Green Lantern

Green Lantern (2011) – It’s so over-reliant on CGI it might as well have been a cartoon, but it’s well directed, and the Green Lantern ring and Corps are such solid concepts that the movie is enjoyable for their sakes; the cosmic setting is a breath of fresh air as well; with a creative script and a more compelling story we might really have had something. 6

Bunraku

Bunraku (2010) – The papercraft set design is an impressive and stylish highlight; unfortunately, the rest of this overlong, Afro Samurai-emulating film is little more than a string of cool but tedious fights strung together against a paper-thin backdrop of worn-out story elements. 5

The Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest (1936) – This is a well-acted film notable for Humphrey Bogart’s breakthrough performance, but it’s marred by poor external set design, goofy supporting characters, general sappiness, and a great deal of stilted dialogue that hasn’t translated well from the stage (although there are some clever one-liners). 6

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – While this entry in the increasingly oversaturated superhero genre occasionally gets a little too absurd, the cast, characters, and setting make it thoroughly enjoyable (it does a good job capturing the spirit of the period), and it’s refreshing to see a compelling non-Joker villain in a superhero movie (for the first half of the film, anyway) – it’s been awhile. 7

Tron: Legacy

Tron: Legacy (2010) – The good score and excellent visual style go a long way toward overcoming what is too often a lazy, silly (but impressively dark) script; the whole thing is swimming with untapped potential and references to greater works. 6

Tron

Tron (1982) – It has a distinct, fantastic visual style that, once ground-breaking, has now become vintage; unfortunately, there’s just not enough going on in the story; the film’s attempts to draw parallels between a computer and society are interesting but under-developed. 6

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) – Yes, the story is formula as can be and the Vikings have, inexplicably, American and Scottish accents, but this is a good looking, well directed film (with quite possibly the best CGI hair to date), and the world is absorbing (and the dragon endearing). 6

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class (2011) – It’s a well done film, excepting some dialogue and the silly flying characters, and it has a nice score, but as the fifth X-Men film, it can’t help but be somewhat been-there-done-that, and it’s predictable even to those with only a cursory X-Men familiarity; it also feels a tad shallow despite its efforts. 6

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – While it isn’t as overtly dumb as the second one (don’t worry, it’s still dumb), it’s more juvenile: it’s got an incoherent “story,” silly dialogue, a new cheesecake love interest who can’t act, and a cast full of human cartoon characters; the highlights, as always, are the score and Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. 5