Our critics recommend...

Coraline

In this animated feature, a young girl (voice of Dakota Fanning) goes through a mysterious door in her new home and enters a parallel reality full of interesting characters.

Donkey Punch

When a party-goer on a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean dies in a freak accident, the survivors set to fighting over what to do about it.

Fanboys

In the late '80s, four childhood friends and

Star Wars

fanatics drive across country to Skywalker Ranch to see an advance screening of

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

.

He's Just Not That Into You

Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly and Drew Barrymore star in this comedy about a woman who can't figure out the men in her life.

The Pink Panther 2

Steve Martin returns as Inspector Clouseau - this time around teaming up with a group of equally inept international detectives.

Push

In this thriller, a mysterious government agency is creating an army of psychic warriors, but not all of their targets intend to cooperate. Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning and Camilla Belle star.

Reviewed by critics Carrie Rickey (C.R.), Steven Rea (S.R.), and David Hiltbrand (D.H.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

Slumdog Millionaire

A street kid-turned-gofer gets on the Indian version of

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

and keeps answering the questions correctly, amazingly. 2 hr.

R

(violence, profanity, adult themes) -

S.R.

Waltz With Bashir

Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman's revelatory retro-animation explores his recurring nightmare, one that rouses his long-dormant consciousness about his role as a soldier in 1982 Lebanon. 1 hr. 27

R

(brief nudity, wartime atrocities, sexuality - all animated) -

C.R.

Wendy and Lucy

Michelle Williams loses herself in the role of a hard-luck vagabond whose car breaks down in a small town, and who loses her dog, too. A quiet, beautiful performance in a genuine heartbreaker of a film.

Old Joy's

Kelly Reichardt directs. 1 hr. 20

R

(profanity, adult themes) -

S.R.

The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke stars in the role of a lifetime - and gives a performance of equal measure - in this portrait of an old wrestling star staging an improbable comeback. Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood costar; it's a ragged but near-brilliant little film.

R

(profanity, violence, drugs, sex, nudity) -

S.R.

Gran Torino ***

Clint Eastwood (who directed) stars as a Korean War vet and bigoted Ford assembly-line worker initially contemptuous of his immigrant neighbors - until he chooses to rebuild his own engine with a crankshaft of empathy. 1 hr. 56

R

(racial slurs, racial violence, extreme profanity) -

C.R.

New in Town **1/2

Intermittently funny fish-out-of-water comedy starring Renée Zellweger as a corporate suit from Miami sent to downsize a Minnesota food plant. Siobhan Fallon and J.K. Simmons steal every scene they're in, and Harry Connick Jr. plays the romantic interest. 1 hr. 36

PG

(canoodling, potty jokes) -

C.R.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop **

Like one of those Pixie Sticks periodically sipped by its hypoglycemic hero, a pudgeball on a Segway played by Kevin James, to boost his blood sugar, the film lacks nutritional value but makes you giddy. Forgettable, frequently funny and weirdly satisfying. 1 hr. 27

PG

(mildly raunchy humor) -

C.R.

Taken ***

Liam Neeson makes a surprisingly good action hero - an ex-covert op who comes to the rescue of his teenage daughter when she and a friend are abducted by sex traffickers in Paris. Wild chases and martial-arts mayhem ensue in this brisk, no-nonsense thriller. 1 hr. 31

PG-13

(violence, profanity, sex, drugs, adult themes) -

S.R.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans *1/2

What do you get when vampires battle werewolves? In this disappointing and talky prequel, mostly tedium. 1 hr. 33

R

(graphic violence, adult themes) -

D.H.

The Uninvited **1/2

A teenager's resistance to her father's new girlfriend provides the emotional underpinnings for this spooky, if narcotic, psychological thriller adapted from a 2003 K-horror suspenser. With Emily Browning, pop-eyed and fragile, in the lead. 1 hr. 27

PG-13

(violence, horror, profanity, sex, adult themes) -

S.R.

Reviewed by critics Wendy Rosenfield (W.R.), Howard Shapiro (H.S.) and Toby Zinman (T.Z.).

Blackbird

(Theatre Exile) Lovers meet again after 15 years - more than half her lifetime. Previews Thursday-next Sunday. Opens Feb. 11.

Mass Appeal

(South Camden Theatre Company) A seminarian disturbs a settled priest's peace. Opens Friday.

The Odd Couple

(Innovation Studio, Kimmel Center) Philly faves Tony Braithwaite and Pete Pryor are Felix and Oscar. Previews Thursday-next Sunday, opens Feb. 10.

Rent

(Academy of Music) Featuring Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp from the orginal Broadway production. Ends Sunday.

Sizwe Banzi is Dead

(Lantern Theatre Company) The Philly premiere of Athol Fugard's powerful 1972 play. Previews Tuesday, opens Wednesday.

The Complete Works of Wlllm Shkspr (abridged)

(Theatre Horizon) A good-enough version of a popular romp that could to more to distinguish itself. Through Feb. 15.

- W.R.

Altar Boyz

(Media Theatre) A Christian boy-band sings, dances, and wrestles with its mission. Through Feb. 15.

The Day of the Picnic

(People's Light and Theatre) Strange doings at a nursing home in this Russell Davis world premiere. Through Feb. 15.

Exit, Corpse

(Plays & Players) A dark, nasty little comedy, full of body parts and unusual suspects. Too long for its slight plot, but fun and a good introduction to Plays & Players' new third-floor blackbox, with Quig's, a cozy pub, adjacent. Ends today.

- T.Z.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

(New Candlelight Theatre) Fine cast, spirited revival, hampered a bit by the static pace of the canned orchestration. Through March 14.

- H.S.

Give My Regards to Broadway

(Kimmel Center's Innovation Studio) Six singers do warhorses from 1905 to WWII. Best is Peter John Rios' choreography. Ends today.

- H.S.

The Imaginary Invalid

(REP) So much bathroom humor permeates this new company's Moliere adaptation, you'd swear you were in middle school. But performances are solid, and the laughs get steadily bigger. Through Feb. 14.

- H.S.

James and the Giant Peach

(Arden Theatre) Spiffy sound and video are more impressive than the adaptation of Roald Dahl's book. Through next Sunday.

- H.S.

Jesus Christ Superstar

(Academy of Music) Ted Neeley makes it happen. Ends today.

Looking Over the President's Shoulder (Hedgerow) An insightful, if too-restrained, look at the 21-year career of the late White House chief butler Alonzo Fields. Through next Sunday.

- W.R.

Mrs. Warren's Profession

(McCarter Theatre) Shaw's engrossing play about a mother, a daughter, and the world's oldest profession: pithy observations by the carload. Emily Mann directs a fine cast. Through Feb. 15.

- T.Z.

My Name Is Asher Lev

(Arden Theatre) The world premiere based on Chaim Potok's novel about a man torn between art and faith is an exquisite adaptation by Aaron Posner, with a three-actor cast that creates beautiful moments. Through March 15.

- H.S.

No Child

(Delaware Theatre Company) A teacher distills her time at a tough New York high school in a play that offers valuable insights, but also suffers a gaping hole in its plot. Two terrific actors play all 15 roles. Ends today.

- H.

S.

O Captain, My Captain: Whitman's Lincoln

(Walnut Independence Studio) The volume's high in this one-man show set in the poet's Camden living room, but so is the quality of Bill Van Horn's playwriting. He also portrays Walt Whitman. Through next Sunday.

Orange Flower Water

(Luna Theater Company) A short play about marital mistakes and the collateral damage created by infidelity. An excellent production of Craig Wright's drama about ordinary people making a mess of things. T

hrough Feb. 14.

- T.Z.

The Rant

(InterAct Theatre Company) A black kid is killed by a cop, and no one knows what really happened. A heavy hand mars fascinating questions raised by this new play. Through Feb. 22.

- W.R.

Resurrection

(Philadelphia Theatre Company) Daniel Beatty's celebration of black manhood through five characters representing life's stages; they struggle against a litany of miseries and discover that "a little child shall lead them." Through Feb. 22.

- T.Z.

A Streetcar Named Desire

(Walnut Street Theatre) It had its pre-Broadway tryout at the Walnut about 60 years ago; this excellent revival shows how well it has held up. Through March 1. - T.Z.

The Secret Life of Bees ***

Set in 1964 South Carolina and adapted from the Sue Monk Kidd novel, the story of an abused teenager (Dakota Fanning) who finds sanctuary with a beekeeper (Queen Latifah) and her independent-minded sisters. 1 hr. 50

PG-13

(violence, profanity, bigotry) -

C.R.