Based on Dave Eggers' 2012 novel, A Hologram for the King is a masterpiece in a genre I didn't think was capable of producing one—namely, the "white guy experiences life in an exotic country and learns life lessons that mainstream mediocrity was unable to provide" genre. Screenwriter/director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run, Sense8, and Cloud Atlas) is almost preternaturally good at projecting richly textured and inherently believable humanity on the screen, while Tom Hanks slips into his role—a charming but haggard salesman at the nadir of his professional life—in a way that few Hollywood stars would be able to. (It helps that Hanks' character is a fairly decent human being, rather than the typical roiling cauldron of ego and entitlement.) Round that out with an equally charming (and age appropriate) love interest in Sarita Choudhury, and you have a film that finally says something interesting about an old white guy's summer vacation. by Ben Coleman