Danny Boyle's '127 Hours' is another intriguing entry in the 54-year-old British director's diverse, rapidly expanding collection of films. Since his impressive mid-1990s one-two breakthrough of 'Shallow Grave' and 'Trainspotting,' Boyle has tried his hand at a number of genres, the sign of an adventurous filmmaker eager to take on new challenges. He discusses his career and '127 Hours' with CityBeat.  

After hours of sitting with people who are supposedly related to you, sometimes you just need a break. The holidays are supposed to be a time a peace, which for most of us involves a lot of running around and a lot of "catching up" with folks you only see once a year. Instead of being rude and admitting that you hate all of them, take them to a movie. There's no better way to get a break from all the talking that happens when you're trapped in car with the same people you were previously trapped in a house with for 18 years.  

China's coming maelstrom of cultural tension is a central theme in Chinese/Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan's gritty, verite-style documentary about a family struggling to adapt to its country's evolving, increasingly globalized economy. Lixin presents it all with impressive, often poetic restraint. Grade: B.  

More than a year after the Showcase Cinemas inside Kenwood Towne Centre closed suddenly, the local movie landscape gets a shot in the arm this week with the opening of the Kenwood Theatre (7815 Kenwood Road) on Friday. Kenwood Theatre's Opening Gala, which benefits the Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky Film Commission, takes place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.  

Charles Ferguson's latest blood-boiler, 'Inside Job,' tackles the most important topic of our time: the Wall Street meltdown of 2008. Ferguson and crew (including narrator Matt Damon) give us an accessible, long-lensed view of a complex topic and its 30-year trajectory — from Ronald Reagan's 1980s-era laissez-faire, trickle-down economics to the Clinton administration's repealing of the Glass Steagall Act to the further relaxing of financial regulations and enforcement in the George W. Bush era to the unfortunate post-crash, business-as-usual hiring of the Obama economic team.  

For those who've never seen cult classic 'Evil Dead,' or for those who just want to revel in its pleasures again, a new recurring event called Cincinnati Psych-OTR-onic Night makes its debut with a screening of the film 8 p.m. Friday at YES gallery (1417 Main St., Over-the-Rhine). The inaugural evening, which its organizers pimp as "Cincinnati's only grindhouse double-feature," culminates with a 10 p.m. screening of 'Tourist Trap.'  

How did salt and pepper become our default, go-to spices? Why are there four tines on a fork? How did stairs become so ubiquitous? These are just a few of the curiosities explored in Bill Bryson's latest book, 'At Home: A Short History of Private Life.' He discusses his latest literary endeavor with CityBeat in anticipation of his visit here Saturday for the Mercantile Library's annual Niehoff Lecture.   

How did salt and pepper become our default, go-to spices? Why are there four tines on a fork? How did stairs become so ubiquitous? These are just a few of the curiosities explored in Bill Bryson's latest book, 'At Home: A Short History of Private Life,' which uses the floor plan of the author's own house — an Anglican rectory in Norfolk, England, built in 1851 — as a springboard to investigate the evolution of how we live today.  

Dayton filmmaker Michael Webber makes his directorial debut with this compelling, refreshingly restrained documentary about people who possess exotic animals as pets and the various issues that arise in such cases — everything from the ethical dilemma of caging "wild" animals to the increasingly more acute problem of public safety when they escape. Grade: B.  

With Ponytail (the band, not the hair choice) currently on hiatus, its founder and guitarist Dustin Wong has injected the band's boundless creativity and merry attitude into 'Infinite Love,' a recently released instrumental solo effort driven by Wong's complex, uniquely unfolding guitar soundscapes.