Director Juan Jose Campanella may be best known for the collection of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” episodes he has directed over the last decade, but if he’s to be remembered for anything in his 30-year career it will undoubtedly be “The Secret in Their Eyes,” a Hitchcockian thriller from Argentina that was the Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language film this past March (it arguably upset “A Prophet” and “The White Ribbon” for the prize).

Set on a 25-year timeline, “Secret” begins with the brutal rape and murder of a young Buenos Aires woman in the 1970s. While the case is filed away unsolved, it’s something that criminal court employee Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) can’t shake from his memory during his entire time working in the Argentinean judicial system.

Years later, Benjamin, who has recently retired as a federal investigator, decides he will use his time off to write a book on the cold case that still haunts him. His newfound hobby is met with hesitancy from Judge Irene Menendez Hastings (Soledad Villamil), who worked with Benjamin when the crime first took place. Both shared a mutual attraction for each other although neither ever acted on it. Irene doesn’t feel he should dig up the past. Benjamin’s research begins innocently enough as he once again pieces together the case and tries to fill in the holes that ultimately ended the investigation.

Based on the novel by Eduardo Sacheri, “Secrets” mesmerizes through sharply-written flashbacks between a versatile and wide-eyed Benjamin with his entire life ahead of him and the present one with graying hair who wants more than anything to solve a murder that continues to torment him even in the twilight of his career. As he relives the injustices and corruption that took place across his homeland years ago, Benjamin also hashes out the moments in his life where he lost his opportunity to be truly happy.

While there is a subtle love story and political commentary lingering in the foreground of “Secrets,” its true genre is unquestionable. This is a thriller at its most engaging. There is an intensity director/co-writer Campanella creates through smart dialogue, expert pacing, and intricate storytelling unmatched last year by most American-made thrillers. The film’s passion, however, still hangs on the pure talent of its actors. It’s through their eyes where we discover that while desiring a second chance at something may evoke painful memories, it will also magnify an awareness they never knew existed.

It’s a bold move to go as far as comparing anything to “The Godfather,” but in terms of direction and thematic elements France’s “A Prophet” (“Un Prophete”) might just astonish you. There is a power and poetic essence that makes this film an extremely effective addition to the crime-drama genre.

If you’ve seen director Jacques Audiard’s prior film, 2005’s “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” the talent behind the camera is evident. Both “Heart” and “A Prophet” won the Céasar Award for Best Film, France’s version of an Academy Award. “A Prophet” was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language category last month.

While not on the same epic scale as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece, Audiard does have a unique vision that makes “A Prophet” brim with grim realism and compelling emotion. The film tells the story of Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim in a star-making performance), an illiterate 19-year-old kid of Arab and Corsican descent, who is sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting a police officer. Once incarcerated, the boyish Malik quickly becomes part of prison politics when he is recruited by a Corsican gang headed by the heartless César Luciani (the fantastic Niels Arestrup).

Presented with an ultimatum he can’t refuse (murder a fellow inmate who is about to testify against the gang and receive protection or die), Malik is stripped of his innocence and slowly begins his transformation into the type of man he never thought he could become.

As Malik, Rahim is simply brilliant as he realizes the decisions that he makes to be forced into a gang will change him forever. His vulnerability is short-lived. Malik is made well aware that to survive behind the prison walls he must be both respected and feared. The evolution is very reminiscent of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone, who doesn’t consider himself a vital part of the family business. After his first brutal kill, however, there is no turning back. Like Michael, Malik is aware of the responsibility he has taken on.

It doesn’t take long to be mesmerized by Audiard’s rich storytelling. Complete with realistic violence and tightly-wound characters that are ready to pop at any given second, “A Prophet” is beyond essential viewing. There is a primitive ambiance behind this picture that makes it both disturbing and awe-inspiring. For every intensely-built scene presented, “A Prophet” slices through each one like a razor.

There is certainly a reason that the German film “The White Ribbon,” which won the top prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is the favorite to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film this weekend. It’s a haunting, metaphorical drama that speaks on many different levels, none more importantly than the idea of inherent evil and the loss of innocence.

