“Spread’’ opened Friday but was not screened in time to be included in this list. A full review is at Boston.com/films
Bandslam Costarring Vanessa Hudgens, but - surprise - it’s closer to “School of Rock’’ than “High School Musical XVIII.’’ By handing its new tweener pop drama to Todd Graff, the smart writer-director of “Camp,’’ studio executives have come up with a let’s-put-on-a-show movie that’s unoriginal but extremely charming. (111 min., PG) (Ty Burr)
Cold Souls Paul Giamatti plays a depressed actor named Paul Giamatti, who has his soul removed. Sophie Barthes’s comedy could have coasted on that joke. Instead, it finds a better one in a Russian black market for souls. With David Strathairn and the intriguing Dina Korzun as a Russian soul mule. (101 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)
District 9 Out of left field - South Africa, actually - comes a gritty, grubby, relentlessly paced sci-fi action movie about race and extraterrestrials. Neill Blomkamp has made a smart and frenetic outsider blockbuster, but all the style can’t disguise the story’s shortcomings. Beware of extreme shaky-cam. In English and Prawn, with subtitles. (112 min., R) (Ty Burr)
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Anyone looking for a cheap, vicariously timely alternative to the government’s Cash for Clunkers program might try this comedy, set on a California used car lot. You put up the cash. The movie clunks. With Jeremy Piven, James Brolin, Ving Rhames, David Koechner, and Kathryn Hahn. (90 min., R) (Wesley Morris)
Lorna’s Silence A starkly moving moral tale of the New Europe from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers. Arta Dobroshi plays the title character, a young Albanian immigrant whose involvement with thugs in a green-card scheme proves to be her spiritual ruin and salvation. In French, Albanian, and Russian, with subtitles. (105 min., R) (Ty Burr)
Ponyo In Hayao Miyazaki’s movie, a sea creature longs to be a real, human girl who can eat ham and have fun. But it’s more an ecological cautionary tale than a fable. Miyazaki’s ability to weave the ordinary and the irregular into something dreamlike keeps the movie from abject cuteness. With the voices of Tina Fey, Liam Neeson. (101 min., G) (Wesley Morris)
Second Skin A documentary on computer gamers whose intense involvement in their online world has unpredictable effects out in reality. Don’t expect shattered stereotypes about computer gamers. The devotees of games like World of Warcraft tend to be considerably less swashbuckling than their online avatars. (94 min., unrated) (Joel Brown)
The Time Traveler’s Wife Eric Bana plays a man afflicted with “chrono-impermanence,’’ meaning he bounces back and forth between moments in his own life. It’s hell on a relationship, but his wife (Rachel McAdams) bears up with a beatific smile. An effective tearjerker, but the film’s extreme tenderness leads mostly to dullness. (107 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)
Adam A kind of romance between a lonely toymaker who has Asperger’s syndrome and the woman who moved in downstairs. The movie flavorlessly combines romance, sitcom, and television drama in the hopes of entertainment. It’s probable that this movie will bring Asperger’s to an audience that’s never heard of or experienced it. It’s also likely to bore them. (99 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)
Julie & Julia The easiest thing Nora Ephron has ever done with a movie. Half the film is spent with Meryl Streep as Julia Child in France in 1949. Half is spent 50 years later in Queens with Amy Adams as Julie Powell, who devotes a year (and a blog) to exploring the recipes from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.’’ The movie is more than a tale of two women (although it is certainly that). It’s a tale of two different ages for women. With Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina. (123 min., PG) (Wesley Morris)
Paper Heart Actress-comedian Charlyne Yi crosses America looking for the meaning of love. The interviews are real, but director Nicholas Jasenovec is played by an actor, and the scenes documenting Yi’s growing romance with actor Michael Cera, playing himself, are patently staged. The movie’s a platypus: cute as the dickens but what the heck is it? (88 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)
A Perfect Getaway Newlyweds (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) are stranded on a remote Hawaiian trail with a homicidal couple or two. Proof that a dumb idea can be brought to life by smart people, this is a neatly crafted B-movie pleasure -- nothing fancy, but the gasps, screams, and (mostly) intentional laughs are there. (97 min., R) (Ty Burr)
An archive of movie reviews may be found at www.boston.com/movies. Theaters are subject to change. 
