Opening This Week:

BROKEN EMBRACES—A blind screenwriter represses the memories of life before the accident that took his sight, when he was a top director, in Pedro Almodovar’s new film. Starring Penélope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, and Ángela Molina. Reviewed this issue. Eastern Hills

THE BOOK OF ELI—Post-apocalyptic adventure. What’s with all these end-of-the-world movies, anyway? Is someone trying to tell us something? Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson and Jennifer Beals. Directed by the Hughes Brothers (From Hell). Flix, Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

THE LOVELY BONES—Adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel about a murdered girl who watches her family’s grief from the afterlife. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Stanley Tucci and Susan Sarandon, Directed by Peter Jackson (Meet the Feebles). Amherst, Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

A SINGLE MAN—Adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s novel set in the early 1960s, with Colin Firth as an academic who is unable to express his grief when his gay lover is killed in an accident. With Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode and Ginnifer Goodwin. Directed by Tom Ford. Reviewed this issue. Amherst, Eastern Hills

THE SPY NEXT DOOR—Ever since Jackie Chan started making movies in Hollywood, it’s been increasingly hard trying to get people who have never seen his Hong Kong films to believe that he is one of the top stars the cinema has ever produced. After this opens, I’m not even going to try anymore. With Amber Valletta, Madeline Carroll, Billy Ray Cyrus, and George Lopez. Directed by Brian Levant (Are We There Yet?) Flix, Market Arcade, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

ETC:

THE BIG LEBOWSKI (1998)—Jeff Bridges as the ultimate slacker. Co-starrring John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tara Reid, and John Turturro. Cultists of the Coen Brothers’ movie will want to show up early for the pre-show party at 6:30 pm and stick around for two hours of open bowling afterward. Sat 8pm. Riviera Theater, 67 Webster St., North Tonawanda (692-2413)

THE DEVIL’S HAND (1962)—Robert Alda (Alan’s father) stars as a man ensnared by a beautiful blonde (Linda Christian) into joining a voodoo cult (run by Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon on “Batman.”) Directed by William J. Hole Jr. (The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow). Fri 9pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza in Century Mall, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (837-0376).

SHOCK (1946)—Vincent Price hadn’t yet established a reputation as a horror icon when he starred in this noirish thriller as a psychiatrist who accidentally kills his wife and is forced to discredit a witness as mentally unstable. Directed by the reliable B-movie veteran Alfred L. Werker (He Walked by Night). Fri 7:30 pm. The Screening Room, Northtown Plaza in Century Mall, 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst (837-0376) www.screeningroom.net

THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (Germany, 1933)—Fritz Lang’s last film in Germany before fleeing the Nazis (Goebbels retaliated by banning the movie as “subversive”) is a still-compelling thriller about a master criminal who runs a gang form his cell inside a mental hospital. Starring Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Gustav Diessl, and Rudolf Schündler. Presented as part of the Buffalo Film Seminar. Tues 7 pm, Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, 639 Main St. (855-3022).

UP THE YANGTZE—Documentary about Chinese villagers whose lives are affected by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Directed by Yung Chang. Reviewed this issue. Fri 7pm. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave. www.albrightknox.org