MELISSA ANDERSON | DAVID FEAR | JOSHUA ROTHKOPF

The Caller: I flipped over Frank Langella’s amazing turn in last fall’s Starting Out in the Evening, an otherwise uneven movie. So the idea of seeing him in a tense corporate thriller swapping barbs with Elliott Gould has my heart palpitating. Need more convincing? Mulholland Drive’s Laura Harring makes an appearance.

Man On Wire: James Marsh’s take-your-breath-away documentary—about French tightrope walker Philippe Petit who, in 1974, illegally danced from one Twin Tower to the other—is structured halfway between a heist film and a dream. Never is 9/11 mentioned; still, the idea of a beautiful impossibility haunts the movie.

My Winnipeg: Guy Maddin is always good for his smeary, retro-silent thing (Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary, The Saddest Music in the World, etc.). But his latest—sort of a reminiscence about his hometown—represents a great leap forward for the jokester into real feelings of loss, not just nostalgia.

The Objective: The writer-director Daniel Myrick will always have The Blair Witch Project to brag about. But his career since 1999 has been spotty, to say the least. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s difficult to have high hopes for his latest: a thriller set in the chaotic war zone of Afghanistan.

Profit motive and the whispering wind: It’s experimental, but don’t let that scare you. John Gianvito’s film crosscuts serene shots of swaying trees with footage of the grave sites of American labor leaders: folks like Eugene Debs and César Chávez. The film makes profound connections between the natural world and a legacy of sacrifice.

Secrecy: A documentary about—well, secrecy. And the hotly contested idea that our government needs a lot of it to protect us. And the thought that maybe too much secrecy has made us less safe, not more. Actually, come to think of it, this movie has a lot on its mind.

Simple Things: Russia’s vibrant contemporary cinema ranges from art-house majesty (Alexandra, currently at Film Forum) to blockbuster schlock (the vampire flick Nightwatch). I’m admittedly hooked on all of it. So I’ll be checking out this reportedly bone-dry satire about a doctor and his patient, an actor desperate for fame.

Toby Dammit: Originally a segment of 1968’s omnibus film Spirits of the Dead, Federico Fellini’s bizarre contribution stands as one of the director’s most inspired works—which is saying a lot. Nearly a horror film, "Toby" stars Terence Stamp as an alcoholic English actor who, racing around in his Ferrari, engages the devil in a high-stakes bet.

Trucker: Every critic has actors they wish were better appreciated. One of mine is quick-witted Michelle Monaghan, just as fine as Casey Affleck in Gone Baby Gone (she played the wife and partner in detecting). Her latest—a star vehicle!—has her playing a brusque single mom reconnecting with her distant 11-year-old son.

The Universe of Keith Haring: Catching up with art documentaries, like the recent The Cool School, always make this lapsed gallerygoer feel like a much richer field is just around the bend. The late Haring, if you don’t know, made those iconic NYC images of faceless dancers with stress squiggles emanating from their heads.