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David Mumpower: I have vacillated on posting a review of The Dark Knight Rises. I'm squarely in the "Loved it!" camp. It plays as a pure sequel to Batman Begins, a movie I vastly prefer to the sloppier The Dark Knight. One of the key aspects of Batman Begins as a triumph is the presence of Liam Neeson, whose ascension in Taken was at least partially triggered by this role. Seeing that premise explored further was catnip to me. I had issues with the technical aspects of the film (Christian Bale chewed out the wrong soundboard guy) and a couple of my family members were undeniably bored to tears by the movie's length. I still think this is the type of high-minded fare we need in tentpole titles these days. In particular, the judge who sentenced the 1% was a chilling bit of social commentary.

Gone is a blueprint example of how I can enjoy an actress, Amanda Seyfried, and feel that she does all that she can with a role while still actively disliking the story as well as her role in it. Gone is intended to be a psychological drama with Hitchcock-ian undertones. Since there are only about eight people in the movie, however, there isn't much guesswork available. The story comes down to whether the protagonist is crazy or not and the resolution is a total letdown after 75 minutes of hype. This one is a definite pass.

Mirror Mirror is a live action version of a Shrek sequel and I don't mean that in a good way. If this had been the first recent fractured fairy tale, the genre would have died after one attempt. Hoodwinked tells a similar story better and with much more whimsy. I did enjoy Lily Collins' performance, though. She portrayed one of the Tuohys in The Blind Side. I think she has a future if this particular failure isn't dumped on her.

Act of Valor actively offended me. This is the worst kind of jingoism. Anybody without a flag on their helmet is a bad guy who deserves to be mercilessly slain. The simple fact that they were not Born in the USA (in the Springsteen vernacular) is justification enough for violence. I recognize that many of the performers in this are real life Navy SEALS but this is a brutal film even allowing for the amateurish nature. The voice-over work in particular is something a motivated eighth grader could do better on a home video. And for all the praise the action scenes merited, I found myself realizing that videogame design has come so far that it is indistinguishable from realistic battle sequences.

Man on a Ledge is like an average episode of Leverage. Since I happen to love Leverage and really anything involving heists, I mean this as a compliment. Yes, once we take away the film's central conceit about a potential jumper from a roof, it's just like any other heist story. This in no way changes the fact that the movie is at a minimum watchable. I quite enjoyed it but your mileage may vary. I felt there was a great deal of creativity in terms of organic conflict, something rare in modern cinema.

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a critical darling that did absolutely nothing for me. I was agitated by it more than anything else. There are no characters to invest in other than a misguided little girl and while I love her performance, that is nowhere near enough for me. Dwight Henry delivers a brave performance as Wink, the father. Like the men in Act of Valor, he is not an actor by trade but his understanding of Katrina's impact on the bayous of Louisiana is mesmerizing. Despite this, I was miserable the entire time I sat in the theater and could not wait for the movie to end. My wife had promised me another Whale Rider; Beasts of the Southern Wild is diametrically opposed in tenor.

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