Arts & Entertainment

The wealthy heir to a prominent real-estate magnate becomes caught up in a high-profile murder investigation in this thriller inspired by the real-life case of Robert Durst, who was suspected of murdering his wife, Kathie, after she vanished without a trace in 1982.

Warned by his father that the common girl he loves will never be accepted into high society, the young scion throws caution to the wind and marries her regardless.

Later, when the girl disappears and politics enter the picture, a suspicious series of deaths leave a haunted cop convinced that the truth is closer than anyone realizes.

Director: Andrew Jarecki. Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Lily Rabe, Philip Baker Hall. Rated: R. Time: 1:41.

An amiable Navy veteran loses his comfortable job at a big-box store, enrolls in community college, and seeks to reinvent himself while falling for his apathetic speech professor in this romantic comedy re-teaming Academy Award-winning Charlie Wilson’s War co-stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

Larry Crowne has just been downsized. The unfortunate victim of a failing economy, Larry decides that his best option to avoid becoming idle is to take some classes at his local community college.

In no time, Larry befriends a colorful group of moped-obsessed outcasts on the road to self-improvement, and begins working to sharpen his communication skills in a public speaking class taught by Mercedes Tainot. Disenchanted with her job and bored in her marriage, Mercedes has begun to feel as if she’s missing out on life. But whenever she’s with Larry, all of her problems seem to disappear.

Now, just as Larry and Mercedes are feeling as if their lives have been put on hold, they both discover that fate sometimes has a way of giving us exactly what we need, at precisely the right time.

Director: Tom Hanks. Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Bryan Cranston, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson. Rated: PG-13. Time: 1:38.