Beauty and the Beast 3D The Disney animated children's tale returns with the added dimension of 3-D. 1 hr. 24 G - W.S.
The Descendants George Clooney
in one of the most satisfying performances of his career - angry, sad, vulnerable, loving, foolish, comically discombobulated - as a Hawaiian lawyer coping with a family crisis and a daunting inheritance. From Alexander Payne, of Sideways and About Schmidt fame. Satisfying on every level. 1 hr. 55 R (profanity, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.
The Secret World of Arrietty This captivating animation from Japan's Studio Ghibli is based on The Borrowers, Mary Norton's children's fantasy about micro-beings who live beneath the floorboards. As lovingly written as it is beautifully rendered. 1 hr. 35 G - C.R.
Carnage Roman Polanski's deliciously nasty take on coupledom and class conflict, as a pair from the New York elite (Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet) visit a Brooklyn husband and wife (John C. Reilly, Jodie Foster) to make peace after
a bullying incident involving their respective sons. Peace does not ensue. Adapted from the stage play God of Carnage. 1 hr. 20 R (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.
Chronicle Smart, fun, and increasingly dark, this reality-grounded sci-fi tale finds three high school friends climbing into a hole and emerging with telekinetic powers. But instead of using their newfound abilities to fight crime, they just do what guys in high school would do if they could levitate stuff and crush stuff and hurl stuff through the air. 1 hr. 23 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.
Coriolanus A visceral, vital modern-dress interpretation of one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, about a Roman general and his rise, fall, and revenge. Ralph Fiennes takes the title role with command, and is commanding behind the camera in his directorial debut, too. With Gerard Butler, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain, and a formidable Vanessa Redgrave. 2 hrs. 02 R (violence, adult themes) - S.R.
Rampart Woody Harrelson stars as a Vietnam veteran and renegade cop whose life and career spiral downward after he is caught on tape beating a suspect. 1 hr. 48 R (for pervasive profanity, sexual content, and some violence) - W.S.
A Separation The foreign-language Oscar nominee from Iran is an understated, complicated tale of legal and familial strife, as a middle-class, secular Tehran couple in the throes of breaking up are pitted against a poor, devout couple full of rage and righteousness. 2 hrs. 03 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.
Act of Valor *1/2 Active duty Navy SEALs wipe out hordes of bad guys in clinical strikes in this action shoot-'em-up. Intended as a salute to the military, it slides into a bloodbath. 1 hr. 41 R (intense violence, scenes of torture, profanity) - D.H.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance **1/2 Nicolas Cage returns in the title role of this sequel about the bounty hunter of demons. 1 hr. 35 PG-13 (intense action and violence, disturbing images) - W.S.
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island **1/2 A teen and his stepfather bond while on a mysterious island attempting to rescue its lone human inhabitant. Josh Hutcherson, Dwayne Johnson, and Michael Caine star. 1 hr. 34 PG (some adventure action and brief, mild profanity) - W.S.
Safe House *** Denzel Washington is a former top op gone rogue, and Ryan Reynolds is the CIA newbie assigned to keep watch over him, when all heck breaks loose. A smart, propulsive espionage thriller, with jolting chase sequences (shot in Cape Town), even if it eventually falls back on spy-movie conventions. 1 hr. 55 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.
The Vow **1/2 Rachel McAdams is a perky, artsy spouse who flies through a car window and awakens from her coma with no memory of the man she loves. That would be Channing Tatum, who cries man tears and does everything in his power to make his amnesiac wife remember who he is. PG-13 (nudity, adult themes) - S.R.
Wanderlust *** Riotous, raunchy and raggedy, David Wain's Lost in America update stars Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as disillusioned New Yorkers looking for the American dream. With Justin Theroux. R (nudity, sexual candor, drug use) - C.R.
Theater
Reviewed by critics Wendy Rosenfield (W.R.), Jim Rutter (J.R.), Howard Shapiro (H.S.), and Toby Zinman (T.Z.).Antigone (Quintessence Theatre Group) Anouilh's translation of Sophocles' masterpiece. Previews Wednesday-Friday, opens Saturday.
