UP IN THE AIR - In this multiple Oscar nominee including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Lead Actor, George Clooney travels around the country firing employees of various companies, until his own job is threatened with obsolescence. (See our review in these pages).

PRECIOUS - Another multiple Oscar nominee, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Lead Actress. Harlem teenager Claireece "Precious" Jones is obese, illiterate, pregnant for the second time by her father, and victim of constant ridicule from her mother, yet this is ultimately an inspirational film. "Qualifies as the most painful, poetic and improbably beautiful film of the year." (Washington Post)

BOONDOCK SAINTS 2: ALL SAINTS DAY - The MacManus brothers return to Boston from their hideout in Ireland, to seek revenge for the murder of a beloved priest.

WEDDING SONG - A lyrical, sensual tale of two girls in Tunisia during WWII, a Muslim desperate to marry her handsome young cousin, and a Jew forced into marrying a much older, wealthier man. The film depicts the trials of their intimate friendship amidst racism, paranoia, French oppression, and German propaganda. Recommended. "A seductively fluid and tactile drama." (N.Y. Times)

SERVICE - This Filipino film was nominated for the highest award at Cannes, and features the strange adventures of a family who owns a dilapidated "adult" movie theatre. "A documentary can't accomplish what Serbis does: Take us to a corner of the world where sex and regret are so intimately entwined." (S.F. Chronicle)

HACHI: A DOG'S TALE - From the Oscar-nominated director of THE CIDER HOUSE RULES, this family film is based on the true story of an exceptionally faithful akita named Hachiko. Stars Richard Gere.

GIGANTE - This Argentinian film, set in Uruguay, concerns a shy security guard who develops an obsession with a late-shift janitor whom he watches on security cameras. Not the sort of creepy thriller you'd expect, but a character study of loneliness and uncertainty. "As unpretentious as it is perceptive, Gigante is a gem." (L.A. Times)

OLD DOGS - The new face of Disney: Robin Williams and John Travolta as pill-popping terminal bachelors coping with impending senior citizenship and illegitimate children from a drunken one-night stand.

PLANET 51 - In this CGI family feature, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson plays an astronaut who lands on another planet which appears to be much like 1950s America, only populated by little green men and women. Their own fear of alien invasion puts the Earth astronaut in danger of being hunted down and put in a museum...

POSSESSION - From an Oscar-nominated Swedish directing team comes this psychological identity-transfer thriller starring Sarah Michelle Gellar of BUFFY fame. We are intrigued...

THE BEACHES OF AGNES - A whimsical cinematic history and self-portrait by revered French director Agnes Varda, touching on the feminist movement, the Black Panthers, the films of her late husband Jacques Demy, and the days of the French New Wave.  "A treat to anyone who already cherishes Varda's films and a perfect primer for those who haven't yet discovered her work." (Miami Herald)

CHARLIE & LOLA VOL. 10: I CAN'T STOP HICCUPING - Another inventive, quiet adventure for the little ones, in this perennial parental favorite.