Updated 01/28/2012

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE: Brilliant! Engrossing, unpredictable, not what you’d expect. Not about 9/11- it serves as the catalyst. It’s about a boy’s incredible journey home. You’ve got to see it!

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO:   Unusual take on the mystery-thriller genre from best-selling book, dark, humanizing. I liked it.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:   Really good. Humor, scary heights, great casting, fast-paced, total entertainment.

THE ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN:   Different. Motion-capture technology for animation produced such life-like movement; one wonders why they didn’t just shoot with live actors. Even so, wonderfully entertaining for the whole family, amazing 3D animation, a thrill-ride. I   loved it.

THE ARTIST:   Beautiful. As it starts, I wasn’t sure what I was watching- took some time to   start connecting with it, but then it had me, and then just got better and better. Everyone should see this.

THE IRON LADY:   Another one where I didn’t really know what to expect, or where it was going, but as it progressed I was totally involved. Streep is just incredible, perhaps the most skilled actor of our time, so completely becoming the character that she allows you to forget the actor and believe the character.

WAR HORSE: Another great film among many this season. Beautiful photography, unexpected twists, and who couldn’t love a story about a boy and his horse, the trials of war, and survival? Brilliantly filmed and directed. Don’t pass this one up!

WE BOUGHT A ZOO: Fun picture, Matt Damon and Scarlet Johansson learn from each other in this fact-based story of renewal and survival after a tragic loss. Uplifting, real, a treat.

I PLAN TO SEE

STAR WARS EPISODE I in 3D:   Can they really take a film shot in 2D and magically transform it into 3D? Apparently, YES! (I’m a Star Wars fan anyway.) Ditto TITANIC 3D: James Cameron knows what he’s doing (remember “Avatar?”) and I loved his 2D version of the story, even better than the old B&W film of the same name from years past which I also loved. And yes, being a techno-nerd, I’m really into the whole 3D thing!