Spring flicks: critics’ picks

Dramas, a documentary and the return of Harold and Kumar — that’s a sampling of what to expect.

WASHINGTON POST

Here are the spring movies that have got The Washington Post’s movie critics — Ann Hornaday, Desson Thomson and John Anderson — most excited.

FEBRUARY

22 — “Be Kind Rewind” stars Jack Black as a loser in Passaic, N.J., who, when he becomes magnetized at the power plant where he lives, erases all the tapes in his neighborhood video store, then with the store clerk (Mos Def) decides to re-record the movies with their own re-enactments. From mind-bendy director Michel Gondry.

22 — “The Band’s Visit” is Israeli director Eran Kolirin’s comedy about an Egyptian police band’s journey to Israel to play at the opening of an Arab arts center, during which they become lost in a foreign city.

29 — “Chicago 10” is Brett Morgen’s part-animated, part live-action, part-documentary about the eight antiwar activists who were arrested at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, and the two attorneys who defended them.

MARCH

TBD — “Under the Same Moon” tells the story of a mother and son living on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, in parallel tales of loyalty, sacrifice and courage.

7 — “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” stars Frances McDormand as the title character, a middle-aged London governess who is unfairly sacked, then finds a daylong life of glitz and glamour when she encounters a high-living American actress (Amy Adams).

7 — “Snow Angels,” adapted from the acclaimed novel by Stewart O’Nan, tells two converging stories of love and loss, one about a young man dealing with his parents’ divorce, the other about a tragedy involving his cherished former babysitter. Directed by David Gordon Green (“George Washington”), with Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Nicky Katt and Amy Sedaris.

28 — “Stop Loss” stars Ryan Phillippe as an Iraq war veteran who returns to his small Texas town a war hero and begins to piece his life back together until he is called back for duty, precipitating questions about loyalty, honor and patriotism.

APRIL

TBD — “Young[at]Heart” is a documentary about a group of senior citizens who get together and sing a few standards — you know, like “Losing My Religion.” Filmmaker Stephen Walker catches up with the chorus as they rehearse for a new show, and grapple with the challenging song stylings of Sonic Youth.

4 — “Shine a Light” brings Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones together for a documentary about the rock band’s performance at New York’s Beacon Theatre in 2006.

11 — “The Visitor” stars Richard Jenkins as a depressed college professor who, while attending a conference in Manhattan, discovers a strange couple living in his pied-a-terre. The encounter leads him to change his life, adjust his political views and even find incipient love.

25 — “Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” brings back resolute slackers Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn), who are mistaken for dangerous terrorists.

MAY

2 — “Iron Man” dresses Robert Downey Jr. in a fascinating new light — make that a high-tech suit — as Tony Stark, the scientist-turned-superhero Iron Man, whose armor protects him in a lifelong war against evil.

9 — “Speed Racer” is “Matrix” filmmakers Larry and Andy Wachowski’s live-action version of the animated 1960s TV show. Emile Hirsch plays the race car driver of the title, who finds himself facing archrival Racer X (Matthew Fox).

22 — “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” restores the 1980s franchise with a new 1950s-set adventure that takes Indiana (Harrison Ford) into New Mexico and the jungles of Peru, on a quest for a mystical skull. Shia LaBeouf plays Indiana’s new sidekick and Cate Blanchett is a rival Soviet spymaster.

23 — “Trumbo” interweaves documentary footage and letter readings by top actors (including Michael Douglas, Liam Neeson and Nathan Lane) to pay tribute to Dalton Trumbo, the screenwriter blacklisted as a communist, who wrote many Hollywood hits under a pseudonym.

JUNE

6 — “Mongol,” Kazakhstan’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, tells the epic tale of Genghis Khan (Asano Tadanobu), who evolved from slave to world conqueror during the 12th century.

13 — “The Happening,” another paranormal thriller from M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”), stars Mark Wahlberg as a family man caught up in a worldwide epidemic of airborne toxins that cause people to commit suicide.

20 — “Get Smart,” inspired by the 1960s TV comedy created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, stars Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, the bungling secret agent, and Anne Hathaway as his sidekick, Agent 99. The cast includes Terence Stamp as a supervillain and Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson as Agent 23.