Ballast
In the cold, winter light of a rural Mississippi Delta township, a man’s suicide radically transforms three characters’ lives and throws off-balance what has long been a static arrangement among them. Marlee is a single mother struggling to scratch a living for herself and James, her 12-year-old son, who has begun to stumble under drug and violence pressures. So when the opportunity to seek safe harbor at a new home arises, she grabs it, though the property is shared by Lawrence, a man with whom Marlee has feuded bitterly since James’ birth. With circumstances thrusting them into proximity, a subtle interdependence and common purpose emerge for Marlee and Lawrence as they navigate grief, test new waters, and tentatively move forward. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society

Bolt
A television super-hero pooch discovers that his made-up powers aren’t needed. Rated PG. At Flatiron, Century, Twin Peaks and Colony Square.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Set during the horrors of WWII, Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a film presented through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy whose father is an SS officer at a concentration camp. He maintains a secret relationship with a Jewish boy inside the camp, with unexpected consequences. Rated PG-13. At Colony Square, Century and Chez Artiste.

Changeling
Based on Southern California’s infamous Wineville chicken coop murders of the 1920s, this film, a combination of serial-killer saga and triumph of the human spirit, is a solid addition to Clint Eastwood’s directorial career. Eastwood tells a painful true story neatly and well, with one foot in rousing Hollywood melodrama and the other in a story that resists tidy resolution. Angelina Jolie shines as the mother of a missing boy, crusading against the law-enforcement officials who shut her away in hopes of shutting her up. Rated R (some violent and disturbing content and language). At Flatiron and Century. — Michael Phillips

The Duchess
This film dramatizes Amanda Foreman’s popular biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (played by Keira Knightley), a cultishly adored (and sometimes loathed) celebrity of the 18th century known for her outspoken politics as much as her influence over British fashions. The Duchess is a beautifully crafted period piece, but it’s also disturbingly shallow, focused so tightly on one woman’s feelings of repression and loneliness that it lacks any perspective on her causes. Rated PG-13 (sexual content, brief nudity and thematic material). At Colony Square. — Tasha Robinson

Eagle Eye
Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are dragooned into a vast cyber conspiracy involving a super-secret Pentagon surveillance weapon that’s basically a humorless female version of HAL 9000. The screenplay tries like the devil to get you all fussed up about omnivorous cyber-surveillance on a scale George Orwell never imagined, but the result is a hyperactive jumble that fails to whip up the right mixture of dread and propulsion. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of action and violence and for language). At Flatiron. — Michael Phillips

High School Musical 3
The High School Musical series isn’t aimed at high schoolers, who presumably know by now that grades 9-12 aren’t a candy-coated wonderland. It’s aimed at preteens willing to bet high school will be the best thing ever. The first two HSM movies, made for TV’s Disney Channel, broke cable viewership records, and the first film’s soundtrack was 2006’s top-selling record. HSM 3 may be shallow, but what it lacks in narrative ambition, it makes up for in dazzling choreography that’s certain to leave its target audience transfixed. Consider it is harmlessly fluffy fun. Rated G. At Flatiron. — Tasha Robinson

I’ve Loved You So Long
Kristin Scott Thomas may be a more subtle and expressive performer in French than in English, and in this absorbing if schematic French-language drama, she’s superb as a doctor recently released from a 15-year prison sentence. The particulars of her crime, and her uneasy adjustment to a new life, form the basis of writer-director Philippe Claudet’s debut feature. Expect an Oscar nomination for Thomas. Rated PG-13 (thematic material and smoking). At Chez Artiste. — Michael Phillips

Let the Right One In
A bullied 12-year-old boy finds solace and love with a peculiar girl, who also happens to be a vampire. Rated R. At Mayan.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
The animated Madagascar (2005) made a mint, but this sequel is a better film — less manic, more easygoing. Marooned on Madagascar, Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer) and hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) yearn for home in the Central Park Zoo. The penguins rig up an old, busted plane and zing the quartet (plus stowaways) not to Manhattan, but to Africa. Rated PG (some mild crude humor). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Quantum of Solace
See full screen review on page 53. Rated PG-13. At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Rachel Getting Married
Jonathan Demme’s most bracing narrative feature since The Silence of the Lambs combines a wedding with a tense family reunion, starring Anne Hathaway as a recovering addict returning home for her sister’s nuptials. A triumph of ambience, this is the first Demme film since the 1980s that feels like a party — bittersweet, but a party nonetheless. Rated R (language and brief sexuality). At Flatiron and Mayan. — Michael Phillips

