Film Calendar

UPCOMING MOVIES: Critics' recommendations are highlighted in bold.

FEBRUARY

14 -- "Jumper" stars Hayden Christensen as a young man who discovers he has teleporting powers, and that a war has existed for thousands of years between "jumpers" like him and their sworn enemies ("sitters"?). With Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane and Rachel Bilson.

14 -- "Definitely, Maybe," a rom-com starring Ryan Reynolds, concerns a soon-to-be-divorced father and his young daughter (Abigail Breslin), who demands to know every detail about how her parents met and fell in love. Isla Fisher and Rachel Weisz co-star.

14 -- "Step Up 2 the Streets" is the high-kicking sequel to the 2006 dance movie "Step Up," and like its predecessor takes place in Baltimore, where the rebellious dancer Andie (Briana Evigan) competes in a high-stakes underground dance competition.

14 -- "The Spiderwick Chronicles" brings yet another beloved children's book to the screen, this time with the story of the Grace family, who discover some strange goings-on when they move to a secluded old house. Sarah Bolger stars as Mallory Grace, with Freddie Highmore as twin brothers Simon and Jared.

15 -- "Nanking," Bill Guttentag's award-winning documentary about the 1937 rape and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese by Japanese forces, opens at the Avalon. (The film was produced by Caps owner Ted Leonsis.)

15 -- "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" finds the master of the zombie flick back at it in the legendary filmmaker's first independently produced film in more than 20 years. In a neat bit of cinematic who's-your-daddy, this one concerns some film students making a horror film in the woods who begin to experience real-life terrors.

15 -- The 2007 Academy Award-nominated animated and live-action short films make a stop at Landmark's E Street Cinema, so bring your Oscar party ballot!

15 -- "The Violin," from first-time Mexican writer-director Francisco Vargas, tells the story of an elderly peasant (Don Angel Tavira) in 1970s Mexico who leads a double life as an itinerant violin player and soldier in the country's turbulent guerrilla conflicts.

22 -- "Witless Protection" features Larry the Cable Guy (hasn't satellite made him obsolete yet?) in a screwball action-adventure involving a beautiful federal witness and Larry's dimwitted attempts to "save" her from the FBI agents tasked with her protection.

22 -- "Be Kind Rewind" stars Jack Black as a loser in Passaic, N.J., who, when he becomes magnetized at the power plant where he lives, erases all the tapes in his neighborhood video store, then with the store clerk (Mos Def) decides to re-record the movies with their own reenactments. From mind-bendy director Michel Gondry.

22 -- "Steep" is the nonfiction account of the birth of big-mountain skiing and its most graceful and physically fearless champions, including Bill Briggs, Stefano De Benedetti and the sport's inventor, the late Doug Coombs.