Brooding small-town tragedy and blossoming young love are the emotional poles of “Snow Angels,” a drama that finds a delicate balance between the consolations of romance and the bitterness of its failure. David Gordon Green, previously an original and inventive director of Southern tales, moves to the wintry rust-belt North, capturing the environment and the people in all their shades.

More is more in “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” the follow-up to the 2005 fantasy hit “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” It’s simultaneously darker and funnier, more substantive and more engaging, more violent and more technically accomplished.

It takes a special brand of movie-making courage to make a Holocaust drama that’s more entertaining than moving. Ask Roberto Benigni if the world ever forgave him for “Life is Beautiful.”

“Speed Racer” is a fanboy-friendly story about a car-crazy family in an automotively obsessed parallel world. But it’s also the trippiest movie since “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Who will be this year’s Amy Winehouse? Nobody, that’s who. Smoky-voiced, beehive-hairdo’d, tabloid train-wreck retro-R&B singers who write powerfully revealing, instantly grabby songs — and grab Grammys by the fistful — don’t wander onto the pop culture landscape in their bra and short-shorts every day.

“This is going out to what’s her name, wherever she is.”

Poised proudly behind a stern, bearded smile, dressed in light blue denim and donning his trusty acoustic guitar, Steve Earle’s nonchalant attitude but dominating presence mesmerized the State Theatre crowd Thursday with his blistering acoustic guitar work, howling harmonica and intense narratives.

Make this Mother’s Day tuba terrific by serenading mom with some Tchaikovsky and Gershwin. It’s not time to run out and take tuba lessons, however. The State College Area Municipal Band will do the work for you.

In 1994, U.K. moody trio Portishead made creeping dread a viable commercial prospect on its popular and influential album “Dummy.” Beth Gibbons’ woozy warbling, the hint of a tinkling piano in a distant cellar, mechanized yet unsteady beats: This was the sound of your brain on drugs, without actually needing drugs.

When painter Susan Nicholas Gephart decided she wanted to create an artist retreat that welcomed artists of all mediums and skill levels, people questioned whether it could be done. Nicholas Gephart proved it could.

There’s a junky charm to “The Wedding Singer” that makes it easy to like.

LAS VEGAS After wrapping up a successful concert tour, you'd think Reba McEntire would want to take some time off to relax. Instead, the tireless country star is preparing for her 10th turn as host of the Academy of Country Music Awards this weekend. Over the years, she says she's gained more ease hosting the event.

LOS ANGELES Though Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz are keeping a tight lid on their nuptuals, it's looking like a wedding is imminent. Aerial photos posted Friday at several celebrity Web sites, credited to the Insight News & Features paparazzi photo agency, purport to show the Simpson family home near Los Angeles dotted with large white party tents.

Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: