Zombies are terrible characters. That’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of good movies featuring zombies like “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Zombieland,” and the George A. Romero classics.

In what’s been an otherwise tremendous year for movies, 2012 still brought us quite a few stinkers nevertheless.

"By saving frugally, we reap liberty, a golden harvest.” The Spartan King, Agesilaus, spoke those words 24 centuries ago, and they are still true today. Here are some financial goals to consider when choosing your New Year’s Resolutions.

December will soon be descending upon us. For a lot of people this month will entail building snowmen, sledding down hills of snow, making snow angles and getting tongues stuck to icy poles. Of course those stuck in Ahwatukee won’t be able to appreciate any of these traditional winter activities. But who needs snow when you can spend your Christmas break in a cozy movie theater. Here are several films to look out for this holiday season.

The heralded holiday movie season is marked by big-budget extravaganzas, Oscar hopefuls and family films suitable for post-Thanksgiving or early Christmas viewing and for filling that luxuriously open week (for some lucky workers and students) before New Year’s Day.

‘Lincoln’

This is it people, the long awaited day that Stephanie Meyer’s asinine chronicle of lame vampires, talking CGI werewolves, and the single worst female protagonist in all of fiction comes to a close. While the fandom may live on for decades, at least we’ll never have to suffer through one of these movies again. Of course Meyer’s could always write another novel and cash in. But maybe I’m speaking too soon. Perhaps “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” will be the rare sequel that finally delivers on all the hype, at the very least working as a light guilty pleasure along the lines of “True Blood.”

Finally — finally! — the “Twilight” franchise embraces its own innate absurdity with the gleefully over-the-top conclusion, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2.”

This is it people, the long awaited day that Stephanie Meyer’s asinine chronicle of lame vampires, talking CGI werewolves, and the single worst female protagonist in all of fiction comes to a close. While the fandom may live on for decades, at least we’ll never have to suffer through one of these movies again.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln is a match made in heaven. It’s a logical casting decision for our greatest living actor to portray perhaps the most influential individual in American history, even if Day-Lewis is of British and Irish citizenship.

LOS ANGELES — Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson sit side by side on a sofa at the Four Seasons hotel, discussing the end of the five-film project that made them famous and brought them together.

Barry Levinson, director of such modern American classics as "Diner," ''The Natural" and "Rain Man," makes a surprising venture into the horror realm with "The Bay," an unnerving fright fest about a coastal July 4 celebration that goes horribly wrong.

A presidential election is almost upon us. But if you have young children or grandchildren, you know what’s really important this week is Butterfingers, not ballots, and Pop Rocks, not the popular vote. Yes, it’s Halloween time again, which means you’ll see plenty of witches and vampires scurrying around. You’ll no doubt find these characters more amusing than frightening, but you don’t have to look far to find things that are a bit more alarming — such as these scary investment moves:

“Why don’t they build the Barry Goldwater Library on the land at Mesa Drive and University? The parking lot at McDonald and First Avenue is the best place to park for most city events, especially if you need a handicapped spot. I hope the city is considering the additional parking and traffic the library will bring. I don’t want to pay for parking and light rail won’t help me.”

The title "Smashed" refers not so much to the nearly perpetual state of inebriation that a young husband and wife put themselves in but rather to the way the wife finds her existence truly shattered when she tries to get sober.

A Mesa dentist hopes to add some serious fun to Halloween.

On "Emily Owens, M.D.," Mamie Gummer plays a med school graduate just starting out as an intern.

Before vampires were quite so mainstream in teen lit and on TV, Valley vampire fans in the know got their fanged-creature fix in a dark theater over on McDowell Road.

Modern living does not have to be that hard, energy efficiency experts say.

Whether it’s a pregnant Christian schoolgirl or a pot-selling suburban mother, director Brian Dannelly has never been one to shy away from unlikable characters. Having worked on projects such as “Saved!”, “Weeds” and “The United States of Tara”, Dannelly has always had a knack for dark comedies, which is why “Struck By Lightning” fits right in with his eccentric canon of work.

Tim Burton reminds us of why we love Tim Burton with "Frankenweenie," a feature-length version of the 1984 short that revealed early glimmers of the veteran director's darkly humorous style.

The first movie Selena Gomez remembers seeing in the theater: "Seed of Chucky."

Performing Arts 2012-13 season preview

Performing arts 2012-13 season preview