Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
Prepare to have your mind violated. Beyond the Black Rainbow hardly represents conventional storytelling, but the film is an absolute visual feast. Expect sensuous rather than sense, and open-minded movie lovers will be well-rewarded.

Action
Rod Lott
By sheer coincidence, Osombie arrived on my desk the same day I screened Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-worthy depiction about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Osombie begins where Zero ends: with the American military raid on bin Laden's compound on May 2, 2011. Whereas Zero puts bullets in the al-Qaeda leader's body, Osombie lets him inject himself with an aggressive pathogen so that, once he washes up on the Arabian Sea, he's a full-fledged zombie.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
When I first saw Holy Motors, it was in a way that would make director Leos Carax cry, “Mon dieu!”: on a small window on my computer screen. That’s hardly the proper showcase for a film that set Cannes all abuzz, especially for courting year-end votes from critics’ groups.

Action
Rod Lott
Although front-and-center on the Blu-ray box and the film’s trailers, Expendables team member Jet Li takes more of a supporting role in The Sorcerer and the White Snake. This shouldn’t be a surprise; about to turn 50, the guy isn’t as spry as he used to be. What is a surprise is how kid-friendly the Hong Kong film is. With little exception, it’s practically made for them.

Thriller
Phil Bacharach
The Place Beyond the Pines is two-thirds of a great movie. Director Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to 2010’s Oscar-nominated Blue Valentine is a tense, powerful crime thriller with some weighty stuff on its mind. It speaks to the filmmaker’s know-how that not even a crazily contrived third act can damper its haunting power.