50/50 (R) Cancer is scary and depressing. It’s even scarier and more depressing when it happens to a young person. So how is Jonathan Levine’s second film so darn funny and uplifting? Joseph Gordon-Levitt (the only young actor who can compete with Ryan Gosling in a battle of control and nuance), Seth Rogen (he excels in these sweet, supporting, puerile roles), Anna Kendrick (proving her Oscar nominated performance in Up in the Air was no fluke), and screenwriter Will Reiser are how. Don’t be fooled by its mild-mannered “Disease of the Week” appearance, this film, loosely based on screenwriter Reiser’s own struggles to beat cancer, is like Terms of Endearment for 20-somethings.

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (PG) The first of Steven Spielberg’s two holiday 2011 entries is already a hit in Europe. Herge’s Belgian globetrotter, Tintin, and Captain Haddock are in search of sunken ship in this MoCap’d CGI adventure. The teaming of Spielberg and Peter Jackson, who is producing (and has signed on to direct a sequel), is nearly as exciting as a script by Stephen Moffat (“Doctor Who”), Edgar Wright and hot newcomer Joe Cornish, whose Attack the Block was one of my favorite surprises of 2011.

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (NR) 1965. Charlton Heston is Michelangelo. Rex Harrison is Pope Julius II. That blissfully, crazed description should be enough. But wait! There’s more. Tasked with painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo finds the Holy Father to be as tough a taskmaster. Director Carol Reed won an Academy Award for Oliver! though his best film is The Third Man. Nominated for five Academy Awards (Best Art Direction, Costume, Cinematography, Music and Sound). Part of the Kress Film Series.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED (G) Come on, Fox! If you’re going to keep releasing new Chipmunks entries each holiday season, the least you can do is make a Christmas-themed movie featuring the furry trio’s classic holiday tunes. Instead, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, the Chipettes and Dave (poor, paycheck-cashing Jason Lee) start out on a cruise ship and wind up on a deserted island. Judging by the boffo box office of the previous two features plus the young audience’s reaction to the new pic’s trailer, Chipwrecked should provide its studio with some holiday cheer.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (G) 1991. Disney rereleases the first animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar using the fancy new 3D technology that is all the rage right now. Based on the classic fairy tale, Belle falls in love with Beast (voiced by Ice Castles’ heartthrob Robby Benson), who just so happens to be a cursed prince. The terrific voice cast includes Jerry Orbach, David Ogden Stiers and Angela Lansbury. Winner of two Academy Awards (Best Score and Best Original Song).

THE BIG SLEEP (NR) 1946. Ciné is heating up the cold winter nights with a Classic Film Noir Series featuring Hollywood classics screened from increasingly precious 35mm prints. First up is Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep, starring Humphrey Bogart as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. With Lauren Bacall opposite Bogie and a script by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett (the future scripter of The Empire Strikes Back) and Jules Furthmann, The Big Sleep on the big screen is not to be missed.

• CARNAGE (R) Go ahead and hashtag Roman Polanski’s new film “First World Problems.” Two New York couples, Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Golden Globe nominee Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) and Nancy and Alan Cowan (Golden Globe nominee Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz), hold an anti-productive summit after a playground fight between their sons. Yasmina Reza and Polanski update Reza’s play for the big screen, and the four main actors have a ball yakking (in more ways than one) about their marital and parental woes. Polanski does nothing extraordinary because he doesn’t have to. Carnage’s success rests largely on its actors' shoulders, and the quartet makes the antics of these largely unlikable adults uncomfortably hilarious. I’m not sure how the Hollywood Foreign Press decided only the ladies were worthy of nominations, as the men easily prove they're equals. Everyone should be thanking QT for bringing Waltz to their attention; the Oscar winner is Hollywood’s best addition in the past few years. When will the severely undervalued Reilly, the only major player in this picture without an Oscar, finally receive the credit he truly deserves? Carnage isn’t a great film, but it’s the best 2012 has yet to offer.

