The Year in Movies

It's the season of big releases and Oscar angling, at the end of a wild, up and down year for movies — from sweeping epics of war won and lost, to comic close-ups on pregnancy, young love, and growing up.

There were the perennial Hollywood blockbusters — from "Ratatouille" to "Spiderman III" to yet another "Pirates of the Caribbean."

But there were smaller films, too, that stood out from the crowd and impressed the critics. "Waitress," "Atonement," "The Namesake."

Up next, On Point: The movies that stole our hearts — and might just steal the Oscars.
-James Hattori

Guests:

Carrie Rickey, film critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ty Burr, film critic for The Boston Globe.

David Carr, media critic for The New York Times and author of the "Carpetbagger" blog on the Oscars for the Times website.