Our critics' selections
2012 Nobody makes doomsday movies with happy endings like Roland Emmerich. And this one, starring John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is the biggest, loudest example of Emmerich's philosophy that it's OK if eight billion people die so long as eight movie stars - and the dog - live. PG-13
Fantastic Mr. Fox Droll, droll, droll. That's Wes Anderson's spry adaptation of the Roald Dahl tale about the cunning fox who end-runs the humans guarding the hen house. In this stop-action animation, George Clooney and Meryl Streep are the voices of Mr. and Mrs. Fox, who steal to feed their extended family. PG
An Education Carey Mulligan shines as the Oxford-bound honors student courted by a mysterious suitor twice her age (Peter Sarsgaard) in this resonant story directed by Lone Scherfig from Lynn Barber's memoir. PG-13