CARAVAGGIO (R) 1986. A heavily stylized, fictionalization of the 17th-century Baroque painter, Caravaggio incorporates 20th-century elements into its historical setting, as well as composes its own still images of the painter’s most well-known works. Director Derek Jarman shared a Palme d’Or nomination with everyone from Robert Altman to Jean-Luc Godard for 1987’s Aria. Winner of the Silver Bear from the Berlin International Film Festival. With Sean Bean and Robbie Coltrane. Part of the Kress Film Series.

CONTAGION (PG-13) Steven Soderbergh’s “What if…” epidemic chiller is an excellent feature-length “Twilight Zone.” What if a deadly new, highly communicable virus entered the population? How quickly and effectively would the world’s governments and health agencies (represented by Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston and Marion Cotillard) respond? What sort of wildfire would spread via the blogosphere (thanks, Jude Law)? How would the rest of us (Matt Damon stars as the people’s proxy) respond as loved ones (like Gwyneth Paltrow) quickly and mysteriously fall ill? This excellent human horror movie is unfolds like a zombie movie where the zombies are microscopic and near impossible to avoid.

• CONTRABAND (R) How much cooler would this flick have been had it recounted the tale of Bill and Lance, two lonely, shirtless soldiers blasting their way to the Alien’s lair to the sounds of Cinemechanica? Much, much cooler. Alas, Contraband is merely a standard, occasionally thrilling heist flick starring the "always reliable for this sort of action" Mark Wahlberg. As Chris Farraday, a former master smuggler gone legit, Wahlberg calmly muscles his way from New Orleans to Panama in order to get his brother-in-law (X-Men: First Class’s Caleb Landry Jones) out of trouble with a small time crook (Giovanni Ribisi). If Chris fails, his pretty wife (Kate Beckinsale) and two little boys may pay the price. Director Baltasar Kormakur knows the territory; he should, seeing as he starred in the Icelandic original, Reykjavik-Rotterdam. The pace of this smuggling master class rarely flags, but the plot’s machinations are fueled by too much stupidity for good escapist fun. Frankly, these people are too depressing to be much fun. I still like Ben Foster, who excels as Chris’ best bud; here’s hoping he doesn’t get stuck as Jason Statham or Marky Mark’s action sidekick.

CORIOLANUS (R) Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut updates one of Shakespeare’s historical plays à la Ian McKellan’s Richard III. The titular Roman hero, Caius Martius Coriolanus (Fiennes), teams up with his sworn enemy, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler), to take vengeance on the city. Writer John Logan adapted the acclaimed Hugo and has two Oscar nominations, one for another Rome-set pic, Gladiator. With Jessica Chastain (what a 2011 she had!), Brian Cox (he’s so awesome!) and Vanessa Redgrave as Coriolanus’ mother, Volumnia.

THE DEVIL INSIDE (R) After a strong opening sequence depicting the police investigation of and fake local news stories about a 1989 triple murder, The Devil Inside becomes just another found footage horror flick, this one insinuating itself to be the documentation of a young woman, Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), seeking the truth about her mother’s tragic exorcism. Two priests, Ben and David (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth), assist Isabella in freeing her mother, but again, the results lead to a tragedy, all captured on film by documentarian/cameraman, Michael (Ionut Grama). This popular, easy-to-fake horror subgenre has seen worse entries (last year’s snooze-fest Apollo 18), but The Last Exorcism was a more successful faux-mentary Exorcist. The film generates a few scares, and the fake people are more likable than most found footage protags. Still, The Devil Inside has absolutely nothing new to add to the horror conversation and should be quickly exorcised from memory.

