With 2012 now in the books, it's time to reflect on the best films of this past year. I feel that, for the second year in a row, I've been lucky enough to catch as many of the best and brightest movies of 2012 as just a regular guy, without the flashy access that most big-wig critics get with their advanced screenings and special events.
Read MoreWithout a doubt, Bigelow's film Zero Dark Thirty isn't aiming for that shine and sheen. It earns its R-rating and isn't the easiest film to watch. However, it is more than worth the extra effort and personal challenge to learn and realize just what stakes warfare and security have taken in the last decade.
Read MoreFor 2013, let's roll out some new hopes, dreams, and expectations. Let's also speak out to put down some ridiculous trends, tendencies, and bad habits that are ruining the movie industry.
Read MoreOnce again, I feel relieved to be able to judge this, just as the movie it is, without comparison to the popular musical. From a filmmaking standpoint, Tom Hopper's Les Miserables is a towering achievement in creation, design, and detail.
Read MoreI've got two lists of the "Worst Movies of 2012." The first dishonors the worst movies I actually paid money to see. The surprising news here is that I (luckily) only saw three movies that ended up two-star reviews and three more with a one-star review. The second section are the movies I refused to pay money to see.
Read MoreThere are two real questions fans and moviegoers should be asking when approaching Jack Reacher. The first is whether Tom Cruise can portray WHO Jack Reacher is, not WHAT he looks like. The second real question is whether the completed and compiled movie effort is entertaining.
Read MoreStepping to the moviemaking side of Django Unchained, as aforementioned, this is Tarantino's broadest landscape yet and he nails the look and tone he was striving to achieve. This movie is a seamless western in palette and design.
Read MoreFinally, with no offense to Clint Eastwood, Hollywood has found a single movie that can attempt to tell this disaster's story with hope, respect, and power.
Read MoreForeign films can sometimes be a mixed bag, but when Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard is involved, people should take notice.
Read MoreI applaud Apatow, Mann, and their family for airing a little of their dirty laundry as a way to help us better appreciate and examine our own loads of lights and darks.
Read MoreThe breathtaking filmmaking vision on display is worth the patience to see through to the end. When it's all said and done, slower than its sequels or not, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will always be the place you seek to begin your cinematic adventure into this world. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is worthy of being placed beside the outstanding epics it will eventually lead towards.
Read MorePlayed with gusto and panache by Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins, the new film Hitchcock hopes to give us a look at both the persona, the man, and the woman that loved him through and through during the time of what would be his greatest achievement.
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