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

As always, I close the book on 2012 with my year in review, a close examination of the trends in movies and moviegoing that either emerged or changed during the course of the year.

What’s so curious about the best movies of 2012 is that they aren’t the ones getting Oscar buzz — at least not if you ask me. It was a great year for movies, with excellent films being offered as early as January (one of those made this list, in fact) and all the way up [...]

2012 was one full of small gems, and as such, I was inspired to add something new to my annual Best of the Year posts. With so many great blockbusters and big-name films stealing away your attention, you probably weren’t as eager to seek out independent films and films with smaller distribution.

I was a big fan of “Seven Psychopaths,” and considering that part of the film involves Colin Farrell’s Marty attempting to assemble seven psychopaths for his screenplay, I thought it would be interesting to assemble seven of my favorite movie psychopaths of all time into a group that you’d want to stay far, far away [...]

It’s the end of the summer, at that means other than my Best and Worst of the Summer,  it’s time for my fourth annual “Five Breakout Stars of the Summer” post. Last year was a knockout year, as many of those names have already become household, including “Bridesmaids” star Melissa McCarthy and Chris Hemsworth. This [...]

The weather might still be pretty hot, but school’s back in session and Summer 2012 is in the books. That means its time again to sort through the biggest movie season of the year (for those not obsessed with golden statuettes) and pick the very best and the very worst.

(Start reading this entire article on PlayerAffinity.com) Given that we live in a time in which Hollywood remakes and reboots run rampant, it’s considered taboo to clamor for one. But the truth of the matter is, there are a lot of decent films that have been made over the years that simply could’ve been better.

Most every modern comic actor has his fans and detractors. Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell, for example, have love-hate relationships with fans and non-fans alike. After some exposure, young stars such as Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera started to rub people the wrong way. But I challenge you to find someone that can’t [...]

Just like how rules were meant to be broken, prisons were meant to be broken out of, and movies have literally and figuratively given us much escapist entertainment over the years. Prison movies are especially fun when we’re not just talking iron bars. A great number of filmmakers over the years have imagined prisons of [...]

One of the first ever posts on Movie Muse was my Top 10 Superhero films, a celebration of a genre near and dear to my heart, or at least one that I love to dissect more than most considering I’m a product of the superheroes on TV/film era. Yet as many triumphs as we’ve witnessed [...]

Few actors have a career comparable to that of Liam Neeson’s. The Irish-born actor didn’t really hit the map until he was nearly 40, yet he’s known as a dedicated and gifted thespian with the chops for an occasional mean streak. Neeson forged his career on a reputation for playing historical figures including Oskar Schindler, [...]

It’s time to put a lid on the movie year of 2011 and bury it deep, deep within the recesses of the earth. As I’ve done the last couple years, it’s time to reflect on some of the emerging trends within the world of Hollywood. Below you’ll find a series of bold statements about the [...]

You’re probably so over 2011 right now. You probably have no interest in the Top 10 Films of 2011 anymore, but allow me to explain why it took until Jan. 3 to publish this list. 2011 left something to be desired at the movies — and that’s being nice. Each year tends to be full of [...]

If you had to name the most famous fictional movie houses, you’d mostly come up with the haunted ones. Houses hardly end up as the main characters or the sole location for an entire film unless they’re haunted or something’s up. Even the best mansions and castles are the ones crawling with something not of [...]