Movie: "The Iron Lady" There is no question that Meryl Streep is the best actress of her generation and she raises the bar once again as she transforms herself into former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." Most of the film portrays Thatcher as she is now -- an elderly women looking back on her life. Confused, sometimes delusional, she carries on conversations with her deceased husband Denis, played by Jim Broadbent. Alexandra Roach does a fine job portraying Thatcher as a young woman, but it is Streep's powerful performance that warrants Oscar consideration. There …

Movie: "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" Tom Cruise returns to the silver screen as super-spy Ethan Hunt in the latest installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. Film critic Roger Ebert calls MI4 "a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry." Ebert lavished particular praise on a sequence that had Cruise 100 stories up on the glass windows of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building. Cruise reportedly performed his own stunts for the movie -- a claim Ebert calls into doubt: "The character Ethan Hunt is seen like a human fly …

Movie: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, or Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson in this case, face a new super-villain set on destroying the world in "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows." Set in 1891, Holmes and Watson square off against Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris), who has cooked up a scheme to pit various European nations against each other in hopes of benefiting from the demand for weapons. A gypsy fortune teller, played by Noomi Rapace, tags along. Rachel McAdams, Holmes' love interest in the first film, also makes a brief appearance. Guy Ritchie once …

Movie: "New Year's Eve" No less than a dozen different story lines intertwine in the star-stuffed film "New Years Eve." These stories are somehow spliced together and made into a movie. The small stories include first kisses, midnight rendezvous, newborn babies, dying fathers, trapped strangers and husbands at war. The end result is a big, bloated cast of celebrities with very little to say, except, happy holidays. So who's in the film ? Let's roll the credits… Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector …

Movie: "My Week with Marilyn" Michelle Williams gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week with Marilyn." Based on true events, the movie focuses on the summer of 1956, in which Monroe went to London to shoot "The Prince and the Showgirl" with British actor, Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh). From the start, nothing goes well. Monroe is hopped up on pills, she messes up her lines, she's always late on the set, and she lacks self confidence. No one likes her, except for Dame Sybil Thorndike (played by Dame Judi Dench) and messenger boy Colin Clark (played by Eddie …

Movie: "The Muppets" Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal and all the rest are back together again in "The Muppets." Jason Segel co-wrote and stars in the film as Gary. He and girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) head to Hollywood on a dream trip. Tagging along is Gary's brother Walter, a cute little puppet who is the world's biggest Muppets fan. Upon arriving in Hollywood, they find out the Muppets' studio has fallen into disrepair. Kermit and his gang of friends have long since parted company, but reunite just in time to put on a telethon to raise cash to buy back the studio. An …

Movie: "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1" It has been three years since the first movie and the wait is finally over for fans of "The Twilight Saga." Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) tie the knot at last in the highly anticipated "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1." Have you been eagerly awaiting the release of "Breaking Dawn"? Tell us in the comments. The film is the fourth in a supernatural soap opera franchise that has already raked in nearly $2 billion worldwide. If you are one of the only people on the planet who do not know about this series, here is all you …

Movie: "J. Edgar" He ruled the Federal Bureau of Investigation for decades, nosing around in the private lives of his enemies and friends. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in a Clint Eastwood directed film about the secret life of one of the most powerful men in the United States in the last century -- J. Edgar Hoover"J. Edgar" focuses on those closest to Hoover: mother Annie Hoover (Judi Dench), secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and FBI associate director and Hoover companion Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer).DiCaprio as an aging Hoover was a stretch at times. I had a hard time buying the 37-year-old …

Movie: "Tower Heist" Ben Stiller plays an apartment building manager who, along with the other building staff members, gets ripped off by penthouse resident Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda). When the employees realize they have been swindled, they plan their revenge in the form of a "Tower Heist." Are Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy still funny or have they lost their touch? Tell us in the comments. After an FBI agent (played by Tea Leoni) leaks word about a large stash of cash in Shaw's apartment, Stiller's character hires Slide, a two-bit cat burglar played by Eddie Murphy, to plan the heist. When …

This week's movie: "Puss in Boots" This "Shrek" spin-off is actually a prequel that tells the story of Puss in Boots, a adventurous kitty voiced with great charisma by Antonio Banderas. Our favorite cat teams up with the lively Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) on a dangerous search for Jack and Jill's "magic beans."  They get help in their quest from Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) as they climb the beanstalk to a castle in the clouds to nab the golden goose in order to repay their debts back home. Are you a fan of the Shrek franchise? Will you go see "Puss in Boots"? Tell us in the comments. …

Movie: Paranormal Activity If you like scary movies, "Paranormal Activity 3" may be just the movie for you. This good old-fashioned ghost movie takes the storyline back to the very beginning of the franchise.  Cast with unknown actors, the horror prequel focuses on the two sisters who were seen as adults in the previous films. The girls share a two-level home with their mother and the mother's boyfriend. The girls are aware of a ghostly presence in the house that the adults, at first, are not. The boyfriend, who is something of a VHS video expert, has cameras set up all over the house -- …

