For show schedule information, visit:

Great Escape Theatre, Moline

Nova 6 Cinemas, Moline

Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre, Davenport

Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53, Davenport

* * *

The American (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)

Avatar: Special Edition 3D (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - James Cameron's floating-jungle world of Pandora is a marvel of imagination, and boasts a scale and scope that few movies attempt, let alone pull off. The movie is truly something to see; too bad the dialogue makes it so painful to listen to. (From the review of the film's original 2009 release.)

Cats & Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore (PG, Nova 6 Cinemas)

Charlie St. Cloud (PG-13, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Granted, this romantic, vaguely supernatural offering doesn't really allow star Zac Efron much of a chance, but he's still a vacant drain on the film, expressing misery with a disengaged blank stare and romantic longing with a slightly more focused blank stare.

Despicable Me (PG, Great Escape Theatre) - You'll have no trouble correctly predicting this animated comedy's entire narrative arc, but much of directors Pierre Coffin's and Chris Renaud's achievement - lead Steve Carell's readings, in particular - are happily unpredictable, and the visual gags are oftentimes deliriously random.

Dinner for Schmucks (PG-13, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Steve Carell still finds ways to surprise you into giggling with his flawless approximation of a well-meaning nitwit, and Paul Rudd pulls off straight-man apoplexy with aplomb. The movie itself is exhaustingly labored and senseless, with initially amusing sequences dragging on for such an achingly long time that you may begin to resent them.

Eat Pray Love (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - A too-perfectly-lit, too-neatly-composed movie that  appears to be based less on Elizabeth Gilbert's novel than on a trio of glossy travel brochures. Then again, that's exactly why many will people love it, and it would be hard to argue that the movie - dramatically wanting though it is - doesn't offer a host of good things.

The Expendables (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Sylvester Stallone is where irony goes to die, and it dies many small deaths in the director/co-writer/monolith's homage to every steroid-enhanced action flick from the 1980s that you likely never want to see, or even think about, again.

Get Low (PG-13, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)- Little about director Aaron Schneider’s film contains a whiff of surprise. Still, it’s awfully sincere, boasting impressive period details, lovely portrayals (if overly familiar ones by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek), and Bill Murray, as a sardonic funeral director, earns grateful, appropriate laughs for damned near everything he says.

Going the Distance (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)

Grown Ups (Nova 6 Cinemas) - Surprise! It's not terrible! It's just run-of-the-mill poor, which, given the film it could've and probably should've been, has to be considered a major victory.

Hubble 3D (G, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre) -- There are so many stunning, even awe-inspiring astronomical images on display here that you wouldn't need to be given much more to make the movie easily worth your ticket price. The joy of director Toni Myers' 45-minute documentary, though, is that it actually does give you more.

Inception (PG-13, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)- Its story may be Byzantine, but writer/director Christopher Nolan's storytelling is remarkably lucid; a few overly busy and generic shoot-outs aside, this mind-bending thriller proceeds such force and drive that long minutes pass where you're all but certain you've forgotten to take a breath.

The Last Exorcism (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Until it goes seriously off the rails in its final third, director Daniel Stamm's low-tech scare flick is clever and engrossing (without being all that gross), and it boasts a protagonist who's something unique for his genre: a funny, friendly sort whom you're still aching to see get what's coming to him.

Legends of Flight 3-D (not rated, Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre) - The best I can say about the Putnam's latest edu-tainment offering is that it seems an appropriate big-screen companion piece to the venue's current Take Flight! exhibit, which features a great many informative, interactive displays and activities for youths with a budding interest in aviation. The worst I can say is that, as a film experience, it's mostly a dud.

Lottery Ticket (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)

Machete (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)

Nanny McPhee Returns (PG, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - The slapstick sequences in this World War II-era family comedy are painful to endure, and the film is overly reliant on the sight and mentions of poo to get the young 'uns giggling. But the actors' broad readings are at least enjoyably broad, and for all of the manic energy on display, the movie offers a number of scenes of underplayed, blessed quiet.

The Other Guys (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Adam McKay's cop comedy is a rambunctious, deeply silly, unexpectedly smart entertainment - the sort of giddy good time that you leave wondering which of the film's scenes will merit the most repeat viewings when you eventually buy it on DVD.

Piranha 3D (R, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Alexandre Aja's horror flick puts you in the unexpected position of actively rooting for the piranha, not because the effects are all that great (they're actually pretty awful), but because more flesh for the fish means fewer irritating humans to put up with.

Ramona & Beezus (PG, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Based on Beverly Cleary's beloved children's-book series, the movie probably isn't anything that you, or even your kids, will remember even a couple days after seeing it. Yet it's swift and genial and almost magically charming; for what it is, it's just about perfect.

Restrepo (R, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - This fascinating, heartbreaking documentary on the war in Afghanistan isn't overtly political, but it manages to say more about this particular overseas conflict than any number of rhetorical stump speeches on the subject possibly could.

Salt (PG-13, Nova 6 Cinemas) - Audiences seeking loud, defiantly ridiculous escapist fare should have a blast. Speaking as someone with a relatively low tolerance for spy thrillers, stunt-heavy summer blockbusters, and Angelina Jolie, I had a pretty fantastic time myself.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (PG, Nova 6 Cinemas) - There are sequences in this Disney action-adventure that find the squirmy, irritating Jay Baruchel and the vacant, equally irritating Teresa Palmer briefly stopping the movie cold with some lazy, halfhearted attempt at awkward near-romance. I'd say that any one of the actors' scenes together would be a good time to head out for a snack or to use the restroom, but that would suggest there are scenes here that you wouldn't want to miss.

The Switch (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - Pure formula, but in a great surprise, the formula for this Jennifer Aniston/Jason Bateman rom-com really works, and oftentimes far better than you'd have any right to expect.

Takers (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)- Director John Luessenhop's heist thriller opens with one of those cliched scenes in which well-dressed, too-cool-for-school hoods saunter away from a fiery outburst without batting an eye - and in slow motion, to boot - but the movie's not quite as ridiculous as you're led to expect.

Toy Story 3 (G, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53) - This third and likely final of Pixar's animated adventures featuring Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and their plaything companions is a deeply poignant and moving experience, so much of one that the film also being funny, exciting, and unfailingly clever is practically beside the point.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (PG-13, Nova 6 Cinemas) - As per usual with Stephenie Meyer's vampire franchise, the movie's narrative detours are engaging, creepy, funny, and suggestive, and would be even more enjoyable if they didn't wind up being insignificant interruptions to an irritatingly dreary love story.

Vampires Suck (PG-13, Great Escape Theatre, Rave Motion Pictures Davenport 53)