Joaquin Phoenix is shown in a scene from “Inherent Vice.” (Photo credit: Warner Bros.)

OPENING FRIDAY
“Inherent Vice” (R): Joaquin Phoenix is a perpetually-stoned private investigator and Josh Brolin is a jarhead cop in director Paul Thomas Anderson’s semi-comic adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel.
“Selma” (PG-13): Director Ava DuVernay’s riveting recounting of the civil rights march in 1965 to protest African-Americans’ inability to vote features a star-making performance by David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Taken 3” (PG-13): Liam Neeson is back for what the studio promises is the last installment in the popular action series about the world’s unluckiest government operative. Good thing he can take down anyone at will.