Other new offerings on the big screen this weekend

Movies are rated on 0 to 10 scale.

OPENS TODAY

6 - The Men Who Stare at Goats

» "Wacky" isn't George Clooney's strong suit as an actor. But it's always at least amusing to watch the suave, silky leading man let his freak flag fly. It flutters and flaps in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," an odder-than-odd farce about a small-town reporter (Ewan McGregor) who stumbles across the graduates of an Army "psychic" soldier program, self-described "Jedi Warriors" taught to fly, walk through walls, and practice mind control and "cloud bursting" - concentrating on a cloud until it breaks up, then taking the credit for it.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: R for language, some drug content and brief nudity

ONLINE: www.themenwhostareatgoatsmovie.com

5 - A Christmas Carol

» Robert Zemeckis' retelling of the classic Charles Dickens tale starts out as if it will be something special, but in the end neither Zemeckis nor star Jim Carrey can help themselves, and the movie goes off the rails.

- Bill Goodykoontz, Gannett

RATED: PG for scary sequences and images

ONLINE: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/achristmascarol

NOT REVIEWED

The Box

A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know.

RATED: PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images

ONLINE: www.thebox-movie.com

The Fourth Kind

A fact-based thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.

RATED: PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality

ONLINE: www.thefourthkind.net

STILL IN THEATERS

8 - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

» This is the latest unexpected delight from Sony Pictures Animation, the folks who gave us "Monster House" and "Surf's Up." A delicious farce and a backhanded slap at America the Obese, it may be the funniest animated film of the year. Based on the popular children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett, "Meatballs" is about fathers and sons, daring to be smart and the price of gluttony.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG for brief mild language

ONLINE: www.sonypictures.com/movies/cloudywithachanceofmeatballs

8 - The Invention of Lying

»"Lying" is funny rather than hilarious, thought-provoking rather than prat-falling. Like the first Ricky Gervais film comedy, "Ghost Town," it takes a thin concept and hurls the acrid, sarcastic and slow-burning Gervais at it until the humor gives way to a measure of understanding and sweetness we'd never expect. The honest truth? This "Invention" is worth seeing more for the discussion on the ride home than the many laughs.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG-13 for language including some sexual material and a drug reference

ONLINE: http://the-invention-of-lying.warnerbros.com

8 - Zombieland

» "Zombieland" is the funniest zombie movie since "Shaun of the Dead," funnier even than "Fido." This is a "28 Days Later" played for laughs - lots of them, endless jokes, one-liners and sight gags.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: R for horror violence/gore and language

ONLINE: www.zombieland.com

7 - This Is It

» It's easy to be cynical about this film, pieced together from hundreds of hours of footage of rehearsal from Michael Jackson's last concert tour. But the film plays as a heartfelt look at a man fully in control of his gifts.

- Bill Goodykoontz, Gannett

RATED: PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images

ONLINE: www.thisisit-movie.com

7 - Where the Wild Things Are

» "Where the Wild Things Are," the book, is just 339 words long. But in turning it into "Where the Wild Things Are," the movie, director Spike Jonze has expanded the basic story with a breathtaking visual scheme and stirring emotional impact. It's a gorgeous film: This may sound contradictory, but it's intricate and rough-hewn at the same time, dreamlike and earthy. What keeps it from reaching complete excellence is the thinness of the script.

- Christy Lemire, Associated Press

RATED: PG for mild thematic elements, come adventure action and brief language

ONLINE: http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com

6 - Amelia

» "Amelia" has magnificent period settings and airplanes and majestic aerial photography. It boasts the two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, perfectly cast as Amelia Earhart, with Richard Gere as Earhart's promoter-publisher husband, George Putnam. They even have nice onscreen chemistry. But Mira Nair's big-screen "Amelia" is one thing Earhart was not - safe. It's sometimes moving and occasionally even thrilling and poetic. It never, however, truly takes flight.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG for some sensuality, language, thematic elements and smoking

