Movies

Opening This Week

Bird's Eye View While making a documentary about the death of her exotic bird, a Philadelphia woman discovers a massive conspiracy.

Capitalism: A Love Story See Steven Rea's preview on H4.

The Horse Boy A couple take their autistic son on a journey through Mongolia seeking a holistic cure.

The Invention of Lying In a world where nobody is dishonest, a man discovers the concept of lying - and how rewarding it can be. Starring Ricky Gervais, Jonah Hill, Jennifer Garner, and Rob Lowe.

Paris An ill Parisian looks at those who surround him with a new sense of discovery. French with subtitles.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 (3-D) The popular Pixar animated tales return to theaters in 3-D.

Whip It See Steven Rea's preview on H4.

Zombieland See Steven Rea's preview on H4.

Excellent (****)

Bright Star Intimate as a whisper, immediate as a blush, and universal as first love, Jane Campion's PG film about the love affair between poet John Keats and his muse, Fanny Brawne, positively palpitates with the sensual and spiritual. Superb performances from Ben Whishaw as Keats, Abbie Cornish as Brawne. PG (Chaste, but erotic) - C.R.

Still Walking Hirokazu Kore-eda's pitch-perfect and profoundly moving portrait of a reunion among three generations of a Japanese family has a documentary's keen sense of the everyday. It also has the deeper resonance of great poetry. No MPAA rating (adult themes) - S.R.

Very Good (***1/2)

Julie & Julia Like Nora Ephron's captivating film about Julia Child and her influence, Meryl Streep's performance is cuisine disguised as comfort food, a complex preparation yielding effects both broadly entertaining and subtly moving. Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, the cook-blogger besotted with Julia. With Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina. 2 hrs. 03 PG-13 (profanity, implied sex) - C.R.

No Impact Man At once noble and naive, earnest and a tad obnoxious, Colin Beavan's mission in this engaging documentary is simple: to live for a year with his wife and toddler in their Manhattan apartment without making a dent on the environment. No TV, no toilet paper - just a film crew to chronicle the crazy eco-experiment. 1 hr. 33 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - S.R.

Also on Screens

The Informant! **1/2 Matt Damon, resembling an oven-stuffer with a moustache, as an agribusiness exec who blows a whistle and his own horn at the same time. Steven Soderbergh's truth-based film about a compulsive liar wavers uneasily between corporate thriller and screwball comedy. 1 hr. 48 R (profanity, mature themes) - C.R.

Inglourious Basterds ** Quentin Tarantino's tonally schizoid Jewish revenge fantasy rewrites World War II history to give Brad Pitt and company a chance to do a lot of jive riffing, while the movie mashes up the combat exploits of The Dirty Dozen, the madcap slapstick of Duck Soup, Sam Fuller swagger, and Hostel gore. 2 hrs. 32 R (violence, gore, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Jennifer's Body **1/2 As a horror movie about a high-school maneater (Megan Fox), it doesn't fully deliver. But as a comic allegory of what it's like to be an adolescent girl who comes into sexual and social power that she doesn't know what the heck to do with, it is a minor classic. With Amanda Seyfried. R (brief nudity, sex, carnage, profanity) - C.R.

Love Happens ** Aaron Eckhardt as a self-help guru who belatedly swallows the advice he gives to others and Jennifer Aniston as the florist he'd like to help himself to. A melancholy character study that announces itself as a romantic comedy. 1 hr. 49 PG-13 (profanity, sexual references) - C.R.