Keira Knightley in Atonement (Focus Features)

Atonement (opening December 7 throughout San Diego) arrives just a couple weeks ahead of The Kite Runner. Both films are literary adaptations that deal with young characters that tell horrible lies and then have to live with the consequences. But the way each character comes to terms with those lies is very different even though each character ends up being a published author.

The author-to-be in Atonement is 13-year-old Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan). We find her in 1935 England at the plush estate of her family. She has an elaborate dollhouse in her playroom that is an exact model of the family home, and she seems very comfortable amidst the luxury and safety of her environment. Briony has just written her first play and is frustrated by efforts to have it performed at a family gathering. But she's soon distracted from her literary aspirations by events involving her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and a young man named Robbie (James McAvoy) who is the son of someone who works for the family.

Michael Madsen in Strength and Honor (Maron Pictures)

Michael Madsen is probably best known for torturing a cop when he played Mr. Blonde in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs back in 1992. But that role may have also prompted him to be typecast as a brooding tough guy, cool yet sometimes twisted. So as an actor, the role of a boxer and devoted single dad in Strength and Honor (opening December 7 in select San Diego theaters) was attractive as a change of pace.

"I've played a lot of dangerous, nefarious guys over the years," says actor Michael Madsen in the press materials, "and I guess I liked the idea of playing someone with heart. I want to finally play a guy who rides off into the sunset with the girl."

What Would Jesus Buy? (Warrior Poets Releasing)

With only 18 shopping days left until Christmas, vendors are frantically vying for your holiday dollars. But as you seek out bargains in big box stores, consider the question posed in the title of the new documentary What Would Jesus Buy? (opening December 14 at Regal's Horton Plaza Theaters)

Ah Christmas a time of peace, good will, and giving selflessly.

Montage of kids: "This year for Christmas I want a disposable cell phone, an Xbox 360 I want so much"

Okay maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a season that kicks off with Black Friday is no longer about giving or thinking about others.

Montage of news clips: "'Tis the season to be shopping one more thing to do before the end of the year, shop yourself silly you can't let the terrorists win and stay home"