FOOTLOOSE (PG-13) Let’s go ahead and dispel any thoughts that the Kevin Bacon starrer is somehow above being remade. What Hustle & Flow filmmaker Craig Brewer has done in remaking the seminal '80s flick is impressive. Brewer relocates the dance banning town of Bomont from Oklahoma to Georgia, adding another film to Brewer’s resume of intriguing cinematic stories about the New South. Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald, looking like he transferred from Rydell High) migrates south to live with his aunt and uncle (Kim Dickens and scene-stealing Ray McKinnon, an Adel native and Oscar winner). There he runs afoul of Rev. Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), who instituted the dancing ban after his son died in a car accident, and woos Moore’s beautiful, troubled daughter, Ariel (Julianne Hough, “Dancing with the Stars”). Brewer’s movie has a nice rhythm and does the South more justice than any other major Hollywood release.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (R) Stieg Larsson may have created Lisbeth Salander, but David Fincher and the bold Rooney Mara have made her a big-screen icon. (No offense to Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth, but Mara’s movie is loads better.) Fincher dangerously retains Larsson’s wicked, violent, European sexuality for Hollywood’s adaptation of the first book in the Millennium Trilogy. Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) enlists the help of the titular tattooed (and multiply pierced) girl, a ward of the state who might be a psychopath but is certainly a genius, to solve a decades old murder. Readers of the novel will marvel at how smartly screenwriter Steven Zaillian jettisons the novel’s clunky points to streamline the central mystery (who killed Harriet Vanger?) and posit a new one (who is Lisbeth Salander?). Top-notch performances, red slashes of humor and Fincher’s masterful control of style (the stunning opening credits imply some twisted mix of Bond and bondage) propel the film with a badass energy, fed by Academy Award winning composers, Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose. Much like The Silence of the Lambs, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo weds the ghettoized thrills of genre with a larger cinematic ambition. Pop literary filmmaking gets no better than this.

HAPPY FEET 2 (PG) Mad Max creator George Miller may not be able to get a new entry in his post-apocalyptic Outback franchise off the ground, but he was able to continue his singing-dancing penguin series. Sadly, I was underwhelmed by the first film, so I have little interest in a 3D sequel about tap-dancing penguin Mumble (v. Elijah Wood). Now a father, Mumble must help his son, Erik, find his place in the Emperor Penguin world while facing a new threat with his friends and family. Featuring the voices of Robin Williams, Pink and other famous folks.

HAYWIRE (R) A revenge thriller from Steven Soderbergh starring a former “American Gladiator?” I never thought I’d type that description. Gina “Crush” Carano stars as Mallory Kane, a former black ops super soldier, seeking to pay back those who betrayed her on a previous mission. A bevy of beefcake—Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Angarano, Bill Paxton and Mathieu Kassovitz—stands in her way. Writer Lem Dobbs wrote the screenplay for Soderbergh’s excellent The Limey. I love when Soderbergh gets sidetracked by genre.

JACK AND JILL (PG) Adam Sandler must have thought the fake movies from Funny People had real potential to have signed on for this pitiful comedy where he plays both Jack Sadelstein and his twin sister, Jill. They key to the entire one-joke movie is that Sandler makes an ugly woman. Jill’s homeliness and her lack of self-awareness propel one lame gag after another. Sandler’s usual pals (Allen Covert, Nick Swardson) and celebrity cameos pepper the cast. Al Pacino’s appearance is the least likely and most unfortunate as he plays himself as a desperate man smitten with Jill. Regrettably, the flick also features more than a handful of casually stereotypical racial humor, though everything, even the lazy plotting and joke writing, is executed with the amiability that typifies its star. However, geniality is no excuse for Sandler fans to continue his string of unsubtle, unoriginal comedy hits.

