Author:   Justin Souther

The Story: With an escaped drug lord headed his way, the sheriff of a sleepy Arizona border town plans to bring him to justice. The Lowdown: An aging action star and a meandering, dunderheaded script drag down the movie’s handful of inspired action pieces.

The Story: A spoof of found-footage horror films, in which a couple moves into a new house and are haunted by a demon. The Lowdown: A dumb movie making fun of dumb movies with all the weed and fart jokes you could imagine.

The Story: A group of rogue L.A. cops are assembled to take down a notorious mob boss. The Lowdown: Despite a name cast, the film is betrayed by a lack of both energy and originality, and a cloying desire to be taken seriously despite a pretty lame script.

The Story: The true life tale of a family torn apart by a tsunami and the chaos that ensues. The Lowdown: Occasional fits of spectacular filmmaking are too often undercut by schmaltzy tendencies and a too formulaic script.

The Story: A corporate salesman tasked with buying up land for a natural gas company comes upon a town that won’t give in to him. The Lowdown: A well-intentioned attempt at a message picture that’s too mawkish and sentimental — and transparent — to work.

The Story: Two shoddy grandparents butt heads with their daughter (especially her views on parenting) when they’re asked to watch their coddled grandchildren for a week. The Lowdown: A tired comedy featuring tired stars in what amounts to a feature-length sitcom.

The Story: A schlubby inventor who’s traveling the country hawking his wares invites his mother along in an attempt to reunite her with a long lost love. The Lowdown: A painless, pointless attempt at a feel-good movie that's hardly memorable.

The Story: A long-married couple attempts to cope with entering their 40s. The Lowdown: All of Judd Apatow’s worst attributes — an aimless story, an overlong run time — with the added bonus of obnoxious, infuriating upper-middle-class banality.

The Story: A washed up soccer player attempts to build a relationship with his semi-estranged son — and the boy’s mother — by coaching his youth soccer team. The Lowdown: An innocuous mess of a romantic comedy that’s occasionally confounding, wrongheaded and completely predictable.

The Story: After two low rent hoods hold up a card game, a hit man is brought in by the mob to clean up the mess. The Lowdown: Strong performances and slick direction can’t make up for a heavy-handed message.

The Story: A ragtag group of teens must fight for their freedom after a surprise invasion by North Korea. The Lowdown: Run-of-the-mill action filmmaking and a healthy dose of xenophobic paranoia set inside a phony-feeling world full of one dimensional characters.

The Story: President Abraham Lincoln attempts to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution while the Civil War rages and various political pitfalls loom in the background. The Lowdown: A far too dreary, stylistically drab and solemn biopic that’s buoyed by a handful of strong performances, mostly from Daniel Day-Lewis.

The Story: A shipment of gold attracts all types of types of ne'er do wells in a small Chinese village. The Lowdown: Incoherent action scenes, a dull plot and cartoonish special effects make for a long slog of an action movie.

The Story: The true story of the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic Men’s Basketball Team, and their rise from the remains of the Soviet Union. The Lowdown: A well-meaning doc that lacks focus and suffers from a scattershot approach.

The Story: A grizzled surfer trains a teen to surf treacherous, gigantic waves called mavericks. The Lowdown: Run-of-the mill uplifting sports pap that’s professionally made, but thematically muddled.

The Story: A teenage girl must find her younger brother, who she’s lost on Halloween. The Lowdown: Mediocre teen comedy with little wit and cleverness, which suffers from envying so many other movies of its ilk that have come before.

The Story: A sadistic, psychopathic master criminal is hunted by a Detroit detective who wants to stop him from murdering a billionaire. The Lowdown: A confounding crime flick that slowly unravels into goofiness, and which also suffers from a lot of poor casting decisions.

The Story: A lazy biology teacher decides to become an MMA fighter in order to raise the money required to save his school’s music program. The Lowdown: A run-of-the mill attempt at broad, feel-good comedy that’s dull, forgettable and messy.

The Story: A disaffected college freshman tries to turn around a down-and-out a capella group. The Lowdown: An overlong, unfunny attempt at gross-out humor and coming-of-age flick that’s full of bad music and flat direction.

The Story: The “true story” of the CIA’s attempts at removing diplomats from Iran during the hostage crisis by having agents and the diplomats pose as Canadian filmmakers working on the sci-fi picture Argo. The Lowdown: A well-crafted, entertaining and intelligent crowd-pleaser that’s a bit too pat and Hollywood-ized to really transcend into greatness.