Jack Reacher (2012)
Christopher McQuarrie
B-

As far as I can tell the character of Jack Reacher is awesome at everything. He’s the best investigator in the military, he can take out five attackers by himself, he’s a crack shot marksman as well as an accomplished stunt driver. He can sniff out a double cross and women half his age throw themselves at him. He even makes being homeless sound like a cool expression of personal freedom as opposed to…

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Colin Trevorrow
C-

The least imaginative time travel film ever or simply the least imaginative film ever? How people can get themselves worked up into a fit of righteous rage over something like BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (which for whatever its faults has a visual sensibility and a general interest beyond the contents of its own bellybutton) while giving this a pass is beyond me. Looks like ass, squanders the considerable charms of Aubrey Plaza…

Dredd (2012)
Pete Travis
B+

Spent the entirety of this in a state of near shock at how much better—visually arresting, clever, well structured, outright fun… however one wants to qualify that sort of a statement—than it needed to be as a retread of a famous Sylvester Stallone bomb based on an obscure (in this country anyway) comic book character, only for the end credits to reveal that the film’s production team was hilariously overqualified to be making a 3D,…