Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

☆☆1/2

+
Tyler Perry returns as Madea...the crazy gal who finds herself traveling to the country to pay a relative a surprise visit.
Madea's "unfiltered" comments will make you laugh.
_
This could easily be a T.V. movie.
It feels unscripted...at times it's great and at times it's silly.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 45 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer!

Inside Llewyn Davis

☆☆☆1/2

+
In spite of being a talented folk singer, Llewyn David (strong performance by Oscar Isaac) just can't make it work as a career.

Great music. Isaac can not only act, but he also has a terrific voice.
_
In spite of a few laughs, "Inside..." is just too melancholy, and...even though endings do not have to be happy to be good...this ending is just unsatisfying.

Rated R
1 hr. 45 min.

Visit the website and watch the trailer.

Saving Mr. Banks

☆☆☆☆1/2

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Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, and Collin Farrell star in "Saving Mr. Banks," the touching story (based on actual events) of the making of the film "Mary Poppins."
Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) is determined to make the film, but P.L. Travers (author of "Mary Poppins"...played by Thompson) is reluctant to turn her book into a film.
Thompson plays Travers' gradual change of heart with a subtlety that is not only believable...but heartwarming as well.
_
The connection to Travers' childhood is slightly confusing at times.

Rated PG-13
2 hr.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

American Hustle

☆☆☆☆1/2

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"American Hustle" (considered by some a drama and others a comedy) tells the story of Christian Bale and Amy Adams, two con artists who help FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) pull off a hustle that keeps them out of jail.

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Bale's wife...who may just unknowingly ruin the whole plan.

Adams and Lawrence give great performances. Possible Oscars nods?
_
The caper gets a little confusing.

It's important for a film to accurately represent the time period, but "American..." overdid it.
Too much attention to clothes, hairstyles, home decor, cars, music...

Rated R
2 hr. 9 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer!

Out of the Furnace

☆☆☆1/2

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Christian Bale stars as Russell Baze...Rodney Baze Jr.'s (Casey Affleck) older brother. In spite of problems of his own, Russell will do whatever it takes to protect and fight for Rodney's safety...and eventually his life.

Solid performances by Bale and Affleck.
_
A grim story that gets worse as the movie goes on.

Forest Whitaker is miscast as Chief Wesley Barnes.

Rated R
1 hr. 46 min.

Visit the website and watch the trailer.

Philomena

☆☆☆☆☆

+
Based on actual events, "Philomena" is the emotional (you'll laugh and cry) story of Philomena Lee (wonderful performance by Judi Dench), a woman in search of the son she was forced to give-up for adoption almost 50 years earlier.
Steve Coogan stars as journalist Martin Sixsmith, a man (interested in writing a human interest story) who helps Philomena search for her son.
_
May be tough to find in some cities.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 34 min.

Visit the website and watch the trailer.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

☆☆☆☆1/2

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Jennifer Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen the co-winner (along with Peeta Mellark played by Josh Hutcherson) of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Her victory begins to create an anti-Capitol stir among the people in the districts.

Lawrence takes "...Catching Fire" from good to great with an outstanding performance. She plays Katniss with the perfect amount of power and emotion.

All star cast includes: Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
_
Lawrence delivers lines that...if someone else had delivered them...could have been pretty cheesy.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 26 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer.

Dallas Buyers Club

☆☆☆☆1/2

+
Look for Matthew McConaughey to be nominated for his performance as Ron Woodroof a Texas cowboy who became HIV positive in the years before approved treatments were available. He took matters into his own hands and illegally obtained unapproved medications and created a buyers' club to get the drugs to people with HIV and AIDS.

Look for a possible Supporting Actor nomination for Jared Leto as well.



_
Hand-held camera and the adjustments to the true story may bother some viewers.

Rated R
1 hr. 57 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

12 Years a Slave

☆☆☆☆1/2

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Directed by Steve McQueen (“Shame”), “12 Years A Slave” is the incredible story (based on actual events) of Solomon Northup (fantastic performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free New York citizen who was kidnapped and forced into slavery on a New Orleans plantation in the 1880s.

