Thurs., Dec. 15

Last chance to catch We Need to Talk About Kevin, which completes its Oscar qualifying run at Cinefamily today (the film will be back on local screens in January). It's a rare film, and not merely in the sense that it's director Lynne Ramsay's first since 2002's Morvern Callar. An uncomfortable treatment of a mother's struggle with her apparently malicious son, her bewilderment and desperation held barely in check, Ramsay's film benefits from a finely modulated performance by Tilda Swinton.

Fri., Dec. 16

The second last chance of the week is the final night of The Wright Stuff III at the New Beverly, featuring movies director Edgar Wright has never seen. To finish off, he has Kevin Smith present The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, a crazy trip of 1984 comic book sci-fi insanity with a killer cast. Top-notch midnight movie viewing.

Sun., Dec. 18 – Mon., Dec 19

The New Beverly pays tribute to loony and recently deceased British director Ken Russell with his Lawrence adaptation Women in Love, for which Glenda Jackson won the Oscar (though the high point is Ollie Reed and Alan Bates' naked fireside wrestling). Followed by Russell's feverish life of Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers, featuring balls-out performances from Richard Chamberlain and Ms. Jackson once again.

Wed., Dec. 21

One for the adventurous: a rare chance to see Mr. Nobody tonight at the Aero, Jaco Van Dormael's $50 million time-bending epic that effectively got buried after its 2009 festival premiere (it first resurfaced locally in June at the L.A. Film Festival). Pretty Jared Leto rubbers up as the world's last surviving mortal, 118 years old in 2092, and recalls all sorts of episodes from possible lives and possible loves (Sarah Polley and Diane Kruger). Incredibly dense, dazzling and demanding of attention. —Tom von Logue Newth

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