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Billy Mitchell is a flamboyant, egotistical champion with a sexy wife and a thriving business, while Steve Wiebe is a quiet, unassuming family man who spends all his spare time in the garage. But one thing these two men have in common is Donkey Kong—and a desire to set, and keep, the world record for highest score on this vintage video game. This documentary is a remarkable study of these two characters and the bizarre society they inhabit: Billy as an insider who has known all the right people for decades, and Steve as an outsider who gradually overcomes the suspicions of other people. Steve Taylor once sang about people "carving [their] name on a video game" in a quest for immortality, and this film shows how intense that quest can get. (Official website.)
— Peter T. Chattaway

The Academy Winner for Best Foreign Film in 2006 (it got a 2007 release in the U.S.), The Lives of Others—about an East German secret police officer who discovers his lost humanity while spying on a subversive writer—is a profoundly beautiful story of paranoia and privation, of cowardice and heroism, of persuasion and resolve, of scrutiny and freedom, and of the secrets we keep even from ourselves. The Lives of Others is an overwhelmingly redemptive thriller and an undisputed masterpiece. (Official website.)
— Brandon Fibbs

It's a simple plot, really. An Irish street musician meets a Czech immigrant and together they make beautiful music. The main characters don't even get names; they're simply listed as Guy and Girl in the credits. They're both broken-hearted, poor, and capable of more musically than their current circumstances allow. Together, with the help of songs full of raw and beautiful longing, they experience the ability of music to elevate us above both the mundane and heart-breaking details of life—and to connect us to one another in ways both temporary and profound. (Official site.)
— Camerin Courtney

Walt Disney Pictures helped Americans discover master filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, distributing Spirited Away in 2001 (which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature). If Satoshi Kon's Paprika had also received widespread distribution, we might have seen a similar sensation. It's the most imaginative movie of 2007, and the best science fiction adventure too. It's about a Japanese psychotherapist with a secret identity—"Paprika." By night, she plunges into patients' dreams using a high-tech device: a DC Mini. When terrorists steal several Minis and terrify people in dreams, Paprika must infiltrate sub-conscious wonderlands to catch the crooks. But make no mistake: This is no cartoon for kids; it's rated R for violence and sexual images. (Official site.)
— Jeffrey Overstreet

Okay, it's not for everyone, this movie about a vengeful barber who beheads his patrons and bakes them into meat pies. And it's a musical. But there's no denying that Tim Burton's latest is also one of his greatest. Equal parts macabre comedy, grisly horror story, and extravagant musical, Todd plays to all of Burton's strengths; his films often boast a style that isn't matched by substance, but Todd is full of enough humor and humanity that it's much more than just a feast for the senses. Though the humor is as dark and as bloody as it gets, it's also surprisingly potent in sinking its teeth into our emotions—and it has some surprising things to say about the relationship between revenge and justice, and the destructive effects that a blind, misguided love can have. (Our review.)
— Josh Hurst

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