Look for Oscar nominations for this film!

All star cast includes: Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sarah Paulson, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Alfre Woodard, Lupita Nyong’o, and Adepero Oduye
_
All the cameos are actually a little distracting.


Rated R
2 hr. 13 min.

Visit the website and watch the trailer!

Gravity

☆☆☆☆1/2

+
Oscar® nominated director Alfonso Cuaron (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) delivers a unique suspenseful drama starring Oscar® winners Sandra Bullock (look for award nominations for this performance) and George Clooney as Dr. Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalsky (respectfully)…two astronauts who face disaster on a routine spacewalk.

Amazing Special Effects.
Worth Seeing in IMAX 3-D
_
Matt Kowalsky is way too casual about the whole situation, and Dr. Stone was able to hang-on by a few fingers…a few too many times.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 31 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer!

Rush

☆☆☆☆

+
Academy Award® winning director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) brings us the historic rivalry between two Formula 1 race car drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth – “Thor”) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl – “Inglourious Basterds”) in this fast-paced action adventure (based on a true story).
_
Not enough emotional connection.

Rated R
2 hr. 3 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

Short Term 12

☆☆☆☆1/2

+
“Short Term 12” (one of the best reviewed films of the year) is the kind of movie that is so real…you forget you are watching actors acting.
Brie Larson gives a rich…but subtle performance as Grace, a supervisor of a group home for at risk teenagers, whose own demons surface when a new young girl with a similar past arrives.
_
Would Grace really go that far?

Rated R
1 hr. 36 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

Prisoners

☆☆☆☆

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Academy Award nominee Hugh Jackman gives an intense emotional performance as Keller Dover, a man faced with trying to put the pieces together to find his missing daughter, Anna. All signs point to the Alex Jones (excellent performance by Paul Dano), a mysterious man seen in the neighborhood around the time Anna went missing.

“Prisoners” is the kind of movie that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats…wondering who is responsible.
_
Hugh Jackman’s character was a little too intense…maybe “over directed?”

The “maze” was never explained sufficiently??

Rated R
2 hr. 26 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

The Spectacular Now

☆☆☆1/2

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Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) gives another excellent performance as Aimee Finicky in Tim Tharp’s engaging teen dramedy about two high school seniors who make an unexpected connection.
_
Miles Teller also turns-in a strong performance as Aimee’s unlikely new friend Sutter Keely.
It’s difficult to buy this high school kid who seems to have a drink in every scene with little or no objection from any adults.

Rated R
1 hr. 35 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

In a World...

☆☆

+
Writer/Director/Star Lake Bell offers-up some smiles as a woman trying to break into the male dominated world of voice-overs.
_
This movie just doesn’t make breaking into this “world” all that interesting.
Her father is written as a jerk…who comes-around in the last few minutes.

Rated R
1 hr. 33 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

The Wolverine

☆☆☆

+
Hugh Jackman is by far the best thing about “The Wolverine” a sequel (or not) to 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

In this fast-paced action adventure, Wolverine travels to Japan where he is forced to consider his own immortality.
_
In spite of Jackman’s solid performance, the movie just isn’t that good.
It’s becomes more of a shoot-em-up and stab-em-up than a real story.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 16 min.

Lee Daniels' The Butler

☆☆☆☆☆

+
“The Butler,” directed by Lee Daniels (“Precious”), and starring Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker as Eugene Allen…a man who served eight presidents during his 30-year employment as a White House butler…is sure to be nominated for Best Picture.

To date this is by far the best film of 2013…not only because of outstanding performances by Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey (among others), but because of it’s power to “move” people. It’s rare when a movie can make an audience laugh, cry, and even applaud.
_
Getting past TV icon Oprah took a few minutes, but she gives a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 6 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer.