Movie: Footloose A remake of the original from 1984, "Footloose" pits old farts who hate rock and roll against wild, young, dancing teens who want to shake their groove thing all night long. The story remains basically the same. Some teens, including the son of a local reverend, are killed in a car accident after a night of dancing and partying. The reverend (Dennis Quaid) then leads the drive to pass an ordinance forbidding public dancing. Fast forward a few years. Now the reverend's daughter Ariel, played by Julianne Hough, starts to stir up controversy by participating in some forbidden, …

Movie: "The Ides of March" Hollywood superstar George Clooney stars in and directs "The Ides of March," a political thriller that reveals a dark underbelly of our ever-changing democracy. Clooney plays Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris, a man who isn't what he appears to be in this political thriller. The movie also features rising star Ryan Gosling. Gosling plays Clooney's hot-shot media strategist Stephen Myers. Gosling's character butts heads with the campaign manager (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the opposition's campaign manager (Paul Giamatti). Marisa Tomei stars as the New …

Movie: "50/50" Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Adam, a 27-year-old man who has his whole life ahead of him until he discovers he has a rare form of cancer and only a 50/50 chance of survival. The people in Adam's life react differently to the news. His girlfriend, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, pledges to stand by him, then dumps him. His mother, Anjelica Huston, goes into smothering mode and his best friend, Kyle, played by Seth Rogen, tries to keep his spirits up by turning his life into a non-stop party. Rogen co-produces "50/50," a movie based loosely in part on the life of Rogen's good friend…

Brad Pitt sets out to revolutionize the game of baseball in the real-life story turned movie "Moneyball." Pitt plays Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager who hired math whiz Peter Brand (played by Jonah Hill) to help revolutionize the game of baseball. There is not a lot of time spent on the field in this film, it is really all about Beane and how he created a winning organization not with roster talent, but by using statistics called sabermetrics. It is the story of a time when nerds took over what had always been a jock's world and hit a grand slam. "Moneyball" stands on its own …

Movie: "Drive" "Driver," played by Ryan Gosling, is a solitary stunt driver who works on movie sets by day and drives getaway cars at night in the movie "Drive." Driver falls for his apartment neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a mom with a small son whose father is an ex-con. The ex-con drags Driver into a robbery that goes wrong and threatens both Irene and her child. Albert Brooks plays a crime lord with a thing for forks, Ron Perlman is the Jewish gangster who does business in a pizza parlor, and Bryan Cranston plays Driver's best buddy, giving this film plenty of acting horsepower."Drive" …

Movie: "The Warrior" Two brothers slug out their emotional baggage in the moving, melodramatic sports movie "Warrior." Joel Edgerton plays Brendan, a family man who earns a living as a daytime teacher and extra cash moonlighting as a fighter. His brother Tommy, played by Tom Hardy, is a brooding war veteran who has returned home under mysterious circumstance. Their father Paddy (played by Nick Nolte) is a once violent alcoholic who is now sober. The brothers have grown apart and dislike each other. The only thing they have in common is the hatred they share for their father and all his years …

Movie: "The Debt" Six actors play three roles over a 30-year time period in this thriller about Nazis, Israeli spies and all sorts of lies in "The Debt." Helen Mirren plays a retired Israeli Mossad agent named Rachel who is honored for her role in the assassination of a Nazi War criminal in 1965. Thirty years have passed, but questions still remain. Did she and associate Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) and others really kill their target? After an apparent suicide of a certain spy, Mirren rewinds the entire mission 30 years prior. Jessica Chastain plays a young Mirren, who along with Sam Worthington'…

This week's dinner and a movie features the flick "Our Idiot Brother" and a trip to Riverside Pizza. Movie: 'Our Idiot Brother' Paul Rudd looks all hippie dippy as "Ned," an immature man-child who drives his family crazy in the film "Our Idiot Brother." Rudd spends most of the movie crashing on one sofa after another in a series of unfortunate events.  Ned first lands at his sister Liz's house. Liz, played by Emily Mortimer, is an insecure Brooklyn mom married to Dylan (Steve Coogan). Ned quickly wears out his welcome and moves in with his sister Miranda, played by Elizabeth Banks, a writer …

This week's Dinner and a Movie features the flick "Conan the Barbarian" and dinner at Iron Wok for all the iron men out there. Movie: "Conan the Barbarian" Conan the Barbarian is back. Bare chested, bloody, and brutal, it is everything you would expect from a franchise that helped launch Arnold Schwarzenegger's career 30 years ago. Move over "ah-nold" -- there is a new barbarian breaking new ground. Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa breathes new life into the role as Conan. Momoa is best known for his role in the wildly popular HBO show "Game of Thrones" as Khal Drogo. Now the long-haired actor, who…