Friday’s openings: Straight from the jungle

Arts fashions come and go, but some art seems never to die. That's certainly the case with Rudyard Kipling, the Nobel Prize-winning author whose work "The Jungle Book" heads the week's list of movie openings. Friday's openings are as follows:

"The Jungle Book": A blend of live-action and computer graphics, this Jon Favreau-directed version of the 1894 story collection retells the story of a young boy named Mowgli, the jungle creatures he befriends — and one he does not. Call him the original Bear Grylls.

"Barbershop: The Next Cut": The third installment in the "Barbershop" series, this one featuring the characters teaming up to fight neighborhood gang violence. Two words: Ice Cube.

"Criminal": Kevin Costner plays a dead-eyed sociopath on death row who gets injected with a dead CIA agent's memories in the hopes that he will be able to foil a deadly plot. Guess who develops a conscience?

And at the Magic Lantern:

"Born to Be Blue": Ethan Hawke plays Chet Baker in this "reimagined" look at the late jazz musician's late-career comeback. Let's hope Hawke hits all the right notes.

"April and the Extraordinary World" (dubbed in English version): This French animated effort, set in 1941, follows a young girl who goes in search of her missing scientist parents. Quelle horreur!

And that's the list. Looks decent. You know what to do next. Go and see something.