Movie picks 

Films recommended by our reviewers are indicated by an *.

Act of Valor (R)

About, and starring, a Navy SEAL squadron. By the time a death is memorialized in an endless military funeral sequence, the whole endeavor starts to feel more like a hot-box pummeling than a rallying cry. — Justin Strout

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

The Adventures of Tintin (PG)

Visually, Tintin offers an exponential leap in the potential for motion-capture adventure with action set pieces. But there are vacant human spaces in the center. It's like Raiders of the Lost Ark, if Indiana Jones had been played by Taylor Lautner. — Scott Renshaw

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Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (G)

After surviving the sinking of their cruise ship, Alvin, Simon and Theodore must survive on a Polynesian island. — Not reviewed

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*The Artist (PG-13)

The Artist is at turns funny, heartbreaking, thrilling and a visual marvel, with only Ludovic Bource's sublime score to guide our reactions. The film is art that stands on its own, a reflective surface of some of cinema's best ideas. — Justin Strout

Chapel Hills 15, Hollywood Interquest, Kimball's Peak Three, Tinseltown

Big Miracle (PG)

Inspired by the true story, the rescue adventure tells the tale of a small town news reporter and a Greenpeace volunteer who join together to save a family of gray whales trapped by ice in the Arctic Circle. — Not reviewed

Chapel Hills 15

*Chronicle (PG-13)

Chronicle makes us reconsider entirely the terms superhero and supervillain. No one here can be reduced to such black-and-white terms. They're just people doing the best they can with what they have. It's just that they suddenly have so much more than the rest of us. — MaryAnn Johanson

Carmike 10

Contraband (R)

Chris Farraday long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal, Chris is forced back in. — Not reviewed

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*The Descendants (R)

The film is an almost dirge-like story about grief, but so much more than that. George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaiian real-estate baron; it's a triumph for all, especially the audience. — Justin Strout

Chapel Hills 15, Picture Show

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (PG)

The animated adventure follows the journey of a boy as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. — Not reviewed

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (PG-13)

The tale of a boy's (Thomas Horn) search across New York City for a key left in a lock-box by his father (Tom Hanks), who was killed by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. — Not reviewed

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Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (PG-13)

In the successor to the worldwide hit Ghost Rider, Johnny, who still struggles with the curse of being the devil's bounty hunter, is hiding out in a remote part of Eastern Europe when he is recruited by a secret sect to save a young boy from the devil. — Not reviewed

Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

*The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (R)

The mood is by turns brooding and cheeky, the method technically exacting, the temperature not warm. The movie works briskly through its sadistic cycle of brutal violence, a very dark space in which actors lurk and give off glints of their charisma. — Jonathan Kiefer

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Gone (PG-13)

Jill Parrish comes home from a night shift to discover her sister Molly has been abducted.. Jill, who escaped from a kidnapper a year before, is convinced that the same serial killer has come back for her sister. — Not reviewed

Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Haywire (R)

In an electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal, a female covert operations specialist, who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she's been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency. — Not reviewed

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The Iron Lady (PG-13)

The film waffles too much over what to do with Margaret Thatcher, and spends too much time on the seemingly obligatory montages of rioting laborers, soldiers in the Falklands and other events of the time. Meryl Streep's presence guarantees you won't doubt for a moment that you've seen the story of Thatcher; the rest of the film can't decide what that story is. — Scott Renshaw

Kimball's Peak Three

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (PG)

A frenetic pace provides distraction from the absence of an actual story. But it's frustrating to sit through yet another movie in which no one appears to care that adventure works best when the biggest investment isn't the special-effects budget, but the audience's investment in the people running from the digital dangers. — Scott Renshaw

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (PG-13)

A bomb destroys the Kremlin and the IMF is blamed. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team must unravel the conspiracy. — Not reviewed

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*The Muppets (PG)

When dealing with something like The Muppets, nostalgia certainly plays into one's response. But there's the nostalgia that comes from simply trotting out a bunch of characters and saying, "Hey, remember them?" and then there's showing such a deep respect for your source material that you allow another generation to fall in love with them for the exact same reason the previous generation did. — Scott Renshaw

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Project X (R)

Three high school seniors attempt to make a name for themselves by throwing one unforgettable house party. As word spreads, the party takes on a life of its own and before the night is over, dreams are ruined, records are blemished and legends are born. — Not reviewed

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Puss in Boots (PG)

Puss in Boots takes arguably the best part of the last two Shrek movies, stretches it as thin as can be, and leaves us hating cats. — Dan Hudak

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Red Tails (PG-13)

The heroic contributions to the World War II effort by the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American military pilots in the U.S. armed forces. Produced by George Lucas, it stars Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard. — Not reviewed

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Safe House (R)

None of it is as brave or even as captivating as it appears to think it is, and the film has nowhere near the conscience it would like you to think it has by the time it's done throwing some car chases and showers of broken glass at you. — MaryAnn Johanson

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

*A Separation (PG-13)

As many ideas as Asghar Farhadi weaves throughout the Iran-based A Separation, there's never a moment when the characters feel like place-holders for a thesis, as opposed to wonderfully flawed humans. — Scott Renshaw

Kimball's Peak Three

*Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG-13)

Guy Ritchie's latest installment is fun, witty and, perhaps most shocking of all, occasionally restrained. It's more satisfying than its predecessor. — Scott Renshaw

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This Means War (PG-13)

When Reese Witherspoon's Lauren finds herself dating Chris Pine's smooth-talking CIA agent FDR, as well as his partner-in-espionage, Tom Hardy's Tuck, she naturally recognizes their respective appeal and elegantly dissects it: FDR has "tiny hands" and Tuck is "British."Yes, This Means War is that dumb. Worse, it thinks you are, too. — Justin Strout

Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Tyler Perry's Good Deeds (PG-13)

A successful, wealthy businessman, Wesley Deeds has always done what's expected of him, whether it's assuming the helm of his father's company or planning to marry his beautiful but restless fiancee, Natalie. But Wesley is jolted out of his predictable routine when he meets Lindsey, a down-on-her-luck single mother who works as a cleaning person in his office building. — Not reviewed

Carmike 10, Cinemark 16, Tinseltown

The Vow (PG-13)

Based on the true story of a newlywed couple recovering from an accident that puts the wife in a coma. She wakes up with severe memory loss and can't remember any of her life with her new husband, so he has to fight to win her heart all over again. — Not reviewed

Chapel Hills 15, Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

Wanderlust (R)

George and Linda are an overextended, stressed-out Manhattan couple. After George is fired from his job, they find themselves with only one option: to move in with George's awful brother in Atlanta. — Not reviewed

Cinemark 16, Hollywood Interquest, Tinseltown

We Bought a Zoo (PG)

Let's face it, when you take your family to the zoo, safe and predictable is exactly what you're looking for. It isn't, however, what you look for in a Cameron Crowe movie. — Anders Wright

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The Woman in Black (PG-13)

This adaptation of Susan Hill's 1983 novel pays homage to the Gothic Hammer Horror films. In Victorian England, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) finds a village of the damned, townsfolk grappling with an inexplicable epidemic of their children fatally harming themselves. But the film falls too flat after that. — Neil Morris

Carmike 10, Chapel Hills 15, Tinseltown