Mischa Hayek's picks...

Rad Bennett's picks...

Director Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose tells the absorbing story of singer Edith Piaf, the French chanteuse who became an international star and symbol of Paris and France during and after WWII. The script, by Dahan and Isabelle Sobelman, is entirely original, incorporating information from many books, films, and articles about Piaf; it focuses on the events that shaped Piaf’s character rather than providing a chronological history of her life. French actress Marion Cotillard, who portrays Piaf from her late teens to her death from cancer at the age of 47, gives one of the great performances of all time.

For me, 2007 was the Year of the Rat -- something I never would have expected before seeing Ratatouille. Rats aren’t exactly lovable, but the magicians at Pixar came up with Remy, the rat who would be chef, and made him one of the most likable characters of the year. As is now its tradition, Pixar raised the bar of computer animation with this release -- and, in the tradition of its partner, Walt Disney, used that prowess to tell a good story. It didn’t hurt to have pitch-perfect voice characterizations, including Peter O’Toole as a vitriolic food critic. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, about Ratatouille that I would have changed. I can’t say that about many films.