Set in a small, Northern village in Germany at the start of World War I, Austrian director/writer Michael Haneke (“Caché”) builds the film’s tension on the mysterious accidents that begin to plague the villagers. When a doctor is injured after his horse trips on some wire and a boy is tied to a tree and tortured, the strange occurrences no longer seem like accidents as much as they do cruel pranks.

But who is to blame for what is happening in the once-peaceful village? Slowly, Haneke draws back the curtain as we watch the expressionless characters shot in cold black and white put a major dent in the history books. In doing so, Haneke once again explores the dark areas of human nature as he did with 2007’s sadistic “Funny Games.”

Most of “Ribbon” is narrated by a young school teacher (Christian Friedel), who is trying to find meaning behind his country’s fascist ideals and moral deficiency. His thoughts take him back to the small village where he remembers the children and the strict upbringing some of them became accustomed to.

Actor Burghart Klaussner is chilling as a pastor and the father of a handful of these children, who linger in the background of almost every scene like entities. The white ribbon he ties to his son’s and daughter’s arms is supposed to remind them of their purity. As you being to understand Haneke’s unpleasant viewpoint, “Ribbon” becomes all the more disturbing and intriguing.

While he never spells it out for the audience, Haneke’s message is a profound one. Even when he does allow us to see more of the heartlessness of these characters, “Ribbon” never becomes as unsettling as when these moments are happening behind closed doors.

While “The Last Station,” a melodramatic period piece on 19th century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, might not find the literary scholar in all of us, there’s no denying the major influence the writer’s work has had on generations of free-thinking minds. From Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr., Tolstoy, who wrote such well-known novels such as “War and Peace,” “Anna Karenina” and “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” is regarded by many as a one of the greatest storytellers in all of literature.

Portraying Tolstoy at the age of 81 is an icon in his own right, 80-year-old Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, who began his professional film career in the last ’50s and is best known for his role in “The Sound of Music” and his Tony Award-winning work on Broadway. As Tolstoy, a part that earned him the first Academy Award nomination of his career this year, Plummer is fantastic. Accolades are also well deserved for Oscar winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”), who plays Tolstoy’s wife of 48 years, Sofya. The role earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination.

The acting talent is limitless in “The Last Station,” which also stars Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti (“Cinderella Man”) and up-and-coming Scottish actor James McAvoy (“Atonement”). In the film, McAvoy plays Valentine Bulgakov, a young and impressionable essayist who becomes Tolstoy’s personal secretary. Like his role in 2006’s “The Last King of Scotland” where he plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin’s private physician, McAvoy’s Valentine is at the center of a delicate, emotional, and historical narrative. This one splits Tolstoy between his family and his faction.

The year is 1910 and Tolstoy has built a substantial following of people who live life according to his philosophy, which includes celibacy and passive resistance. Known as Tolstoyans, a Christian anarchist group formed by Vladimir Chertkov (Giamatti), the advocates regard Tolstoy as a prophet. In “The Last Station,” Vladimir sends Valentine into the Tolstoy estate to spy and report back family news from inside the household. Vladimir is worried Sofya will ruin the commune’s plan to indoctrinate the public with his beliefs. She wants the rights to her husbands work after he passes away, but Vladimir argues the work belongs to the people. Tolstoy, himself, seems bewildered at the thought of having to choose between his wife and the man who could help seal his legacy.

While “The Last Station” might feel a bit stuffy and slowly-paced for some viewers, director/screenwriter Michael Hoffman (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) has created an intelligent drama based on the intricacies that evolve when relationships and ideals collide. As Mrs. Tolstoy, Mirren is memorable when revealing her character’s frustrations as she slowly loses her husband to the world. McAvoy, too, holds his own alongside the veterans by creating a sympathetic character lost between his idolization of a flawed master and his better conscience.

To understand and admire the work of an observational documentary filmmaker like Frederick Wiseman, one must be open to an artistic and minimalist vision. Depending on what his subject is for his film, one may also need to be close to the industry he decides to capture on camera to be genuinely fascinated. In the case of “La Danse,” unless ballet flows through your veins or you are able to deeply appreciate each nanosecond of a perfect arabesque, the documentary might feel a bit impersonal especially if you’ve never seen any of Wiseman’s work before.

