2012 Best Reviewed Movies (Page #14)

Musical prodigy, Sparkle (Jordin Sparks) struggles to become a star while overcoming issues that are tearing her family apart. From an affluent Detroit area and daughter to a single mother (Whitney Houston), she tries to balance a new romance with music manager, Stix (Derek Luke) while dealing with the unexpected challenges her new life will bring as she and her two sisters (Carmen Ejogo and Tika Sumpter) strive to become a dynamic singing group during the Motown-era.

John (Scott Adkins) wakes up from a coma to discover his wife and daughter were slaughtered in a brutal home invasion. Haunted by images of the attack, he vows to kill the man responsible, Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). While John tries to piece his reality back together, things get more complicated when he is pursued by a relentless UniSol. As John gets closer to Deveraux and the rouge army of genetically enhanced warriors led by back-from-the-dead leader Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), John discovers more about himself and begins to call into question everything he believed to be true.

A romantic musical drama spanning three decades as it follows a mother and daughter's misadventures in love. In the freewheeling Paris of the '60s, young Madeleine (Ludivine Sagnier)--who has gone from selling shoes to sleeping with men for money--falls for a handsome Czech doctor, Jaromil (Rasha Bukvic), whom she soon marries and joins in Prague. A baby daughter is born, but Jaromil's infidelities and the arrival of Russian tanks in Prague lead Madeleine back to France--though the love between them still burns. Thirty years later in London, we follow Madeleine's daughter, Vera (Chiara Mastroianni), who has fallen in love with a musician (American actor Paul Schneider) who is incapable of devoting himself to her, while her ex (Honore regular Louis Garrel) still pines for her. Meanwhile in Paris, a re-married Madeleine (Catherine Deneuve) has rekindled her love affair with Jaromil (Milos Forman).

Tommy Cowley (Aneurin Barnard) lives a quiet life in a decaying apartment complex with his highly pregnant wife. The couple is attacked one day by a group of hooded young thugs, and after a shocking act of violence, Tommy is left to raise his newborn daughter alone. So shaken by the events that he’s developed extreme agoraphobia, Tommy alternates days hiding out indoors in his new flat from imagined threats and intense therapy sessions aimed at bringing him back to normalcy. When the same hooded gang, seemingly intent on kidnapping his daughter, begins terrorizing his life again, he’s torn between his paralyzing fear and protective parental instinct. With the help of a vigilante priest who has uncovered the genesis of this ruthless, potentially supernatural gang, Tommy must overcome his fears and venture into the heart of the abandoned tower block known as the CITADEL to save his family.

An epic drama spanning the years 1939 to 1952, this is the gripping story of Simon (played as the adult by Bill Skarsgaard, son of Stellan), who grows up in a loving working-class family on the outskirts of Gothenburg but always feels out of place. Intellectually gifted, he stubbornly persists in acquiring an education normally reserved for young men of the professional classes, much to the chagrin of his parents, who fear that he will become stuck up. He finally convinces his father to send him to an upper-class grammar school, where he meets Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Simon is dazzled by the books, art and music he encounters in the home of Isak's father Ruben (Jan Josef Leifers), which makes Simon long to know more about his own family background. Isak, on the other hand, draws comfort from learning to do something with his hands, helping Simon's dad (Stefan Godicke) make boats. When Isak faces trouble at home, he is taken in by Simon's family and the two households slowly merge, connecting in unexpected ways as war rages all over Europe. The film is based on the Swedish bestseller of the same name, written by Marianne Fredriksson. It offers a unique depiction of fate, destiny and free will and vividly portrays the situation for Jews in Sweden during World War II.

Fourth installment of the Bourne franchise based on an original story. As writer/director Tony Gilroy explains, "This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one’s replacing Matt Damon. There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project." Jason Bourne will not be featured in the film; Jeremy Renner will play another assassin trained in the same program as Bourne.

Set around an incoming asteroid threatening to end life on Earth. Steve Carell stars as a man whose wife leaves him amidst the ensuing panic, prompting him to seek out his high school sweetheart, who yearns to be with him when doomsday arrives. Keira Knightley plays the female lead, a neighbor of Carell's character who accompanies him on a romantic road trip to find her.

The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world.

Based on Steve Harvey’s best-selling book, Think Like a Man follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Harvey’s book and start taking his advice to heart. When the band of brothers realize they have been betrayed by one of their own, they conspire using the book’s insider information to turn the tables and teach the women a lesson of their own.

Follows four uncool friends (Will, Jay, Simon and Neil) who go on their first vacation to Greece in search of high times and wild sex - with no parents, no teachers, no money, and little to no chance with the ladies.

Legendary spy Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) has eluded capture for almost a decade. One of the best ops men that the CIA’s ever trained, the brilliant ex-intelligence officer has betrayed assets and sold military codes to enemies of the state since he turned. From aiding splinter cells to trading incendiary secrets to the highest bidder, the damage he’s done to the U.S. is immeasurable. Now, Frost is back on the grid with the most explosive intel he’s ever gotten his hands on. For the past year, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) has been frustrated by his inactive, backwater post in Cape Town. A “housekeeper” who aspires to be a full-fledged case officer, the loyal company man has been waiting for an opportunity to prove himself. When the first and only occupant he’s had proves to be the most dangerous operative he will ever cross, Weston readies for duty. As soon as Frost is brought in for debriefing, mercenaries in brutal pursuit of Frost come and level Weston’s safe house. Barely escaping, the veteran spy and untested captor must discover whether their attackers were sent by terrorists or by someone on the inside. With only hours left to get Frost to the next safe house, Weston must figure out who he can trust before he and the world’s most skillful assassin are both eliminated.

Matt Damon plays Steve Butler, an ace corporate salesman who is sent along with his partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), to close a key rural town in his company's expansion plans. With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski), as well as the interest of a local woman (Rosemarie DeWitt).