Thanksgiving is the number one day for movie going. And this holiday season there is a chance to take a little road trip to see the number one movie of all time worldwide.

With hopes held high for a George Clooney directed drama about the devious nature of the politics, audiences have to settle for a script that falls short with an anticlimactic feel and a transparent conclusion.

Who doesn’t like a good film? Ok, who doesn’t like a weekend of good films?

Birmingham SHOUT Gay + Lesbian Film Festival, the only such festival in Alabama, returns to the Magic City Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27 & 28, at various downtown locations.

After Tim Burton’s unfortunate Planet of the Apes remake from 2001, I doubt that anyone was particularly hankering for another movie in the franchise, let alone a prequel, but Rise of the Planet of the Apes proves to be a smart, character-driven science fiction story that has both exciting action and an engaging emotional core.

People going to see a movie called Cowboys & Aliens may be expecting something comedic, or maybe just plain silly. Perhaps in response to this, the filmmakers have played the premise straight, but in making sure the movie wasn’t too jokey, they managed to remove all the fun as well.

We’ve certainly seen plenty of superhero movies this summer, but the new film Captain America is a very enjoyable, unabashedly old-fashioned action-adventure story that is full of two-fisted fun and isn’t afraid to be earnest, even a little corny. It’s an interesting departure for Marvel Studios, in both tone and manner of storytelling, and it’s one of the best films they have made.

After more than a decade, seven books and eight films, J.K. Rowling’s beloved saga comes to a close with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which provides an exciting, emotional and satisfying conclusion to the series while also showcasing exactly how dark and somber the story has become since its wide-eyed beginnings.

Who among us hasn’t had a horrible boss, and thought idly from time to time how life might be easier without him or her in it? The new dark comedy Horrible Bosses knows this and gets a lot of mileage from its universally understandable premise.

All I really hoped for from Transformers: Dark of the Moon was that it would be better than the previous film in the series, Revenge of the Fallen, and thankfully it is.