• JOYFUL NOISE (PG-13) You can almost hear the studio executive wheels turning for this godly “Glee” knockoff. A church choir from Small Town, GA heads to a national competition with new director, Vi Rose Hill (Queen Latifah), squaring off against G.G. Sparrow (Dolly Parton), the widow of the recently deceased former director (briefly and poorly played by Kris Kristofferson). Plenty of other minor melodramas—Vi’s 16-year-old daughter Olivia (Keke Palmer) falls for G.G.’s rebellious grandson, Randy (Jeremy Jordan); another choir member finds love…twice; while others face financial hardships due to the current economic downturn—engulf the group as they prepare some new numbers in order to win the national crown. The charismatic leads do their best to engage, Latifah with her genteel gruffness and Dolly wholly through nuggets of colloquial country “wisdom.” Her dialogue distinctly differs from everyone else; it’s like a “Hee Haw” version of Shakespearean English (minus the timeless poeticism). Nothing in this movie is as strong as its rousing musical performances; too bad the entire, just shy of two-hour running time isn’t set to music. 

KISS ME DEADLY (NR) While driving down a lonely road late one night, anti-social private eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) picks up a beautiful, but troubled, hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman). The two are soon abducted by thugs, who torture the woman to death. Hammer escapes and sets out to discover the secret behind her murder: a mysterious "whatsit" box containing a dangerous, glowing substance.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—GHOST PROTOCOL (PG-13) Mission: Impossible is that rare franchise that has actually gotten better with each new installment and in inverse proportion to its megastar’s popularity. Tom Cruise had few peers in 1996 when the weak, original M:I opened; now he’s more often a punchline, albeit a badass punchline who does many of his own death-defying stunts, like climbing the outside of the world’s tallest building. What sets the Mission: Impossible franchise apart from any other existing action series is its star-producer’s knack for finding the best, new behind the camera talent. First-time live-action feature director Brad Bird is known to be an animation auteur (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles), and he apparently doesn’t realize action of the live variety has limitations. Now he’s the guy who can still make a Tom Cruise stunt spectacular stand out like it’s the late '90s. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his new team (the gorgeous Paula Patton, stalwart Jeremy Renner and A-1 comic relief Simon Pegg) must clear IMF’s name after a bombing decimates the Kremlin. From Moscow to Dubai to Mumbai, the action doesn’t let up from scene one. A fun, funny, thrilling total summer package, M:i—GP will have you wondering why June’s so cold.

MONEYBALL (PG-13) Based on Michael Lewis’ bestseller, director Bennet Miller’s follow-up to the Oscar winning Capote actually makes baseball statistics interesting. Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) attempts to build a championship ballclub through On Base and Slugging Percentage rather than traditional scouting. Does it work? Anyone familiar with Major League Baseball already knows the answer, but the film, adapted by screenwriting superstars Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin.

THE MUPPETS (PG) You can tell cowriter-star Jason Segel loves the Muppets. His reboot of Jim Henson’s lovable puppets is built with obvious love and understanding of what made their 1979 film debut so special. Gary (Segel), his puppet brother, Walter, and Gary’s longtime girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams) travel to Los Angeles, where they discover a plot to destroy the Muppet Theater by oil tycoon Tex Richman (Oscar winner Chris Cooper). Together, they help Kermit reunite the old gang—Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, et al.—to put on a telethon in order to raise the money needed to buy back the property. Self-referential with a joke ratio that favors adults two-to-one (a Muppet staple), some terrific songs by one half of Flight of the Conchords and a bevy of celebrity cameos, this film revives the Muppets as you remember them.

• MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (R) Movies like My Week with Marilyn can be a great deal of fun. Watching a sound modern actor impersonate a legendary figure of stage and screen, like Golden Globe nominees Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh do as Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier, respectively, satisfies a primal nostalgia center of the brain. On the other hand, these movies can often come off a bare step up from Made-for-TV, if even that far. Mostly thanks to Williams, My Week with Marilyn achieves a nice cruising altitude above television, which should perhaps surprise seeing as director Simon Curtis’ previous efforts almost all aired on the BBC. In the film adaptation of Colin Clark’s memoir of his week as the luckiest 23-year-old in the world when Marilyn Monroe leaned on him during the filming of The Prince and the Showgirl with Olivier, Williams certainly earns a shot at a third Oscar nom with her spot-on Marilyn; Branagh plays Olivier as a delightful prig while Dame Judi Dench out-Denchs them all. It might not be a candidate for best picture honors, but the impressional performances in this biographical drama enchant as the film enlightens modern viewers about a considerably minor point in film history. 

