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

Opening today:

Law Abiding Citizen

A prosecutor (Jamie Foxx) is caught up in a vengeful prisoner’s (Gerard Butler) twisted scheme. Running time: 1:48 Rating: R (language, rape, bloody brutal violence, torture) Hayden: 1:10, 3:30, 6:20, 8:40. NorthTown Mall: 12:25, 4:15, 7:45, 10:30. Post Falls: 1:30, 3:40, 5:50, 8. River Park Square: 11 a.m., 12:30, 1:40, 3:15, 4:20, 6:15, 7, 9:10, 9:45. Riverstone: 12:30, 4:15, 7:30, 10:20. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:05, 3:10, 7:05, 9:50. Village Centre: 11 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40.

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: 12:50, 2:55, 5:10, 7:15, 9:30, 12:01. River Park Square: 11:30 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 6:50, 9:10, 11:15.

The Stepfather

A young man (Penn Badgley) suspects that his mother’s new lover (Dylan Walsh) is up to no good. Running time: 1:45 Rating: PG-13 (sensuality, disturbing images, violence) NorthTown Mall: 11:05 a.m., 3:50, 6:45, 9:30. River Park Square: 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 1:30, 2:30, 4:15, 5:15, 6:45, 7:40, 9:15, 10:05. Riverstone: noon, 2:30, 5, 7:40, 10:10. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20. Village Centre: 12:45, 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45.

Where the Wild Things Are

A mischievous boy (Max Records) enters a magical land and becomes King of All Wild Things. Running time: 1:41 Rating: PG (language) Hayden: 1, 3:10, 6:10, 8:30. NorthTown Mall: 11:45 a.m., 12:15, 2:10, 2:40, 4:35, 5:05, 7, 7:30, 9:25. Post Falls: 1:25, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30. River Park Square: 10:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:15, 2:50, 3:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7:50, 9, 10:15. Riverstone: 1, 1:45, 4, 4:30, 6:45, 7:15, 9:15, 9:45. Spokane Valley Mall: noon, 1, 2:30, 3:30, 5, 6:30, 7:30, 9, 10. Village Centre: 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:45, 2:30, 4, 4:45, 6:15, 7, 8:30, 9:15.

Continuing:

All About Steve

•1/2 Not really about Steve, but about Mary (Sandra Bullock), an insufferably kooky crossword puzzle constructor who starts stalking the news-cameraman title character (Bradley Cooper) across the country. Strained screwball comedy ensues. Running time: 1:39 Rating: PG-13 (innuendo, sexual content) Spokane Valley Mall: 11:45 a.m., 2:05, 4:25, 6:55, 9:15. Village Centre: 2:30, 7:10.

Amazon

Filmmaker Kieth Merrill journeys through rain forests to follow the route of the Amazon River. Running time: :39 Rating: not rated IMAX (Riverfront Park): 1, 3, 5.

Big Fan

••• Comedian Patton Oswalt stars as a parking lot attendant and “world’s biggest New York Giants fan” in this odd, darkly humorous portrait of a passionate loser sticking to his beliefs. Running time: 1:28 Rating: R (language, sexuality) Magic Lantern: 7:20, 9.

Bright Star

•••• Intimate as a whisper, immediate as a blush and universal as first love, Jane Campion’s film about the love affair between poet John Keats and his muse Fanny Brawne positively palpitates with the sensual and spritual. Running time: 1:59 Rating: PG (language, sensuality) Magic Lantern: 7, 9:20.

Capitalism: A Love Story

••• Folksy muckraker Roger Moore singles out those who profit from the misery and job insecurity of American workers. In passages, his movie is eloquent. In sum, it is scattershot. Running time: 1:57 Rating: R (language) NorthTown Mall: 4, 6:50, 9:45. River Park Square: 11:50 a.m., 3, 6:25, 9:20. Riverstone: 2:40, 6:30.

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

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D: Village Centre: 11 a.m., 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Couples Retreat

•• A tropical vacation turns out to be a relationship workshop for four couples in this skimpy comedy that is more adult than its rating indicates. Running time: 1:54 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual content) Hayden: 1:15, 3:45, 6:15, 8:35. NorthTown Mall: 12:05, 4:45, 7:25, 10. Post Falls: 1:15, 3:25, 5:40, 7:55. River Park Square: 10:50 a.m., 1:35, 2, 4:25, 4:45, 7:10, 7:30, 9:50, 10:15. Riverstone: 1:30, 4:35, 7:20, 10. Spokane Valley Mall: 11:55 a.m., 2:25, 4:55, 7:25, 9:45. Village Centre: 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:40.

The Exorcist

Running time: 2:02 Rating: R Garland: midnight.

Fame

•• The talented students at the New York High School for Performing Arts are the focus of this remake. Running time: 1:47 Rating: PG (language, sexual situations, teen drinking) NorthTown Mall: 12:30. Riverstone: noon, 9:30. Spokane Valley Mall: 3:05, 9:40. Village Centre: 12:10, 4:50, 9:30.

Forces of Nature

Natural disasters are the focus of this IMAX film, namely volcanoes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Never has the power of a volcanic eruption seemed more in-your-face awesome. Running time: :40 Rating: not rated IMAX (Riverfront Park): noon, 2, 4.

