12 Years a Slave
See review this issue. Fox Tower 10.

8 1/2
Fellini's 1963 classic. Fifth Avenue Cinema.

About Time
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

All Is Lost
Grim and melancholy, the latest from JC Chandor (Margin Call) focuses, with exhausting intensity, on a single man. (In the closing credits, he's listed only as "Our Man." He's played by Robert Redford—wrinkled, presumably, from both years and water.) When a yacht he's sailing hits a shipping container in the middle of the Indian Ocean, water rushes into his cabin with startling speed; everything that follows charts his attempts to stay alive. We're only given a few hints about who he is: he's rich (that's a nice boat); he's alone, in more ways than one; and when it comes to sailing, he's hardly an expert, though he seems to be, at least, competent. Whether competence will be enough, Redford's weary, determined face tells us, is profoundly doubtful. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.

B-Movie Bingo
The Hollywood's series features B-movies, with the audience marking down clichés on a custom-made bingo card. This time around: Cyclone, "the age-old tale of a futuristic motorcycle and the bad people who want to steal the technology behind its infinite power source." Hollywood Theatre.

Big Sur
A not-screened-for-critics adaptation of the Kerouac book. This bodes well. Living Room Theaters.

Capital
A suspense flick "set in the high-stakes world of global finance." Fox Tower 10.

The Counselor
Cormac McCarthy wrote The Counselor as a straight-up screenplay and teamed up with director Ridley Scott, which makes it hard to figure out why The Counselor doesn't work nearly as well as it should: McCarthy offers a reliable serving of dour philosophy and new and exciting ways to kill people, and Scott reigns in the aloof goofiness that plagued Prometheus. The Counselor's plot is vague but propulsive; the performances, aside from a few iffy moments from Michael Fassbender and a whole lot of iffy moments from Cameron Diaz, are solid; the visuals, as one would expect from any Scott production, are very pretty. But by the time it ends, The Counselor feels like a series of sequences that never make a coherent movie. ERIK HENRIKSEN Various Theaters.

Ender's Game
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

Free Birds
Two turkeys with amiable Southern drawls (voiced by Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson) time travel to 17th century Massachusetts in an effort to alter the course of Thanksgiving history. Unambiguous holiday smash-and-grab that it is, Free Birds does its job dutifully: it keeps its gag volume dense, it doesn't fuck around with exposition or coherence, and it's packed with the sort of vague, self-satisfied liberal propaganda that seems to populate every kids' movie nowadays. It ain't Pixar, but it could certainly be a lot worse. ZAC PENNINGTON Various Theaters.

Last Vegas
See review this issue. Various Theaters.

Lenny Cooke
A doc about Lenny Cooke—who, in 2001, "was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country," and what's happened since. Directors in attendance. Whitsell Auditorium.

M
A new digital restoration of M, the landmark noir from German director Fritz Lang. From the unprecedented sound design, including intentional silences and off-screen sounds, to Peter Lorre's bug-eyed turn as a serial killer who can't understand or control his urges, M's influence ripples perceptibly right into the present day. Whether you've never seen it, or it's just been too long, this clear-as-bell restoration is reason enough to revisit. MARJORIE SKINNER Whitsell Auditorium.

Mortified Nation
A documentary about those who participate in Mortified events, where people "share their most embarrassing, private childhood writings... in front of total strangers." Filmmakers in attendance. Mission Theater.

My Neighbor Totoro
Probably one of the sweetest and prettiest movies ever, directed by Hayao Miyazaki and starring Totoro! And this is the dubbed version, so kids can go! Everyone should watch this all the time. Fifth Avenue Cinema.

Nebraska
An early screening of the new film from Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, The Descendants). Hollywood Theatre.

North by Northwest
"That's funny. That plane's dustin' crops where there ain't no crops." Laurelhurst Theater.

The Pin
A love story starring "Lithuanian born dancing sensation Milda Gecaite." Okay! Cinema 21.

Samurai Cinema
The NW Film Center's samurai film series. This week's selection: Onibaba. The NW Film Center's samurai film series. This week's selection: Onibaba. Kaneto Shindo’s 1964 historical drama is a weird, mysterious movie of earthy beauty and otherworldly terror. Two women—the mother and wife of a man gone off to war—live in a tiny hut in a vast landscape of tall grass, robbing injured soldiers from the nearby battlefields and, in some cases, hastening them along to their death. When their neighbor Hachi returns from the war, he plants a rift between the two women. There’s a bottomless pit, mud-spattered sex, a spooky samurai with a demonic mask, and lots of gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. It’s a breathtaking, eerie movie unlike anything I’ve ever seen. NED LANNAMANN Whitsell Auditorium.

The Sting
"Luther said I could learn something from you. I already know how to drink." Academy Theater.

Thelma & Louise
"Brakes sure are makin' a funny noise. Think we should get 'em checked?" Hollywood Theatre.

The Trials of Muhammad Ali
See review this issue. Cinema 21.

Voices in Action: Human Rights on Film
The NW Film Center's human rights film series. This week's selection: Forbidden Voices. More at nwfilm.org. Whitsell Auditorium.

The Wicker Man: The Final Cut
A "definitive director's cut" of the 1973 cult horror flick. Show up dressed like Nicolas Cage covered in bees and infuriate horror nerds! Hollywood Theatre.