Film: Having delayed its opening until January, the month for dumping sub-par movies on the market, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will get no awards or be taken the least bit seriously, but this reboot of the franchise based on the late novelist Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst action hero is still pulse-racing entertainment, far better than expected. Chris Pine, the young Captain Kirk of the Star Trek origins films, makes a fine Ryan, filling the shoes of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck before him. But the reason the movie is worth your time is Kenneth Branagh, who directs the film and demonstrates that he knows his way around an action sequence, and he also is prominently featured as a Russian no-goodnik, intent on scuttling the American economy from his corporate throne in Moscow. As Ryan’s girlfriend, Keira Knightley is sheer window dressing, a chore she handles with ease. Opening this weekend at area theaters.
Theater: Doug Knott, the son of the late Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Knott, is a dabbler. He spent a little time practicing law, wrote some poetry, devised an occasional performance art piece and now is focusing on writing for the theater with his one-man autobiographical play, Last of the Knotts. In it, he recalls a time in the 1980s when his drug dealer girlfriend, having assured him she was unable to have children, announced that she was pregnant. And Knott freaked out at the thought of becoming a parent, largely because of his uneasy relationship with his own father, whom he outs as an alcoholic with a violent streak. Knott brings his downbeat tale to West Palm Beach’s Bhetty Waldron Theatre, 1009 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, for the next two weekends. Call: (561) 833-7529 for tickets.
Music: For the first time in 10 years, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra returns to the Kravis Center on Sunday, with the young blind Japanese pianist Noboyuki Tsujii, who made a sensational impact at the 2009 Van Cliburn competition, when he tied for the gold medal with the fine Haochen Zhang (who made his Florida debut at the Rinker Playhouse two years ago). Tsujii will play the Emperor Concerto (No. 5 in E-flat, Op. 73) of Beethoven, and the conductor-less orchestra will round out the all-Beethoven concert with the Symphony No. 2 (in D, Op. 36) and the Coriolan Overture. If you miss the 8 p.m. concert Sunday at the Kravis, you can catch the orchestra Monday night (7:30 p.m.) at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale with the same program. Tickets for the Kravis show are $25 and up (832-7469 or visit www.kravis.org); they range from $29 to $49 in Broward (call 954-462-0222 or visit www.browardcenter.org).
Art: The Vienna-born Israeli photographer David Rubinger, who turns 90 this year, is considered the visual chronicler of the building of the Jewish state, with iconic photographs such as the Paratroopers at the Western Wall (1967), a defining image of the Six-Day War. Rubinger is the winner this year of the FOTOmentor Award from the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, and in tandem with that, an exhibit of his work in on view through March at the center in downtown West Palm Beach. Rubinger worked for Time-Life for five decades and chronicled war as well as the waves of Jewish migrants from other parts of the world who swelled Israel’s population to 7 million. Admission to the center is free; hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 235-2600 or visit www.workshop.org for more information.