"Three Stooges" will get more publicity this week, but the movie we can whole-heartedly recommend is "Cabin in the Woods." And HBO just keeps making us want to splurge on the premium channel -- first, it was "Game of Thrones" and now it's "Girls." Here's our look at what's ahead this week in entertainment.

Movies
Filmed back in 2009 and shelved for years due to M.G.M.'s bankruptcy woes, "Cabin in the Woods" is not really a horror movie. It's more of a riff on horror movies, and may make you look at all future scary flicks with new eyes. We don't want to give anything away, but as you can tell from the trailer and the poster, there's more going on here than meets the eye. Standouts in the cast include Chris Hemsworth (pre-"Thor") and Bradley Whitford, with a brief but memorable appearance by Sigourney Weaver. (Opens April 13.)

In "Lockout," the president's daughter visits an orbiting space prison full of the galaxy's worst criminals. And then she does a Bad Idea Jeans commercial, because in what universe is this a smart thing to do? When the inmates take over the prison, it's up to Guy Pearce, as a government agent convicted of a crime he didn't commit, to head up there and save her. If it sounds like Pearce is playing a modern-day Snake Plissken from "Escape from New York" and "Escape from L.A.," yeah, it sounds that way to us, too. Let's hope "Lockout" is more of the former than the latter. (Opens April 13.)

TV
It was a century ago that the unsinkable Titanic sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. James Cameron's 1997 film, "Titanic," has just been re-released in 3-D, and television is also remembering the great ship. "Titanic at 100: Mystery Solved" tells the story of an exhaustive expedition to the wreck which explored and mapped the entire site in hopes of determining what exactly was responsible for the wreck. (Hint: iceberg.) (April 15, 8 p.m., History.)

Judd Apatow has earned a reputation for smart comedy, from "Freaks and Geeks" to "Bridesmaids." He's now a producer on the new HBO series "Girls," which The Hollywood Reporter has already called a "brilliant gem." Like "Sex and the City," it looks at four young women trying to make it in New York, but critic Tim Goodman says, " 'Girls' is a much more lo-fi, rooted-in-realism affair, and it mines the honesty of its characters in such a way that it produces both robust comedy and genuine, emotionally dramatic moments." Man, between this and "Game of Thrones," we're just going to have to pony up for HBO one of these days, aren't we? (Series premiere, April 15, 10:30 p.m., HBO.)

DVD
Meryl Streep won the best actress Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA award for playing former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." The acclaimed actress takes Thatcher from her political prime up to the present day, as a widow and perhaps Alzheimer's sufferer. While the film has to skip over much of the events of Thatcher's career, it presents a touching (if fictionalized) portrait of her in her 80s, a once-powerful woman who has been forced to let others help her with even the simplest things. (Out on DVD April 10.)

Meryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher and Jim Broadbent her beloved husband Denis in "The Iron Lady."

REVIEW

For a thorough look at the life of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, head to the library and check out a thick biography. Meryl Streep's new Thatcher film "The Iron Lady" is not that biography, it's a Hollywood movie, a fictionalized guess at the current life of the elderly Thatcher, who suffers from memory loss that some say is Alzheimer's.  As was done with Leonardo Di Caprio as J. Edgar Hoover  in "J. Edgar," the film introduces us to a historical figure years after his or her prime, then offers flashbacks to major life events.

As such, it's a terrific and touching portrait of aging. Streep captures the failings of age, the hesitating walk, hands that suddenly find it difficult to fit a phone back into its cradle, the eyes that are always looking for someone who isn't there. 

As far as Thatcher's political career, the more you know about it going in, the more fascinated and frustrated you'll be.

The Falklands War gets a decent amount of time, but Bobby Sands and the Irish hunger strikers, debate over the Euro, and Thatcher's friendship with Ronald Reagan receive don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-them scenes. The historical events that are shown are there for a reason -- to demonstrate Thatcher's mettle, or the barriers put in her way due to her gender or lower-class background. That's understandable, but for those who know little about her career (read: most Americans), it can feel like we're putting pieces in a puzzle without seeing the cover picture.

The film keeps circling back to a modern-day Thatcher who's haunted by a friendly ghost. Only she can see and hear her beloved late husband Denis (a delightful Jim Broadbent), who cheers and advises her as she struggles with a life half-lived in the past. He's both a welcome and annoying friend -- in one touching scene, Thatcher turns on all the appliances in her kitchen, telling herself that the screeching noise will block out his presence.

Streep is, of course, magnificent as Thatcher both later in life and in her prime, but Welsh actress Alexandra Roach deserves praise, too. She plays a twentysomething Thatcher as a tenacious grocer's daughter who cannot be turned from her course.

You won't leave "The Iron Lady" feeling fully educated about Thatcher's years in power or what she was like as a friend, mother and wife. We see snippets of her childhood, but no sense of what drove her to political heights no British woman had ever reached. In one almost throwaway scene, her young twins beg her not to leave them, but we don't get a sense about whether she was conflicted about what her work took away from  them.

But you do leave the theater impressed once again with Streep's ability to sink into another person, body and mind, and with a reminder that even the most powerful among us must someday, if we live long enough, sink into the inescapable arms of age.

 Related links:

• British prime minister criticizes 'Iron Lady'
• Movies to look forward to in 2012
• Review: Dolly Parton, Queen Latifah make 'Joyful Noise'
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