Elysium

☆☆☆1/2

+
Directed by Neill Blomkamp (“District 9”) and starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, “Elysium” is the engaging, futuristic thriller that tells the story of Max, a man who dares to challenge the immigration laws that keep the less fortunate on a devastated, overpopulated Earth…while the wealthy enjoy a care free life on an orbiting space station.
_
This “After Earth” theme is showing-up over and over!

Rated R
1 hr. 37 min.


Visit the official website and watch the trailer.

Broken

☆☆☆1/2

+
“Broken” is the award winning drama (starring Oscar nominated Tim Roth) that tells the gripping story of 11-year-old Skunk (Eloise Laurence) who is faced with not only her own health issues…but violent and psychological issues in her neighborhood that are difficult for her (or anyone) to understand.

_
The next door neighbor’s out-of-control violence (with little or no consequence) is over-written, over-played, and hard to believe.

Unrated
1 hr. 30 min.

Click here to watch the trailer.

Girl Most Likely

☆☆1/2

+
“Girl Most Likely,” starring the hilarious Kristen Wiig, is the amusing (at times) story of Imogene (Wiig)…a has-been playwright who loses everything and is forced to stay with her quirky mother Zelda (Annette Bening).
_
It’s just an unsuccessful screenplay.
The characters are too quirky and extreme.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 43 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

The Way Way Back

☆☆☆☆

+
Written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (Oscar winners for adapted screenplay: "The Descendants"), “The Way Way Back” tells the heartwarming story of an unhappy 14-year-old named Duncan (Liam James) who is forced to spend the summer with his mother Pam (Toni Collette) and her boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) at a beach house.

A secret job at the local water park offers Duncan a much-needed friendship (with the immature, but good hearted, Owen...great job by Sam Rockwell)…not to mention an escape from Mom’s jerk of a boyfriend (good “against-type” performance by Carell).
_
The drama often outweighs the laughs, but Allison Janney relieves the tension as Betty, the crazy-drunken neighbor.

At times it's tough to watch the way Carell's character treats Duncan.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 43 min.

Visit the movie website and see the trailer.

Monsters University

☆☆☆1/2

+
Fun for the whole family…“Monsters University” (prequel to “Monsters, Inc.”) tells the story of Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan’s (voice of John Goodman) college days before becoming two of Monster, Incorporated’s most successful employees.

Who can resist a trip back to college (Greek life, parties…)?
_
Many sequels and prequels end-up being disappointing. It’s tough to top the “novelty” of the first film…but give this one a chance.

Rated G
1 hr. 35 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer!

The Heat

☆☆☆☆1/2

+
From start to finish director Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids") and two of the best female comedic actresses in the business deliver a laugh-out-loud comedy about FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) and Boston police officer Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) teaming-up to bring down a high profile drug lord.

Once again Melissa McCarthy is at her best…and Sandra Bullock has no problem keeping up with what had to be a great deal of ad-lib on McCarthy’s part.
_
Without these two fine actresses (and Feig), this film would not have been half as good.

Rated R
1 hr. 57 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer.

World War Z

☆☆☆1/2

+
Brad Pitt gives a convincing performance as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations employee brought out of retirement to help save the world from the zombie apocalypse, in this action-packed film based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks.

Director Marc Forster manages to tell the story without relying on bloody gore.
_
According to fans of the novel, the screenplay veered too far from the original author’s (Brooks) work.

Lacks character development and emotional connection.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 55 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer!

This Is The End

☆☆☆1/2

+
Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and several others recognizable actors face the end-of-the-world in this crazy…and mostly funny comedy.
The actors play themselves, which adds to the entertainment value…feels like a glimpse into their real lives.
_
The humor…and the story…get a little gross and silly at times.

Rated R
1 hr. 59 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer!

Man of Steel

☆☆☆

+
The first 90 minutes of “Man of Steel” offer a solid engaging story of a young Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) who is sent to Earth as a baby from Krypton…only to realize as he grows-up that he has amazing (unexplainable) powers that he keeps hidden until the planet is in danger.

