The Unstoppable Spirit of Human Love
I can't say enough good things about this masterwork of a movie. I saw it on Christmas Day, and it was so good I had to go see it again the next day, and after that, I didn't want to see any more movies for a while, because I didn't want to confuse, dilute, or mix up my deep, loving emotions. The movie was totally a love story--love to parents, to children, to New York and New Yorkers, to heroes, to Americans, and to the human spirit. I can't think of this movie without feeling this deep love.
Thomas Horn was outstandingly good (an OSCAR for OSKAR!) and had an amazing ability to move between being a beautific angel to someone nearly needing an exorcism. But everybody was good and successfully generated intense emotions even with small amounts of screen time. I thought Sandra Bullock did an especially good job with the difficult task assigned to her--to show fear, grief, isolation, a mother's love, and supportive enabling wisdom, all at the same time, which she did successfully.