The Screening Room

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A-)

My Brother is an Only Child (B+)

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (B-)

Before the Rains (C)

Have you been itching to catch 1982's First Blood on the big screen? Me neither. But that's not going to stop 430 theaters nationwide from showing the original Rambo at 7:30 Thursday night in a digitally remastered print. The screening will be followed by an onscreen interview with Sylvester Stallone as well as an alternate ending. For a list of theaters, go to http://www.fathomevents.com/.

Son of Rambow is one of my favorites of the year so far. It's one of those quiet, affecting films where the kids seem so real and the story so unforced that you find yourself melding with their world. A boy from a sect so strict about media exposure that he has to wait in the hallway when his teacher puts in an educational video collides with a boy who is such a troublemaker he is always getting thrown out of the classroom into that same hallway. Somehow the bad kid -- well, bad in a Tom Sawyer-ish kind of way -- convinces the other one to help him make a movie for a contest. They come up with a First Blood sequel in which Rambo's son seeks his father (both boys have father issues, naturally). The charm lies in how they put the pieces together and what they find out about each other -- and themselves -- on their journey.

As fans of the Wu-Tang Clan know, Ghostface Killah has been known to use the alter-alter-ego Tony Starks as an homage to the dude behind the red-and-gold suit. (Why a guy named Ghostface Killah needs yet another alias is open to debate. But that's the Wu). Said Wu heads might also know that Ghost was originally supposed to have a cameo in the mega-blockbuster, but he got left on the cutting room floor. This may be cause for fans to swarm like killer bees, but at least he can be heard briefly on the soundtrack.

As we reported during SXSW, The Visitor star Richard Jenkins did some time at the Dallas Theater Center (Former DTC honcho Adrian Hall worked extensively with Jenkins at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence).

Hall once brought Jenkins out to Big D to act in Sam Shepard's Fool For Love. Keep reading for a funny Jenkins anecdote on DTC's sometimes-squeamish audiences.

Did you catch Iron Man Thursday night? Tell us what you thought and share your thoughts on early screenings before official openings.

Here's what else is opening this weekend:

• Iron Man (B+)
• As It Is In Heaven (B+)
• Made of Honor (C)
• The Visitor (A-)
• Planet B-Boy (B)

And start planning your summer vacation with our Summer Movie Guide.

So, I set out on Tuesday after work with my Iron Man screening pass in hand with what I thought was more than enough time to park the car, get through any line there might be, and find a decent seat at Cinemark Movies 17 on Webb Chapel Road in Dallas. Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans and such ... Anyway, I get dropped off at 6:30 p.m., a whole hour before the screening's scheduled start, and make my way through the gaggle of people in front of the theater, thinking, "I've done this before; I know where to go." Well, before I could pull the pass all the way out of my purse, the doorkeeper (though she was standing at a table) said, "No."

Movie Critic Chris Vognar offers up an early look at Iron Man. Technically it opens tomorrow, but you can find it at plenty of theaters starting at 8 tonight.

Are you heading out tonight to see it? If so, check back and tell us what you thought.

And what do you think about movies that start screening a day before its official "opening"? Special sneak peak for geeks, or marketing ploy to inflate box office totals?

• Baby Mama (B)
• Deception (C)
• Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (C)
• The Life Before Her Eyes (C+)
• Priceless (B)
• Deal

In My Blueberry Nights Dallas' Norah Jones plays Elizabeth, a heartbroken traveler with a taste for blueberry pie. Audiences might have a hard time figuring out what makes the character tick. At first, so did the star.

• Street Kings (B-)
• Smart People (B-)
• Prom Night
• Persepolis (A-)
• The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (B)
• Chaos Theory (C+)
• Flawless (C+)
• Chapter 27 (D)
• The Grand (D)

Trailers | Find all movies

As promised, here are some more golden nuggets from the great Martin Scorsese. His latest, the Rolling Stones concert movie Shine a Light, opens today.

Chris Cooper, who can be seen in the new film Married Life, is a Kansas City native. But his people come from Texas. "I'm the only one that's not from Texas, going back generation to generation on both sides of my family," he told me recently.

It seems his great-great grandfather once had a chance to get in on the ground floor of a fledgling city called Dallas. But it didn't quite work out.

There's a long weekend ahead. Are you heading to the multiplex? Read the reviews, get showtimes and grade the films by clicking below. Or comment below to share your own thoughts on this week's new releases.

Neither Shutter or Meet the Browns screened in advance for critics. Did you see either one? What did you think?

• Drillbit Taylor (B-)
• CJ7 (B+)
• Married Life (B)
• Diva (B)
• Under the Same Moon (B)
• Meet the Browns
• Shutter

Herewith, a rant about a visual gaffe in the current cinema.

On Friday's GuideLive cover, you'll see a large publicity photo of the stars of The Other Boleyn Girl (the same photo that's used in a movie ad inside the section). In the picture, Natalie Portman is at right, portraying Anne Boleyn.