Amy Adams gives a strong performance as Lois Lane.
_
Once Clark becomes Superman and starts to defend the Earth, the story fades and the last hour focuses on special effects and mass destruction…with little connection to the characters.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 28 min.

Click here to see the trailer!

Now You See Me

☆☆☆☆

+
“Now You See Me” is the intriguing story of four illusionists, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco, who join forces…as “The Four Horsemen…to pull off a series of elaborate heists disguised as magic tricks.

Entertaining with a nice twist at the end.
_
Sure you get “played”…that happens with magic.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 56 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

The Internship

☆☆☆☆

+
Comedy team Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn star as Billy and Nick…friends that find themselves out of work with few prospects…until they decide to apply for an internship at Google…and that’s where the fun begins.

Wilson and Vaughn make this movie worth seeing!
_
If you want to have a good time…go see “The Internship.”

Yes…you are going to see the Google logo a lot. So what?

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 59 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer!

After Earth

☆☆1/2

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Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Will Smith and son Jaden team-up in “After Earth” a sci-fi adventure that tells the story of General Cypher Raige (Will Smith) and son Kitai (Jaden Smith) who fight to stay alive after their space craft crashes on Earth (1,000 years after all humanity is gone).

Young Jaden gives a solid performance.
_
The story just doesn’t work.

I always enjoy Will Smith…but this is not his best performance. Part of the problem is a poorly written character.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 40 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer.

Epic

☆☆☆


+
Director, Chris Wedge (Ohio State Buckeye alum) delivers some amazing animation (see it in 3-D) in “Epic” the story of a teenage girl who finds herself in a magical tiny world where she ends-up in a battle to save the forest.

All-Star Cast includes: Beyoncé Knowles, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz and Amanda Seyfried

Aziz Ansari steals the show as Mub a wise-cracking slug.
_
The story is weak, and there is no emotional connection to the characters.


Rated PG
1 hr 42 min

Visit the website and see the trailer.

The Hangover Part III

☆☆☆1/2

+
When Alan (funny man Zach Galifianakis really delivers the laughs) goes off his meds and faces a personal crisis, friends and family decide it’s time to intervene and get him into treatment.

Alan’s supportive friends (Phil…Bradley Cooper, Stu…Ed Helms and Doug… Justin Bartha) decide to personally “deliver” him to the facility in Arizona, but trouble finds them along the way.
_
Don’t be too critical of the similar story lines…just have fun!

There were children in the showing I attended! Come-on…this is an adult movie.

Rated R
1 hr. 40 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer.

Star Trek Into Darkness

☆☆☆1/2

+
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto return (as Captain James Kirk and first officer Spock) and join forces to fight off a terrorist attack by a rogue Starfleet agent…in this fun and action-packed installment by Director J.J. Abrams.

Star Trek fans will enjoy “…Into Darkness.”

It’s rare to have theaters goers clap during a movie, but in the showing I attended the crowd broke into applause at least four times…in what seemed to be based on “inside Trekkie knowledge.”
_
Too much action and not enough plot?

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 3 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

The Great Gatsby

☆☆☆1/2

+
Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire give impressive performances in the intriguing story of Jay Gatsby…the New York millionaire who leads a mysterious life.

Come Academy Award time, look for a nomination for costumes.
_
The film just didn’t make me care about the characters…like it should have.

3-D is fine but not necessary.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 23 min.

Visit the website and watch the trailer.

Iron Man 3

☆☆☆☆

+
Directed by Shane Black, the man in the iron suit is back for an action-packed third installment…that is as good (or better) than the other two.

Tony Stark and the Iron Man team step-in when science mastermind Aldrich Killian (great performance by Guy Pearce) threatens the president’s life.

Robert Downey Jr. is the right man for this job. He plays this character with the right amount of arrogance, sarcasm, and humor.

Solid supporting cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley
_
Too often special effects end-up being distracting when they fall short of appearing real. This film offers some of the best special effects I have seen in long time.

