How did The Golden Compass, Juno, and Atonement do critically and commercially? Of Compass and its controversy, the Dig's David Wildman said, "So screw the religious nuts, there's no reason not to see this fun little flick." James Verniere at the Herald disagreed, finding it a "long and often tedious slog." Unless you're a sci-fi fan or want to stick it to The Man, you might want to stay away.

The movie opened at Number 1 at the box office with $26.1 million, which sounds like a lot but disappointed the Hollywood types.

Atonement may suffer from grasping at Oscar too soon. It's bound to get nominations because it is based on one of the finest novels in recent memory, and the movie was perfectly cast with Keira Knightley as the young woman who finds herself falling for a servant's son. However, Ty Burr at the Globe spots a fatal flaw in the movie's battle sequences, which he believes are too well done: "You're forced out of the film into frank admiration of technique."

Meanwhile, indie comedy Juno continues to lap up the accolades for being a smarter, hipper version of Knocked Up, and it's not even in wide release yet.

The Shohei Imamura retrospective continues at the Harvard Film Archive, and the Ingmar Berman extravaganza is still going at the Brattle. Showtimes for Monday and Tuesday after the jump.

Promo still of Keira Knightley in Atonement.

Vanishing Point: The Films of Shohei Imamura
All films at the Harvard Film Archive.
HFA website
More info at Reel Hub

Monday, December 10--Tonight
Black Rain (1989), 7:00 pm
This movie follows a family of Hiroshima survivors whose lives are impacted years later when an uncle tries to marry off his niece. Yet her suitors are afraid of radiation sickness.

Tuesday, December 11
The Eel (1997), 9:15 pm
A man who killed his adulterous wife gets out of jail and begins confiding in an eel. That sounds weird, but it impressed so many people that it won the 1997 Cannes Palme d'Or.

A Tribute to Ingmar Bergman
Brattle Theatre website
More info at Reel Hub

Monday, December 10--Tonight
Face to Face (1976), 4:30 pm, 7:00 pm, and 9:30 pm.
Bergman compared this rarity to the "On the Road" movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

Tuesday, December 11
Cries and Whispers (1972), 5:15 pm and 9:30 pm
Autumn Sonata (1978), 7:30 pm
If you are a true film buff or enrolled in a film class next semester, get the jump on your professor. These two are among Bergman's best, particularly Autumn Sonata, as Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Bergman engage in a series of mother-daughter confessions and accusations in a claustrophobic space. Ullmann vs. Bergman makes for an acting Battle Royale.

One Day Only

Monday, December 10
Mountains of Hope (2007), Coolidge Corner Theatre, 7:00 pm. More info.
This documentary follows the lives of citizens of Africa's Lesotho, whose doctors and nurses are leaving the area for work in South Africa. All profits go to Global Primary Care.

Image of Black Rain from Amazon. Image of Ullmann and Bergman before the Autumn Sonata fireworks from Wikipedia.