Religulous
Bill Maher and director Larry Charles get a fair number of laughs as they take aim at religious extremism in many forms. Yet even if you share Maher’s skepticism on his subject, you may wish he’d set up his straight men and straight women in a way that doesn’t merely score the cheapest possible laughs. Rated R (some language and sexual material). At Mayan. — Michael Phillips

Role Models
Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott mentor a medieval-fantasy-prone teenager (the invaluable Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who played “McLovin” in Superbad) and a trash-talking preteen (Bobb’e J. Thompson) in this sloppy but diverting comedy. The last 20 minutes, climaxing with a Dungeons & Dragons-type battle re-enactment, redeems much of what comes before. Rated R (pervasive language, and sexual content including nudity). At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Michael Phillips

Secret Life of Bees
Based on Sue Monk Kidd’s 2002 novel, a hugely popular exploration of family, love and the brutal politics of race in 1964 South Carolina, this adaptation forces the characters through their paces at breakneck speed, never allowing a moment for reflection. Dakota Fanning plays Lily, a lonely budding writer who ends up in the care of four black women (Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo). It’s all very neat and tidy, but not very satisfying. Rated PG-13 (thematic material and some violence). At Flatiron, Century and Colony Square. — Jessica Reaves

Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a ruthlessly effective paean to destiny, leaving nothing to chance. It also has a good shot at winning this year’s Academy Award for best picture, if the pundits have anything to say about it. Every arrow plucked from director Danny Boyle’s quiver takes aim at the same objective: to leave you exhausted but wowed. An 18-year-old (Dev Patel) in the former Bombay, India, is suspected of cheating his way to national fame on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Rated R (some violence, disturbing images and some language). At Esquire. — Michael Phillips

Syndedoche, New York
This fascinating brain-bender comes from writer-director Charlie Kaufman, whose earlier scripts (such as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) don’t prepare you for the conundrums here. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a theater director who dedicates his fraught life to an autobiographical performance piece he never seems to finish. Is it a dream? A death wish? It’s a movie worth seeing, even though a solid percentage of any audience will hate it. Rated R (language and some sexual content/nudity). At Century and Mayan. — Michael Phillips

Twilight
Based on the best-selling novels, a young vampire falls in love with a human. Rated PG-13. At Flatiron, Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks.

Vivre Sa Vie
Faced with a failed relationship, a dead-end job, and potential homelessness, young Parisienne Nana Kleinfrankenheim (Anna Karina) turns to “the life” — that is, prostitution. This simple tale of a whore with a heart of gold is told in twelve Brechtian tableaux and filmed in an austere, documentary-like style. One of writer/director Jean-Luc Godard’s most beautifully designed and deeply felt films, Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live) is anchored by Karina’s astonishing lead performance and Nouvelle Vague favorite Raoul Coutard’s breathtaking cinematography of street-level Paris. We’re proud to present this early masterpiece in a new 35mm print. Not rated. At Starz. — Denver Film Society

W.
Oliver Stone’s film about the life and exceptional good luck enjoyed (and squandered, if you agree with Stone) by George W. Bush may be ill-timed, unnecessary and no more psychologically probing than any other Stone movie. But much of it works as deft, brisk, slyly engaging docudrama. As with any Stone film, the swing between truth and fantasy is willful and wide. A wily and exacting Josh Brolin plays W., going just far enough with certain traits to ring the bell (the little heh-heh-heh chuckle, for instance). Rated PG-13 (language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images). At Century. — Michael Phillips

We Are Wizards
This documentary takes a look at the nation’s burgeoning “Wizard Rock” scene, comprised of Harry Potter followers who jam out to the themed rock of wizard musicians. Not rated. At Starz.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Pittsburgh residents Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) find themselves strapped for cash and decide to make a porno to pay the rent. The verbal raunch is extreme, though this is essentially a sweet-natured “Let’s put on a show!” ensemble comedy. Rogen and Banks are great together in writer-director Kevin Smith’s latest. Rated R (strong crude sexual content including dialogue, graphic nudity and pervasive language). At Century. — Michael Phillips

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