Worth seeing at the movies, Jan. 1

Worth seeing at the movies, Jan. 1

Christian Bale and Steve Carell are superb as hedge fund managers too sane and too eccentric not to admit the truth when they see it.

Rated R. 130 minutes.

The latest from Steven Spielberg is a sure, solid ride, with Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan, who is enlisted to represent a Soviet spy and then actually endeavors to give him good representation.

Rated PG-13. 141 minutes.

Rich in emotion and period detail, this story of a young Irish woman (Saoirse Ronan) who moves to Brooklyn in 1951 is one of the best films — if not the best — of the year.

Rated PG-13. 112 minutes.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara share acting honors in this film about two women of different ages and backgrounds who form an emotional connection in 1950s New York City.

Rated R. 118 minutes.

Occasionally corny in its treatment, the film tells a terrific story, with Will Smith as the Nigerian doctor who discovered the horrible brain syndrome caused directly by football, and of the efforts by the NFL to marginalize him and deny his findings.

Rated PG-13. 121 minutes.

Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film is a very entertaining three hours, most of it spent with a group of desperate characters stuck in the same room.

Rated R. 168 minutes.

Hitchcock/Truffaut: A very good documentary about the making of a seminal book, which was the result of a series of interviews Alfred Hitchcock granted the young French director Francois Truffaut in the early 1960s.

Rated PG-13. 80 minutes.

Two old friends, a retired conductor and a film director attempting a comeback (well played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel) meet at an elegant Swiss hotel and spa, where they chat and observe their fellow guests.

The film doesn’t reach the heights of Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty,” but is well worth seeing.

Rated R. 118 minutes.