Safety Not Guaranteed

A quirky indie, popular at Sundance, about Kenneth, an eccentric loner (Mark Duplass) who believes he's solved time travel and places a classified seeking a partner to accompany him back a decade on the machine he's invented. Sounds like a must to avoid, right? Not really. Almost despite itself, "Safety Not Guaranteed" successfully straddles - most of the time - the fine line between cynicism and credulity, preposterousness and possibility, affectation and emotional honesty.

Wallander: The Revenge

In the wake of the "Dragon Tattoo" movies comes the police procedural "Wallander: The Revenge" (a terrible title that makes it sound like an Australian horror sequel), which is actually a 90-minute installment of a popular Swedish television series about Kurt Wallander, the rumpled chief inspector of the quiet seaside city of Ystad.

Nobody Else But You

If you stop and think about it, narration by a dead character shouldn’t work. Yet from “Sunset Boulevard” to “Miracle Mile” to the new French import “Nobody Else But You,” somehow it does. The decedent here is Candice Lecoeur (Sophie Quinton), the belle of Mouthe, the coldest village in France, whose twin claims to fame are her sex-kitten weather forecasts f...or a TV morning show and her commercials for a local creamery’s “Belle de Jura” cheese.

Lola Versus

Greta Gerwig, who made such a favorable first impression in "Greenberg," is now in danger of losing her moment after Whit Stillman's insufferable "Damsels in Distress" and now the generic quirky-vulgar indie "Lola Versus," which shows her in a reactive, easy-sleazy light that I don't think holds much appeal for today's woman (or today's man, for that matter). All of Gerwig's worst features - that whiny, nasal voice, a Haverfordian frumpiness, a lack of sunlight on her skin - are accentuated in this white-people's-problems picture, where she bounces from her first and only boyfriend (yeah, right) to their mutual best friend (Hamish Linklater of Miranda July's twee "The Future") to a Yogilate-ing rollerblader and prison architect who explains his massive member by telling Gerwig he was an "incubator baby." There are two big laughs, but nothing in the movie feels real or unforced.

Bill W.

The anonymity-cherishing subject of the documentary "Bill W." is William G. Wilson, the founder of AA and a hero and savior to millions of recovering addicts of all kinds around the world. Wilson lived an amazing life, almost always on the edge of poverty and for years dependent on the kindness of friends to house and feed him and his long-suffering wife, Lois. Unfortunately, his story is more compelling than this new but old-school doc, which with its amber-glow reenactments, old home movies, and black-and-white photographs suffers from the fustiness and drooping eyelids of a grade-school educational film. The best moments occur when Wilson's self-deprecating and gallows humor seeps out, as in his description of the AA chapter somewhere in Virginia that once served beer at its meetings. We get some fascinating insights into the nature of addiction and the ever-evolving meaning of AA's 12 steps and 12 traditions. If only "Bill W." were less of a broccoli movie, less good for you and more fun to take in.

Oslo, August 31st

Joachim Trier's "Oslo, August 31st" follows a recovering drug abuser named Anders around the Norwegian capital on an ordinary day during his tenth month in rehab. He invites himself over to some old friends' places (some are happier to see and indulge him than others), leaves a "Swingers"-esque series of voicemails for his ex-girlfriend, and interviews for a job with a media magazine. He also visits his old dealer and buys a gram of heroin, which he may or may not end up injecting, though given Trier's overly deterministic style I'll give you one good guess. Not much really happens, and though Trier gives us several series of silent picture-postcard images of Oslo, they don't convey a real sense of the city or carry the emotional impact of, say, Richard Linklater's beautiful "Before Sunset." Most Hollywood movies clogging the multiplexes are all rising action and climax. "Oslo, August 31st" is the art-house equivalent: It's all denouement.

A Cat in Paris

The animated Oscar nominee "A Cat in Paris" runs just over an hour, features a mediocre English-language voice cast, and is far from revolutionary in its animation, but it's one of the prettiest, most eye-popping movies in recent memory. With its lush palette and vivid color combinations, it took me back to my favorite illustrated storybooks from my childhood and the joy and wonder they inspired. I also liked the surprises in its simple but engaging storyline.