In what is easily one of the best-acted films of Ron Howard’s directorial career, “Hillbilly Elegy” joins the ranks of films like “August Osage County,” “Fences” and “The Fighter,” exploring the contentious side of family life.

Before it premiered, there were hopes that Francis Lee’s new film would put Kate Winslet in the race for next year’s best actress Oscar. Hopes were dashed though after the reviews from this year’s virtual Toronto Film Festival, labeling it as dry, mute and bleak.

“Let Him Go” is a tense drama leaning heavily in the direction of a thriller with sharp performances from Diane Lane and Lesley Manville.

“Monster in the iPad” is the simplest way to sum up Jacob Chase’s adaptation of “Larry,” a five-minute short film turned into a full-length feature film.

Netflix delivers a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s only best-picture winner “Rebecca,” based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is one of the few that can make a thriller out of people sitting in a room. In many ways his latest, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” uses some of the same techniques that won him the Academy Award for writing “The Social Network.”

Woody Allen’s 48th feature-length film is another forgettably trite romantic comedy — ironic since “A Rainy Day in New York” has become one of his most controversial.

Too young to remember writer, feminist and political activist Gloria Steinem? This film by Julie Taymor (“Frida”), based on Steinem’s recently released autobiography, documents not only her achievements but her struggle along the way.

“Misbehaviour” tackles a large portion of London’s women’s liberation movement of the early ‘70s, beginning with a scrappy group that infiltrated the Miss World Pageant in 1970.

“Antebellum” is hiding a good movie somewhere, with social commentary and a twist that could knock your socks off.

From writing episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Gossip Girl,” Natalie Krinsky makes her directorial debut with this generation’s Bridget Jones, another generation’s “Pride & Prejudice.”

To better understand Charlie Kaufman, I would refer you to his Oscar-winning film “Adaptation.”

It was a summer movie season like no other, and one we hope never to repeat again.

Few movies out there can land a genuine smile on your face. I’m talking pure unfiltered joy coming from the creativity beaming on screen, something we need now even more than when I first reviewed this film back in Toronto last fall.

When Nikola Tesla pulls out his cell phone at a bar in 1888 or Anne Morgan, daughter of JP Morgan, fires up her Apple computer to explain the number of Google searches for Telsa compared to Thomas Edison, you understand quickly this isn’t a normal biopic.

“I Still Believe,” the religious romance film, was one of the last times local film critics sat for a movie screening in person. That was in early March.

First-time feature film director Egor Abramenko’s Russian sci-fi thriller “Sputnik” makes the most out of a “less is more” approach.

There have been so many remakes of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden” that Colin Firth has now starred in two.

The first great film of 2020 creeps up on you gradually in the most unexpected way. “Summerland” is the feature film debut of Jessica Swale, who also wrote the original screenplay.