Big screen

Opening Date

Lincoln (PG-13): Director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner adapt Doris Kearns Goodwin’s critically acclaimed book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as the 16th president during his final months in office. Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader and Tommy Lee Jones round out the supporting cast. Can you say “Oscars all over the place?”

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2: (PG-13): How is the vampire Bella (Kristen Stewart) adapting to motherhood and marriage to her longtime beau Edward (Robert Pattinson)? Why is the werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) so fascinated by their infant daughter? And what will happen when the legion of elder vampires known as the Voltari come to claim the couple’s baby? Bill Condon, who directed the previous film, returns for the final installment in the record-setting franchise.

Holy Motors (R): Madman Leos Carax ( The Lovers on the Bridge) wrote and directed this surreal fantasy about a man who assumes various identities, from father to monster, over the course of a single night. The crowds at Cannes loved it.

Silver Linings Playbook (R): David O. Russell ( The Fighter, Three Kings) directs this drama about a former schoolteacher (Bradley Cooper) who tries to move on with his life after a stint in a mental institution. Robert De Niro plays his dad, Julia Stiles is his ex-wife and Jennifer Lawrence is a mysterious girl who changes everything

Rene Rodriguez

Small screen

Firefly: Browncoats Unite (10 p.m. Sunday, Science Channel): Of all the dweeby cults built around TV programs, the one involving the old Fox sci-fi show Firefly — which lasted about a dozen episodes, more than a decade ago — is the strangest. This is a documentary about the Browncoats, as they like to call themselves in place of the more commonly used “dorks.”

Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States (8 p.m. Monday, Showtime ): Oliver Stone wrote and directed this 10-part series of revisionist-history documentaries, which argues among other things that the Soviet Union rather than the United won World War II and the American decision to use atomic weapons on Japan was unnecessary and criminal. Here's an interview with Stone and a full review of the show.

Mankind: The Story of All Of Us (9 p.m. Tuesday, History Channel): If Oliver Stone’s show is too narrowly focused for your taste, give this History Channel documentary a series a try. The first 13 billion years are a little slow, but the story really gets rolling sometime around the Ice Age.

Crossfire Hurricane (9 p.m. Thursday, HBO): Back in the 1960s, Mick Jagger said he couldn’t imagine climbing onto a stage to sing Satisfaction after he was 30 years old. Ahem. The band itself hit 50 earlier this year. And being the subject of an HBO documentary gives the Stones official fossil status. But, as somebody once said, it’s all right now, in fact, it’s a gas …

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