It's hard to say whether Anchorman is the funniest movie of the year - it has enough offbeat and gut-busting moments to make it worth consideration in that category.

Divergent is less action-oriented than "The Hunger Games" but no less compelling.

A paranoia-choked atmosphere is the primary reason why The Thing works as well as it does. The setup is standard stuff, establishing that the characters are isolated and can expect no help from the outside. The realization there could be an alien among them, and any one of them might not be human, is what launches The Thing into a spiral of escalating tension.

Glory Road's strength is the way in which it blends social awareness into the sports genre.

Anonymous is well-paced and never threatens to bore or become too scholarly.

The best thing that can be said about Wright's immersion into the world of Tolstoy is that it's interesting - a quality not always true of Anna Karenina adaptations. The movie also doesn't feel rushed, successfully capturing more of the novel's secondary stories into its fabric.

The unpretentious, easy-to-digest style and short running length (a shade over 90 minutes), when coupled with strong acting (especially on Williams' part), make My Week with Marilyn a pleasant end-of-the-year diversion.

There’s a time and a place for mayhem, and that’s essentially what Bullet Train is: two hours of fights, carnage, and witty repartee. Oh, it’s too long, to be sure – probably at least by 20 minutes. And its puzzle-like structure is too complicated for its own good. But, taken on its own terms, it’s fun and energetic as only this sort of film can be.

Eastwood has captured a peculiar yet involving slice of life.

By taking a different road, Iannucci has provided something that captures the essence of David Copperfield without being constrained by every detail.

Has once again caught lightning in a bottle and unleashed it on audiences, blending humor, adventure, and a lot of nifty special effects-enabled gadgets and creatures into a movie that provides 1 1/2 hours of unfettered entertainment for children, grandparents, and everyone in between.

This is one of the director's mainstream efforts, although his penchant for the offbeat and oddly artistic has not been completely reined in. But there's plenty of unsparing, bone-crunching violence to dismiss the idea that Soderbergh is making an art film in disguise.

City of Ember has almost anything one could want from a science fiction-based family adventure film: likeable characters, an imaginative setting, and a fast pace.

Enjoyable, and will likely appeal to anyone who appreciated the 2001 film.

Although the idea behind Yesterday was to craft a love-letter to The Beatles, the end result tastes a lot like a typical Richard Curtis rom-com with a generous helping of John-Paul-George-Ringo gravy.

This movie ranks as better-than-par entertainment.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Green Dragon is Bui's recreation of Camp Pendleton, circa 1975 (filming actually took place in Camp Pendleton).

A thoughtful, almost poetic, piece that puts forth the argument that redemption is not easily achieved.

Red Rock West is a roller-coaster ride of a film, designed for those who like their thrillers spiced with the unexpected.

Playing the love interest, Kelvin Harrison Jr. does as much as he can with an underwritten character. Ice Cube, as is increasingly the case for the veteran musician-turned-actor, steals every scene in which he appears.

Ask Dr. Ruth takes the caricature of the middle-aged, diminutive sex therapist and, through the use of documentary techniques, expands and deepens the viewer’s understanding of the woman behind the image.

It’s an emotionally satisfying experience that brings to life a group of appealing characters and allows them to grow and expand in front of the lens.

In essence, Control is a standard order biopic of a tormented artist. What makes the film interesting, if not unique, is the style in which director Anton Corbijn has elected to present it.

Love, Simon is charming and likeable in much the same way that heterosexual teen comedies can be charming and likeable.

There are not a lot of laughs in Dan Rush's directorial debut, nor are there intended to be. Rush keeps the tone as light as possible, but no one would mistake this for anything other than a quirky, character-based drama.

Clooney and Zellweger play off each other perfectly, delivering their dialogue with the rhythm of a well-choreographed dance and falling in love in the time-honored tradition of '40s romantic comedies.

In Shazam!, the positives outweigh the negatives. The film’s fresh aspects are strong enough to keep the stale ones at bay.

As the movie approached the end credits, I cared about what happened to these characters, and that made the coincidences and occasional missteps forgivable.