Movies -- Wot the Times Liked

Outwitting the Ayatollah With Hollywood’s Help
‘Argo,’ Directed by Ben Affleck

NYT Critics' Pick

At one point in “Argo,” a smart, jittery thriller about a freakish and little-known chapter of the Iranian hostage crisis, a Hollywood producer says that history starts as farce and ends up as tragedy. He seems, as someone rightly points out, to have it backward. But as a professional dissembler, he knows better. Because much like the revolutionary shock troops who seized the United States embassy on Nov. 4, 1979, and turned the crisis into gripping political theater watched by the entire world — tune in tomorrow when America goes on trial, with the special guest star the Ayatollah Khomeini — the producer knows that historical events alone don’t cut it. You need lights, camera, action.

Small Pleasures, Scattered Amid Struggles
‘Middle of Nowhere,’ Directed by Ava DuVernay

NYT Critics' Pick

The writer and director Ava DuVernay is after something exquisitely simple in “Middle of Nowhere”: she wants you to look, really look, at her characters. Mostly, Ms. DuVernay, who won the directing award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, wants you to look at Ruby, a lonely young nurse (Emayatzy Corinealdi), whose husband, Derek (Omari Hardwick), is serving time. At once tethered to the world and seemingly detached from its thrum, Ruby dedicates herself to Derek, whom she regularly visits by riding a bus to the prison with all the other dutifully waiting women.

A Relationship’s Glue Is Made of Alcohol
‘Smashed,’ by James Ponsoldt, Looks at Alcoholism

NYT Critics' Pick

Dramas about alcoholism and recovery have little room to maneuver between two basic stories: one of resilience and regeneration, the other ending in self-destruction. How good they are depends on the degree of truthfulness they convey about a subject that was once shrouded in secrecy and shame but is now a reality-television staple. Alcohol addiction may not seem to be the big deal that it once was, except that it often remains a matter of life and death.

A Fugitive’s Identity Theft Has a Highly Personal Twist
‘The Big Picture,’ Directed by Eric Lartigau

NYT Critics' Pick

The adage “It’s never too late to be who you might have been,” ascribed to George Eliot, is given a cruel twist in the terrific French thriller “The Big Picture.”

No, He Really Doesn’t Want to Be on YouTube
‘3, 2, 1 ... Frankie Go Boom,’ With Ron Perlman

NYT Critics' Pick

Exuberantly written and directed by Jordan Roberts, “3,2,1... Frankie Go Boom” is a vibrantly vulgar comedy that never hangs around to admire its own cleverness. With wham-bam timing and unisex jokes, Mr. Roberts races us through a jam-packed tale of erectile reluctance, brotherly betrayal, Internet disaster and accidental romance.

Two Families Become One in World War II
‘Simon and the Oaks,’ From Sweden

NYT Critics' Pick

With its exhilarating World War II narrative and performances that touch notes intimate and grand, “Simon and the Oaks” has an exquisite, and epic, ache. Simon’s parents are working-class Swedes, but he develops a surrogate family in his schoolmate Isak and Isak’s father — wealthy, German and Jewish. To help their troubled children, these contrasting sets of parents blend into an affecting unit that expands over the years, eventually forming a business together and spanning generations.

What’s a Gang to Do? Join the Other Crooks to Snare a Jewel
‘The Thieves,’ South Korean Hit Starring Yun-seok Kim‘

NYT Critics' Pick

It’s not surprising that the highest-domestic-grossing film in South Korea in recent years is “The Thieves,” Dong-hoon Choi’s sprawling, relentlessly entertaining thriller. Its labyrinthine plot — rival gangs of high-tech criminals collaborate on a jewel heist taking them to Hong Kong; Busan, South Korea; and Macau, China — is loaded with all the twists, disguises, glamorous settings and split-screen montages you could ask for.