INTO THE WILD
Buzz on this movie has ranged from "it's god-awful boring" to "what a miraculous, beautiful feat of filmmaking!" I'm not exactly the DOC type, but I have to admit that the nature shots in this film make me want to skip down to Ledyard and hijack a canoe. Emile Hirsch plays our angsty entitled rich boy protagonist who donates his life savings to Oxfam in the name of living life to the fullest -- and he looks damn sexy doing it. Director Sean Penn's cast instills a human complexity from scene to shining scene. -- Meredith Fraser
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Finally! Hanover audiences get a peek into Wes Anderson's newest box of aesthetic quirkiness, this time starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody as three (unconvincing) brothers taking a train ride across India. I have yet to see it since it opened on Friday, but I fully look forward to Anderson's staple perplexing dialogue, innovative production design and the affecting characters that make "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore" two of my all-time favorite films. -- Meredith Fraser
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE
This superfluous sequel to 1998's "Elizabeth" restores Cate Blanchett to the throne of England. This time around, Queen Bess faces an invasion from Spain. Cate Blanchett's regal bombast energizes the film -- at one point she upstages an entire battlefield -- but Clive Owen is bland as a block as the requisite love interest, and the movie itself feels obscenely overproduced. I kept wondering how Blanchett kept her twig-like neck from snapping under the weight of those enormous wigs; uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, I guess. -- A.J. Fox