PUSS IN BOOTS (PG) Shrek’s fairy tale may have moved on to happily ever after, but Puss in Boots (v. Antonio Banderas) is still itching for a fight. His spinoff reveals the swordfighting antics that led up to Puss meeting up with Shrek and company. Naturally, this flick was once slated for a direct-to-DVD release; will the cat be able to match the ogre’s blockbuster results? Director Chris Miller previously helmed Shrek the Third. Featuring the voices of Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis and more.

REAL STEEL (PG-13) The trailer for this Hugh Jackman action movie just screams Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie (which apparently was in development at one point). Jackman is a struggling promoter of robot boxing, who thinks he has a contender in a discarded bot. He also discovers he has an 11-year-old son. Director Shawn Levy has been on a roll; his last three movies were the high-profile hits, Night at the Museum, its Smithsonian-set sequel and Date Night.

RED TAILS (PG-13) George Lucas self-financed this patriotic war flick about the Tuskegee airmen. The effects look spectacular (no shocker, coming from the Skywalker Ranch), even if the dialogue and plotting seem fairly standard for this war subgenre. Hope springs from “Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder’s taking a pass at the script, and director Anthony Hemingway, who has helmed several episodes of HBO’s excellent “Treme.” With Bryan Cranston, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Michael B. Jordan (“Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood”), Gerald McRaney, Method Man and Ne-Yo.

THE ROOM (R) 1993. A cult classic returns for more unintentional hilarity.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (PG-13) Much like its 2009 predecessor, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is a perfectly forgettable crowdpleaser. Robert Downey, Jr. revisits his hyper-bordering-on-manic, streetfighting master sleuth, this time tasked with defeating his literary arch-nemesis, Professor James Moriarty (the appropriate Jared Harris of AMC’s “Mad Men”). Assisted as always by Dr. John Watson (Jude Law, again a game companion to Downey), Holmes is also joined by his brother, Mycroft (Stephen Fry), Watson’s new wife (Kelly Reilly) and a gypsy fortune teller (Noomi Rapace, best known as the original Lisbeth Salander). Director Guy Ritchie coats everything in his usual super-stylish action sheen, lending the movie a surfeit of style, minus that pesky substance that might give the flick the little literary weight that could make this a classic reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous creation. No ticket buyers should leave disappointed, unless they expect an entertainment satiation more enduring than the original.

SUNSET BOULEVARD (NR) 1950. Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors from Hollywood’s golden years, and Sunset Boulevard remains one of his best. A struggling screenwriter (William Holden) becomes the kept man of fading silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Writing, and loser of eight, including all the big ones (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress). With Erick von Stroheim and Nancy Olson.

THE SUPER NINJA (NR) 1984. A ninja does what ninjas do best amidst wayward overdubbing and inventively cheesy death scenes.

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (R) The machinations Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the new film from Let the Right One In’s Tomas Alfredson, may be a little too (you say dense, I say) murky for its own good. Despite the climactic presence of all the proper puzzle pieces, the filmmakers leave the viewer to believe there’s more to be worked out as a result of retired British spy George Smiley’s (an excellently restrained Gary Oldman) return to semi-active duty to uncover the identity of a mole amongst the highest echelons of MI6. The performances from an absolutely dynamite cast of Britons (Oldman, reigning Best Actor Colin Firth, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, “Sherlock”’s Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Stephen Graham and upcoming Batman villain Tom Hardy) keep one engaged even as the pregnant pauses and furtive glances overly cloud the already opaque espionage waters of literary spymaster John Le Carré. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy may be too smart, tasking its audience to puzzle out a hundred piece central mystery like it were split into a thousand. The work’s rarely boring though.

