Focus on Film

The Informant! Is agro-businessman Matt Damon a whistleblower, an opportunist, or an eccentric? In this off-center comedy from director Steven Soderbergh, the guy poised to blow the lid off a price-fixing scheme may be in his own ethical fix, frustrating an FBI investigation. With Scott Bakula and Melanie Lynskey. (Friday)

   - Carrie Rickey

Jennifer's Body Megan Fox is the high school hottie inhabited by a demon, munching on male classmates as if they were potato chips. Amanda Seyfried as her friend hellbent on ending the carnival of carnage. This supernatural thriller is a girl-fight directed by Girlfight helmer Karyn Kusama from a script by Juno's Diablo Cody. (Friday)

   - C.R.

Law Abiding Citizen Shot in Philly with Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx tearing around City Hall and environs, this white-knuckle psycho-thriller tracks a vengeance-bent vigilante who orchestrates a killing spree from behind bars. (Oct. 16)

   - Steven Rea

Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak's beloved and tantalizingly scary children's book comes to the big screen (and bigger screens, too, on Imax) by way of Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze and novelist/screenwriter Dave Eggers. The trailers suggest tremendous, stupendous things. Wild Things, we think we love you. (Oct. 16)

   - S.R.

Amelia Hilary Swank as aviatrix Amelia Earhart, the distaff Charles Lindbergh and first female pilot to cross the Atlantic. Mira Nair's high-flying biopic costars Richard Gere as her publishing-magnate spouse and Ewan McGregor as her lover during the run-up to Earhart's 1937 round-the-world solo flight. (Oct. 23)

   - C.R.

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Lee Daniels' urban spin on Cinderella centers on an obese teenage mother emotionally and sexually abused by her parents. Determined to be a different kind of person and parent than her folks, Precious (the extraordinary Gabourey Sidibe) develops her inner resources with the help of a supportive teacher (Paula Patton). Based, yes, on the novel by Sapphire. (Nov. 13)

   - C.R.