Only one new opening at local discount theaters this week. Fortunately, it's one of the year's most pleasant surprises. ---

Writer/director George Nolfi's The Adjustment Bureau adapts one of Philip K. Dick's typically slick and sinister short stories, but gives it a unique heart and soul. Matt Damon plays an up-and-coming young New York politician who sees something no human is supposed to see: supernatural beings responsible for "adjusting" us back onto a pre-destined path. It's intriguing simply as a study of what it really means when people claim they believe there's a "plan" for them, but give Nolfi credit for anchoring that story in a genuinely engaging romance between Damon and Emily Blunt as a young woman who may or not be part of his approved future. We'll give the clearly re-worked ending a pass, because pretty much everything that leads up to it is smart, solid genre work.