Action
Rod Lott
Fifth in the increasingly slick but decreasingly lucid franchise, Resident Evil: Retribution had potential to be the best entry since the 2002 original. After all, returning director Paul W.S. Anderson (The Three Musketeers) has positioned so many elements from the previous films that it seemed set up to play like a greatest-hits package. Instead, the result is baffling.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Given the stiff competition with Abe Lincoln, mental patients and paraplegic virgins, I'm not certain Richard Gere will earn his first Oscar nomination for Arbitrage, but I think he certainly deserves to. He's present for nearly every frame of the film, and captivates — something not readily said for his past performances.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Just six days into his residency, Dr. Martin Blake (Orlando Bloom, The Three Musketeers) already has his share of minor screw-ups: His handwriting is illegible, and he prescribed penicillin for a patient who was allergic to it.

Thriller
Rod Lott
When cast in the right role, which is rarely and does not include Magic Mike, Matthew McConaughey can be an electrifying onscreen presence. His breakthrough bit in 1993′s Dazed and Confused is one of those times; Killer Joe is another.

Television series
Rod Lott
A noticeable difference exists with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXV from Shout! Factory’s previous sets: This one is comparatively light on extras. However, that’s hardly a knock against it, because the show itself is just too damned good on its own.

Television series
Rod Lott
While a bit too stiff-upper-lip for my tastes, Synapse Films’ release of the British TV series Chiller is welcomed nonetheless. Any release of a horror anthology is, especially one this little-seen.

Western
Rod Lott
Perhaps to horn in on the expected Django Unchained action, Warner Archive has dug into its vaults to give a spaghetti Western a second helping of viewers. It found a unlikely offering in Dollar for the Dead, a 1988, made-for-cable effort starring Emilio Estevez. You could look at it like a Young Guns spin-off if you wish.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Not to be confused with Adam Green's Frozen, snowbound terrors and all, Andrew Hyatt's The Frozen follows couple Mike (Seth David Mitchell) and Emma (Brit Morgan, True Blood’s werewolf Debbie Pelt) into the woods for a winter camping trip.

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.

Drama
Rod Lott
If John Hillcoat is setting out to build a directorial career on downbeat and depressing films, he's doing a fine job. From The Proposition and The Road — especially The Road — and now Lawless, bleakness is his bread and butter.

Television series
Rod Lott
At least not in its initial release, I’m guessing not many saw 2010’s Tiny Furniture, an imperfect but smart and charming comedy that burst Lena Dunham, its star/writer/director, onto the indie-feature scene. On its strength and reception, Dunham scored a series deal at HBO with none other than Judd Apatow (Bridesmaids) producing

Comedy
Rod Lott
Early in Sleepwalk with Me, protagonist Matt Pandamiglio (comedian Mike Birbiglia, more or less playing himself) addresses via narration the feelings his character holds for his live-in girlfriend, Abby (Lauren Ambrose, Wanderlust) with the lines, “I think falling in love for the first time is such a transcendent feeling. It's like pizza-flavored ice cream: Your brain can't even process that level of joy.”

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
I'm not of the opinion that remakes are automatically a bad thing. Without them, we wouldn't have David Cronenberg's The Fly or John Carpenter's The Thing. The difference is that examples like those had a different way of telling the established story.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Just a decade after starring in Sleuth, Michael Caine returned to similar fare in 1982's Deathtrap. Both are crafty mysteries with a bare minimum of characters and even fewer settings, but many twists to leave viewers with spinning heads.

Sci-Fi
Rod Lott
Not based on Connie Willis' seminal sci-fi novel of the same name, Doomsday Book is preoccupied not with time travel, but the world's end. Telling three separate stories, the Korean film comes from acclaimed directors Kim Jee-woon (I Saw the Devil) and Yim Pil-sung (Hansel & Gretel). As with all anthologies, results vary; ultimately, this one ends up as two-thirds great.