Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

It took three or four viewings of 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy before I fell in love with it. The movie was so idiosyncratic, so ridiculous, and so weird that I wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but little by little, Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 News Team won me over and eventually I became an Anchorman superfan. I've written countless articles about these movies, attended a Live Read of the first film in Los Angeles, and dressed as Ron Burgundy at a Halloween party. I'm telling you all of this because I think it's important for you to know how much I love the first film in order for you to get an accurate gauge of my feelings toward the sequel. Our reactions to films are all going to be different, but I feel like comedies may be even more subjective than dramas because everyone's sense of humor is so specific. We can all relate to a dramatic theme like unrequited love, but there are only so many people who will think Will Ferrell singing to a shark is funny.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Director: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Steve Carell

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller's version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the second major film to come through Hollywood, but it scarcely resembles the 1947 take starring Danny Kaye. Loosely based on a short story by James Thurber, Stiller's Mitty presents a dull photo specialist as a stand-in for the American everyman and allows the actor/director to give audiences a piece of escapism that aims to be inspiring but only occasionally hits its mark.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott

Jodorowsky's Dune (AFI Fest 2013)

What if, two years before Star Wars debuted, a different film was released that fundamentally changed the way we look at science fiction movies forever? Would the age of blockbusters have ever happened? What would movies look like now? These are questions posed in Jodorowsky's Dune, a documentary that reveals in exceptional detail the vision of director Alejandro Jodorowsky as he spent years trying to adapt Frank Herbert's seminal sci-fi book "Dune." Jodorowsky's movie holds the distinction of being one of the only cult classic films that no one has ever actually seen, considering it was never made in the first place. But despite that pesky little fact, the failed movie profoundly affected Hollywood in ways that can still be seen on screens today.

Jodorowsky's Dune
Director: Frank Pavich
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux

Lone Survivor (AFI Fest 2013)

Peter Berg's most recent film was last year's board game adaptation Battleship, a bloated, lifeless imitation of a Michael Bay action film with zero heart and a godawful screenplay. Thankfully, Lone Survivor is the complete opposite: it's a small-scale true story with strong performances, clear cut action sequences, a tension-filled script, and a powerful emotional core. This was the film Berg wanted to make a few years ago, but Universal negotiated with him to make Battleship first; now we're seeing what the writer/director can do when he has some real investment in his story, and the result is a thematically rich and complex tale of brotherhood, morality, and, of course, survival.

Lone Survivor

Writer/Director: Peter Berg

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch