Arts & Entertainment

Two Danish schoolchildren — one meek and unassertive, the other angry and vengeance-prone — forge a friendship with ugly consequences in this cautionary tale from director Susanne Bier. The story opens with physician Anton, working abroad in a Kenyan hospital, where he’s routinely treating female victims of a psychotic thug known as Big Man.

Anton himself suffers from a dysfunctional home life, given his emotional estrangement from his wife, and his desire to set a positive example for son Elias  — the physician longs to mend both relationships but finds this difficult given his frequent absenteeism. Meanwhile, another family suffers from equally grave issues: Claus and his son, Christian, move from London back to their home country of Denmark; Claus is still reeling from his late wife’s recent death from cancer, and father and son find it more and more difficult to connect with one another. But Christian has much deeper issues than simple filial alienation — an almost pathological addiction to retribution that manifests itself in a knife-wielding attempt to protect new friend Elias from a local bully. Elias and Christian become fast companions, but as they do, it draws out a level of rage in both boys that threatens to culminate in shocking, terroristic levels of violence. Director: Susanne Bier. Cast: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Bodil Jorgensen, Elsebeth Steentoft. Rated: R. Time: 1:58.

A richly detailed biopic exploring the life and career of controversial FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

For nearly 50 years, Hoover fought crime as one of the most powerful law enforcers in America. During Hoover’s extended stint as Director of the FBI, however, his penchant for bending the law in the name of seeking justice and using the secrets of high profile leaders to gain personal leverage won him just as many supporters as detractors. Little did many other than his loyal colleague Clyde Tolson and faithful secretary Helen Gandy know, however, that Hoover himself was a man with many secrets to hide. Director: Clint Eastwood. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench. Rated: R. Time: 2:17.

Financial giant Arthur Shaw has just been placed under house arrest in his luxury New York City penthouse for cleaning out his investors to the tune of two billion dollars.

Meanwhile, on the complete opposite end of the financial spectrum, Josh Kovacs earns a modest living as the manager of The Tower — the luxurious building where Shaw resides. Upon learning that the building staffers who entrusted Shaw with their retirement funds are about to lose their life savings, and that the thief will likely get off scot-free, Josh convinces a small group of Tower employees and a downtrodden former resident that Shaw has stashed a million-dollar safety net in his penthouse, and that it’s theirs for the taking if they can just slip past security.  Josh as he recruits crafty swindler Slide to help get their money back. Director: Brett Ratner. Cast:Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick. Rated: PG-13. Time: 1:45.

Brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes matches wits with the nefarious Professor Moriarty after uncovering a diabolical plot to destabilize the entire Western world.

A criminal mastermind without a conscience, Moriarty is Holmes’ worst nightmare — a man who uses his incredible intellect for unspeakably evil purposes. When the Crown Prince of Austria dies and Inspector Lestrade rules the death a suicide, Holmes steps back to see the big picture.

But little does Holmes realize that Moriarty is about to commit a crime that will shock the entire world, and that solving it may be the death of him.

Director: Guy Ritchie. Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Rachel McAdams, Jared Harris. Rated: PG-13. Time: 2:09.

The Runway is inspired by the true story of a South American pilot who landed his plane near Mallow in Ireland’s County Cork, in 1983.

Against all odds, the people of the town came together to build a runway to get him home and briefly caught the imagination of the nation. It is the story of Paco, a young boy without a father who adopts the pilot and convinces the town to build a runway to get him home. Director: Ian Power.  Cast: Kerry Condon, James Cosmo and Demián Bichir. Rated: N/A. Time: 1:41.

A devoted Muslim family man experiences a hilarious identity crisis after discovering that he was adopted at birth, and his real name is Solly Shimshillewitz. Mahmud Nasir is still grieving the recent death of his mother when he finds his birth certificate, and learns he was born to a Jewish mother. In order to embrace his heritage, Mahmud seeks the advice of drunken cab-driver Lenny, whose crash course in Judaism is more quirky than kosher. Director: Josh Appignanesi. Cast: Omid Djalili, Richard Schiff and Archie Panjabi. Time: 1:45.