The Hangover

••• Four guys go to Vegas for a bachelor party, and mayhem and memory-loss ensue. A loopy farce from the warped mind that brought you “Old School,” with a scene-stealing performance from indie comedy dude Zach Galifianakis. Running time: 1:39 Rating: R (nudity, language, sexual content, drug material) Garland: 10:10.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

••• Slower and talkier than its predecessors, but not in a bad way, “HP6” is a bubbling cauldron of hormonal angst, as Harry, Hermione and Ron contend with Draco, the Death Eaters and the evil Professor Snape and with their respective amorous urges. Like a high school romance, only with wands, spells and potions. Running time: 2:33 Rating: PG (language, sensuality, scary images, violence) Garland: 7:05.

The Informant!

••• Steven Soderbergh’s truth-based film about a compulsive liar wavers uneasily between corporate thriller and screwball comedy, with Matt Damon as an agribusiness exec who blows a whistle and his own horn at the same time. Running time: 1:48 Rating: R (language) NorthTown Mall: 9:50. River Park Square: 11:30 a.m., 2:05, 4:20, 7:20, 10. Riverstone: 12:45, 4:05, 7:05, 9:40. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:25, 7:10. Village Centre: 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45.

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” and “Hostel” gore. Running time: 2:32 Rating: R (sexuality, language, graphic violence) River Park Square: 11:40 a.m., 3:15, 6:20, 9:35. Riverstone: 12:35, 4:20, 8:05.

The Invention of Lying

••1/2 Ricky Gervais stars in this comedy as the lone fibber in a world where everyone else has no choice but to tell the truth. The cameo-studded satire has its moments until it turns sappy. Running time: 1:39 Rating: PG-13 (drug reference, language, sexual material) River Park Square: 10:50 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:55, 9:30. Riverstone: 1:40, 4:45, 7:35, 10:05. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:10, 2:40, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05.

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) Village Centre: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

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. Running time: 1:49 Rating: PG-13 (language, sexual references) Hayden: 1:20, 4, 6:30, 8:45. Post Falls: 1, 3:15, 5:35, 7:50. Village Centre: 11:15 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15.

The Room

A quirky black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies. Running time: 1:39 Rating: R (sexuality, language, brief violence) Magic Lantern: 10:40.

The September Issue

••• R.J. Cutler’s compulsively entertaining documentary about how the September 2007 edition of Vogue magazine came together under editor Anna Wintour. Running time: 1:30 Rating: PG-13 (language) River Park Square: 10:30 a.m., 12:50, 3:20, 5:40, 8, 10:10.

Surrogates

Murder jolts a utopian society in which people live vicariously through robots. Running time: 1:28 Rating: PG-13 (drug-related scene, disturbing images, violence, language, sexuality) NorthTown Mall: noon, 2:30, 4:45, 7:10, 10:25. River Park Square: 10:45 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 6:15, 9:15. Riverstone: 1:35, 4:25, 6:40, 9:35. Spokane Valley Mall: 11:50 a.m., 2, 4:10, 6:45, 9:05. Village Centre: noon, 2:20, 4:40, 6:50, 9.

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 3D Double Feature

Running time: 3:00 Rating: G NorthTown Mall: 12:10, 4:10, 8. River Park Square: 10:55 a.m., 3:05, 7:25. NorthTown Mall: 12:10, 4:10, 8. Riverstone: 12:10, 4:10, 8. Spokane Valley Mall: 11 a.m., 3, 7. Village Centre: 11 a.m., 2:40, 6:30.

Up

•••• This buoyant Pixar film about a childless grouch (voice of Ed Asner) and a fatherless boy (Jordan Nagai) who float off to the wilds of Venezuela in a house lashed to helium-filled balloons darts unpredictably between comedy and adventure, defying gravity and age alike. Running time: 1:29 Rating: PG (peril) Garland: 5:05.

Whip It

••• Drew Barrymore’s delightful rookie feature about a Texas beauty-pageant princess (Ellen Page) who finds herself as a combative, competitive roller-derby queen. Wonderful performances from Page, Marcia Gay Harden and Kristen Wiig. Running time: 1:51 Rating: PG-13 (crude dialogue, drug material, language, sexual content) NorthTown Mall: 12:40, 4:25, 7:40, 10:15. River Park Square: 11 a.m., 1:55, 4:35, 7:15, 9:55. Riverstone: 1:05, 4:05, 7:10, 9:55. Village Centre: 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 4:40, 7, 9:20.

Zombieland

••• Inspired zom-com road pic, with nervous ninny Jesse Eisenberg and cool cowboy Woody Harrelson teaming up to battle blood-spewing flesh-eaters across a wasteland U.S.A. Running time: 1:27 Rating: R (language, zombie horror violence/gore) Hayden: 1:05, 3:05, 5, 6:55, 8:55. NorthTown Mall: 12:55, 5:10, 7:55, 10:30. Post Falls: 1:20, 3:20, 5:10, 7:05. River Park Square: 10:35 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:50, 1:45, 3:10, 3:55, 5:25, 6:40, 7:45, 9:05, 9:55. Riverstone: 12:15, 2:35, 4:50, 7:25, 9:50. Spokane Valley Mall: 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15. Village Centre: 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:35.