EAT PRAY LOVE, directed by Ryan Murphy, screenplay by Ryan Murphy and Jennifer Salt, based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert. After a divorce, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) leaves ex-husband (Billy Crudup) and lover (James Franco) in New York and embarks on a daring journey of self-discovery. Eating in Italy she learns the joy of simple pleasures; meditating at an ashram in India she discovers the power of prayer; and in Bali she finds inner peace, friendship (Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis), and love (Javier Bardem). The film doesn’t open till August but you can start eating, praying, and loving, Venice-style, right now.

Hardcore foodies revere May because it is National Hamburger Month, but most Americans zero in on Mother’s Day, the second Sunday of the month, when we honor our mothers and, more broadly, those who “mother.” MOTHER AND CHILD is writer-director Rodrigo Garcia and executive producer (and Venice resident) Alejandro González Iñárritu’s three-pronged tale of adoption and its effects on Karen (Annette Bening), who surrendered but can never forget the baby she bore as a teenager; Elizabeth (Naomi Watts), an adoptee whose ability to form meaningful relationships is blocked by a need to confront the mother who gave her up; and Lucy (Kerry Washington), an infertile woman who finds fulfillment in mothering another woman’s child. Stories like this are too often cloying and melodramatic but here the mother-daughter relationship touches your heart without wringing it out to dry. A real life mother-daughter relationship that touched my heart over the years was the one between Venice publisher/ editor Nancy Bishop and her beloved mom. In the last few years, as her mother clung to life, Nancy clung to her, flying to Washington to be with her at a moment’s notice. The grief that follows such a profound loss is a measure of the magnitude of the special relationship they shared. Here’s to all women who are mothering, whether or not they are mothers. Following are ways to honor them, each in its own special way.

L.A. is a party town serviced by people surviving on tips while they dream of future glory, just like the catering crew from PARTY DOWN (Henry/Adam Scott; Ron/Ken Marino; Casey/Lizzy Caplan; Kyle/Ryan Hansen; Roman/Martin Starr; and, new this season, stage mother Lydia/Megan Mullally). Bryan Gordon and Fred Savage take turns directing dark-edged episodes such as Jackal Onassis Backstage Party, Nick Dicintio's Orgy Night, and Steve Guttenberg's Birthday. Executive Producers/ Co-Creators John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd rely on smart dialogue and penetrating wit to serve up a smorgasbord of chuckles. Here’s a toast to “Party Down”!

Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass (Bourne Ultimatum, etc.) blast us into the Green Zone, the protected International Zone in central Baghdad. It’s 2003 and chaos reigns as Damon’s U.S. Army officer and his team encounter bombs and booby-traps in their hunt for weapons of mass destruction. When they realize they’ve been fed faulty intelligence, Damon goes rogue to get to the truth and avert an unnecessary war. To escape the pandemonium of Los Angeles, head for our own Green Zone, a vibrant oasis carved out of the parched desert that surrounds Las Vegas. This conglomeration of glitzy casinos, entertainment spectacles, eye-popping designer shops and 9,000 square foot “villas” that rent for $25,000 a night has so many Los Angeles chefs it’s hard to know which town you’re in. Here’s a sure-bet guide for people who prefer to do their gambling in a casino rather than a restaurant.

In a rare coincidence, the Chinese New Year, a time for joy and celebration, falls on Valentine’s Day. According to the Chinese calendar, this is the Year of the Tiger, an animal of power and passion. They may make an odd couple but celebrate the tiger and cupid at VALENTINE'S DAY, where they’ll be in good company. Garry Marshall directs Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts and singersongwriter Taylor Swift in a screenplay by Katherine Fugate. They play various Los Angelenos, singles and couples, who experience heartbreak or happiness on V-Day. Heartbreak is easy enough to find but for happiness, keep reading.

Jeff Bridges is Bad Blake, a drunken has-been country music singer who rambles from gig to gig in a car as beat up as he is. His body is about to give out but his CRAZY HEART hangs on in this Oscarworthy performance. Written and directed by Scott Cooper and based on an aging novel by Thomas Cobb, the original music by T Bone Burnett and comfortable supporting performances by Maggie Gyllenhaal as his much younger love interest, Robert Duvall as a sympathetic friend, and Colin Farrell, his former protégé, are enough reason to buy a ticket. These “crazy heart” chefs perform equally well, but they do it in the kitchen.

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS, about an experimental U.S. military unit with psy­chic powers so strong they can kill a goat simply by staring at it, is too bizarre to be credible. But it’s grounded in reality or, as the intertitle claims: “More of this is true than you would believe.” Headed for big-name status,

With A SERIOUS MAN, two serious men, Joel & Ethan Coen, have made one of the most somber — and hysterical—films of the year, putting their stamp on the midcentury midwest as successfully as they did on North Dakota in FARGO. The perfect cast is led by stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik, a Jewish physics professor who can master equations but not life’s predicaments: a wayward wife who wants a divorce; a daughter who wants a nose job; a son who is running from a bully; and a broth­er who is running from responsibility. Gopnik is tormented by a bill collector, an anony­mous letter-writer, and a student threatening a lawsuit, and he’s hemmed in by his neigh­bors — an anti-semite on one side and a temptress on the other. The tale starts in a blizzard and ends with a tornado. In between, there is magical realism, the Jeffer­son Airplane, and rabbis with questions but no answers. More than a modern-day Job, Gopnik is an Everyman for the ages. Revealed below, a few serious men who are more about joy than Job.