1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. Django Unchained
3. This Is 40
4. Argo
5. Life of Pi
6. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
7. In the Family
8. Lincoln
9. The Sessions
10. The Grey

Academy Award winner Patricia Neal, who died Sunday at her Martha’s Vineyard home, may seem to have been one of the last of her kind, but she actually was one of a kind. Read the rest of this entry »

1. That Evening Sun
2. Up in the Air
3. (500) Days of Summer
4. Avatar
5. The Messenger
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. In the Loop
8. Bright Star
9. An Education
10. Julie & Julia

In “2012,” there’s got to be a morning after, if for no other reason than formulaic disaster epics have to have some measure of hope at the end.

And make no mistake: “2012″ is a formulaic disaster epic — to the 10th power. As in, with its characters dodging the non-stop dangers of massive earthquakes, lava fireballs, tumbling architectural landmarks and behemoth tidal waves, it seems as much like a prototype for a theme-park virtual thrill ride as it does a movie. Holy shifting tectonic plates, Batman! Read the rest of this entry »

Time supposedly flies when you’re having fun, which is probably why “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” makes you feel as though you’ve been trapped in the theater for days, being assaulted by toys posing as gigantic metal machines. Read the rest of this entry »

Green is the new pink. At any rate, it’s the color evoked by “The Pink Panther 2.” Anyone who watches this dismal attempt at comedy is sure to feel sick afterward, if not during. Read the rest of this entry »

Pizza and beer aren’t the only traditions rolled out annually on Super Bowl weekend. One that’s even staler is the inevitable release of a so-called chick flick. Studios figure there’ll be femmes seeking respite from gridiron mania who’ll head to movie theaters in search of something less brutal and tedious. The trouble is, what women find at the local multiplex usually turns out to be, ahem, brutally tedious. Read the rest of this entry »

When film critic Godfrey Cheshire set out to make a documentary about the uprooting of his ancestral family plantation outside of Raleigh, N.C., he knew he wanted his film to be more than a literal chronicle of a large-scale house-moving endeavor. Read more>>

After a summer of gross-out comedies heavy on male bonding, “The House Bunny” is a welcome sight. Sure, it’s not a film that most feminists will embrace, but it provides a bit of relief from the unrelenting barrage of guy-centric entertainment. Whether audiences see “The House Bunny” as equal time or an equal-opportunity offender, at least it has more than two women in the cast. And to have Anna Faris heading that cast, well, that’s a win in itself. Read more>>

The comedy and romance should appeal even to non-ABBA fans. Only those with the hardest of hearts will be able to resist “Mamma Mia!” Read more>>