In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

The sound of "Taps" echoes nightly over a Mesa golf course in one man's effort to show respect for the military.

Up there with “Stoker” and “Like Someone in Love” as one of the best films to hit theaters this spring, “War Witch” is devastating, beautiful and truly not to be missed. An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this gut-wrenching tale of a child soldier has been reeling in the accolades: Best Actress awards for young star Rachel Mwanza at both the Berlin and Tribeca film festivals, along with a whopping 10 honors (including Best Picture) at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

Harmony Korine seems to want it both ways, all day, with "Spring Breakers," his super-stylized descent into a sunbaked hell where bikini-clad, gun-toting college babes serve as our guides.

In a week when North Korea posted a homemade video showing the U.S. Capitol building being destroyed by a missile, what more logical response could Hollywood offer than a macho thriller about a Secret Service agent who takes on North Korean terrorists who attack the White House? The first of two similarly themed action dramas set for this year ("White House Down" arrives in June), "Olympus Has Fallen" will put to the test the question of whether American audiences are ready, 12 years after 9-11, to watch, strictly as disposable popcorn entertainment, a film in which the United States and some of its most prominent landmarks are devastated by foreign terrorists.

LOS ANGELES — A grave 12-year-old African girl, abducted from her village by vicious armed rebels and forced to wage war as a child soldier, guides the viewer through the horrors of Canadian director Kim Nguyen's engrossing Oscar-nominated drama "War Witch." Managing to be neither sentimental nor sensationalistic, the film tells its story from the heart, and from the simple, straightforward viewpoint of young heroine Komona, warmly played by the talented Rachel Mwanza in her screen debut.

Thirty thousand black paper moths are perched on the walls and ceiling of the Phoenix Art Museum lobby. Some moths the size of a softball, others as small as a penny, greet visitors to the museum with their delicate wings and form a visual path that encircles guests and escorts them into the main exhibition.

He pulled his jersey over his head in disgust before putting it back on. Eight painful seconds later, a captivating Division I boys basketball championship game was over and Pinnacle was left holding a runner-up trophy and their heads buried in their arms on the bench, Drew Bender pulled his jersey off for the last time.

Where everyone else spent most of last January debating which team would be victorious at Super Bowl XLVII, I was busy trying to predict which movies would win big at the 85th annual Academy Awards. In many respects, the Oscars feel like a sporting event as nominees tirelessly campaign to win and award analyzers place bets on which horse will cross the finish line.

Almost 70 years after coming face-to-face with Dr. Josef Mengele at Auschwitz, Holocaust survivor Helen Handler still remembers his “black, shiny shoes.”

Since 1986, the Scripps Celebrity Super Bowl Poll has been asking big names in entertainment, news, sports and pop culture to predict the outcome of the big game. This year, more than 115 celebrities picked between the San Francisco 49ers, led by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and the Baltimore Ravens, featuring linebacker Ray Lewis.

Downtown Mesa’s Monsterland Bar & Grill is getting ready for its last hurrah Saturday night after announcing abruptly earlier this month that it would be closing. But fans and employees of the establishment that started life as a haunted house attraction and prop museum aren’t ready to say the last rites yet. There is not one, but at least two bids out there to keep Monsterland going — one by dedicated employees of the venue and another by an East Valley businessman.

A playful, elegantly made little horror film, "Mama" teasingly sustains a game of hide-and-seek as it tantalizes the audience with fleeting apparitions of the title character while maintaining interest in two deeply disturbed little orphan girls.

If you’re anything like me, you were up at 6 a.m. this morning hitting refresh on your browser, waiting for the Oscar nominations’ webcast to finally get started.

Monsterland, one of downtown Mesa’s newest and hottest haunts, is closing later this month. The business posted on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon:

The last of the Division I boys basketball unbeatens fell last week when Laveen Cesar Chavez was beaten by Phoenix Carl Hayden.

In the eight years I’ve taken on the regular duty of reviewing movies, 2012 just might have been the best.