Don’t leave too early…quick scene at the end of the credits.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 15 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

Pain & Gain

☆☆☆

+
Directed by Michael Bay (“Transformers”) and based on real events, “Pain & Gain” is the outrageous story of a team of Miami Beach bodybuilders (Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie) who join forces to realize the American dream…by committing extortion, kidnapping, and murder.
_
This is one of those movies that gets harder and harder to watch as the characters get themselves deeper and deeper in trouble.

Many call this a comedy.
I didn’t hear one person laugh in the theater…because murder, kidnapping, and torture really aren’t funny. Especially when you know these things actually happened.

Rated R
2 hrs. 9 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer.

Oblivion

☆☆☆1/2

+
Director Joseph Kosinski (“TRON: Legacy”) delivers an engaging sci-fi action pic starring Tom Cruise as Jack Harper, a drone repair man on post-nuclear Earth who along with his partner (Victoria played by Andrea Louise Riseborough) will soon finish their mission and leave earth to join Earth’s other survivors on Saturn's moon Titan.

Also starring Morgan Freeman and Melissa Leo
_
The movie lacks emotion and the writing doesn’t make you care about the characters.

Rated PG-13
2 hr. 5 min.

Visit the official and watch the trailer.

The Place Beyond the Pines

☆☆☆☆

+
Derek Cianfrance ("Blue Valentine") brings us the powerful story of Luke (raw and very real performance by Ryan Gosling) a father…who in order to support his infant son…makes what turns out to be a decision that has serious repercussions.

Cianfrance has an amazing ability to create films that are as real as home movies…and he manages to get very authentic performances from his actors (including Eva Mendes and Bradley Cooper).
_
The film loses a little “steam” after Gosling’s exit.

Rated R
2 hr. 20 min.

Visit the movie website and see the trailer.

Admission

☆☆☆

+
Tina Fey stars as Portia, a Princeton admissions officer struggling with the rules of this selective university and her heart…when it comes to one very special candidate. Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, and Fey’s talent make this an enjoyable film.
_
So-so story elevated by some good actors.

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 47 min.

Visit the website and see the trailer!

The Croods

☆☆☆1/2


+
Nicolas Cage gives one of his best performances (with an all star cast: Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, and Cloris Leachman) in this fun family comedy as Grug, the overprotective father of a prehistoric family facing what they think may be the end of the world.

“The Croods” offers some amazing animation.

_
Starts a little slow…but picks-up in the second half.

Rated PG
1 hr. 32 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer!

Oz The Great and Powerful

☆☆☆1/2


+
Based on the work of Frank Baum, “Oz the Great and Powerful” is an enjoyable…and at times visually stunning…film starring James Franco as Oscar Diggs (Oz), a magician/con man who is swept away to the Land of Oz…where the people have been waiting for a man name Oz to arrive, defeat the wicked witch, and become ruler of their land.
_
Even though this isn’t the same story as “The Wizard of Oz,” it’s tough to revisit such an iconic film. Viewers familiar with the classic, will have a difficult time not comparing this release to the original (both story and characters).

Rated PG
2 hr. 7 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer!

Jack the Giant Slayer

☆☆1/2

+
Bryan Singer directs “Jack the Giant Slayer,” an enjoyable (at times) fantasy adventure telling the familiar story of Jack (Nicholas Hoult of “Warm Bodies.”) a young farmer who trades his horse for magic beans…that grow into a beanstalk that puts the town in danger of a “giant invasion.”
_
Limited Character Development

Too Much Potty-Humor

Rated PG-13
1 hr. 54 min.

Visit the official website and watch the trailer.

