Movie Listings for Dec. 30-Jan. Movies Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign-language films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases: nytimes.com/movies. "The Adventures of Tintin" (PG, 1:47) The Belgian boy detective (Jamie Bell) and his dog, Snowy, get a motion-capture makeover in Steven Spielberg's wildly overworked animated movie, which has the expected technique and hardly a moment of downtime. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" (G, 1:28) The furry guys and the Chipettes, the gal pals they acquired in an earlier installment of the franchise, find themselves shipwrecked along with their human minder, Dave (Jason Lee). Personality-altering spider bites give the shenanigans an amusing twist. Neil Genzlinger "Arthur Christmas" (PG, 1:37) This smart, likable animated Christmas tale centers on Santa's two sons, Arthur and Steve, and one present that didn't get delivered. Steve is the architect of the high-tech North Pole gift production and delivery system and is the apparent next in line for Santa's job, but it's Arthur who understands the importance of getting that last present under the correct tree before dawn. The film becomes a bit too busy at times, but it's full of dandy jokes, including a fair number for the parents in the crowd. Genzlinger ★ "The Artist" (PG-13, 1:40) Not so much a tribute to the glories of silent cinema as an ingeniously up-to-date attempt to replicate their magic. Completely delightful. "Carnage" (R, 1:20) Fear and loathing among the privileged parents of Brooklyn, courtesy of Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza, whose source play was called "The God of Carnage." Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster are in good form as the bickering bobos, and Mr. Polanski is a virtuoso of confinement and claustrophobia, but the elegant camera work and abundant verbiage cannot disguise how glib and intellectually thin the material is. ★ "A Dangerous Method" (R, 1:39) Michael Fassbender is Carl Jung, Viggo Mortensen is Sigmund Freud, and Keira Knightley is Sabina Spielrein, a young woman caught between the two giants of modern psychology during the years of their volatile association. Directed by David Cronenberg from a script by Christopher Hampton (based on his own play and John Kerr's book), the film is sexually charged and intellectually thrilling, propelled by its characters" terror and excitement as they explore the unmapped territory of the unconscious. "The Darkest Hour" (R, 1:59) How slovenly is it to use invisible aliens? If you're going to tease us with nothing but pinwheels of light for three-quarters of the film, you'd better have one heck of a reveal up your sleeve. But if all you have is the equivalent of exploding garden gnomes, then your problems are greater than a disposable cast and a filming style as flat as the color palette. Directed by Chris Gorak, written by Jon Spaihts, with Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella. ★ "The Descendants" (R, 1:55) Alexander Payne's splendid new film somehow manages to be both a family melodrama and a knockabout farce without exaggerating anything. George Clooney plays Matt King, the scion of a wealthy family of Hawaii landowners, whose wife is in an irreversible coma after a boating accident. Matt must deal with his daughters - Amara Miller and Shailene Woodley, both excellent - and with a great deal more besides, including a land deal and the aftermath of his wife's infidelity. The movie is full of incident and surprise, humor and pathos, but the most striking and satisfying thing about it is the freedom Mr. Payne grants the characters, who move through the story on the momentum of their own choices and instincts. They are so vivid and real that you miss them when the movie's over. "Don 2" (No rating, 2:25, in Hindi and English) This second outing in an Indian action series sends its title anti-hero (Shah Rukh Khan) on a "Mission: Impossible"-style trip to Berlin to pull off an "Ocean's Eleven"-style heist. Slick, funny and zippily edited, the film often entertains despite (or sometimes because of) its comic-book characters and depth-averse, bombastic style. David DeWitt "Drive" (R, 1:40) Sleek, cool and empty, Nicholas Winding Refn's fastidious Los Angeles noir stars Ryan Gosling as a nameless driver who becomes a chivalrous avenger when his lovely neighbor (Carey Mulligan) falls afoul of some nasty gangsters. The nastiest of them - played by the great Albert Brooks - is reason enough to see the movie. There are others, too, as long as you don't expect too much.