In the past, Wiseman, who has been making docs for over 40 years and is now 80 years old, has always created clear-cut narratives through the lens of his camera. Like a fly on the wall, he watches the inner workings of places most people would pass through without thinking of it as a location for a feature documentary. For example, in 1968, Wiseman camped out in the hallways of a high school for a year and shot footage to complete one of his first films, “High School.” In 1983, he focused his attention inside a Neiman Marcus store during Christmastime and released “The Store.” In 2007, Madison Square Garden was his inspiration for “The Garden.” Notice a trend?

In his most recent work, “La Danse,” Wiseman infiltrates the Palais Garnier in Paris, the institution where dancers of the Opera Ballet practice for their upcoming performances. Stepping through the studios and corridors of the building, Wiseman documents every nuance of the company as groups of dancers rehearse for seven separate ballets.

Not only does Wiseman shoot footage of ballerinas in tutus dancing to classical piano music, he also incorporates other everyday events into his narrative. Whether he is shooting a meeting between ballet directors or catches costume designers at work, it’s evident that Wiseman wants the full scope of all the activities that go on under the roof of the Palais Garnier. Even the empty hallways and staircases become characters in his graceful and lengthy film.

There are no talking-head interviews with the dancers, no questinos about their inspiration behind their craft, no narration, no sound bites, no camera tricks or fancy editing. “La Danse” is documentary filmmaking in its simplest form. It all comes back to the ballet. It’s in these fluid motions of the human body when “La Danse” is at its most intriguing. At times, Wiseman will hold the camera on a rehearsal for nearly 10 minutes, which may be daunting to some, but watching the ballet come to life through precise choreography and elegance is entrancing for those who want to experience something different.

With extreme attention to detail, Wiseman continues to take us places we’ve never been and does it with an authenticity some modern documentarians have strayed away from. It’s refreshing to know there is a non-fiction filmmaker out there who is still a purist.

Place an entire narrative on the shoulders of four-time Academy Award nominated actor Jeff Bridges (“The Last Picture Show”) and good things are bound to happen, especially if you ask him to sing, too.

Despite a fairly safe and conventional screenplay by first time director and writer Scott Cooper, the music drama “Crazy Heart” is Bridges’ closet shot to winning Oscar gold since earning his last nom for his supporting role in 2001’s “The Contender.”

While “Crazy Heart” is rich with familiar themes, Bridges doesn’t disappoint. He stars as “Bad” Blake, a down-on-his-luck country and western singer who finds himself in the twilight of his career fighting to stay a significant part of the music industry he helped build.

All the gigs Bad can book, however, are in small-town bowling alleys, run-down watering holes, and places where his fan base – although faithful – isn’t as significant as it once was during his glory days. Years of alcoholism have taken their toll on Bad, who is now flat broke. His agent want him to sit down and write new material, but Bad’s just not interested in writing songs for other performers anymore. This includes working with his former protégé Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell), a young and popular singer who epitomizes the new generation of country music.

Instead, Bad seems comfortable doing his touring across the Southwest in his 1978 Chevy suburban, staying at ratty motels and drinking the cheapest whiskey he can find. When Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a Santa Fe reporter, asks for an interview during one of his tour stops in New Mexico, Bad agrees and is immediately stunned by how much he likes the young writer. Jean, too, is oddly drawn to the Merle Haggard-type star as he tries to sober up and kick-start his life and career.

Adapted from a novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb, “Crazy Heart” – as cliché as it sounds – actually feels like the cinematic version of a country song. All the ingredients are there from love to heartbreak to redemption and Cooper follows the recipe without burning the biscuits (Bad’s specialty in the kitchen). Sure, a few bites may be a bit dry, but Bridges is riding a gravy train.

As Bad, he gives an effortless performance as a man who wants a second chance to do something memorable with the talent he has. As we watch Bad fiddle with his guitar throughout the film (pieces of the Ryan Bingham/T-Bone Burnett-written “The Weary Kind” can be heard), it’s evident that there is something amazing waiting to be revealed before it’s all said and done.

