EVERY MOVIE HAS A LESSON

The infinitely detailed world that Burroughs created 100 years ago in 1912 when it originally debuted as a magazine serial was transcendent, wildly inventive, and one of the major influences for George Lucas in creating Star Wars, James Cameron's Avatar world, and the science-fictional novelists that followed such as Ray Bradbury and Carl Sagan.  To those gentleman, John Carter was their childhood "light bulb" discovery and fantasy, and it came in novel form, not a cartoon or a movie. 

To me, Liam Neeson is channeling a darker and fiercer resolve than the other silver-haired tough guys like Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Steve McQueen that came before him.  He's more rugged than Bronson, channels more rage than Eastwood, and is more stoic than McQueen's coolness.  At this kind of game, he's better than any one of those guys would be if they were in roles like The Grey or Taken.  

Through Pitt’s performance, Moneyball has that outstanding character study that all great sports movies have to have. In a way, Moneyball feels like Jerry Maguire without the romantic comedy, where the smoothly-written business side of a sport trumps the game and players on the field. For those looking for a sports movie with a brain, that will impress you and spark your interest. If you need thrills and camaraderie, you're going to have to look somewhere else.

The Captain America character stirs your patriotism in the audience as a guy you really root for to save the day and get the girl.  For all that, Captain America: The First Avenger is, far and away, the best comic book movie this summer and acts as an outstanding final springboard piece to Marvel's mega-event Avengers team-up next May. 

Beyond all that, the real progress that made the movie series tick is the dual-growth of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the three actors that played them.  The classic aspects of teenage coming-of-age storytelling have always been present in the Harry Potter series, but on two distinct fronts.  As the characters, they have grown to find their skill, importance, and desires as to what really matters in the grand scheme of all that has transpired around them.  As actors, Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint have gone from unknown cute-faced children playing borderline stereotypes to mature and capable performers we genuinely care about and root for through this decade within their characters' shoes and robes.

Unlike those last four Pixar movies, Cars 2 is not trying to be taken seriously and shouldn't be put on that pedestal.