After recently viewing Pixar’s brilliant Toy Story 3, I began racking my brain to come up with third movies in a series that stand out as the best. It’s a rare feat, but arguments could probably be made for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Goldfinger, Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban and a few others. Azkaban, certainly, stood out above its two predecessors and the same can be said for the third chapter in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. While I struggled to find reasons for the following the first two films received, I actually enjoyed—or, at least tolerated—Eclipse, a vast improvement over Twilight and New Moon.

I should admit right up front that the trailer for this new action comedy may have slightly interfered with my opinion of the film itself. Try as I do to avoid trailers—along with articles, plot descriptions, and even photos of upcoming films—they always seem to find me. In most cases, the danger of seeing the trailer is that it gives away far too much of the film’s plot details or best moments. It’s sometimes so bad that a “spoiler alert” warning at the beginning of the trailer wouldn’t be the worst idea. In the case of Knight and Day, however, it’s not that the trailer gives too much away. It’s simply that the trailer is just too much darn fun and the movie can’t quite live up to it.

There’s no denying that the 2010 version of The Karate Kid is a well-made movie. It’s entertaining, engaging and moves briskly for its surprisingly long running time of 140 minutes. It’s a cinch that a large portion of moviegoers—especially the younger ones—are going to leave the theater completely satisfied. Still, there’s going to be another group of moviegoers—specifically the ones who grew up in the ’80s—who are going to wonder: what was the point?

There are horror movies that scare you straight, while others scare you with a sense of humor; a kind of twinkle in their eye. Watching Splice, the new sci-fi horror from the director of 1997’s word-of-mouth hit Cube, you get the idea that the aim is to create a dark, moody, straight-forward horror thriller. Unfortunately, there are moments that go completely the other way and the combination just doesn’t work.

Movies based on video games have historically been about as successful as video game adaptation of movies: not very. Still, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time seemed destined to be an exception. After all, video games nowadays are basically interactive movies themselves and the adventures of a magical dagger wielding action hero seemed a perfect fit for the big screen. Additionally, the movie is co-produced by Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer who previously succeeded in turning a theme park ride into a hit swashbuckling adventure. Sadly, Prince of Persia never manages to get its exciting concept off the ground.

Writing a review of the new Sex and the City movie seems superfluous. Fans of the show are going to see the movie no matter what the critics say and those who haven’t seen any of the show or even the first movie are not likely to give in now. A review seems especially unnecessary coming from a source about as far away from the film’s target audience as possible, but I did actually somewhat enjoy the first film and expected to get a similar enjoyment out of its sequel. The story, however, just isn’t quite there this time around.

There’s a great movie to be found within the new romantic comedy Letters to Juliet. Unfortunately, that great movie is merely a subplot that serves yet another predictable, humorless, and unromantic romantic comedy. Seyfried and Christopher Egan have absolutely no chemistry as they deliver the cheesiest of dialogue (“Why is it I feel like a schoolboy?”). When the pair finally kissed for the first time, the reaction in the audience was closer to a groan than a delighted sigh. Thank goodness for Vanessa Redgrave who towers over her costars in both height and acting talent. She’s also still quite a beautiful woman at seventy-three.

Director Ridley Scott’s new version of the Robin Hood myth is being advertised as “the story behind the legend.” While watching this movie that continuously felt less and less like the Robin Hood tale I have come to know and love, I couldn’t help but think of a line that is often attributed to legendary director John Ford: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” This new Robin Hood is at its best when it shows flashes of the classic tale. Unfortunately, those moments are too few and far between. After this film likely struggles to come close to earning back the reported $235 million budget, will the powers-that-be allow a sequel to be made?

Two months after it took home the Oscar for best foreign language film, American audiences finally get an opportunity to see the Argentinean thriller The Secret in Their Eyes. Due to Academy rules, the foreign language nominees are usually released in the States after the actual ceremony and many times the nominees fail to live up to the promise. Fortunately, this film lives up to its praise… at least until the last act.

The official calendar may list the first day of summer as June 21st, but movie buffs know it really begins the first week in May. That seems to be week that Hollywood has chosen to kickoff the blockbuster season each year. Last year, the summer got off to a sluggish start with the disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but this year Iron Man 2 meets all the high expectations of both an event movie and a high-priced sequel. Fortunately, director Jon Favreau and company remembered to keep Iron Man 2 playful and fun. It’s a blast, filled with plenty of exciting action, impressive special effects, and good humor. Let the summer games begin.