By Joe Lozito

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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The final chapter of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" adaptation is also the best, standing not only as its own movie, but also as an exhilarating end to one of the finest trilogies ever put on film.

American Splendor
The trials of comic book everyman Harvey Pekar are brought to vivid life through a mix of documentary and scripted footage resulting in the most innovative and unique biopic in recent memory. Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis are unforgettable as Pekar and his wife.

Lost in Translation
Writer-director Sofia Coppola's story of two disaffected Americans stranded in Tokyo (one for business, one for marital obligation) is worth seeing if only for the beautiful photography and Bill Murray's most complete, heartfelt performance to date. The story, which is at times hysterical and insightful, is just a bonus.

Capturing the Friedmans
In the process of creating a modest - and potentially dull - documentary about a New York birthday clown, first-time director Andrew Jarecki stumbled upon a goldmine of backstory about his subject's family, the patriarch of which is a convicted child molester. The resulting film, intercut with home video footage is an uneven but exceedingly fascinating portrait of a family unraveling from the inside out.

City of God
Billed, and rightly so, as a Brazilian "Goodfellas", this harrowing look at gang warfare in a small ghetto outside of Rio de Janeiro is fearlessly brutal and honest.

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Last Updated: 2009-04-06 21:43:50
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