THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29

2 p.m.

The Painted Veil



(PG-13/128 min.)



Drama/Romance. Edward Norton and Naomi Watts play a young English

couple in the 1920’s who marry a tad too quickly, then move to Hong

Kong, where bad things happen that spur them onto a dangerous quest

into China. Sounds like my last vacation. (AP)

5 p.m.

Little Children



(R/130 min.)



Drama/Crime/Romance. Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly star in this

look at outwardly perfect suburban families who lead radically

imperfect lives. (AP)

7:30 p.m.

The History Boys



(R/104 min.)



Drama/Comedy. A bunch of unruly yet clever British high school kids

prepare for the unruly yet clever admissions process into Oxford and

Cambridge. (AP)

9:30 p.m.

Hollywoodland



(R/126 min.)



Drama. A somewhat fictionalized look at the rather strange life and

mysterious, still-unsolved death of Superman TV star George Reeves,

played by Ben Affleck, who’s actually better at it than you might

think. (AP)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30

12 p.m.

An Inconvenient Truth



(PG/100 min.)



Documentary/Horror. Al Gore shows us incontrovertible evidence that

unless we start seriously paying attention to global environmental

degradation, we’re doomed. (AP)

2 p.m.

10 Items or Less



(R/82 min.)



Comedy/Drama. A movie star doing research (Morgan Freeman) and a

supermarket clerk (Paz Vega) strike up an unlikely but rewarding

friendship in Los Angeles. (SC)

5 p.m.

Letters from Iwo Jima



(R/141 min.)



Drama/War. Clint Eastwood’s companion piece to Flags of our Fathers

tells the story of real life Japanese soldiers who fight and die during

the horrendously bloody battle for Iwo Jima during World War II. (AP)

7:30 p.m.

Miss Potter



(PG/92 min.)



Drama/Family. A sweet biopic about children’s author and illustrator

Beatrix Potter, starring Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily

Watson. (SC)

9:30 p.m.

The Dead Girl



(R/98 min.)



Drama/Mystery. The lives of six women intersect from the death of

one young girl, starring Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy and Marcia Gay

Harden. (SC)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 31

MONDAY, JANUARY 1

12 p.m.

Open Season



(PG/79 min.)



Animation/Family. A lazy but lovable domesticated bear (voiced by

Martin Lawrence) learns to cope in the wild with the help of a kooky

deer (voiced by Ashton Kutcher). Stay tuned to see if the poor bear

gets Punk’d. (SC)

2 p.m.

Arthur and the Invisibles



(PG/90 min.)



Live Action/Animation/Fantasy/Family. Directed by Luc Besson and

featuring the voices of Madonna, David Bowie and Snoop Dogg. What, you

need more than that? Okay… a 10-year-old boy attempts to save his

grandfather’s house from evil real estate developers, enlisting the

help of a tiny people living in perfect harmony with nature. Wow, that

is fantastical. (SC)

5 p.m.

The Cave of the Yellow Dog



(Unrated/94 min.)



Drama. The oldest daughter of a Mongolian nomad family brings home a

stray dog and hides him from her disapproving father, until the dog

earns his keep by protecting the family. (SC)

7:30 p.m.

Venus



(R/90 min.)



Comedy. A couple of grizzled thespians (including Peter O’Toole)

enlighten the life of a brash young teenage girl. Or is it the other

way around? (SC)