Read this: Men, goats and Christmas carols

George Clooney in "The Men Who Stare at Goats." (Laura Macgruder/Overture Films via Bloomberg)

Good afternoon, everyone. Time to roundup this weekend's new film releases:

--Ann Hornaday says "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges) has "an affable, amiable pace; it's a smart, amusing picaresque that taps into the gonzo energy and toughness of Hunter S. Thompson and Stanley Kubrick, while never achieving their ferocity and fire."

--Michel O'Sullivan says "Disney's A Christmas Carol" "is a tall glass of Dickens with a 'Beetlejuice' chaser."

--And then we have "The Fourth Kind," of which Sullivan has this to say (before rating it one star, out of four):

Someone -- or something -- has been terrorizing the people of Nome, Alaska.

It has the ability to magically levitate people. Its presence is heralded by the appearance of a mysterious white owl. In its wake, it leaves a smell. Of putrid cinnamon.

Omigod. Omigod. It's . . . What? Harry Potter? Hedwig? A mug of stale butterbeer?

Oops. Wrong movie.

Elsewhere in today's Style section: The Terra Cotta Warriors arrive at the National Geographic Museum, their new temporary home. Liza Mundy profiles Anne Schuchat of the CDC. And Carolyn See reviews John Grisham's newest book, a collection of short stories.

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