MARTIAN CHILD

A recently widowed science fiction writer (John Cusack) responds to a suggestion that he adopt a child by bonding with a hard-to-place foster kid (Bobby Coleman) who claims to be from Mars. Cusack reunites with "Max" director Menno Meyjes for this adaptation of David Gerrold's autobiographical novel, which features Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Anjelica Huston -- and Cusack's real-life sister Joan. At multiple locations. (107 minutes) PG; mature themes, mild profanity.

MY ENEMY'S ENEMY

"Last King of Scotland" director Kevin MacDonald returns to his documentary roots for this account of notorious Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, dubbed "The Butcher of Lyon," who orchestrated the deaths of hundreds during World War II -- and afterward became a Cold War counterintelligence agent working for the U.S. government. In French, German, Spanish and English, with English subtitles. At Village Square. (88 minutes) NR.

SHARKWATER

Filmmaker Rob Stewart, who's been swimming with sharks since childhood, gets up close and personal with the unjustly feared denizens of the deep -- and tries to stop widespread shark poaching in Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands. At Sam's Town. (89 minutes) PG; images of animal cruelty, mature themes, profanity, smoking.

WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY

A lovelorn guy ("Almost Famous' " Patrick Fugit) ends it all, only to find that life goes on in a dusty desert afterlife, where he encounters a sassy hitchhiker (Shannyn Sossamon) who's convinced she doesn't really belong there. Croatian-born writer-director Goran Dukic makes his big-screen debut with this quirky road-trip comedy. At Village Square. (91 minutes) R; profanity, disturbing content involving suicide.

-- By CAROL CLING