Weekend movie guide: See it or flee it?

​ If you're looking for an intense movie-going experience this weekend, try Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island or the climbing saga North Face. If you want a few laughs, the Oscar-nominated animated short films at the Lagoon could be just the ticket.

OPENING

SEE: Shutter Island
Martin Scorsese's florid art shocker, about a U.S. marshal (Leo DiCaprio) and sidekick (Mark Ruffalo), who investigate a disappearance on an island prison for the criminally insane. (area theaters)
City Pages: "A length of 138 minutes is dangerously epic for a talky thriller, but since more attention has gone into filigreeing details into each scene than worrying about the way they'll fit together, the rattletrap engages you moment-to-moment."
Star Tribune: 2.5 stars Pioneer Press: 3 stars RottenTomatoes.com: 67% positive

SEE: North Face
A dramatization of an epic, real-life attempt to scale the fearsome north face of the Eiger mountain, which became a Nazi obsession during the 1930s. (Uptown Theatre)
City Pages: "Shot on location, the film is slow, realistic, and excruciating in its latter stages. Benno Fürmann's stoic performance reduces the story to its harsh, true fundamentals."
Star Tribune: 3 stars Pioneer Press: 2.5 stars RottenTomatoes.com: 86% positive

SEE: Oscar-Nominated Short Films 2010
These round-ups are always a mixed bag, but usually entertaining, and this year's Oscar nominees are no exception. In live action, look for The Door, a bruising true-life account of a Russian family's attempt to survive the Chernobyl disaster and save their ailing daughter; and the pick of the litter, the sublimely goofy, immensely funny Instead of Abracadabra, a "loser comedy" about an inept magician who dreams of wooing his lovely neighbor. Among the animated films, Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty is a one-joke bit about a cranky grandmother; the French Logorama is a visually arresting, very clever political commentary; and A Matter of Loaf and Death is Nick Park's latest crowd-pleasing Wallace and Gromit adventure. (Lagoon Cinema)

MAYBE: District 13: Ultimatum
Less a sequel than a remake of the exhilarating 2006 action flick that introduced parkour, the French run-and-jump urban obstacle sport, to American audiences. David Belle returns as the endlessly inventive ghetto acrobat who teams with an equally idealistic policeman to save the local ghetto from destruction by a greedy government security agency and evil corporation. (area theaters)
City Pages: "Ultimatum only works when at full sprint. The heroes aren't given enough stunts to enliven the talky intrigue."
Star Tribune: 2.5 stars Pioneer Press: 2 stars RottenTomatoes.com: 72% positive

Next pages: Special screenings, art houses, and ongoing films