Features
Rod Lott
In 1963, American moviegoers got a glimpse of something they had never seen before: a madman pulling out a screaming woman’s tongue, in bright-red detail.

Drama
Phil Bacharach
Lincoln practically shouts “prestige production” before you’ve even had a chance to buy your popcorn. A costume drama about one of this nation’s most revered historical figures, this is the kind of film irresistible to awards groups.

Action
Rod Lott
For the first 10 minutes, I wondered if Kill ’Em All weren’t a movie at all, but a collection of unrelated action vignettes — a bomb hit here, a knife throw there, fists and feet everywhere — as seemingly unrelated characters fight, but hardly speak, with no story given.

Action
Phil Bacharach
Due to the twisted savagery of a young man in a Colorado movie theater, The Dark Knight Rises will forever be a footnote in American history. Hopefully, that horrific massacre will not influence perceptions of this epic conclusion to writer-director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

Sci-Fi
Phil Bacharach
Hooray for movies with ideas!

Action
Rod Lott
Premium Rush is the Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie from 2012 that didn't have him playing a Gotham City rookie, a time-traveling hit man or a POTUS' son. (Damn, was this kid busy!) It's the only one of those four that ended the year without any hint of Oscar buzz, yet I'd argue it's the most purely entertaining.

Television series
Rod Lott
I think the best way to review a box set of Mystery Science Theater 3000 would be to list all the references made by and/or targets of the Satellite of Love crew in those episodes, to demonstrate their true depth and breadth.

But that’d also be the worst, because we’d be here all day.

Action
Rod Lott
One easy way to review The Four would be to call it a kung-fu X-Men. Hell, director Gordon Chan (The King of Fighters) already has a pair of sequels planned. The big difference, of course, is that this Chinese/Hong Kong film is a period piece set nearly a thousand years ago. Therefore, it’s not interested in adamantium blades, but counterfeit coins.

Television series
Rod Lott
Until Warehouse 13 and Haven came along, Syfy’s idea of an original series was a largely frightening prospect, and for good reason. I’d been led to believe that its short-lived Flash Gordon update (2007-08), carrying bad buzz before it aired, was one of those train wrecks.