Family

Best: ParaNorman

This stop-motion animated horror show from the team that assembled Coraline was, by far, the most bizarre offering for younger audiences. While Brave, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and Ice Age: Continental Drift, offered the same old, same old in conventional cartoons from Pixar, DreamWorks, etc., animation studio Laika took far more chances in its presentation with more risqué humor and a less pandering style with its telling of a tale of a boy (voice of Kodi Smit-McPhee) who can talk to dead people and must save his town from rampaging zombies and a centuries-old witch. Though not everyone might have liked its picture quality — with colors that each looked like a different shade of barf — few people can deny that this feature takes far more chances than the average kid’s movie, even though it’s ultimately a simple parable about the dangers of bullying. Its closing moments, in which a high school jock (Casey Affleck) quietly comes out of the closet, proves cartoons can indeed be a forum for social change without tackling such complex subjects head-on.

Worst: The Odd Life of Timothy Green

To be fair, this fable about a kid (CJ Adams) who magically sprouts from the garden of a childless couple (Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton) wasn’t that bad, but its unbearably hokey, sentimental style shows exactly why so many people can’t stand Disney. The boy in question may have been growing leaves from his legs, but a more appropriate plant would have been corn. That being said, keep in mind that I, like many people, didn’t buy a ticket for the kiddies-only feature The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, so I can’t judge it fairly, but a movie has to be pretty bad to rank as one of the biggest turkeys of all time.

Superhero

Best: The Dark Knight Rises

With all the excellent comic book-related releases of the summer, this one is a tough call, but the prize simply must go to the last word in the Batman mythos. No, I don’t believe this will be the last film based on the Caped Crusader, but Christopher Nolan did what no other director or writer has done in crafting the world of Bruce Wayne’s alter ego by saying “This is the end.” A film that offers huge stakes and grounded, gritty characters ranging from super thief Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) to do-or-die detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to the man in the freaky mask, Bane (Tom Hardy), who also wins the “What the Hell Did He Say? Award.”

Worst: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Here’s another entry that might not really fit in the category, but given the design of this idiotic tale of Honest Abe — or the Great Emancipator or The Railsplitter, whatever dual identity you prefer — you may as well consider it a comic book movie, and that’s not a compliment. This steaming pile of historical fiction/fictional history could have been watchable if Timur Bekmambetov had any kind of radar to detect which stories deserve a more humorous approach. Just like his awful attempt at putting a graphic novel on celluloid with Wanted, the director is all about hackneyed action sequences with no substance. This time it’s even worse, as he makes this somewhat creative idea look like a video essay made by high school sophomores with a bottomless budget. Move over, Wild Wild West, you’ve been replaced as the dumbest movie with contemporary characters set in the 19th century.

Romance

Best: Moonrise Kingdom

A good love story has to have chemistry between its lead couple and in the case of Sam and Suzy (Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward), two melancholy tweens in 1965 New England, we’re looking at the new Romeo and Juliet, folks. You know, sans the whole double suicide thing. Besides marking the return of Wes Anderson as a worthy contender in the film world, this oft-hilarious comedy never loses sight of the budding relationship between its pair as they go against the world. While mainstream romances may have left us wanting for the most part the last few months, indie features didn’t disappoint. Take your pick between Ruby Sparks, the story of a conflicted writer (Paul Dano) whose perfect woman (Zoe Kazan) jumps from the pages of his latest novel to his living room one day, or Celeste and Jesse Forever, in which Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg showed us just why you can’t make things work out with your ex. Fun fact: in both these films, the leading ladies gained screenwriting credits.

Worst: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

In a movie that was full of letdowns, detailing the world preparing for total planetary destruction, the least believable thing about it was the awkward rapport between Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. On their own, they both proved capable as people wishing they’d made more of their lives — him searching for the woman that got away and her wanting to see her family in England one last time. But as the duo inevitably found themselves drawn together, the one lingering thought that remained was: Dude, she’s young enough to be your daughter! Granted, there were other movies that took that taboo even further, but more on that later.

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