It's a huge week for movie-goers. Not only is there is slew of films opening, but April 1 also marks the start of the Arizona International Film Festival, now in its 20th year here in Tucson. It provides Tucsonans with the unique opportunity to meet with independent filmmakers and view movies long before they make it to your local multiplex or art house.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

In the eight years I’ve taken on the regular duty of reviewing movies, 2012 just might have been the best. 

In what’s been an otherwise tremendous year for movies, 2012 still brought us quite a few stinkers nevertheless. One general question film critics are asked is how they feel when ripping a movie apart. It may sound mean-spirited and arrogant to criticize a movie that a lot of people invested their time and money into. Anybody that has endured the 10 movies listed below however can understand that such criticisms are justified.

What happens when you give “Family Guy” creator and voice actor Seth McFarlane a $50 million budget, talented actors at his disposal, and completely free reign on a script?

Rated: R. Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes. 3.5 stars.

You thought you were finally finished with all those year-end 10-best lists? Not so fast. Just in case you hadn't noticed, a decade just ended. This can mean only one thing: The 10 Best Films of the Decade, in alphabetical order.

Since we don’t watch much TV in my house (no cable in our neck of Virginia), movies are our main source of entertainment. We’re always eagerly awaiting the release of a favorite film on DVD so that we can race to the local supermarket or department store to snap up a copy. (For my children, waiting for the latest Harry Potter DVD is like waiting for Christmas.)

The makers of “The Twilight Saga” are celebrating the release of the final installment with a daylong marathon of all five films. "Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" opens nationwide on Friday, but theaters are showing it as the nightcap to the "Twilight" marathon.

Although I usually only write one full-length movie review per week, this week’s article is going to be a little bit different.  Unfortunately, due to my schedule, I was unable to go to the movies this week.  However, when I looked at the calendar to take a look at upcoming releases, I had an idea.  Now that we are more than halfway through July, I started thinking about all of the films I have seen so far this year.  When I realized just how many of them there were, I decided to compile them into my top 10 of the year so far.  So, without further delay, here are my personal 10 favorite films to be released thus far in 2012. 

Here’s a short political quiz. See if you can guess who made all the following statements:

Rated: PG. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes. 3 stars.

Rated R for language, drug use and sexual references. Running time: 107 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.