What's in theaters this week

'GHOST RIDER': As Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY': Considering the eccentric, almost psychedelic fantasy worlds created in Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki's tales, a story of tiny people living beneath the floorboards of a house seems almost normal. This latest from Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli also is a pleasant antidote to the siege mentality of so many Hollywood cartoons, whose makers aim to occupy every instant of the audience's attention with an assault of noise and images. Slow, stately, gentle and meditative, the film is a marvel of image and color, its old-fashioned pen-and-ink frames vividly bringing to life the world of children's author Mary Norton's "The Borrowers."

RATED: G

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'THIS MEANS WAR': Having great-looking actors who actually can act makes this noisy romp more tolerable than it ought to be. It's essentially a love-triangle version of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" rendered even more bombastic in the hands of "Charlie's Angels" director McG. So you've got your sport utility vehicles tumbling in slow motion, your gravity-defying shootouts and your obligatory explosions galore.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'JOURNEY 2: The MYSTERIOUS ISLAND': Sean Anderson partners with his mom's boyfriend on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine star. (In 3-D in some theaters.)

RATED: PG

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'SAFE HOUSE': A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge. Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star.

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'STAR WARS: EPISODE 1 — THE PHANTOM MENACE': Two Jedi Knights uncover a wider conflict when they are sent as emissaries to the blockaded planet Naboo. Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman star. (In 3-D in some theaters.)

RATED: PG

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'THE VOW': A car accident puts Paige in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo works to win her heart again. Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum star.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16

'BIG MIRACLE': In small town Alaska, a news reporter recruits his ex-girlfriend — a Greenpeace volunteer — on a campaign to save a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski star.

RATED: PG

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Portage 16

'THE WOMAN IN BLACK': A young lawyer (Daniel Radcliffe) travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'THE CHRONICLE': Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'THE GREY': After the thrillers "Taken" and "Unknown," Liam Neeson is back in his new genre of choice, looking quite at home punching a wolf. As the grizzled, morose sniper John Ottway, he's among a roughneck band of Alaskan oil refinery workers who, while being shuttled by plane to Anchorage for vacation, crash violently in a storm, stranding them in the snowy tundra.

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 12 and 16, Showplace Hobart 12, Cinemark at Valparaiso, Portage 16, Lansing 8

'THE DESCENDANTS': George Clooney stars as an indifferent husband and father who is forced to re-examine his life in the latest film from Alexander Payne ("Sideways").

RATED: R

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 16, Cinemark at Valparaiso

'THE ARTIST': Hollywood, 1927: As silent movie star George Valentin wonders if the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion, he sparks with Peppy Miller, a young dancer set for a big break.

RATED: PG-13

SHOWING: AMC Showplace Schererville 16