Opening Today

Awake - A man finds that his anesthetic isn't working during a heart operation but is powerless to complain. (Dallas Morning News) R. Carmike: 1:15, 3:15, 5:15, 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. daily, with additional shows at midnight Friday-Saturday.

The Darjeeling Limited - Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, along with Adrien Brody, play estranged brothers who bicker while barreling across India on a train, supposedly on a spiritual journey. They haven't spoken since their father's funeral a year ago and their mother (Anderson regular Anjelica Huston) has abandoned them to become a nun in the Himalayas. But the brothers Whitman, like the film itself, end up running all over the place without ever going anywhere. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) 91 min. Ciné: 9:15 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 7 p.m. Saturday-Tuesday and Thursday.

Golden Compass - Nicole Kidman's presence in this elaborate fantasy flick is emblematic of the movie itself: aesthetically lush but ultimately cold to the touch. This adaptation of the first novel in British writer Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy has some fanciful moments but never achieves the sense of awe-inspiring wonder of the "Lord of the Rings" films, to which comparisons will be inevitable. It's also probably too scary for a lot of kids, with its themes of totalitarianism and mind control; adults, meanwhile, may find it hard to take seriously, despite how seriously it takes itself. Lyra receives the last remaining golden compass, a device that provides the true answer to any question, and must use it to find other children who've been abducted by a government body that wants to rid them of free will. (David Germain, Associated Press) 113 min. PG-13. Beechwood: 4:20, 7 and 9:50 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Carmike: 1, 1:30, 3:45, 4:15, 7, 7:30, 9:35 and 10 p.m. daily, with additional shows at midnight Friday-Saturday.

The List - After the battle of Gettysburg, a small group of South Carolina plantation owners realize that the fall of the Confederacy is inevitable. Coming together on a stormy night at the Rice Planter's Inn in Georgetown, S.C., they formulate a desperate plan to smuggle gold and silver to safe havens in Europe. Out of this meeting is born a secret society known as The Covenant List of South Carolina, Ltd. One hundred and fifty years later, Renny Jacobson, a young Charlotte, N.C., lawyer, learns that his father has suddenly died. Returning home to Charleston, S.C., Renny is shocked to discover that his father bequeathed his significant estate to charity, only leaving Renny an interest in an unknown, obscure entity - The List. Along with the beautiful Jo Johnston, Renny is caught in a web of intrigue, deception, greed and spiritual warfare that reaches from the steamy coasts of South Carolina to the secret vaults of Swiss banks. (movies.yahoo.com) 107 min. PG. Beechwood: 4:40, 7:25 and 9:55 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 2:05 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

Vanaja - Vanaja (Mamatha Bhukya) is the 14-year-old daughter of a poor, low caste fisherman, struggling with dwindling catches and mounting debt. When a sooth-sayer predicts that she will be a great dancer one day, she goes to work in the house of the local landlady, Rama Devi (Urmila Dammannagari), in hopes of learning Kuchipudi dance while earning a keep. It isn't long before Vanaja gets herself invited to play a game of ashta chamma against Rama Devi. Seeing that losing isn't the mistress's forte, Vanaja deliberately gives up her game - a fact that doesn't go unnoticed - and which eventually secures her the landlady's mentorship - first in music, and then in dance. Vanaja excels at the art, and seems to be on a steadily ascending path when Shekhar (Karan Singh), Rama Devi's 23-year-old son - handsome, muscular and rather insecure, returns from the U.S. to run for local political elections. Matters escalate, spiraling downwards and Vanaja is pitched into a tale of class, family and animus from which there is only one escape. (www.vanajathefilm.com) 111 min. Not rated. Ciné: 4 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 7 p.m. Friday and Wednesday and 1:45 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

Now Playing

3:10 to Yuma - Christian Bale and Russell Crowe star in this remake of a 1957 Western. (Dallas Morning News) 117 min. R. Georgia Square: 4:05, 7:05 and 9:40 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:05 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Tate: 3, 5:15, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

American Gangster - Denzel Washington, as real-life heroin kingpin Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe, as detective Richie Roberts, are on a collision course with one another that's bursting with the gritty period atmosphere of 1970s Harlem. (Christy Lemire, Associate Press) 157 min. R. Carmike: 1:15, 4:30 and 7:45 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

