Win free movie tickets Editor's note: Comment on today's "Cinema Chat" for a chance to win free movie tickets to the Michigan Theater. Some time between now and 6 a.m. Wednesday, leave a comment on this column, written by the Michigan Theater's Russ Collins. Offer your opinion on a recent movie you've seen, or on anything Russ mentions. We'll randomly select a winner and notify that person via the email address they signed up with. They will get two passes to a movie of their choice.

Twilight glimmers again in "New Moon" — but no reviews! There is nobody hotter in pop culture right now than actors Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart — made famous in “Twilight” — who play Edward (a young vampire) and Bella (the new girl in school). Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are making indie-cool career choices: Kristen Stewart will co-star in the biography of seminal 1970s all-female rock band The Runways, while Robert Pattinson is shooting “Remember Me," with a screenplay Jenny Lumet (“Rachel Getting Married”) about a couple struggling to forge a new relationship in the midst of hardship. But this week, none of that matters because they will star in “The Twilight Saga: New Moon;” the second installment of the “Twilight” vampire story franchise.

Although there are no advance reviews for “New Moon,” the buzz should deliver a sizable audience for this cinema series based on Stephenie Meyer's vampire novels. In “New Moon,” Edward's (Pattinson) intense reaction to Bella's (Kristen Stewart) blood being shed at her birthday celebration causes Edward’s parents to pull up stakes and leave the small, rather odd Washington state town where they all live. Heartbroken, Bella finds a form of comfort in reckless living, as well as an even-closer friendship with Jacob Black (played by Taylor Lautner) — danger in different forms awaits! Opens at a multiplex near you on Friday.

Great reviews, but much smaller buzz: "An Education"“An Education” opens on Friday at the Michigan Theater. This truly wonderful film won the Audience Choice and Cinematography awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Written by Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity"), “An Education” stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright young girl who finds herself in a whirlwind romance with David, a much older man (Peter Sarsgaard). Prior to meeting David, Jenny was going to a prep school to get into Oxford. Once she sees the lifestyle David can provide, she is hooked and thoughts of Oxford go out the window.

Film critics and AnnArbor.com’s own Martin Bandyke (who saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival) love it! “Invariably funny and inexpressibly moving;” says Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times. “(Carey Mulligan) makes the role luminous when it could have been sad or awkward. She has such lightness and grace, you're pretty sure this is the birth of a star;” writes Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times. “No movie I've seen in a very long time has touched me so deeply, or bestowed so much pleasure;” raved Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal. Three special film screenings The Found Footage Festival will play on Saturday, November 21 at 9:15 p.m. at the Michigan. Friends Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher began collecting found videotapes in 1991 after stumbling across a training video titled “Inside and Outside Custodial Duties” in a McDonald’s break room. Since then, they have compiled an impressive collection of strange, outrageous and profoundly silly cinema discovered as they rummage through their lives. Learn more at foundfootagefest.com.

“In Search of Beethoven” is by award-winning filmmaker Phil Grabsky (“An Inconvenient Truth”) who created a feature-length biographical film about the life of Ludwig van Beethoven. It is a comprehensive look at the composer’s life through historical research and Beethoven’s biography and letters. One show only on Saturday, November 21 at 5:30 at the Michigan.

“West Side Story,” in all its wide-screen glory, will be presented on Monday, November 23 at 7 p.m. as part of the American Musicals Series at the Michigan Theater.

Also opening this week “Planet 51” an animated film, features the voices of Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Seann William Scott and Jessica Biel. The inhabitants of Planet 51 live in fear of alien invasion. Their paranoia is realized when astronaut Chuck Baker (Dwayne Johnson) arrives from Earth. Befriended by a young resident, he has to avoid capture in order to recover his spaceship and try to return home. In “The Blind Side” a disadvantaged teenager (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by a conservative family (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) who see tremendous promise in the young man. Despite certain obstacles, the attention and inspiration he receives helps him mature into an athletically and academically successful NFL prospect. Opening next Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) Wes Anderson’s well-reviewed animated film “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” based on the Ronald Dahl book, opens Wednesday. The tremendous voice cast includes George Clooney, Meryl Streep and Bill Murray.

“Still Walking,” the Japanese film by Kore-Eda Hirokazo that A.O. Scott of the New York Times called “Transcendent...completely absorbing;” also opens next Wednesday. It is an exquisitely detailed family drama that shines with warmth and understanding — perfect for a Thanksgiving weekend.

Russ Collins is executive director of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Tune in to the audio version of “Cinema Chat” on WEMU radio (89.1-FM) each Thursday at 7:40 AM and 5:40 PM, or listen to it online at WEMU's web site.