The unexpected box-office success of Catherine Hardwicke’s first installment led to the quick green light of the second of Stephanie Meyer’s source novels, New Moon. Ironically, the latest movie flips the formula of the first: Its elaborate special effects, seamlessly guided by new director Chris Weitz, trump its inert, often incoherent story. Grade: C.  

Dan Chaon’s new novel, Await Your Reply, is both an entertaining thrill ride and an incisive look at the way we live today, a world in which technology has fractured our existence and called into question the ever-mutating nature of identity. This English professor from Oberlin College reads from and discusses his fiction 7 p.m. Thursday in Tangeman University Center room 427 on UC's campus.  

Dan Chaon's new novel, 'Await Your Reply,' is both an entertaining thrill ride and an incisive look at the way we live today, a world in which technology has fractured our existence and called into question the ever-mutating nature of identity. Chaon recently spoke with CityBeat about everything from his Alfred Hitchcock fixation to the questionable existence of Sarah Palin.  

Richard Kelly certainly doesn't suffer from a lack of ambition. His latest apocalyptic thriller — after the cult-ratified 'Donnie Darko' (2001) and the willfully obtuse 'Southland Tales' (2006), neither of which did squat upon their initial theatrical releases — is rife with impressive production design, a genuine sense of creepy foreboding and an overarching seriousness rare in a contemporary genre film. The guy no doubt knows his Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. Grade: C plus.  

The Mercantile Library continues its By the Book speaker series with … Marty Brennaman? Yes, the longtime Cincinnati Reds play-by-play man will talk about the books that have influenced a broadcasting career that’s approaching 50 years, the last 36 with the Reds. 11:30 a.m. Thursday at The Phoenix downtown.  

Javor Gardev's stylish noir is an entertaining if overstuffed entry into genre — shot in luminous black and white, it features enough genre flourishes to fill two movies: copious nudity, hardboiled voice-over narration, a mysterious missing diamond, a sage cellmate, a sexy femme fatale, multiple narrative flashbacks, pretentious dialogue quoting the likes of Voltaire and much more. Cincinnati World Cinema screens it Nov. 1 and 3. Grade: B-.  

Javor Gardev's stylish noir film is an entertaining if overripe entry into genre — shot in luminous black and white, it features enough genre flourishes to fill two movies. Cincinnati World Cinema continues its Global Film Series with screenings Sunday and Tuesday at The Carnegie in Covington.   

Joel and Ethan Coen occupy a unique place in American movies: They essentially make what they want, when they want and (usually) with whom they want. None of their 14 films suffer from a lack of distinction, yet the latest, 'A Serious Man,' feels like a departure and is their most overtly personal film to date.  

James Toback’s documentary should be subtitled Mike on Mike: It’s 90 minutes of a recently interviewed Tyson speaking directly to the camera — a single-minded perspective that proves both frustrating and fascinatingly intimate. Rambling, emotional and often surprisingly articulate, Tyson ruminates on everything from his troubled childhood and meteoric rise as a boxer.  

Based on journalist Simon Carr's 2000 true-life memoir, this Oscar-bait drama from perpetually serious-minded director Scott Hicks finds Clive Owen back in brooding mode as the recently widowed dad of 6- and 15-year-old sons. The no-nonsense Owen somehow holds this thing together, his haggard face effectively expressing the pain and heartache of a guy scrambling to do right. Grade: B-.