Films

Capsule reviews with star ratings are written by reviewers for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Opening today:

An Education

In 1960s London, a teen girl falls under the spell of a charming, but much older, suitor. Running time: 1:40 Rating: PG-13 (sexual content)

River Park Square: 2:25, 4:45, 7:10, 9:40.

The Blind Side

A white couple adopts a homeless black youth, who later goes on to achieve football stardom. Running time: 2:08 Rating: PG-13 (violence, drug references, sexual references)

Airway Heights: 10:45 a.m., 1:20, 4, 6:40, 9:20. Hayden: 12:45, 3:25, 6:05, 8:45. NorthTown Mall: 10:45 a.m., 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:35. Post Falls: 12:35, 3:10, 5:45, 8:20. River Park Square: 10:30 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:30, 3:15, 4:30, 6:30, 7:40, 9:25, 10:35. Riverstone: 10:05 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 1:15, 3:50, 4:20, 6:50, 7:20, 9:50, 10:20. Spokane Valley Mall: 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15. Wandermere: 10:45 a.m., 1:20, 4, 6:40, 9:20.

The Damned United

The story of Brian Clough’s 44-day reign as the coach of the Leeds United soccer team. Running time: 1:37 Rating: R (language) River Park Square: 2:30, 5, 7:35, 10:10.

Planet 51

An astronaut lands on a planet where the inhabitants are stuck in a version of 1950s America. Running time: 1:31 Rating: PG (suggestive humor)

Airway Heights: 10:50 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25. Hayden: 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15. NorthTown Mall: 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45. Post Falls: 12:30, 3, 5:30, 7:35. River Park Square: 10:35 a.m., 12:50, 3:10, 5:25, 7:40, 9:55. Riverstone: 10:15 a.m., 1:20, 4:40, 7:05, 9:35. Spokane Valley Mall: 10:45 a.m., 1:05, 3:20, 5:35, 7:50, 10:05. Wandermere: 10:50 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:15, 7:20, 9:25.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Bella (Kristen Stewart) finds her loyalties tested when she is drawn into the world of werewolves. Running time: 2:10 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual references, drug use)

Airway Heights: 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40. Hayden: 12:50, 3:30, 6:10, 8:50. NorthTown Mall: 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 4, 4:30, 5, 7, 7:30, 8. Post Falls: 12:40, 3:15, 5:50, 8:25. River Park Square: 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:40, 1:15, 1:50, 3, 3:50, 4:15, 4:55, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 8, 9:15, 10:10, 10:30, 10:55, 11:20. Riverstone: 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30, 1, 1:30, 2, 3:30, 4, 4:30, 5, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, 9:30. Spokane Valley Mall: 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 4, 4:30, 5, 7, 7:30, 8. Wandermere: 10:20 a.m., 11 a.m., 1, 1:40, 3:40, 4:20, 6:20, 7, 9, 9:40.

Continuing:

2012

••1/2 Roland Emmerich sure knows how to make a doomsday movie with a happy ending. This preposterously diverting film starring John Cusack and Danny Glover is a wild ride that says, it’s OK if 8 billion die as long as eight movie stars – and the dog – live. Running time: 2:38 Rating: PG-13 (disaster sequences, language)

Airway Heights: noon, 3, 6:10, 9:10. Hayden: 1:30, 5:20, 8:20. NorthTown Mall: 11:20 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 3:05, 3:35, 6:30, 7:05, 9:55, 10:25. Post Falls: 1:10, 4:10, 7:10. River Park Square: 10:40 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 2:05, 3, 5:30, 6:30, 9, 10. Riverstone: 10:50 a.m., 12:40, 3:40, 4:10, 6:45, 7:50, 8:15, 10:10. Spokane Valley Mall: 10:05 a.m., 12:25, 1:25, 3:45, 4:45, 7:05, 8:05, 10:25. Wandermere: noon, 12:40, 3, 3:40, 6:10, 6:40, 9:10, 9:40.

Amelia

••• The role of pioneer aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who broke records, hearts and boundaries, fits Hilary Swank like a jumpsuit. Richard Gere co-stars in the evocative film from Mira Nair. Running time: 1:51 Rating: PG (language, sensuality)

Wandermere: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

Astro Boy

•• Slick, stylish CG-animated take on the vintage Japanese TV toon, but as robotic as its boy hero. With the voices of Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Kristen Bell and Freddie Highmore. Running time: 1:34 Rating: PG (language, peril) Post Falls: 1:25, 3:20. Wandermere: 11:45 a.m., 2:15.

The Box

•1/2 Cameron Diaz and James Marsden are offered $1 million by a sinister stranger. Of course, there’s a catch. From that premise, the film veers off on a wild, incomprehensible cosmic tangent. Running time: 1:53 Rating: PG-13 (disturbing images, violence)

Wandermere: 2, 4:30, 7, 9:40.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Townspeople become overwhelmed when an overabundance of food falls from the sky. Running time: 1:30 Rating: PG (language)

Airway Heights: 10:50 a.m., 1, 3.

