Melvin McGlauphlin (Joseph Albright) has sent his kids to Russian language classes as part of his “worst-case scenario” preparation. His wife, Frances (Suzi Regan), seems like the duchess of domesticity, although she is not always satisfied with her role.

Last weekend, you could turn on any TV or access any Internet news site and see horrifying footage of Japanese cities crumbling or being pummeled by massive waves. Or you could go to the movies and watch the destruction of Southern California in “Battle Los Angeles,” an empty-headed attack-of-the-aliens flick.No prizes for guessing which sight was the more disturbing.

Many of those caustic clips turn up throughout documentarian Ben Steinbauer’s “Winnebago Man,” an attempt to chart the curious course of Rebney’s life from a career as a TV news producer to a Winnebago pitchman and, finally, as a recluse in the California mountains.

After three and a half years, Catherine Guarino, Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s director of education and community engagement, will step down next Wednesday.

And he admits he’s been a bit jealous: "In the first dance rehearsals, I got up there and did the dances with them, because working with Karyn (Perry, the show’s choreographer) is so much fun.

One thing you don’t hear much of in a Happendance rehearsal is music. There’s the voice of the choreographer, offering pointers and encouragement to the dancers, and there’s quite a lot of heavy breathing from the performers as they run through complicated, body-twisting numbers again and again.

The reviews are in on Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston’s “Just Go With It,” and — to put it mildly — they’re not kind.“Adam Sandler plays a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon in ‘Just Go With It,’ a fumbling comedy directed by Dennis Dugan that could have benefitted from surgical reconstruction,” sneered the Christian Science Monitor’s Peter Rainer.

Although “Gnomeo and Juliet” begins with the prologue of “Romeo and Juliet” and includes a cameo appearance by the spirit of Shakespeare, there’s far more levity than tragedy in this candy-colored, generally breezy animated variation on the Capulet/Montague feud. English teachers probably won’t approve, but Elton John fans will be tickled every shade of pink: In addition to a couple of new songs, there are snippets of at least a dozen of Captain Fantastic’s greatest hits cleverly woven into James Newton Howard’s buoyant score.

These days, if you’re an unmarried teen expecting a baby, you might be in negotiations with MTV to star in the next season of “16 and Pregnant.” But half a century ago, girls who “got in trouble” didn’t publicize their condition. Just ask Janet, the jittery heroine of “Blue Denim,” which raised many an eyebrow when it hit theaters in 1959.

Everyone can use a few good laughs in January, and "The Roommate" delivers plenty -- although that was probably not director Christian E. Christiansen's intent. An inept attempt to mix thrills with PG-13-style sensuality, the movie is glossy garbage that would be offensive if it wasn't so absurd.