LITTLE ROCK — At area theaters

68 ALEX CROSS, PG-13 Tyler Perry takes on the role of the title homicide detective/psychologist, who may have met his match in a serial killer (Matthew Fox). (101 minutes)

89 ARGO, R Ben Affleck directs and plays a CIA rescue specialist who concocts (with Alan Arkin and John Goodman) a cockeyed plot to create a fake movie as a way of rescuing six Americans who escaped the 1979 Iranian takeover of the American embassy and subsequent 444-day hostage crisis. Based on supposedly recently declassified documents. (120 minutes)

85 CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: WORLDS AWAY, PG Filmmaker Andrew Adamson captures artistic and acrobatic performances from some of the most elaborate Cirque du Soleil productions. (97 minutes)

87 CLOUD ATLAS, R A soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future. (172 minutes)

82 DEADFALL, R Everything that could go wrong for siblings on the run from a casino heist pretty much does. With Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam, Sissy Spacek, Kris Kristofferson; directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. (95 minutes)

88 DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL, PG-13 Filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland takes a documentary look at the so-called “Empress of Fashion” who launched the career of Twiggy, advised Jackie Onassis and worked for 25 years as the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar until becoming editor in chief at Vogue. (86 minutes)

85 DJANGO UNCHAINED, R Director Quentin Tarantino’s double take on race relations in the pre-Civil War South combined with an homage to spaghetti Westerns, involving a slave who hooks up with a German-born bounty hunter to track down a pair of murderous brothers, then ends up battling a treacherous organization that uses slaves for gladiatorial contests. With Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington. (165 minutes)

88 END OF WATCH, R Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena play young cops patrolling the meanest streets of south-central Los Angeles. (109 minutes)

75 FRANKENWEENIE, PG Director Tim Burton expands upon his early (1984) stop-motion animated short film to create a full-length, stop-motion-animated, black-and-white, 3-D feature about a boy named Victor with a bent for science and his dead dog, Sparky, whom he brings back to life - with just a few minor adjustments. (87 minutes)

83 THE GUILT TRIP, PG-13 Seth Rogen plays an inventor who invites his mother (Barbra Streisand) on a cross-country trip to sell his new product and reunite her with a lost love. With Kathy Najimy, Colin Hanks, Adam Scott; directed by Anne Fletcher. (95 minutes)

85 HERE COMES THE BOOM, PG A former collegiate wrestler (Kevin James) is now a 40-something, apathetic biology teacher in a failing high school who begins, as cutbacks threaten to cancel the music program and lay off its teacher (Henry Winkler), to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed-martial-arts fighter. (105 minutes)

82 THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, PG-13 This “prequel” to The Lord of the Rings explains how Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman young, Ian Holm old) came by the Great Ring and how he“won” it from Gollum (Andy Serkis) while on a quest accompanying 13 dwarves on a mission to reclaim Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. (169 minutes)

80 HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, PG Dracula opens a lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up in safety and comfort, free from meddling from the human world, as a way of controlling the adventurous spirit of his teenage daughter, who’s in grave peril of falling for an ordinary human. Animated. (91 minutes)

83 JACK REACHER, PG-13 Tom Cruise plays an ex-military investigator trying to help a trained military sniper avoid a murder rap and match the real murderer, shot for shot. (130 minutes)

88 KILLING THEM SOFTLY, R A professional enforcer (Brad Pitt) investigates a heist during a high stakes, mob-protected poker game. (97 minutes)

87 LES MISERABLES, PG-13 Long awaited, what may be the world’s biggest stage musical finally comes to the big screen. Dogged 19thcentury French Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) stays for nearly 20 years on the trail of ex-convict turned-model-citizen Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) as revolution brews in the streets of Paris. With Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried; directed by Tom Hooper. (157 minutes)

90 LINCOLN, PG-13 Director Steven Spielberg’s take on the tumultuous final months in office of the 16th president (Daniel Day-Lewis). (120 minutes)

89 MONSTERS, INC. 3D, G A little girl follows Sulley (voice of John Goodman) and his wisecracking best friend Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) back to Monstropolis, the thriving company town where monsters of all shapes and sizes reside, causing monstrous complications. Animated. With voices of Mary Gibbs, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, Bob Peterson, John Ratzenberger, Frank Oz, Bonnie Hunt; directed by Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, David Silverman. (92 minutes)

62 PARENTAL GUIDANCE, PG Billy Crystal plays a grandfather who finds that his and his wife’s (Bette Midler) old-school ideas of child rearing conflicts with 21st-century problems when baby-sitting their three grandkids. With Marisa Tomei, Tom Everett Scott; directed by Andy Fickman. (104 minutes)

81 PITCH PERFECT, PG-13 Anna Kendrick plays a college kid who finds herself in the midst of an unpopular group of misfit girls with one thing in common: how well they sing together. So of course they set forth to conquer the cutthroat world of college a cappella groups. (112 minutes)

73 RISE OF THE GUARDIANS, PG The immortal Guardians - Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost - do battle to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere from an evil spirit seeking to take over the world.Animated. (97 minutes)

86 A ROYAL AFFAIR, R An 18th century love triangle involves a German doctor, the queen of Denmark and her deranged king. Subtitled. (137 minutes)

85 THE SESSIONS, R Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, the story of a man confined to an iron lung who, at age 38, is determined to lose his virginity, with the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest. (98 minutes)

81 SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, R Bradley Cooper plays a guy with depression who, after spending eight months in a state institution, finds himself living back with his mother (Jacki Weaver) and father (Robert De Niro). He wants to reunite with his wife; they want him to get back on his feet - and share their obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles. With Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Tucker, John Ortiz, Julia Stiles; directed by David O. Russell. (122 minutes)

88 SKYFALL, PG-13 Craig, Daniel Craig is back as Bond, James Bond, this time finding his loyalty to M (Dame Judi Dench) tested as her past comes back to haunt her.And as MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. (143 minutes)

72 TAKEN 2, PG-13 The retired CIA agent (Liam Neeson) who in the first movie stopped at nothing to save his daughter from Albanian kidnappers now has been taken hostage with his wife during a family vacation in Istanbul by the vengeful father of one of the original kidnappers, and it’s up to the daughter to help them escape, get the family to safety and systematically take out the kidnappers - one by nasty one. (92 minutes)

82 THIS IS 40, R Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann), introduced in Knocked Up, continue to deal with life and love as they turn 40. (134 minutes)

82 THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2, PG-13 Bella (Kristen Stewart), beginning her new life as a vampire and mother, must defend her and Edward’s (Robert Pattinson) newborn daughter against the nasties that are determined to destroy the child. (116 minutes)

85 WRECK-IT RALPH, PG John C. Reilly is the voice of the title video game character, tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer), who decides he’s now going to be the “good guy” and sets off on a game-hopping journey across the arcade. Animated. (108 minutes)

Movie-rating point system

Movies are rated on a scale from 50 to 100. Guidelines for moviegoers:

96-100 Transcendent

90-95 Exceptional

80-89 Better than most to remarkable

70-79 Average

60-69 Awful to mediocre

50-59 Irredeemable

MovieStyle, Pages 31 on 01/04/2013