All articles by Joe Lozito

The incredible tale of one man’s survival on a deserted island is hampered by Hollywood’s need to find a comfortable ending.

Kazuaki Kiriya’s admirable attempt to create a live-action anime-style film is notable only for its visually stunning fight scenes and over-long running time.

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.

Relentlessly gripping, intense documentary about the 4 hour standoff between Rio de Janeiro police and one desperate young man with a busload of hostages. Using interviews and the real footage recorded during the highest ratings event in Brazilian TV history, filmmakers Felipe Lacerda and Jose Padilha turn this tragedy of errors into a commentary on culture and society on a global scale.

If you can believe it, the story of a geriatric Elvis and a black JFK fighting a soul-sucking mummy in a retirement home is refreshing, quirky fun, thanks to startlingly spot-on performances by Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.

There’s about half an hour’s worth of good Jim Carrey comedy in this otherwise ill-advised mess which is far too long on theology and too short on comedy.

The highest grossing French film ever, which is very loosely based on historical fact, tells the brutal tale of a horrific beast on the prowl in a small French town. Despite several cinematic flourishes – stolen from almost every film genre – the film plays more like "Jaws Deux."

Nicolas Cage, recently wasted in action thrillers such as ‘Con Air’ and ‘8MM,’ steps back into his acting shoes – at least partially.

Kimberly Peirce’s fact-based tale of cross-dressing teen Teena Brandon proves once again that mixing white trash and gender politics just doesn’t work. Ms. Peirce’s film, however, does.

Though his facts are sometimes biased, his targets undeserving and his tangents amusing but irrelevant, Michael Moore still concocts provocative documentaries like no one else. This portrait of the obsession with guns and the seemingly uncontrollable rash of gun violence in this country is difficult, informative, uncompromising and, at times, incredibly funny.