ONLINE: www.foxsearchlight.com/amelia

6 - Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

»"Cirque du Freak" is sort of a "Twilight"-lite. It's about vampires and it's about teenagers. But where "Twilight" vamps down Romance Novel Road, "Freak," based on Darren Shan's novels, is a lark and in this case, the laughs are intentional. The movie's big drawback is that it isn't silly enough. John C. Reilly is well cast as a playful, seen-it-all blood-sucker who explains what awaits Darren (Chris Massoglia) if the kid chooses to earn his fangs - "It's a lonely life, but there's lots of it." Director Paul Weitz and writer Brian Helgeland go for something like a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" goof on teens dealing with issues of eternal life/eternal damnation.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG-13 for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language

ONLINE: www.thevampiresassistant.net

6 - More Than a Game

» You don't have to care about sports to get sucked into "More Than a Game," Kristopher Belman's documentary about what may have been the best high school basketball team ever. That would be the varsity crew at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, where a handful of friends and a dedicated coach were annual contenders for the national championship. One of those kids was future NBA great LeBron James.

- Robert W. Butler, MCT News Service

RATED: PG for brief mild language and incidental smoking

ONLINE: www.morethanagamemovie.com

6 - Paranormal Activity

» After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. This is more fun than most studio horror films that drop into theaters most weekends. Is it scarier? Only occasionally.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: R for language

ONLINE: http://paranormalactivity-movie.com

5 - Astro Boy

» The animated "Astro Boy" is a shiny hodgepodge of "Pinocchio," "WALL-E," "Oliver Twist," "Gladiator" and "Superman," with some obvious visual touches taken from "The Iron Giant." As its own entity, though, it's pretty forgettable. Director David Bowers ("Flushed Away"), who co-wrote the script with Timothy Hyde Harris ("Kindergarten Cop," "Space Jam"), gets some help from a lively voice cast that includes Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy and Nathan Lane, and the Art Deco look of the film's architecture has a classic appeal. But it almost feels like there are too many movies competing simultaneously in what is essentially a pretty standard tale of good versus evil.

- Christy Lemire, Associated Press

RATED: PG for some action and peril, and brief mild language

ONLINE: www.astroboy-themovie.com

4 - The Stepfather

»The best you can say about this remake of that serial-killer-in-mommy's-bed tingler of 1987, is that it efficiently goes about its business. The suspense is there, but because there's no mystery to this thriller, it's all about how soon the teen (Penn Badgley) will figure out who that creep (Dylan Walsh) Mom wants to marry really is, who will believe him and who will have to die because they won't listen to the kid.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality

ONLINE: www.welcometothefamily.com

4 - Couples Retreat

» "Couples Retreat" was made because of its sunny, sandy location, scenic Bora Bora. Pals Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau team up again. They co-wrote this but their banter isn't what it was in their "Swingers" days. And they pitch in to help pal Peter Billingsley behind the camera. But are those reasons for making the movie, or excuses? "Couples," a sputtering if sporadically amusing misfire, packed a lot of actors off to a pretty location and gave them nothing funny or deep to do.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: PG-13 for sexual content, language

ONLINE: www.couplesretreatmovie.com

4 - Law Abiding Citizen

» "Law Abiding Citizen" is a glib, brutal and preposterous revenge fantasy, a take-the-law-in-your-own-hands rabble rouser that taps into a lot of fears and genuine gripes about the American legal system. It's a "Who dies next?" slasher film masquerading as a revenge thriller.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language

ONLINE: www.lawabidingcitizenfilm.com

4 - Saw VI

» In this latest outing, Jigsaw tortures the insurance actuarial menace who sentenced him and other cancer patients to death. You just don't expect that from a "Saw" movie, do you? "But "Saw VI," is surfing the zeitgeist, and how. It's still torture porn, more excruciating than scary. It's still all about the elaborate and gory "games" the victims must win in order to survive Jigsaw's test of character, redemption and humanity. But maybe we'll all have full health coverage by the time that one opens. Jigsaw wouldn't have it any other way.

- Roger Moore, MCT News Service

RATED: R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture throughout, and for language

ONLINE: www.officialsaw.com

REVIEW: hub.lsj.com