This story of a married couple’s courting, betrayal and reunion – adapted from a novel by W. Somerset Maugham – is told in delicate, almost imperceptible notes. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts play the middle-class doctor and upper-class socialite who marry for conflicting reasons and set off to China. Both actors emphasize the loaded gestures

A feature-length defense of dirty old man syndrome, Venus charts the occasionally sweet but often icky relationship between an aged British actor named Maurice (Peter O’Toole) and the rebellious teen niece (Jodie Whittaker) of his friend. It’s a relief that the movie isn’t mawkish, but it goes too far once sexual favors become involved. What

A nearly three-hour opus that in its few coherent moments centers on an identity crisis suffered by a Hollywood actress (Laura Dern), this will try the patience of the most devoted fans of director David Lynch. Mood, motif – these are the usual rewards of a Lynch picture, but even they wear out their welcome

Matt Damon’s minimalist performance – he hardly flexes a muscle – is the best thing about this ambitious, speculative account of the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. As Edward Wilson, a fictionalized amalgam of the secretive, paranoid men who started the agency, Damon is in cipher mode (The Talented Mr. Ripley, the Bourne pictures),

“…begins with a politely observed time of mourning and then gets on to the business of triumph, even if the movie has to invent it.

In Notes, Judi Dench pulls a fast one on both the other characters in the movie and the audience, and it’s a delight to be deceived. Dench plays Barbara, a hard-knock schoolteacher who discovers that a friend and fellow teacher (Cate Blanchett) is having an affair. She swoops in to correct the situation as responsibly

This surprisingly genuine drama reminds us that homelessness can be a frighteningly simple – even mundane – process. Take underemployment, mix it with overdue rent and taxes and add a dash of plain old bad luck, and suddenly you’re fighting for a place in line at a shelter. That’s the predicament faced by Chris Gardner