Pits and perverts

Pride

Crit

Oh. My. God. Simplistic. Sentimental. Manipulative. Stacks every deck. Telegraphs every punch. And oh, by the way, rare was the minute I wasn't laughing or crying or both, with chest-aching force. I loved, loved, loved this film, and if my daughter's voicemail weren't crap, I would already have exercised my one cinematic demand per year and ordered her to see it.

Granted, the buttons it pushes are among my favorites--gay activism, union activism, and anti-Thatcher activism--but it pushes them so skillfully, and so lovingly. And if it had offered nothing else, hearing Pete Seeger sing "Solidarity Forever" at the start and seeing Dominic West (right, The Wire's Jimmy McNulty) dance with flamboyant abandon would have sealed the deal. As joyous a film as I expect to see this year.

Trailers

• The Wedding Ringer--Attention, filmmakers: the competition for Worst Film of 2014 is now closed.
• Laggies--This could be awful, too, but it could also be lots of fun.
• The Theory of Everything--And this had me in tears just from the trailer.