Natalie herself looks great -- but what she's wearing made me cringe. The gown and hairstyle are OK. It's the jewelry that isn't working.

They have Anne Boleyn wearing a little pearl necklace with a big gold "B" hanging from it -- the like of which you might see in, say, a 21st-century Wal-mart. I seriously doubt you would have seen it anywhere in 16th-century England.

A little cross or crucifix hanging from the pearl necklace, or a pearl pendant, perhaps? Those styles would be historically acceptable. The big gold "B" is so not. You might as well have Eric Bana sporting a Rolodex as Henry VIII, and Scarlett Johanssen as Mary Boleyn with an iPod plugged into her ears.

AT&T and Martin Scorsese have teamed up for a sorta funny public service announcement that will begin running in movie theaters, urging people to shut off their cellphones. I'm all in favor of that, though I think the next step is to ask people to stop texting. Why anyone would pay $8 to sit in a dark room and type is beyond me. Anyway, here's the PSA if you wanna watch.

Our neighborsgo.com site features a reader observation of the Paris craze the night of The Hottie and the Nottie premiere at Regent Highland Park Village. The short of it: Paris = gracious, her boys = faux thuggy.

• Neighborsgo reader review of the scene
• Stephen's 1/23 story on the scene

Dreaming and scheming: Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell (The Weinstein Company)

Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, whose gray tones dominate the film's visual style, is one of the best in the business. His credits include The Deer Hunter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. However, none of his recent choices scream of such quality.

This is hardly the first blue period for the Woodman. Go back to the late '70s and into the '80s, when he was still trying to be Ingmar Bergman, and you'll find the likes of Interiors, September and Another Woman. Makes you think of the space aliens that arrived at the end of Stardust Memories talking about how much the liked "the early, funny ones."

Lots of critics were down on Cassandra, but not all of 'em. For a dissenting review, check out Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.

Showtimes and review: Read Chris Vognar's review of the film

Video: Watch the trailer

Story: Q&A with Tracy Phillips

Story: Charlie Wilson says film does him justice

Story: 'Good Time Charlie' a fun-loving breed extinct in today's Congress

Video: Charlie Wilson campaign ads

Like Christmas dinner at Grandma's, this weekend's cinematic lineup has more to offer than you can possibly consume (well, you could try). Eight films open today, with five more coming on Christmas Day. And it's a pretty wide assortment: we've got comedy (Walk Hard, B); romance (P.S. I Love You, C); dysfunctional family drama (The Savages, B); adventure for the whole family (National Treasure: Book of Secrets, C); a comically serious history (Charlie Wilson's War, B); a Byzantine mine field (Youth Without Youth, D); a musical gore fest (Sweeney Todd, B+); and Blonde Ambition.

But if none of those hit your holiday sweet spot, head over to the Angelikas (Dallas or Plano) Sunday-Tuesday for a stroll down memory lane with screenings of It's a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.

Which leads us to the question du jour: What's your favorite, tried and true holiday movie?

Wonder if Santa will bring me a Dewey Cox record? (Columbia Pictures)

If you find yourself out battling the holiday shopping crowds tonight, why not head to the theaters at midnight to get an early look at this week's new films? Four of the eight new releases have midnight showings:

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Then head back here and tell the rest of us slackers what you thought.

Gener8Xion Entertainment

And hey, if you do go see it, come back here and tell me what you thought.

Critical upbringing: Baumbach on the Margot set (Paramount Vantage)

Baumbach, whose Margot at the Wedding opens today, is the spawn of former Village Voice film critic Georgia Brown and critic/novelist Jonathan Baumbach. (Their divorce was the inspiration for his previous film, The Squid and the Whale). Though he emphasizes that both parental units were also fiction writers - and that Brown is not the inspiration for the abysmal mothering of Margot (played by Nicole Kidman) - he does recall a whole lot of movie talk around the house.

"I never thought of it as living with film critics," he says by phone. "They were movie lovers and book lovers. There was just a lot of interesting stuff available if I was up to it. That was definitely a fun aspect of our family. We’d see a movie and talk about it at dinner and come up with what we thought would be better or what we loved about it. If one of us saw a movie that the other hadn’t it was always pleasurable to tell the others about it. The delight taken in movies in my family certainly had a major influence on me."

Say "Marvin": This Christmas (Screen Gems)

I was happy to see This Christmas stay pretty strong at the box office this weekend with $8.4 million (making a two-week total of $37 million). I went to see it last Thursday for my family movie story and was thoroughly entertained, not to mention impressed with the script's ability to juggle a big ensemble of characters. But the cherry on top for me was the closing sequence in which the entire cast steps out of character, one by one, and cuts a rug to Marvin Gaye's Got to Give it Up. It's one of my fave R&B cuts, and it seems to work particular well in movies: It was also featured very effectively in the first Barbershop. "I used to go out to parties/And stand around": No standing around to that groove.