Already-controversial The Golden Compass cost $150 million to make, but it’s not the new Lord of the Rings according to Rolling Stone’s movie critic Peter Travers (”It blows,” he says). In the hilarious, sassy Juno, written by our Hot List screenwriter Diablo Cody, Ellen Page plays a pregnant teen who decides to give the baby up for adoption. Travers also recommends Atonement, a British WWII-era romance in which Keira Knightley falls in love with a poor boy, noting it’s energetic and surprising — one of the year’s best.

Plus: Read Travers’ review of Atonement here and The Golden Compass here.

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