August Rush - The movie begins with a a boy (Freddie Highmore) standing in an open field where the surrounding sounds swirl like a symphony in his head. In a whispering voice-over, he says: "I believe in music the way that some people believe in fairy tales." It thus proceeds in fairy-tale fashion. Without any tangible evidence, our protagonist senses his parents (Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russell) are still alive and that he just needs to make music loud enough so they can hear him. (Jake Coyle, Associated Press) 114 min. PG. Beechwood: 4:30, 7:10 and 9:55 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:50 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Carmike: 1:30, 4:30, 7:20 and 9:55 p.m. daily.

Bee Movie - 100 min. PG. Beechwood: 7:15 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:55 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Carmike: 1, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45 and 10 p.m. daily, with additional shows at midnight Friday-Saturday.

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead - A tense and effective thriller, it marks a triumphant return to form for director Sidney Lumet. (rottentomatoes.com) 117 min. R. Ciné: 4:15, 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

Bella - "Bella" opens with a flashback to a confident young man named Jose (Eduardo Verastegui) who is poised to become a major soccer star. The film then flashes forward to the present day, and we see Jose working as a chef in his brother Manny's (Manny Perez) restaurant. When his hot-tempered brother fires a waitress for showing up late, Jose makes the spontaneous decision to walk off the job and go check on her. He catches the young woman, Nina (Tammy Blanchard), just as she is about to board the subway, and she reveals to him that she is pregnant. Worried for her, Jose suggests they spend the day together, and the two set off for a long, meandering jaunt around New York City. Previously only workmates, they slowly open up to each other over the course of the day. (rottentomatoes.com) 100 min. PG-13. Beechwood: 4:35, 7:20 and 9:45 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 2 p.m. Friday-Sunday.

Beowulf - Technology meets Anglo-Saxon poetry as good king Beowulf battles the mysterious monster Grendel, Grendel's even more mysterious mother and an inevitable dragon in this motion capture animated adventure. (Trisha Klein, Staff) 115 min. PG-13. Beechwood: 4:20 and 9:30 p.m. daily; Carmike: 1:15, 4:30, 7:15 and 9:50 p.m. daily (Note: Carmike will show "Beowulf" in 3-D).

Enchanted - Wide-eyed, would-be princess Giselle (the irresistible Amy Adams) is banished by the wicked Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) from her idyllic cartoon playland to the harsh reality of Times Square before she can marry her one true love, Prince Edward (James Marsden). Through the sheer power of her sweetness and optimism, Giselle finds a home in Manhattan with sensible divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick Dempsey) and his adoring 6-year-old daughter, Morgan (Rachel Covey), and finds herself torn between both worlds. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) 107 min. PG. Beechwood: 4:25, 7:05 and 9:35 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:45 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Carmike: 1, 4, 7 and 9:30 p.m. daily, with additional shows at midnight Friday-Saturday.

Fraulein - Reza left Belgrade more than 25 years ago to seek a new life in Zurich. Now in her 50s, she has completely detached herself from the past. She owns a cafeteria and maintains an orderly, joyless existence. Ana, a young, itinerant woman who has fled Sarajevo, breezes into the cafeteria looking for work, and their relationship will change both women in ways they never anticipated. 81 min. Not rated. Athens-Clarke County Library: 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Fred Claus - Vince Vaughn stars as the bitter Fred Claus, who's spent a lifetime seething in the shadow of his loving, generous younger brother, Nicholas (Paul Giamatti), better known as Santa. Fred, however, is thoroughly contemporary. Fred arrives at the shiny, shopping mall-style North Pole - much to the dismay of Nick's wife, Annette (Richardson), who thinks he's good for nothing - and immediately stirs things. (Christy Lemire, Associated Press) 116 min. PG. Beechwood: 4:15, 6:50 and 9:40 p.m. daily, with additional shows at 1:25 p.m. Friday-Sunday; Carmike: 1, 4, 7 and 9:35 p.m. daily.

Good Luck Chuck - 96 min. R. Georgia Square: 4:15 and 9:50 p.m. daily.