Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie may have stolen some of his Hitler-hating glory last month, but Edward Zwick, director of Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai, is back with another epic film this Friday. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as Jewish brothers who escape Nazi-controlled Poland and join and underground resistance to Hitler’s army. Filmed on location in Lithuania, Craig, Schreiber and Bell help build a hidden forest village as a refuge for other Jews and as a base of operations to launch their counter attacks. Rated R. (Courtesy Paramount Vantage)

The twin casualties of 1990s gangsta rap wars were of course Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. Surprisingly, this is the first large-scale tribute to one of the fallen stars since Puff Daddy’s ill-advised reworking of The Police classic into the fluffy “I’ll Be Missing You.” Jamal Woolard stars as Christopher “Biggie” Wallace, Derek Luke is Sean “Puffy” Combs, and New Orleans native Anthony Mackie plays rival Shakur in this drama from Men of Honor director George Tillman Jr. Notorious follows Biggie’s tumultuous rise from the streets of Brooklyn to become the world’s most celebrated rap artist. Angela Bassett co-stars. Rated R.

Ed Harris writes and directs this Western homage set in a small town being terrorized by the local heavy, a ruthless rancher played by Jeremy Irons. In the opening sequence, Irons dispenses of the U.S. Marshall and his deputies in cold blood. When Harris’s Virgil, who is kind of a nutjob, and Viggo Mortensen’s Everett are hired to protect the town from this murderer, the battle lines are drawn. But Harris and Mortensen face more than shootouts when a young widow played by Renee Zellweger breezes through the door. Her intentions are a mystery and her effect on the new lawmen could jeopardize the entire town of Appaloosa. Rated R.