TOWER HEIST (PG-13) With the help of a con (Eddie Murphy), a group of working stiffs (including Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe and Michael Pena) plan a Danny Ocean-type heist on the high-rise home of the rich guy that took all of their money in a Ponzi scheme. This action comedy from oft-maligned Brett Ratner, who really missed his decade (imagine the '80s buddy cop movies he could have made), also stars Tea Leoni, Alan Alda and Judd Hirsch.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN – PART 1 (PG-13) Stephenie Meyer’s extremely popular teen-vamp-romance took a surreal turn in the fourth book. Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) finally marry. On the honeymoon, Bella becomes pregnant with a thing that should not be. Now the Cullens are caught between the Quileute wolves and the ancient Volturi, both of whom are threatened by this unknown new adversary. I’ll be interested to see how director Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls) handles the book’s R-rated events (specifically, the baby’s bloody birth) in a PG-13 manner.

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING (R) Vampire warrior Selene (Kate Beckinsale) returns after humankind wages war on the newly discovered Vampire and Lycan clans. Honestly, I have fallen asleep during every one of the previous Underworld flicks, so my expectations for the fourth movie do not run high. Series helmer (and star’s hubby) Len Wiseman is off finishing up the Colin Farrell Total Recall remake, so the Swedish duo of Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein have assumed the directing position. I highly doubt their 3D effects will be worth the price of admission.

YOUNG ADULT (R) Thirtysomething author of young adult fiction Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to rekindle a relationship with her high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). As her plan backfires, she becomes friends with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn't quite gotten over high school, either.

WAR HORSE (PG-13) After a brief trip to the sentimental silliness throughout a first act of boy meets horse, boy falls in love with horse, boy loses horse, Steven Spielberg’s latest drama catches fire in the war-torn countryside and trenches of World War I Europe. When his father comes home with a thoroughbred rather than a workhorse, Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) forges a lifelong bond with the beautiful beast he names Joey. Alas, war comes and debts must be paid; the Narracott patriarch (Peter Mullan) sells Joey to a war-bound cavalryman (Thor’s Tom Hiddleston). Thus begins Joey’s journey from the English countryside to the bomb-ravaged wilds of Belgium and France. Negatively criticizing Spielberg’s wonderfully warm, overly genuine drama just feels wrong and would be. The six-time Golden Globe nominee lacks many (if any) visible flaws, yet it fails to do anything unanticipated or elicit any emotion unexpected. The animal trainers deserve their kudos for the exceptional work done by the real Joeys. War Horse is exactly the kind of popular entertainment one expects from Hollywood’s master of pop moviemaking, but that expectation is its own detriment. Is it wrong to expect more from a superior film than the exact amount of projected greatness? 

WE BOUGHT A ZOO (PG) This movie just generates some odd feelings. A movie directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church sounds like a serious winner, but then there’s the title. A dad (Damon) moves his family to Southern California to renovate a struggling zoo. The Devil Wears Prada scripter Aline Brosh McKenna and Crowe relocate Benjamin Mee’s memoir from England to SoCal. Some say a similar move didn’t affect High Fidelity; I’m not one of those folks.

WORLD’S SMALLEST AIRPORT (NR) From Watkinsville’s own Surprisingly Professional Productions comes this documentary of the Thrasher Brothers Aerial Circus. From the end of World War II in 1945 to 1950, three Georgia brothers performed astonishing feats via aircraft that have yet to be exceeded. The Jan. 15–19 screenings at Ciné will be the film’s Athens premiere. To better prepare oneself for the Thrasher Brothers film debut, check out Grady Thrasher’s Dec. 29, 2010 article “A Remembrance: The World's Smallest Airport” in our very own Flagpole magazine.