Best hairdo: Bobby Canavale's nape in "Blue Jasmine." Best scene: Greta Gerwig running in "Frances Ha" to David Bowie's "Modern Love." Best newcomer: Barkhad Abdi in "Captain Phillips." Best acting award: New York City in "Inside Llewyn Davis." Best documentary: "The Act of killing." So much to gloat about this year. Here are my favorites among those films which had an official U.S. release.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) announced that “Captain Phillips” [...]

Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass team up again and they've brought their shaky, handheld camera along. It’s Jason Bourne in a non-Jason Bourne movie, but it stands right up there with those films. Based on Rajiv Chandrasekran’s book, it takes place during the early days of the Iraq war. Damon is Army Chief Roy Miller, baffled by poor intelligence that has so far led to squat in the WMD department. He soon finds himself in the middle of two opposing agendas.