Couples Retreat

•• A tropical vacation turns out to be a relationship workshop for four couples. Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love are part of a large cast in a skimpy comedy that is more adult than it’s rating indicates. Running time: 1:54 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual content)

Airway Heights: 4:50, 7:15, 9:40. NorthTown Mall: 6:50, 9:50. Riverstone: 1:05, 4:45, 7:40, 10:25. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10. Wandermere: 4:45, 7:15, 9:40.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol

•• Robert Zemeckis visually immersive, emotionally uninvolving animation of the Charles Dickens evergreen features motion capture performances by Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman and Robin Wright Penn. Lost in the video-game effects and ghostly grotesquerie is the redemptive saga of the man who learns that his stinginess has spiritually deformed him. Running time: 1:35 Rating: PG (scary images)

Airway Heights: 12:45, 2:45, 5, 7:15, 9:30. Hayden: 1, 3:05, 5:10, 7:10, 9:20. Post Falls: 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15. Wandermere: 11:30 a.m., 1:40, 3:50, 6:10, 8:20.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol 3D: Airway Heights: noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9. NorthTown Mall: 11:40 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 7:15, 10:05. River Park Square: 10:30 a.m., 1, 3:30, 6:15, 9. Riverstone: 10:25 a.m., 1:45, 4:50, 7:25, 9:55. Spokane Valley Mall: noon, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:30. Wandermere: 10 a.m., noon, 2:15, 4:30, 6:45, 9.

District 9

South Africa assigns a restricted area for extraterrestrial refugees. Running time: 1:51 Rating: R (bloody violence, language) Garland: 9:55.

Forces of Nature

Natural disasters are the focus of this IMAX film, namely volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Running time: :40 Rating: not rated

IMAX (Riverfront Park): noon, 3:25.

The Fourth Kind

•• Milla Jovovich stars as an Alaskan shrink increasingly unsettled by her patients, all of whom share remarkably similar and unsettling experiences. Real archival video and audio is mixed in with re-enactments to create a “Paranormal Activity” vibe. Running time: 1:38 Rating: PG-13 (sexuality, terror, violent and disturbing images)

Airway Heights: 4:20, 6:40, 9:10. NorthTown Mall: 2:05, 4:25, 7:55. Riverstone: 1:35, 10:05. Spokane Valley Mall: 7:20, 9:45. Wandermere: noon, 4:40, 9:20.

G-Force

•• Disney’s dud about a team of high-tech guinea pig spies is a perpetual motion machine of meaningless action, as a squad of elite rodents tries to thwart a housewares industrialist’s plan of world domination. A mix of CG and live action, with real humans Bill Nighy and Zach Galifianakis, and the voices of Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Sam Rockwell and Tracy Morgan. Running time: 1:28 Rating: PG (rude humor)

Garland: 3:45.

Julie & Julia

•••1/2 In Nora Ephron’s captivating film about Julia Child and her influence, Meryl Streep’s performance as Child is cuisine disguised as comfort food, a complex preparation yielding effects both broadly entertaining and subtly moving. With Amy Adams as Julie Powell, the cook-blogger besotted by Child, plus Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina. Running time: 2:04 Rating: PG-13 (language, sensuality)

Garland: 7:35.

Law Abiding Citizen

••1/2 Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler go toe-to-toe in this over-the-top, grisly criminal justice revenge thriller. A mash-up of “Death Wish” vigilante vengeance with “Silence of the Lamb’s” mad-genius-behind-bars puppet-mastery. Running time: 1:48 Rating: R (language, rape, bloody brutal violence, torture)

Airway Heights: 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40.

The Light Before Christmas

Animated family film explains how Christmas is more than just presents. Running time: :28 Rating: not rated

IMAX (Riverfront Park): 1, 1:50, 2:40, 4:25, 5:15.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

••• George Clooney, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor star in this nutty based-on-true-stuff farce about a gang of psychic-powered military men going about their remote viewing business during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Running time: 1:33 Rating: R (nudity, language, drug content)

Airway Heights: 11:10 a.m., 1:10, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45. Hayden: 12:55, 2:55, 5, 7:05, 9:10. NorthTown Mall: 10:35 a.m., 12:55, 4:10, 7:25, 10:20. Riverstone: 10:20 a.m., 12:50, 3:55, 6:35, 9:40. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:30, 2:45, 5:05, 7:25, 9:40. Wandermere: 11 a.m., 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30, 9:45.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It

••• Documentary on the final days of the King of Pop’s life, including interviews and rehearsal footage as he prepared for 50 comeback concerts in London. Running time: 1:51 Rating: PG (scary images, suggestive choreography)

NorthTown Mall: 11:30 a.m., 10:15. Riverstone: 10:45 a.m., 1:55. Wandermere: 2:20, 7.

Paranormal Activity

A couple sets up video cameras throughout their home to capture evidence of a haunting. Running time: 1:26 Rating: R (language)

NorthTown Mall: 11:05 a.m., 1:10, 3:15, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10. Post Falls: 5:55, 8:05. Riverstone: 10:55 a.m., 4:25, 7:45. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:15, 2:25, 4:35, 7:35, 9:50. Wandermere: 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15, 9:15.

Pirate Radio

•• Awash in nostalgia and amped-up male comaraderie, writer/director Richard Curtis’ merry misfire takes a great story – the hugely popular offshore radio stations that illegally broadcast pop and rock in 1960s Britain – and turns it into an aggressively irritating floating frat party romp. Running time: 1:56 Rating: R (nudity, language, sexual content)

River Park Square: 10:50 a.m., 1:25, 4:10, 6:45, 9:20.

Ponyo

•••1/2 Hayao Miyazaki’s animated fable about a goldfish who would be a girl elicits pie-eyed, gape-mouthed awe. Running time: 1:40 Rating: G

Garland: 1:45, 5:30.

Where the Wild Things Are

••• Spike Jonze dares to adapt Maurice Sendak’s sublime and scary children’s book classic, and conjures up a satisfyingly moody, melancholy, madcap live-action romp. Running time: 1:41 Rating: PG (language)

Airway Heights: 11:40 a.m., 2. NorthTown Mall: 10:05 a.m., 1:25, 3:50. Riverstone: 10:10 a.m. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:05, 2:30, 4:55. Wandermere: 11:30 a.m., 2.