Wherever my travels have taken me this year, whether as close as the screening room down the street or as far afield as the Cannes Film Festival in France, the sentiment has been the same: What a banner year it has been for American movies. And at a time when there isn’t much about our country that everyone the world over can agree on, these words of praise have been spoken by critics, filmmakers and just plain moviegoers of myriad tongues and nationalities. Far be it from me to argue: Of the 17 titles I’ve managed to shoehorn into the 10 slots below (with an eye toward potential double and triple features), all but four are American or American co-productions. Even more notable than this surfeit may be the fact that some of the most venturesome work in this annus mirabilis for homegrown cinema came in movies produced and/or released by the major Hollywood studios or their subsidiary “specialty” divisions. Not that the news was always good:... More >>>