If any piece of classic American literature should be depicted on film with wildly decadent and boldly inventive style, it's “The Great Gatsby.” After all, who was the character of Jay Gatsby himself if not a spinner of grandiose tales and a peddler of lavish dreams?

The man who made “Psycho” was no lightweight, though he kind of comes off that way in “Hitchcock.” Starring Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as his wife and collaborator, Alma, “Hitchcock” puts a featherlight yet entertaining touch on the behind-the-scenes struggle to make the mother of all slasher films.

To some, marriage is a word; but to others, it is a sentence. That's why, in the newly released movie, “Say Yes” (101次求婚), it takes 101 proposals to get the girl of your dreams.

The genders have been reversed but the supernatural, star-crossed teen angst remains firmly intact in “Beautiful Creatures,” which clearly aims to pick up where the “Twilight” franchise left off.

“Promised Land” is an engaging and entertaining — if preachy — look at Big Energy and fracking — the land-and-water-wrecking practice of drilling and pumping water and chemicals into the ground to extract natural gas from shale.

Aspider crawls up the leg of 18-year-old India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) early in Park Chan-wook's English-language debut, “Stoker,” and she regards it passively, intrigued.

For anyone who cringed just a little while watching the trailer for “Lincoln” and worried that it might be a near-parody of a Steven Spielberg film, with its heartfelt proclamations, sentimental tones and inspiring John Williams score, fret not.

Staying incredibly faithful to the real-life story of the Jingmei Girls High School (景美女中) tug-of-war team's arduous journey to success, “Step Back to Glory” (志氣) is Taiwan's own inspirational sports movie.

A true story of the unrelenting endurance and perseverance of a group of passionate teenage girls, in a film that firmly grasps audiences and tugs at the heartstrings with an emotionally charged story of tug-of-war, “Step Back to Glory” (志氣), stands out from all of the other Cinderella-story movies in its faithful portrayal of a real-life event.

Tom Hooper's extravaganza, big-screen telling of the beloved musical “Les Miserables” is as relentlessly driven as the ruthless Inspector Javert himself. It simply will not let up until you've Felt Something — powerfully and repeatedly — until you've touched the grime and smelled the squalor and cried a few tears of your own.