Here’s a movie your whole family can watch without inspiring suicide in at least one relative: The Artist is a silent film (bear with me) about a fading movie star whose career collapses when talkies are invented. Within the first five minutes, the audience becomes acclimated to the visual language of silent films, and from there, it’s magical how quickly The Artist consumes the whole of your heart. You’ll swoon at this wonderstruck homage to moviemaking, and you’ll leave the theater with an enormous, wide-open grin plastered across your eggnog-gorged puss. (See Movie Times)