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Max Braden: I've been saving my money for the first half of the year, knowing I could catch up on titles on DVD before awards season, so I've been fairly selective about what I've seen in theaters. That said, my most recent theater trip was to see Battleship. I went in with low expectations, but I was impressed by the visuals in the trailer and that aspect of the movie didn't let me down. But on the whole it was no more impressive than Under Siege or the other alien invasion movies of the last few years.

Now that early 2012 movies are showing up on DVD, I've felt reassured that I made the right decision with my money, because they haven't been very impressive. Gone demonstrates some good sleuthing by Amanda Seyfried's character, but once you see the movie, it's...gone. Man on a Ledge had a moment or two, because who isn't freaked out about heights, but it felt rushed and too easy as a heist. Contraband is a poor imitation of Gone in 60 Seconds, and Gone in 60 Seconds at least has cool cars. Underworld...four - I think - has nifty cinematography but at this point I can't be bothered to care about they mythology anymore. Rampart features Woody Harrelson doing his solid thing as a dirty cop, but there are as-well-acted but more exciting cop dramas already out there. We Need to Talk About Kevin may be well-acted as well, but it's psychoville-depressing, plus Beautiful Boy is a little less sensationalist on the same subject The Devil Inside is currently my vote for worst of the year. The Grey is next.

Kim Hollis: Edwin is now my mortal enemy for the Almost Famous comment. As for movies I've seen recently, I of course saw The Avengers (twice) and am a big fan. I could probably even see it one more time before it leaves theaters. I also saw Men in Black 3 over Memorial Day weekend, and I thought it was pretty fun. Josh Brolin is every bit as good as everyone says he is, and while it feels to me like maybe Will Smith ought to be past these types of roles, I still laughed and enjoyed myself. Admittedly, I may be a bigger mark for the MIB series than most. Other recent movies have included Chronicle (a very good superhero super villain origin story), Haywire (good, frenetic Soderbergh fun) and The Grey, which I think I hated. Honestly, I've kind of had a dislike for man vs. nature stories that goes all the way back to when I read Call of the Wild as a child. I don't know if I'll ever get past it.

I also frequently stop to watch X-Men: First Class whenever it is on. I've found myself really enjoying that film, which I think might be a lot because of Michael Fassbender, but perhaps also because of the setting. Between it and Captain America, Marvel had two really nifty throwback-type movies last summer.

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