Whether he’s on stage singing songs from the film’s exceptional soundtrack (“The Weary Kind” is Oscar bound) or holding a sweet conversation with Jean’s little boy, Bridges knows no bounds when providing us with his subtle and sensitive character. “Crazy Heart” is his latest dream role and we’re all singing his praises.

As a period piece, “The Young Victoria” is fairly generic when it comes to offering a history lesson, but credit must be given to Emily Blunt and her portrayal of Queen Victoria during the first years as ruler of England. As the young queen, Blunt plays the real-life character both mature and inexperienced.  Add to that some top-notch costume design by two-time Oscar nominated (7-time nominee) Sandy Powell (“The Aviator,” “Shakespeare in Love”) and solid production design and “Victoria” is right at the edge of a recommendation.

While “A Single Man” is the most self-involved film in recent memory, debut filmmaker and fashion designer Tom Ford has created a work of art that is both flawless and haunting. Not only is it admirable for its pristine production value and attention to detail, actor Colin Firth gives the most gripping performance of his career. I would have loved this movie more if it could have stopped loving itself.

Someone must’ve forgotten to tell 20th Century Fox just how terrible the 2007 original film really was. Someone at 20th Century Fox might’ve actually listened if the original didn’t reel in over $217 million at the box office. A film like “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” supports two theories about Hollywood: the mighty dollar is the old thing in the industry that matters sometimes and studios realize that good family entertainment is hard to find at the theater so packaging a few animated characters together and calling it a movie is a sure-fire way to lure in an audience full of five-year-olds. I didn’t think anything could be as annoying in 2009 as the gerbils in “G-Force,” but apparently the “Chipmunks” wanted to prove me wrong.

Another fish-out-of-water story that sinks to the bottom of the sea, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” pits likeable Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker into an asinine story that is predictable, cliché and  incredibly unfunny. In the film, Grant and Parker play an estranged married couple who are sent to Wyoming to live under the witness protection program. Someone needs to tell director/writer Marc Lawrence that he might want to rethink writing a four romantic comedy after he’s bored us to death with “Morgans,” “Music and Lyrics” and “Two-Weeks Notice.”

It’s nowhere near his 2002 Academy Award-winning film “Chicago,” but Rob Marshall manages to get as much out of Michael Tolkin and Anthony Minghella’s script as he possibly can. While the musical numbers of Kate Hudson, Fergie, and Penelope Cruz are quite good, the rest of the cast’s singing and dancing contributions are unmemorable (Judi Dench is one of the greatest living actresses today, but I never want to hear karaoke again).  Overall, it’s a passable musical because of the choreography and some of the catchier tunes, but “Nine” doesn’t live up to its Oscar-grubbing hype as well as it promised.

With that said, Cage’s new film “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans” is fortunately another of those diamonds in the rough. A bizarrely interesting film by director Werner Herzog (“Rescue Dawn”), “Lieutenant” is the exact role Cage needed to get out of his three-year slump. It’s a manic character study brimming with high-energy dialogue and sarcasm perfect for Cage’s exaggerated tendencies.

In “Lieutenant,” which is very loosely based on the 1992 film of the same name (sans subtitle), Cage takes on the role of Terence McDonagh, a drug-addicted police detective investigating the murders of a Senegalese family living in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Hopped up on pain killers and cocaine, Terence blazes through Sin City using his badge to get whatever he wants. Whether it’s cutting in line at the pharmacy or having sex with young women he pulls over for traffic infractions, the lieutenant has a nasty streak.

Despite his moments of lunacy, there is some goodness in Terence that he just can’t seem to exude any which way but raw. When he befriends a group of drug dealers lead by kingpin Big Fate (Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner), who may be linked to the brutal killings, it’s really not certain whether Terence is actually infiltrating the gang to solve the crime or to get a fix. His relationship with prostitute Frankie Donnenfeld (Eva Mendes) doesn’t help clean up his image either.

“The Bad Lieutenant” is a deranged and humorous film and Herzog knows how to get the best from his leading man. While we watch Terrance snort, fidget and space out and see him hallucinate iguanas and self-destruct, it’s evident that there is a method to all of Cage’s madness. In “Lieutenant,” he pushes his limits and the results are quite impressive in a kind of freakish way.