Linda and Tony Cole were devastated as they witnessed their son's life altered forever by a condition they had never heard of. But they didn't give up. Flash forward a dozen years, and the husband-and-wife team have relayed their family's ordeal in the just-published 'Resurrecting Anthony: A True Story of Courage & Destination,' which they hope those in similar situations can use to 'learn how to cope, how to be open and accepting of offered help, and how to advocate for needed services."  

The veteran British filmmaker Mike Leigh again immerses his working-class characters in the messiness of everyday life, this time focusing his neorealist gaze on Gerri (Ruth Sheen) and Tom (Jim Broadbent), happily married sixtysomethings who revel in their long, still-evolving relationship and in simple pleasures like tending their garden. Grade: B-.  

The cinematic dead zone known as January gets a welcome jolt this week as the Cincinnati Jewish and Israeli Film Festival returns with another unique batch of offerings. The six-day festival (Saturday-Feb. 3) provides "insights on various aspects of Jewish life, culture and history" via seven films that run the gamut in terms of genre, subject matter and stylistic approach.  

Summing up a year is always a tricky proposition. It's even trickier at this late date in our rapidly fracturing cultural landscape. Consensus on anything — from our politics to the very nature of reality — is more fleeting than ever in a world where context is obliterated by encroaching, fast-moving technologies that allow us to create our own narrowly defined headspaces.  

Covington-based Powerhouse Factories' annual poster party is back, armed with another smorgasbord of gig posters from both the Factory's archive and newer creations for such diverse bands as Fang Island, The Walkmen, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Ghostface Killah (who actually made a curious tour stop at the Mad Hatter a few months back), Screaching Weasel, of Montreal, Holy Fuck and Neon Indian. The party provides attendees with a number of stellar gift options for the music fan on your Christmas list.  

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.