“Whip It”
*** (out of 4 stars)
Bliss Cavender follows her bliss in Drew Barrymore’s rousing, bright directorial debut about a potential pageant contestant bent on trading in a tiara for roller skates. Ellen Page is Bliss. Marcia Gay Harden is terrific as her disapproving-but-complicated-in-her-own-right mom. As teammates and rivals Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis and Eve all take spins and deliver blows in the rink. PG-13. 1 hour, 51 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“Michael Jackson’s This Is It”
*** (out of 4 stars)
This film was undertaken too soon to be the watershed documentary the extraordinary performer deserved. The movie is less a full-on portrait than a tantalizing sketch of an artist at work. And the movie is for — and of — fans. There’s an astonishing precision to Jackson’s and Travis Payne’s choreography. PG. 1 hour, 30 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
“The Boys Are Back”
*** (out of 4 stars)
Clive Owen tries on a very different role, and it fits quite nicely. John Warr is a sportswriter and single father of two boys from two marriages in this masculine weepy based on Simon Carr’s novel about the death of his wife and the raising of his sons. Scott Hicks directs. PG-13. 1 hour, 30 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
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