Fool for Love (Iron Age Theater) Former lovers reengage for battle in this Sam Shepard drama. Opens Friday.
The House of Blue Leaves (Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5) The pope is in New York, nuns are on the roof, there's madness, a bomb, and Hollywood hopes in John Guare's comedy. Preview Thursday, opens Friday.
Romeo and Juliet (Lantern Theater Company) Lantern brings its Shakespearean dab hand to Shakespeare's tragic romance. Previews Thursday-March 6, opens March 7.
Terrorism (New City Stage) Everyone's a terrorist - and a victim - in these six interconnected scenes. Previews Thursday and Friday, opens Saturday.
Branch: A Baseball Legend (Society Hill Playhouse) About Branch Rickey, who broke the color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson, this one-man show is somewhere between a high school assembly speech, a pep talk, and a Wikipedia article - not really a play at all. Ends Wednesday. - T.Z.
Clybourne Park (Arden Theatre Company) A bitter, funny satire indicting racist America, using Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun as a springboard. Excellent cast. Through March 25. - T.Z.
Educating Rita (Hedgerow Theatre) An alcoholic prof meets Rita, brash and street-smart, and it's Pygmalion all over again - this time in Liverpool, and with A-1 portrayals by Meredith Beck and Michael Hagan. Through March 11. - H.S.
Ethel! (Walnut Street Theatre's Independence Studio) The life of Ethel Waters in song and story. Through March 11.
Knives in Hens (Theatre Exile) This unnerving, mysterious play about a primitive world and the discovery of language receives an intriguing if patience-testing production. Through next Sunday. - T.Z.
Little Gem (Inis Nua Theatre Company) This production is full of charm and sentiment and monologues and accents and working-class women who keep on keeping on. In other words, it's an Irish play. Excellent cast. Ends Sunday. - T.Z.
Marriage (Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium) A 19th-century Russian farce by Gogol about trying to marry off a young woman. Six suitors vie for her hand in broad comical ways. Ends Sunday. - T.Z.
Motherhood the Musical (Society Hill Playhouse) Twenty great songs and a lively four-woman cast make this a fun outing for moms (dads too). Extended to May 20. - H.S.
The Mousetrap (Walnut Street Theatre) That creaky sound you hear is not just a door ominously opening, it's also the plot of this legendary Agatha Christie mystery at the Walnut Street Theatre. Mild fun despite its old-fashionedness. Through next Sunday. - T.Z.
Shirley Valentine (Hedgerow Theatre) Actress Susan Wefel has made this odd portrait of a bored British housewife her own, in its fifth Hedgerow revival. It runs intermittently with another of Willy Russell's plays, Educating Rita. Through March 10.
- H.S.
Slaughterhouse-Five (Curio Theatre Company) This riveting production eschews special effects to tell the Kurt Vonnegut tale with sheer stagecraft. Through Saturday.
- J.R.
Of Mice and Men (People's Light and Theatre Company) ) A solid production with a massive, forceful Lennie that also takes time to focus on its peripheral characters. Through March 25. - W.R.
Tennessee's Final Curtain (South Camden Theatre Company) Superb acting and engaging direction surpass the script's shortcomings in this play about Tennessee Williams' last night. Ends Sunday. - J.R.
Time Stands Still (Act II Playhouse) Two journalists, a couple, deal with fallout in the Mideast and their differing visions of their future in this engrossing play, in a beautifully wrought coproduction with Delaware Theatre Company. Through March 11. - H.S.
Wings (Media Theatre) A compelling production and Ann Crumb's chilling performance find beauty in a former aviatrix's recovery from a stroke. Ends Sunday.
- J.R.
Video
Hugo *** Martin Scorsese adapts
The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the Caldecott-winning graphic novel for kids, diving headlong into a magical world of old silent cinema and a bustling 1930s Paris train station, where the title character lives - and looks for clues to the mysterious machine his father left in his care. Movie buffs will delight in the homage to early cinema; kids may get a little restless, but it is a spectacle to behold. 2 hrs. 07
PG (violence, menace, adult themes) -
S.R.