Oscar Winners 2013

Best Picture:
☆"Argo"

Best Actor:
☆Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Actress:
☆Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Supporting Actor:
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Supporting Actress:
☆Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"

Best Director:
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"

Best Original Screenplay:
☆"Django Unchained"

Best Adapted Screenplay:
☆"Argo"

Best Animated Feature:
☆"Brave"

Best Foreign Feature:
☆"Amour"

Best Visual Effects:
☆"Life of Pi"

Best Cinematography:
☆"Life of Pi"

Best Costume Design:
☆"Anna Karenina"

Best Documentary Feature:
☆"Searching for Sugar Man"

Best Documentary Short:
"Inocente"

Best Film Editing:
☆"Argo"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
☆"Les Miserables"

Best Music (Original Score):
☆"Life of Pi"

Best Music (Original Song):
☆"Skyfall" from "Skyfall"

Best Production Design:
"Lincoln"

Best Short Film, Animated:
☆"Paperman"

Best Short Film, Live Action:
☆"Curfew"

Best Sound Editing:
☆"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Sound Mixing:
☆"Les Misérables"

☆Star Movie Reviews Prediction

Oscar Predictions 2013

Best Picture:

"Beasts of the Southern Wild"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"Lincoln"
"Les Miserables"
"Life of Pi"
"Amour"
"Django Unchained"
☆"Argo"

Best Actor:

☆Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

Best Actress:

Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
☆Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
☆Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"


Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Field, "Lincoln"
☆Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Amy Adams, "The Master"

Best Director:

David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
☆Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Michael Haneke, "Amour"
Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Original Screenplay:

"Zero Dark Thirty"
☆"Django Unchained"
"Moonrise Kingdom"
"Amour"
"Flight"

Best Adapted Screenplay:

"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
☆"Argo"
"Life of Pi"
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Animated Feature:

"Frankenweenie"
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"
"Wreck-It Ralph"
"Paranorman"
☆"Brave"

Best Foreign Feature:
☆"Amour"
"A Royal Affair"
"Kon-Tiki"
"No"
"War Witch"

Best Visual Effects:

☆"Life of Pi"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"The Avengers"
"Prometheus"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"

Best Cinematography:

"Skyfall"
"Anna Karenina"
"Django Unchained"
☆"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"

Best Costume Design:

☆"Anna Karenina"
"Les Miserables"
"Lincoln"
"Mirror Mirror"
"Snow White and the Huntsman"

Best Documentary Feature:

☆"Searching for Sugar Man"
"How to Survive a Plague"
"The Gatekeepers"
"5 Broken Cameras"
"The Invisible War"

Best Documentary Short:

☆"Open Heart"
"Inocente"
"Redemption"
"Kings Point"
"Mondays at Racine"

Best Film Editing:

"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"
"Life of Pi"
☆"Argo"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

"Hitchcock"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
☆"Les Miserables"

Best Music (Original Score):

"Anna Karenina"
"Argo"
☆"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"

Best Music (Original Song):

"Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted"
"Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"
☆"Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
"Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"

Best Production Design:

"Anna Karenina"
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
☆"Les Misérables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"

Best Short Film, Animated:

"Adam and Dog"
"Fresh Guacamole"
"Head over Heels"
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'"
☆"Paperman"

Best Short Film, Live Action:

"Asad"
"Buzkashi Boys"
☆"Curfew"
"Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)"
"Henry"

Best Sound Editing:

"Argo"
"Django Unchained"
"Life of Pi"
"Skyfall"
☆"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Sound Mixing:

"Argo"
☆"Les Misérables"
"Life of Pi"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"

Django Unchained

☆☆☆☆


+
Quentin Tarantino delivers a film that is dramatic, funny, and campy all at the same time. He manages to lighten very serious and at times violent subject matter with quirky music or a well-placed joke.
Jamie Foxx gives an excellent performance as Django.
_
Be ready for brutal violence and very bloody scenes.

Rated R
2 hr. 46 min.

Visit the official website and see the trailer!

Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films

☆☆☆
"Adam and Dog"


☆☆☆
"Fresh Guacamole"


☆☆☆☆
"Head over Heels"


☆☆☆1/2
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'"


☆☆☆1/2
"Paperman"


See the trailers for these films!