Critic consensus:As smart, funny, and trenchant as writer-director-star Chris Rock's best standup work, Top Five is a career highlight for its creator -- and one of the comedy standouts of 2014.

Numbered reviews:1. It paints with a broad brush... but the journey is nonetheless entertaining, and at times wildly funny.
2. Rock is sharpest in observational mode, riffing on Andre's career, but the movie falters when the routine plot devices kick in.
3. Top Five is easily the "Avengers" of comedians where the laugh meter never drops from its highest point.
4. It's much less savvy than his stand-up observations.
5. What follows is part meet-cute, part examination of fame, and all Rock.
6. When it's just Andre and Chelsea, wandering the streets of New York and getting to know each other, Top Five is as good as Rock has ever been on-screen.
7. Chris Rock's Top Five is very funny -- no surprise there -- but it's also unexpectedly romantic.
8. [Rock's] conversations with Dawson crackle with intelligence and sexual chemistry, and a parade of guest artists -- some playing characters, others as themselves -- is folded into the mix with a minimum of awkwardness.
9. As a director, Chris Rock makes a fine stand-up comic.
10. If you want to see one of the richest, most complex female characters in American film this year, go to the picture that's being marketed as a dirty-talking ethnic comedy.


Critic consensus:Encino Man isn't the first unabashedly silly comedy to embrace its stupidity and amass a cult following, but whether or not it works for you will largely be determined by your tolerance for Pauly Shore.

Numbered reviews:1. Pauly Shore's finest hour.
2. Now I remember why I keep hoping Pauly Shore never has a comeback.
3. Silly teen comedy has some Neanderthal behavior.
4. Encino Man saves its worst for last, especially with life lessons about Being Yourself.
5. The kind of movie that gives evolution a bad name.
6. This is every bit as insipid as it sounds, but it's also surprisingly innocent and has a most unexpected sweetness.
7. I found myself missing Jeff Spicoli.
8. ...and introducing Pauly Shore.
9. God help us all.
10. If you liked Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and the Wayne's World flicks, you should get guilty pleasure out of it.


Critic consensus:A fascinating portrait of a forgotten musical pioneer, Searching for Sugar Man is by turns informative and mysterious.

Numbered reviews:
1. Certain details about Rodriguez, especially his personal life, remain in shadow, calling into question whether they would have interfered with the inspirational narrative.
2. This film tells a tale far too incredible to be true - yet it is, indeed, a documentary.
3. My real hope is that, yes, the movie does well, but that rereleases by Light in the Attic Records of the music will establish Rodriguez as an artist in the U.S.
4. The way in which this fascinating story unfolds, as directed by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, renders it thoroughly captivating, often exhilarating.
5. A fascinating look at a "lost" musician from the late '60s as well as a meditation on the confluence of fame, art and riches.
6. Singer-songwriter Rodriguez was supposed to have been the next Bob Dylan. What happened? Swedish documentary maker Malik Bendjelloul's stirring, surprising and deeply touching film has the answer.
7. A terrific documentary about a decades-long search, by two South African Rodriguez fans, for the story behind their enigmatic pop idol.
8. The rustic folk-rock sound and politically provocative lyrics provide the seductive soundtrack for the film. They often serve as a stand-in for the artist as well. It is how we get to know him.
9. A hugely appealing documentary about fans, faith and an enigmatic Age of Aquarius musician who burned bright and hopeful before disappearing.
10. Searching for Sugar Man is a fresh and unexpected documentary that plays like a nail-biting mystery and a ticket to ride the whirlwind where art and commerce do battle.