West meets East film forum, Haywire, Kung Fu Panda, Mystery Train, Red Tails, Underworld, Week End, West Side Story, and What Time is it There?

WEST MEETS EAST FILM FORUM: CHINA ON SCREEN

The University of Baltimore presents two days of screenings of and discussions about contemporary Chinese film (disclosure:

City Paper

Editor Lee Gardner is among the panelists). Titles include

Once Upon a Time in China and America

,

Romeo Must Die

,

House of Flying Daggers

, and

Lust, Caution

on Friday and

Yellow Earth

,

Happy Together

,

Fist of Legend

, and

Infernal Affairs

on Saturday. See

for the full schedule.

HAYWIRE

Director Steven Soderbergh tries his hand at straight-up action, starring mixed martial arts star Gina Carano as a wronged government operative out for revenge.

Opens Jan. 20.

KUNG FU PANDA 2

The respectable sequel to the computer-animated blockbuster with Jack Black once again voicing the title ursid.

MYSTERY TRAIN

Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan three-episode exploration of the mystique of Memphis comes to the Spiral Cinema screening series.

RED TAILS

The much-anticipated George Lucas-produced, Anthony Hemingway-directed account of the aerial adventures of a squadron of black fighter pilots during World War II.

Opens Jan. 20.

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING

Kate Beckinsale dons the leather for yet another installment of this vampires-versus-werewolves action franchise.

Opens Jan. 20.

WEEK END

Jean-Luc Godard’s scabrous 1967 cocktail of wayward proto-yuppies and societal breakdown in the French countryside contains some of his most annoying po-faced rhetorical gambits, but also some of the funniest moments found in his work as well as the still astonishing eight-minute traffic-jam tracking shot.

WEST SIDE STORY

The film version of Leonard Bernstein’s musical is, yes, a bit cheesy/goofy, but who can deny its dance-fight revolution power? Two shows only.

WHAT TIME IS IT THERE?

The most charming and sprightly of Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang’s films to date,

What Time Is It There?

offers elliptical romantic comedy by centering on a street vendor and his long-distance longing for a young woman he sells a watch to before she leaves on a trip to Paris. Part of the Spiral Cinema series.