We don't want to ruin the surprise of Francois Ozon's wondrous new film Ricky, and we won't. The gist: an ordinary woman falls in love with an ordinary man. They live in French housing a project, work together in a factory, and to their surprise, they produce an extraordinary baby. Ricky.

Ozon's film contains moments of real grit, but also a dose of otherworldly magic that only cinema can provide. Ricky is currently playing at the IFC Center in New York. Read Marcy's review.

Fashion designer Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man, adapted from Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, tells the story of George Falconer (Colin Firth), an English professor grieving the loss of his long term partner Jim (Matthew Goode). The film starts with a moody shot of George, naked, drowning, and the piercing sounds of a car crash. The film takes place over a single day in George's life in Los Angeles in 1962 -- the day when George Falconer can no longer see into his future.

A Single Man opened in limited release on Friday. Guest Reviewer Peter Richter sees Oscar nominations in the film's future. Read his review.

James Cameron's upcoming special effects juggernaut Avatar was named Best Picture of 2009 by New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO) this afternoon. Best Director honors went to Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. The group, which includes your guides Marcy Dermansky and Jürgen Fauth, gave the most awards to Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, including Cinematography, Screenplay, and both Best Supporting Actor and Breakout Performance for Christoph Waltz.

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) narrowly beat out Tilda Swinton (Julia) in a dramatic tie-breaker vote for Best Actress. Best Supporting Actress went to Precious' Mo'Nique, and Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for the country music drama Crazy Heart. Crazy Heart also won Best Music/Score.

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon won the award for Best Foreign Film, The Cove for documentary, and Pixar's Up was named Best Animated Feature. The cast of Aramando Iannucci's In the Loop was awarded Best Ensemble, and Marc Webb won Debut Director for (500) Days of Summer.

NYFCO's best 11 films of the year, in alphabetical order: Adventureland, Avatar, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger, Precious, A Serious Man, Two Lovers, Up, and Up in the Air.

Previous Years: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003

The Last Station, directed by Michael Hoffman (A Midsummer Nights Dream, One Fine Day) is the story of how one person's beliefs can influence the people around them. We witness this in the most grand scale, through the connection between Russian author Leo Tolstoy's (Christopher Plummer) teachings and his disciples. We also witness this on a more intimate scale in Tolstoy's relationship with his wife, Countess Sofya Andreyevna (Helen Mirren). Hoffman's script allows us insight into the last days of Tolstoy and the controversy that followed him as he struggled to manage the duality of his private and public life.

The Last Station, also with Anne-Marie Duff and Paul Giamatti, opens today. Read the review by Peter Richter.