Big screen

Opening Friday

Cloud Atlas (R): Directors Tom Tykwer ( Run Lola Run) and Larry and Lana Wachowski ( The Matrix) collaborate on this epic, ambitious adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel. Tom Hanks and Halle Berry are among the actors who play different characters in six separate storylines, ranging from the 19th Century to post-apocalyptic, all told at the same time. This one really is unlike any movie you’ve seen.

Fun Size (PG): Josh Schwartz, executive producers of such TV shows as Gossip Girl, The O.C. and Chuck, turns his attention to the kid-friendly genre with this comedy about a teenage girl (Victoria Justice) whose Halloween plans are derailed when she has to look after her mischievous little brother.

Chasing Mavericks (PG): A young surfer (Jonny Weston) enlists the help of a legendary veteran (Gerard Butler) to conquer one of the largest waves on earth.

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D (R): A girl (Adelaide Clemens) is drawn into a mysterious and frightening alternate reality after the disappearance of her father. Sean Bean, Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell co-star for director Michael J. Bassett ( Solomon Kane).

Rene Rodriguez

Small screen

The Cuban Missile Crisis — Three Men Go to War (8 p.m. Tuesday, WPBT-PBS 2): The closest the world has ever come to nuclear war was on Oct. 22, 1962, when President Kennedy announced the United States had discovered secret Soviet missile bases in Cuba. This documentary tells what happened over the tense 13 days that followed, focusing on three leaders: Kennedy, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

Rise of the Zombies (9 p.m. Saturday, SyFy): The perfect place to hide from hordes of ravenous zombies? Alcatraz, of course. The perfect person to hide with? Mariel Hemingway, of course, especially now that she’s an Official Medical Scientist who can probably cure zombieism and whatnot.

D.L. Hughley: The Endangered List (11 p.m. Saturday, Comedy Central): Comedian D.L. Hughley smashes all his previous records for pushing racial hot buttons with a cockeyed documentary in which he travels the country, demanding that black people be placed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of endangered species. White sorority girls support him completely; neo-Nazis, not so much. Soooooooo not for the politically correct.

Glenn Garvin

Let Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin program your TiVo! Just click on his best bets for the week at http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/mix/index.do