Theater key: GX = Galaxy 14; HM = Harvest Moon Twin Drive-In, Gibson City; LC = Lincoln Cinemas; NL = Normal Theater; PL = Palace Cinemas; PK = Parkway Cinemas; PR = Princess Theater, LeRoy; ST = Stadium 14; UN = University Cinemas

 

0pens Thursday, Nov. 5

 

A Hard Day's Night: 85 min.; G. A frenzied day in the life of the Beatles as they prepare for a TV studio taping. (NL)

 

Opens Firday, Nov. 6

 

The Box: 116 min.; PG-13 (thematic elements, violence, disturbing images) A couple is given a box with a button that, if pressed, will grant $1 million at the expense of a stranger's life. (GX, LC, PK, PL, ST)

Disney's A Christmas Carol: 96 min.; PG (scary sequences, images) A "Polar Express"-style retelling with the 3D shapes and voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth and others. (GX, LC, PK, PL, ST)

The Fourth Kind: 98 min.; PG-13 (violent/disturbing images, terror, thematic elements, brief sexuality) A psychologist (Milla Jovovich) videotapes sessions with traumatized patients of graphic alien abductions. (GX, PL, ST)

Inglourious Basterds: H 152 min.; R (strong graphic violence, language, brief sexuality) Quentin Tarantino's remake of the 1978 Italian WW II epic about a three-way clash between Yank soldiers, Nazi occupiers and French resistance fighters. (UN)

The Invention of Lying: 99 min.; PG-13 (language, sexual material, drug reference) A comedy set in an alternate reality where no one has lied -- until now. (LC)

It Might Get Loud: 97 min.; PG (mild thematic elements, brief language, smoking) A documentary on the electric guitar, focusing on the careers and styles of three players: The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White. (PK; NL, opening Nov. 10)

Men Who Stare at Goats: 93 min.; R (language, drug content, brief nudity) Comedy about a secret U.S. military plan to recruit psychics as super-soldiers. George Clooney and Ewan McGregor star. (GX, PL, ST)

More Than a Game: 105 min.; PG (brief mild language, smoking) Documentary look at the Fighting Irish basketball team from Akron, Ohio, who went on to national glory earlier this decade. (PK)

Pandorum: 108 min.; R (strong horror violence, language) A pair of crew members aboard a spaceship wake up with no knowledge of their mission or identities. (UN)

Shorts: 89 min.; PG (mild action, rude humor) An 11-year-old boy discovers a rock that falls from the sky and grants wishes to anyone who holds it. (UN)

 

Coming Soon

 

Scheduled to open in area theaters next weekend (Nov. 13) are:

2012, the latest bombastic doomsday opus from the makers of "Independence Day," "Godzilla" and "The Day After Tomorrow." This one is about yet another global apocalypse that wipes out pretty much everything, leaving a band of survivors struggling to, well, survive. Among them: "Godzilla" survivor John Cusack, along with Danny Glover, Woody Harrelson, Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Pirate Radio, a fictitious '60s flashback that chronicles the adventures of eight rogue radio disc jockeys who set sail in a boat to broadcast their favorite rock 'n' soul hits of the period from the high seas -- all the time while violating the British government's broadcasting laws as they existed circa 1966. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh and Rhys Ifans star. From the folks who gave us "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "About a Boy."

 

Film Clips

 

All aboard: Time to go back indoors for the Normal Parks & Recreation Department's free Dress-Up Movie Series. After spending the past six months outside in the Connie Link Amphitheater, the series takes cover in the warmth and comfort of the Normal Theater. All that warmth and comfort will be needed since the action up on the screen at 1 p.m. Saturday is the sub-zero Polar Express, starring a quasi-animated Tom Hanks. Preceding the movie at noon will be a magic show with veteran local illusionist Chris Bohne.

It might come early: Speaking of the Normal Theater ... the uptown bijou is opening its Beyond Normal Films offering for next week -- the documentary It Might Get Loud -- two days earlier than usual, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to be precise, with showings continuing through Nov. 15. This ode to the electric guitar sports The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White and other ace ax-handlers showing us how they do it.