• "THE BOYS ARE BACK": A wisecracking sports writer (Clive Owen) finds himself a single parent after the death of his wife. Powerful script, visually arresting, avoids mawkishness. Owen and Nicholas McAnulty, as his young son, are very good. — C. Lemire. (PG-13) 1 hr., 44 min.

    B

  • "Bright Star": Sumptuous drama about the three-year romance between 19th-century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and student Fanny Brawne (Abby Cornish). Impeccable acting. — R. Myers. (PG) 1 hr., 59 min.

    B+

  • "CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY": Documentarian Michael Moore looks into the crash of the economy, showing how the pursuit of private ownership as been exploited by a tiny group of extremely wealthy, morally bankrupt Americans. Entertaining, humorous. — R. Myers. (R) 2 hrs., 7 min.

    B+

  • "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs": Animated comedy is set in a world where giant pancakes and pasta drop from the sky and overload cities as a scientist tries to solve world hunger. A delight. Voice talent includes Bill Hader, Anna Faris. — R. Moore. (PG) 1 hr., 21 min.

    B+

  • "Coco Before Chanel": Audrey Tautou plays Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman. With a keen eye for appearances but not a lot of passion or insight, the film covers her formative years. In French. — C. Lemire. (PG-13)
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    1 hr., 50 mins.

    C+

  • "COUPLES RETREAT": Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Ackerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love star in a sputtering, sporadically amusing misfire about four bland Midwestern couples who embark on a journey to a resort on Bora Bora. — R. Moore. (PG-13) 1 hr., 53 min.

    D

  • "DISTRICT 9": Brisk, innovative sci-fi thriller about South Africa trying to relocate millions of stranded insect/crustacean-like space aliens to a concentration camp. Violence and gory. — B. Caine (R) 1 hr., 50 min.

    B+

  • "Fame" (PG): "Reinvention" of the 1980 hit is faithful to the spirit and structure of the original but takes out the raciness. Moves fluidly, keeps some urban grit. The film follows a group of young dancers, singers and actors through four years at New York's High School for the Performing Arts. — C. Lemire. (PG) 1 hr., 47 min.

    C+

  • "(500) DAYS OF SUMMER": Joseph Gordon-Levitt establishes himself as a star in this quirky romantic comedy about a boy with a broken heart and the girl (Zooey Deschanel) who broke it. Warm and bright. — R. Myers. (PG-13) 1 hr., 35 min. B+

  • "INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS": Quentin Tarantino directs Brad Pitt, as an officer leading Jewish soldiers against the Nazis in France. A "brawny, rollicking mash-up." Rich and engaging. — R. Myers. (R) 2 hrs., 33 min.

    A-

  • "IN THE LOOP": A good Iraq war satire about backstage maneuverings leading to a war in the Middle East. With Tom Hollander. — C. Lemire. (NR) 1 hr., 46 min. B

  • "The Invention of Lying": Ricky Gervais plays the only person in the world who can tell a lie. He uses this to advance his career and love life. Droll, thoughtful comedy, with Jennifer Garner. — R. Moore. (PG-13) 1 hr., 40 mins.

    B

  • "JULIE & JULIA": Tasty film, with Amy Adams as a frustrated temp who decides to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year. Meryl Streep cooks as Child. — C. McCollum. (PG-13) 2 hrs., 2 min.

    B

  • "Pandorum": Two crew members stranded on a spacecraft suddenly realize they are not alone. Mayhem ensues. Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid star. (R) Not reviewed.

  • "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY": A couple put surveillance cameras in their new home to see if eerie things are happening or if the wife just has an overactive imagination. The surprisingly potent chiller, reportedly made for $15,000, is consistently creepy. — B. Sharkey. (R) 1 hr., 39 min.

    B

  • "A SERIOUS MAN": The Coen brothers track a quiet physics professor at a Midwestern university whose wife has decided to leave him to create. "A slapstick meditation on divine intent, human learning and the consolation of faith in an unfair, unpredictable universe." Technically flawless. — C. Covert. (R) 1 hr., 45 min.

    A

  • "Surrogates": FBI agents (Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell) investigate the murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon that allows people to purchase flawless robotic versions of themselves. Superficial sci-fi loaded with inconsistencies. — D. Hiltbrand. (PG-13) 1 hr., 28 min.

    D

  • "Toy Story & Toy Story 2 — DOUBLE FEATURE": Woody and Buzz, together again, in 3-D. The 1995 and 1999 computer-animated comedies, two of Pixar's best, look fabulous. — R. Moore. (G) 3 hrs.

    A

  • "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself": When Madea, Tyler Perry's pistol-packing grandma, catches three grandkids looting her home, she delivers the delinquents to their aunt April (Taraji P. Henson). Lacks polish but more life and pleasure than any film since Perry's first. — R. Moore. (PG-13)

    C-

  • "Whip It": Ellen Page prefers skating in the roller derby to pleasing her mother by competing in beauty pageants. Best girl-powered sports film since "Bend It Like Beckham." Well-directed, well-cast. Drew Barrymore directs and stars. With Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis. — R. Moore. (PG-13) 1 hr., 47 min.

    B

  • "Zombieland": Zombies have taken over the world and Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg fight them. Funniest zombie movie since "Shaun of the Dead." — R. Moore. (R) 1 hr., 30 min.

    B+

    The following movies are scheduled to open Friday in the Bay Area.
  • "An Education" (NR): A critically acclaimed British film about a teenage girl caught up in a whirlwind romance with an older man in 1960s London.
  • "The Horse Boy" (NR): A documentary about a Texas couple who take their autistic child to rugged Mongolia in hopes of treating his condition with shamanic healing.
  • "Law Abiding Citizen" (R): Jamie Foxx stars a prosecutor who finds himself in a cat-and-mouse game with a brilliant sociopath (Gerard Butler) orchestrating a string of murders.
  • "More Than A Game" (PG): Five talented young basketball players from Akron, Ohio, are the focus of this remarkable true-life coming-of-age story about uncommon friendship in the face of all-too-common adversities. Oh, did we mention that one of them is LeBron James?
  • "New York, I Love You" (R): A number of directors -- including Mira Nair, Natalie Portman and Brett Ratner -- offer up short films on the city that never sleeps.
  • "The Providence Effect" (NR): A stirring documentary about a former civil rights worker who becomes the principal of a dying all-black parochial school on Chicago's West Side and turns it into a top-notch college preparatory school.
  • "The Stepfather" (PG-13): A remake of the decidedly creepy 1987 thriller, with Nelson McCormick ("Prom Night") doing the directing honors. Dylan Walsh ("Nip/Tuck") steps into Terry O'Quinn's shoes as the nasty stepdad.
  • "Where the Wild Things Are" (PG): Director Spike Jonze takes on Maurice Sendak's classic children's book about Max, a young boy who feels misunderstood at home and escapes to a place where strange and mysterious creatures roam.