Movies

New releases on DVD, Blu-ray

Tom Cruise takes a shot at heavy-metal head-banging in “Rock of Ages” while Will Smith gets robo-phobic in a 3D Blu-ray reissue of “I, Robot.”

Animated reanimation in ‘Frankenweenie’

The heart-warming story of a boy and his reanimated dog. Though Tim Burton has one bona fide animated masterpiece to his credit and another that’s none too shabby, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the director of “Batman” and “Beetlejuice” began his career with the desire to become an animator and that he worked for a short time for Disney before striking out on his own with a series of live-action shorts.

New releases on DVD, Blu-ray

Johnny Depp sinks his teeth into his fave ’60s soap opera in “Dark Shadows” while Wong Kar Wai explores the slow torture of obsessive romance in “In the Mood for Love.”

Showtimes Oct. 4-11

CATLOW 116 W. Main St.. Barrington (847) 381-0777 The Dark Knight Rises (PG-13) Fri, Sat 5-8; Sun-Thu 7 AMC SOUTH BARRINGTON 30175 Studio Drive-South Barrington (888) AMC-4FUN Argo (R) Thu 12:01 a.m. Here Comes the Boom (PG) Thu 12:01 a.m. Seven Psychopaths (R) Thu 12:01 a.m. Sinister …

‘Down’ scores low marks for drama

“Won’t Back Down” is an earnest, well-intended but only modestly engaging film earns extra credit for addressing a crucially important issue, but below-average marks as a drama.

All-singing, all-dancing, all-upchucking in ‘Pitch Perfect’

If you’re a major fan of aggressively flashy a cappella song-and-dance numbers and/or world-class projectile vomiting, “Pitch Perfect” is just the thing you’re looking for. If not, stay far away from this labored attempt to cross the peppy vocal stylings of “Glee” with the ruder, cruder (and more purgative) comedic aspects of “Bridesmaids.”

Movies opening this weekend, still in theaters

Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt get seriously conflicted in “Looper,” while Anna Kendrick tunes up in “Pitch Perfect” and Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis go back to school in “Won’t Back Down,” all in area theaters.

Performances make ‘Watch’ worthwhile

This always involving, though not always entirely convincing police drama makes good use of flashy camera techniques to tell a fairly standard-issue story — but it’s the human element that makes “End of Watch” work as well as it does.

New releases on DVD, Blu-ray

Marvel superheroes team up for mega-action in “The Avengers” while Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner turn marriage into mega-misery in “The War of the Roses.”

Strictly down the middle ‘Curve’

Straight down the middle with nothing especially tricky on the ball, “Trouble with the Curve” gets the job done, more or less, as a feel-good, baseball-themed romantic family drama and as late-innings vehicle for star Clint Eastwood.

SHOWTIMES

CATLOW 116 W. Main St.-Barrington (847) 381-0777 Hope Springs (PG-13) Fri-Sat 5:45-8; Sun Thu 7 AMC SOUTH BARRINGTON 30175 Studio Drive-South Barrington (888) AMC-4FUN Pitch Perfect (PG-13) Thu 12:01 a.m. Looper (R) Thu 12:01 a.m. Won’t Back Down (PG) Thu 12:01 a.m. Dredd (R) Fri-Thu 11-1:30 Dredd …