David Cronenberg, once pigeonholed as the progenitor of “venereal horror,” has neatly eschewed that fatuous label in recent years. Be it his vitriolic take on man’s wanton impulse for destruction in A History of Violence, the relatively straightforward mob flick rife with astonishing character development Eastern Promises, or his nefarious riff on Jung’s nascent development of psychoanalysis A Dangerous Method, Cronenberg’s challenged not just the audience but himself for the past decade.

Voted the No.1 undistributed film in both The Village Voice and Indiewire‘s 2011 polls, Alex Ross Perry’s sophomore feature The Color Wheel has at last been picked up for release by NYC’s Cinema Conservancy.

Take This Waltz is actress-turned-director Sarah Polley’s impressive and affecting third feature, an unsentimentally realistic and often funny look at long-term relationships. Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) are young and comfortably married, two writers whose everyday lives have lapsed into a complacent routine.

The world’s going to end in 21 days, and what are you going to do? Neighbors Dodge (Steve Carell) and Penny (Keira Knightley) use the impending Armageddon as a reason to reconnect with loved ones, embarking on a road trip to track down Dodge’s high school sweetheart and find Penny a flight across the pond to visit her British parents.

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” The makers of Seeking a Friend For the End of the World clearly never heard the infamous Coco Chanel advice. Dialogue—like so many pieces of gaudy costume jewelry—drape across every inch of the film, characters piling painful soliloquies onto moments where mere glance has already told us everything we need to know. Remember what Chanel always said? “Simpler is better.”

Rock of Ages is obviously a satire, but the trite character parodies odiously cross the line into groan-inducement more often than not.

One of the highest grossing French films of all time, The Intouchables is a broad-stroked portrait of the development of an unlikely friendship between the aristocratic paraplegic Philippe (François Cluzet) and his reluctant Senegalese caregiver Driss (Omar Sy).

With his debut feature Beyond the Black Rainbow, director Panos Cosmatos delivers a film that’s light on narrative but overflowing in style, taking the trancelike pull of 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s abstract “stargate” sequence and drawing it out across almost two lysergic, ambiguity-filled hours.

Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria, a period piece set in late 19th century London, is nothing if not luscious eye candy. The cinematography is vivid, with the contrast of the muted grays of the dilapidated slums and the garish, rococo flourishes of the opulent bourgeoisie neighborhoods mirroring the struggle at the crux of the film.