Roger Deakins - Cinematographer, Thomas Newman - Composer, Kristi Zea - Production Designer, Tariq Anwar - Editor. Produced by Dreamworks Pictures. Distributed by Dreamworks Distribution.

Principal actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, and Kathy Bates.

The Reader ***

Spoiler alert: read no further if you don't want to know why Hanna insists on being read to.

I have to say I just didn't get the point of this movie. Set in post-war Germany, you would think it would be about German guilt and how the next generation deals with the Holocaust. A fifteen year old boy has a summer's affair with an older woman, an affair that seems to have scarred him for life and limited his ability to love anyone else. The woman (a transcendent Kate Winslet) insists on being read to. One days she disappears suddenly, right after she's promoted to an office job rather than continuing as a ticket puncher on the train. As we learn later, she's running from her illiteracy.

And this is my problem with the movie. I just don't buy it. OK, I can see that she might have become an SS guard to hide her illiteracy, although didn't she have to make reports? And how could she apply for a job, much less go on trial for war crimes and no one notice that she can't read? How could her lawyer not know? It's important to the story, because, years later, when the boy (David Kross as the youngster and Ralph Feinnes as the older Michael Berg) is in law school, he sees Hanna again for the first time when she and her fellow SS guards are on trial. Hanna is so ashamed of being illiterate that she claims to have written a report that means a heavy sentence for her, and Michael is so ashamed of the affair that he does not help her reveal this secret. It's a dramatic device that just doesn't hold water.

Michael's betrayal also moves the focus of the movie to himself and his relationships, and away from German guilt, the subject of the law school seminar that brought him back to Hanna, and what we might have thought was the subject of the movie. And we're supposed to feel sorry for this SS guard who hand picked victims to go to Auschwitz? The Holocaust seems like something incidental to the story, a reminder of what happened, but less important than Michael's shame. There's even a scene where Hanna is moved to tears by a children's choir, raising that old and too facile question about how a culture with so much beauty could produce such evil.

The movie does have some good points. The family scenes with the boy are well drawn: cold and barren and spiteful. Kross is excellent. Kate Winslet is amazing in what is a rather limited role. But this movie is built on a flimsy foundation and certainly does not deserve a best picture nomination.

Rated R. 124 minutes. Stephen Daldry - Director, David Hare - Writer (screenplay), Bernhard Schlink - Writer (book "Der Vorleser"), Donna Gigliotti - Producer, Anthony Minghella - Producer, Redmond Morris - Producer, Sydney Pollack - Producer, Roger Deakins - Cinematographer, Chris Menges - Cinematographer, Nico Muhly - Composer, Brigitte Broch - Production Designer, Claire Simpson - Editor.

Principal actors: Ralph Fiennes, Kate Winslet, David Kross, Lena Olin, Bruno Gan, and Alexandra Maria Lara.

Hotel for Dogs **

"Hotel for Dogs" is a rather slight but enjoyable movie for the kids about two orphans who are themselves neglected in their foster home, but who give their all to save stray dogs. The dogs have personality, the siblings are ingenious, and the story is original. I'm not sure what Don Cheadle is doing in this piece of fluff - "Hotel Rwanda" to "Hotel for Dogs" is hard to fathom - but the acting is fine. Dog lovers of all ages will have a good time.

Rated PG. 100 minutes. Thor Freudenthal - Director, Jeff Lowell - Writer (screenplay), Bob Schooley - Writer (screenplay), Mark McCorkle - Writer (screenplay), Lois Duncan - Writer (book), Jonathan Gordon - Producer, Ewan Leslie - Producer, Lauren Shuler Donner - Producer, Michael Grady - Cinematographer, John Debney - Composer, William Sandell - Production Designer, Sheldon Kahn - Editor. Produced by Cold Spring Pictures. Distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Principal actors: Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon, and Don Cheadle.

Last Chance Harvey ***

A refreshingly sweet, intelligent and funny take on the timeless boy meets girl story, "Last Chance Harvey" matches an outsider divorced dad (Dustin Hoffman) in London for his daughter's wedding with a spinsterish marketing interviewer with literary ambitions (Emma Thompson). The story is far from original, but the dialog and characterizations, especially Thompson's, are a delight. British writer / director Joel Hopkins shows a deft hand with characters and makes good use of London locations, where he somewhat miraculously seems to have had a good run of sunny days for his outside shots.

Rated PG-13. 92 minutes. Joel Hopkins - Director / Writer (writer), Tim Perell - Producer, Nicola Usborne - Producer, John de Borman - Cinematographer, Dickon Hinchliffe - Composer, Jon Henson - Production Designer, Robin Sales - Editor. Produced by Overture Films.

Principal actors: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Kathy Baker, James Brolin, Eileen Atkins, Richard Schiff, and Liane Balaban.

Bolt ***

"Bolt" is a clever story about a dog who thinks he really has the superpowers he possesses in his television acting role. When he lands in the real world he has a lot to learn. For adults, the story is predictable and has its dull spots, but is enlivened with a real sense of fun and some inside Hollywood humor. The 3D version is very good, and adds a lot to the animation.

Rated PG. 103 minutes. Byron Howard - Director, Chris Williams - Director / Writer (screenplay), Dan Fogelman - Writer (screenplay), Clark Spencer - Producer, John Powell - Composer, Tim Mertens - Editor. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Distributed by Wlat Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Principal voices: John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman, Mark Walton, Diedrich Bader, Malcolm McDowell, and Nick Swardson.

The Wrestler ****

A gripping, visceral, unblinking, heartbreaking look at a has-been wrestling superstar reduced to weekend shows in small auditoriums, with hand-held behind the scenes shots that feel like a documentary, "The Wrestler" is as good as the hype, and marks the rebirth, as they say, of Micky Rourke. Marisa Tomei gives us a truly fearless portrait of the stripper who doesn't dare to feel anything for a customer. The grittiness of their world, and the good people they are, pull you in.

Rated R. 115 minutes. Darren Aronofsky - Director / Producer, Robert Siegel - Writer, Scott Franklin - Producer, Maryse Alberti - Cinematographer, Clint Mansell - Composer, Tim Grimes - Production Designer, Andrew Weisblum, Editor.  Produced by Protozoa Pictures and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Principal actors: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood.