There’s nothing quite like summer movie season to shake a hibernating movie blogger to the point where he must leave the cave.

Drama: the bread and butter of the holidays. The buzz builds to fever pitch for possible Oscar contenders as adults looking for an easy way to spend time around Thanksgiving and Christmas scout out what they’ve heard is supposed to be excellent. Well, here are the highlights and a breakdown of which are the good [...]

Action shines in the summer time, but there’s usually one ultra-reliable action offering during the Holidays. This year an old friend returns to transport us back to a very reliable place in movie history and a reliable filmmaker brings us a hell of an adult genre offering.   Red Dawn (Nov. 21) Directed by Dan [...]

For younger families, it’s slightly slim pickings this holidays season. Only one kids’ movie comes out after Thanksgiving, so the chances you’ll see at least two of these if you live with or spend lots of time with children is very high.

When families start coming together, the romantic comedies and dramas start coming out of the woodwork for feel-good family time, so this is the one time of year I combine all such efforts. This year we have quite a few of them, but you’ll have to dig for the real winners.   The Twilight Saga: [...]

They may be few, but this fall’s thrillers are most definitely noteworthy. There’s the fast-approaching cop film ”End of Watch” this month, then “Precious” director Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy,” Ben Affleck’s “Argo” and the latest big-screen adventure for author James Patterson’s famous detective, Alex Cross.

With the fall festivals in high gear already, the fall can be so packed to the gills with quality indie options that you’re bound to miss a handful of good ones as the heavy Oscar contenders start to line up. Here are six extremely different indie options you might want to consider, and the obvious [...]

Autumn is horror’s time to shine. Five films hit theaters in hopes of capitalizing on October’s demand for scary fare and at least one (“Paranormal Activity 4″) will rule the box office.

Fall brings either downright bad animated films or hidden gems. Considering three of these films will be distributed by Disney, the odds are better on the gems in 2012. Just this prospect alone is an improvement on the family offerings in the fall of recent years. Although “Puss in Boots” and “Dolphin Tale” won over [...]

Comedy offerings this fall won’t have you marking your calendar. Scroll below and you won’t see the names Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Vince Vaughn, Zach Galifianakis or anyone remotely linked to them. A majority of these movies don’t warrant a trip to the theater, but one or two are bound to [...]

The action films of this fall range from horror-action to sci fi to martial arts, but a good chunk of them are “people go missing and revenge is the solution” flicks. Perhaps that’s inspired by one particular sequel in bunch…

And the drama begins. As the fall festival circuit ramps up, so do the number of dramatic films, many of which are vying for Academy attention come the winter. Fall is also the home of many feel-good dramas that don’t have much awards potential. Let’s see if we can’t sort them out.

Could it really get any better than “The Avengers?” In an average movie summer, the answer would be a hesitant “possibly,” but Summer 2012 looks to be anything but average. Rather than my usual extensive Summer Movie Preview, I’ve assembled a list of 15 movies post-”Avengers” that I am particularly interested in that I think [...]

This spring’s action movie slate deals mostly in science fiction. Two of 2012′s first blockbusters come out this month including “John Carter” and the highly anticipated adaptation of “The Hunger Games,” and dare I forget “Wrath of the Titans” at month’s end. There’s also a sci-fi prison escape film as well as Jason Statham’s latest.

The independent horror/thriller scene delivers a number of options in smaller theaters these next couple months, but there are a few mainstream films to note, namely Joss Whedon’s much-delayed “The Cabin in the Woods” and John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe in “The Raven.”