Cloud Atlas

It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the truncated, seemingly random narrative structure of The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer’s “Cloud Atlas”, but what a bliss when you settle into the audacious filmmakers' sprawling vision carried by top-notch production values, an ensemble cast made to feel even more enormous by its versatility, and above all that timeless sigh reverberating down a thousand years of human consciousness, longing, brutality and salvation.

Freewheeling, genre-hopping, more faint echos of one another than inherently connected in any way, some people may find trouble with the amount of storylines in this gigantic sci-fi extravaganza- and it does get trying now and then- but in its best moments, all the intercutting threads fall into place like notes in a symphony with fluidity, urgency and transcendent harmony to convey something that, all elusiveness aside, feels big, true and defining, which is what makes this movie an epic in every sense of the word.

Oh Boy

Writer/director Jan Ole Gerster's feature film debut "Oh Boy", about a young guy's 24-hour odyssey through Berlin, is as featherlight and unassuming as they come, but it captures some of those impossibly real and indefinably tragicomic moments in life with aplomb, ponders the glory and disrepair of the great German capital with striking b/w pictures, gathers wonderfully varied performances from a supporting cast surrounding the luminous Tom Schilling, and caps it all off with a laid-back, jazzy soundtrack that's loveliness itself.

It's authentic, funny, surprisingly tender and irresistibly cool. Oh boy, I adore this movie.

Skyfall

Despite some effects shots that could be done better and a final act that, for all its explosiveness and Shakespearean grandeur, feels strangely out of place and anticlimatic, Sam Mendes' "Skyfall" delivers everything you can ask for in a James Bond film: brilliant action sequences staged against the backdrop of exotic, awe-inspiring locations, a cinematography and editing team that works wonders keeping things sharp and brisk without getting jumpy, and that marvelous whiff of quintessential 007 charm.

Acting-wise: Javier Bardem, equal parts flamboyant and creepy, is positively diva-licious, while Judi Dench rules the screen once again as the queen bee of British secret intelligence, her snarky one-liners are priceless.

Amour x2

Saw "Amour" a second time within 24 hours and picked up even more tonal nuances in Michael Haneke's intricate screenplay as well as heartbreaking details in Emmanuelle Riva's impeccable performance as the dying piano teacher.

Modest in scope but grand in emotional repercussions, this movie is like a piece of chamber music, intimate and neat, all the while destined to end quietly on the saddest note.

Amour

Love is put to the ultimate test in Michael Haneke's pristine and powerful "Amour".

While the depiction of old age with all the predicaments and indignities that come with it might seem exploitative and mean, in the end, this movie is about love in its most violent forms and under the most precarious circumstances, which is what makes this Palme d'Or winner so frighteningly human.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is vibrant, soulful, magnificently raw and worthy of all the superlatives splashed across its poster.

6-yeal-old lead actress Quvenzhané Wallis radiates childlike wonder while embodying strength, courage and vulnerability. A revelation.

Alps

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos' "Alps" feels more fragmented and (sometimes intentionally) wooden than "Dogtooth", but its story of identity and performance is every bit as morbid and gripping as that of his astonishing last feature.

Once you can get past the rather artificial construct of the plot, the questions it raises about the authenticity of human behavior and the substitution of emotions are just fascinating to ponder.