Holiday movies: A video guide

Nov. 20, 2012

As 2012 ends, some of the most anticipated films of the year are hitting theaters, including “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Django Unchained” and “Les Miserables.” Take a look at our video reviews and trailers below. To read the full reviews for these films and others, click here.

'Les Misérables'

Director Tom Hooper has doubled down on this musical's greatest strength and magnified its ability to create waves of overwhelming feelings in an audience by casting top-flight actors such as Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway and having them sing live. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Django Unchained'

In 'Django Unchained,' starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel E. Jackson, Quentin Tarantino creates his most articulate, intriguing, provoking, appalling, hilarious, exhilarating, scathing and downright entertaining film yet. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'

Peter Jackson's film reaches for the magical heights of 'The Lord of the Rings.' Instead, it is only solid, not good enough by its predecessor's standards. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Zero Dark Thirty'

In director Kathryn Bigelow's taut thriller, Jessica Chastain is a revelation as the CIA operative whose dogged legwork helped lead U.S. forces to the Al Qaeda leader. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'On the Road'

Director Walter Salles' film is a re-creation of the adventures of Jack Kerouac alter ego Sal Paradise that uses youthful stars like Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart to capture the evanescence of its characters' rebellious hunger for the essence of life. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Promised Land'

John Krasinski of 'The Office' and Matt Damon co-wrote "Promised Land," a film about a young comer in the natural gas industry who is selling the controversial practice of "fracking" to homeowners in struggling rural communities. (Opens Dec. 28)

'West of Memphis'

A strong, blood-boiling documentary from director Amy Berg, about the West Memphis Three, a group of teenagers convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys in Arkansas in 1993 in a controversial trial. (Reviewed by Michael Phllips)

'The Impossible'

So terrifying is the 2004 tsunami as imagined in 'The Impossible,' that the imagery alone elicits a dread so intense you may feel yourself gasping for breath. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star as Maria and Henry, on holiday with their three boys at a Thailand resort. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Monsters, Inc.' 3D

This is the 3-D re-release of Disney and Pixar's acclaimed animated film about the spooky monster business.

'Parental Guidance'

'Parental Guidance's' heavy-handed bid to assemble the elements of a family comedy fall flat amid crass antics and far too little warmth. With Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott. (Reviewed by Mark Olsen)

'Jack Reacher'

Christopher McQuarrie's 'Jack Reacher' springs from Lee Child's series about a damaged ex-military man. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise doesn't have the physicality or the ability to show the inner pain of the character to make the movie work. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'This Is 40'

Judd Apatow's new comic rant picks up the family squabble five years after "Knocked Up" left off. Not since Apatow so thoroughly crashed (and trashed) the romantic comedy scene in 2005 has the filmmaker gotten relationships this right. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'The Guilt Trip'

There was something promising about the match-up of Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as mother and son. Too bad 'The Guilt Trip' is unfunny, unreal and agonizingly long. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Playing for Keeps'

Though the stereotypic 'Playing for Keeps' wastes the talents of actresses like Uma Thurman, at least Gerard Butler gets to show off his romantic leading-man potential. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away'

'Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away' has a vague girl-seeks-boy narrative, but it's mostly a pretense to show performances from seven Cirque shows. (Reviewed by Mark Olsen)

'Skyfall'

Director Sam Mendes breathes new life into the half-century James Bond franchise with a well-cast, smartly acted film. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Wreck-It-Ralph'

Beneath the Disney film's well-crafted world of video game characters, the 3-D animated feature's major asset is its humanity. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Flight'

Portraying a troubled pilot, Denzel Washington soars in a Robert Zemeckis film that impresses technically but is weakened by movie trope repetition. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Life of Pi'

Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' asks that we take a leap of faith along with a boy named Pi Patel and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker as an angry ocean and the ironies of fate set them adrift. Their struggle for survival is as elegant as it is epic. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Argo'

Ben Affleck's gripping film based on a true story is well acted and directed as a movie about a movie that is used as a cover to help six Americans escape during the Iranian hostage crisis. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Lincoln'

History comes alive in the best way in 'Lincoln,' which finds director Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis at the top of their form. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2'

From the moment Bella Swan blinks those blood-red eyes of a newborn vampire, you just know that 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2' is going to be vampirrific. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Rise of the Guardians'

In DreamWorks' 'Rise of the Guardians,' Santa has tats, he goes by the name North and he sounds like Alec Baldwin. It's as if hip-hop has come to Candyland, bringing an urban edginess to the traditional storybook rap. But that's only the tip of the 3-D iceberg. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Red Dawn'

A remake of the 1984 film of the same name, the new 'Red Dawn' arrives in theaters following years of delays involving bankruptcy and a switch of the film's central villains from the Chinese to North Koreans. (Reviewed by Mark Olsen)

'Anna Karenina'

Keira Knightley stars in Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina," giving a strong performance bound by the director's self-imposed conventions. (Reviewed by Betsy Sharkey)

'Silver Linings Playbook'

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are superb as unstable people thrown together by chance and linked through their obsessions, with director David O. Russell nimbly making the uneasy alliance work. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

'Hitchcock'

With Anthony Hopkins as the great director and Helen Mirren as his wife, "Hitchcock" puts major league star power at the service of its peek-behind-closed-doors premise. But this is one cinematic portrait of a marriage we could have lived without. (Reviewed by Kenneth Turan)

Produced by Aaron Williams / Programmed by Armand Emamdjomeh