“Cerebral.” That’s the first word that comes to mind in describing Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. And that was the last word echoing in my brain as I left the theater. The problem with cerebral art on film as opposed to in print is that it’s harder to convey the feeling of something going on in someone’s head when nothing is happening onscreen. A book can go into detail about what someone is feeling and/or thinking, but long takes of peoples' expressions does not make mind readers out of an audience. With little dialogue, this is a movie that benefits those who have read the book.

Based on John LeCarré’s classic 1974 novel, the film version leaves something to be desired. The actors are all superlative, especially Gary Oldman (getting his due by finally carrying a movie with this much weight), but when very little transpires onscreen, it’s very hard to decipher what the hell is motivating any of these spies. I know they’re supposed to be secretive, but this is overkill. With a very simple plot that’s not built out of your basic twisty-turny super espionage, it’s all about the inner workings of spies’ brains. Luckily, I was fortunate to see most of the BBC miniseries staring Alec Guinness that delved a little deeper over time to tell the story in a relaxed, coherent manner and gave me a chance to soak in all the characters a little better. The 2011 version crams a lot of mental chess and secretive inner turmoil into the space of two hours, and the result is like watching paint dry.

Everybody likes a good scare and, judging from the $35 million that The Devil Inside made this weekend, they like a bad one, too. I realize it’s very early to say this, but if The Devil Inside doesn’t turn out to be one of the worst movies of 2012, then I fear for the year ahead. I had high hopes for this one since it had a pretty effective advertising campaign and it combines two of my favorite horror subgenre’s: faux documentary and exorcism. Even with the immediate realism of the documentary genre and the unknowable horror of an exorcism movie, The Devil Inside manages to not only feel miniscule in scope, but is also free and clear of any and all scares and comes fully packaged with one of the worst endings in cinematic history.

Don’t let the awesome trailer fool you into thinking this is more than just your average beginning-of-the-year crap. January is typically the dumping ground for films the studios are too afraid to release around awards season and normally won’t even screen them for critics. Most of the time, if you’re sitting down to a movie in January, it’s probably going to be terrible, but there are exceptions to every rule. The Devil Inside is not one of them. If anything, it solidifies the rule in poopy-flavored shame.

Lots of film enthusiasts like me are licking their chops in anticipation of Steven Spielberg’s biopic, Lincoln, set to arrive this year and likely win every Academy Award shortly thereafter. But the filmmaker, who hasn’t directed a film since the embarrassing fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise, has brought a double dose of holiday joy to moviegoers everywhere. Released within four days of each other, The Adventures of Tintin and the tearjerker War Horse are tasty appetizers before Spielberg directs Daniel Day Lewis to the Oscar promiseland next winter.

The day after Christmas I, and what seemed to be the rest of Bend, went out to see a movie. I was finally ready to open up my wallet and purchased two tickets for what was billed as The Adventures of Tintin: An IMAX 3D Experience for the low, low price of an arm and a leg. Entering the lobby, there were lines upon lines forming for showings an hour away. But, to my relief, most of these were for War Horse which got me thinking, “had I picked the wrong movie?” As it turns out, yes, yes I did.

The genius in opening a movie like The Darkest Hour on Christmas Day is that it gives somebody like me a chance to see something a little creepier, rather than all the family friendly, Spielberg-saturated, over-produced, holiday schlock.

It’s clear within seconds that The Darkest Hour is a movie that’s going to cut corners…practically all of them. A quick set-up with the two main characters as nightclub Web entrepreneurs (Emile Hirsch, Max Minghella) includes male bonding, trickery, deceit and scoring chicks in a hot Moscow nightclub. Then there’s an electrical storm, aliens invade and we have a compilation of every cliché stolen from every end of the world, science fiction, apocalyptic, doom-and-destruction movie ever made. That’s right, Darkest Hour gets no points for originality, but I had no idea how truly “suck-you-into-the-void-of-another-dimension-bad” this movie could be. The good news is that after a while it gets pretty darn laughable.

Yes, it’s pretty awesome getting to select my top movies of the year for the Source. And for the second year in a row the process has proven difficult because, as we all well know, most of the “best” movies of the year take their sweet time coming to Bend. Unlike last year, there weren’t a lot of obvious, dramatic standouts, but there were a lot of laughs.

1. Bridesmaids

Why give Bridesmaids the number one spot? Because no movie made me laugh harder this year. The female Hangover? Absolutely not – these laughs are for everyone!

2. The Descendants

The best stories have always leaned heavily on the intermingling of comedy and tragedy and in Alexander Payne’s first film in seven years, he blends the two with great success. I adore the dynamic between Matt (George Clooney), his daughters, and tagalong Sid.