PHILIP'S FLICKS

The film's most impressive sequence, the peak of Cruise's performance, occurs when Digger willingly throws himself to the European Parliament. In a bellowing, increasingly manic speech, on a circle-in-the-round stage, he takes full responsibility for the ongoing crisis. But then he does a double reverse, shifting the blame to all world leaders and their reliance on fossil fuels.

Easiest, most obvious movie prediction of the year: Christopher Nolan’s sprawling, beautifully photographed, frequently suspenseful swords-and-sandals epic is a shoo-in for multiple Oscars.

Trier’s movie about moviemaking makes use of a framing device, positioning the family home, a sprawling, majestic Victorian house, as a living thing, a nominally benevolent container that watches over and remembers the lives of those who inhabit the place over the decades.