Movies World - Reviews - Part 1

Among the feature films presented at the somewhat lower-key 28th Sundance Film Festival, there was “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” and there was everything else.

The disconnect between expectations going into Sundance and the results coming out has been particularly pronounced this year.

Liam Neeson leads a group of men stranded in Alaska after a plane crash in Joe Carnahan’s film “The Grey,” a lean, stripped-down tale of survival in brutal circumstances.

Hammer Film Productions made British horror movies in the ’50s and ’60s before declining. Now revived, it’s releasing “The Woman in Black” with Daniel Radcliffe.

Producers cite credibility and resonance when explaining how it is that women are the second-choice sex when it comes to voicing movie trailers.

A documentary, “Room 237,” collects theories and interpretations surrounding the symbols and intentions of Stanley Kubrick in his film “The Shining.”

Remastered versions of five 1970s horror films by the French director Jean Rollin feature some vampires and even more sex.

Long after her departure from public life, Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister who is the subject of a new film, still divides the British, even in her hometown.

Talking with two of the writers up for an adapted-screenplay Oscar for "The Descendants."

In “Declaration of War,” which carries echoes of the French New Wave, a child’s illness spurs a family to action.

Katherine Heigl plays a Trenton bounty hunter in “One for the Money,” a film adaptation of a best-selling novel by Janet Evanovich.

“The Wicker Tree,” directed by Robin Hardy, is a sort of companion piece to Mr. Hardy’s 1973 “The Wicker Man” (not to be confused with Nicolas Cage’s version).

In “Man on a Ledge,” an ex-police officer who has been wrongly imprisoned escapes and stalls for time by climbing onto the 21st-floor ledge of a hotel.

The documentary “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?” is an admiring look at the British architect Norman Foster.

In “Five Time Champion,” sex and sexual arrangements preoccupy the 14-year-old hero, who has a knack for science.

In “After Fall, Winter,” a New Yorker writer who had one successful book but can’t duplicate it travels to Paris.

The story of the Cantonese comedy “All’s Well, End’s Well 2012” involves single men who answer a Web site’s call to help women.

Scotty Bower’s new memoir, “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars,” offers a lurid account of trawling an X-rated underworld.

The Dance on Camera film festival opens at Lincoln Center, and the Wim Wenders film “Pina,” about the dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, has extended showings.

The most recent Oscar nominations reinforce the fact that many films that garner nominations had a near-miss path to the screen, built on serendipity, determination and, most often, leaps taken.

Ms. Ishioka, who won a 1992 Academy Award in costume design for “Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula,’” came to be known as one of Japan’s, then the world’s, foremost art directors.

Mr. Angelopoulos was a renowned director whose films explored the human condition in general and the condition of modern Greece in particular.

Mr. Farentino was a handsome actor who in his nearly 100 roles on stage, screen and television often defied the stereotype of the leading man, even though he fit the picture.

Mr. Williamson was a Scottish-born actor whose large, renegade talent made him a controversial Hamlet, an eccentric Macbeth, an angry, high-strung Vanya and, on the screen, a cocaine-sniffing Sherlock Holmes.

Leesa Evans, a costume designer for "Bridesmaids," discusses her process.

A chaotic Oscar season found a bit of order on Tuesday, as “The Artist” and “Hugo” joined “The Descendants” and “Midnight in Paris” in scoring an array of major nominations, including those for best picture and best director.

Demian Bichir but not Leonardo DiCaprio, Rooney Mara but not Tilda Swinton and other interesting twists in the race.

Glenn Close received an Oscar nomination for best actress, but more important to her, so did the makeup team that transformed her into the title character in “Albert Nobbs.”

HBO holds an event for the Marina Abramovic documentary at which silence is required.

Mr. Ray was a colorful indie-film executive who helped steer art-house movies like “Bowling for Columbine” and “Hotel Rwanda” to the masses.

The movie, nominated Tuesday for an Oscar for best picture, used almost 300 horses for one battle scene. The best acting was by Finders Key, who also appeared in “Seabiscuit.”

Since the founding of their family production company 50 years ago, the Barretos of Brazil have helped make more than 80 films.

A discussion with the former Village Voice senior movie critic J. Hoberman about The Voice, film culture and the precarious habit of cinephilia.

The horror director Ti West, whose latest film is “The Innkeepers,” likes to build suspense by subverting audience expectations.

A critical guide to movies playing in New York, including selected festivals and revivals.

Kate Beckinsale returns as the vampire Selene (now a mother) to fight werewolves in “Underworld: Awakening.”

Gerardo Naranjo’s “Miss Bala,” an art-house thriller, is based on the real story of a Mexican beauty queen who became entangled with a drug cartel.

Jang Hun’s “Front Line,” a Korean War drama opening Friday in New York and Los Angeles, is South Korea’s submission for the Academy Award for best foreign language film.

Zack Parker’s “Scalene” is a disturbingly clever drama of triangulated tension among a mother, her mute son and his caregiver.

Whitney Sudler-Smith’s documentary about Halston demonstrates little interest in fashion and even less insight into that designer.

The Elric brothers of “Fullmetal Alchemist” return to the animated screen to continue their quest for a philosopher’s stone.

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth” tells the sad story of a public housing project in St. Louis in the broader context of dying American cities after World War II.

Dante Lam’s “Viral Factor” throws a cop with personal problems into a plot involving a smallpox virus.

In “16-Love,” Lindsey Shaw plays a teenager who finds there’s life (and romance) off the tennis court.

In “Watching TV With the Red Chinese,” two visiting students try to figure out American culture in 1980.

In “Grey Matter” Kivu Ruhorahoza gathers recollections of the months of massacres in Rwanda and the effects of the bloodshed on those who survived.

“The City Dark,” a documentary about light pollution, explores what our increasing inability to see the night sky means for us philosophically as well as scientifically.

“Vettai,” a cleaning-up-a-bad-town movie, is that rare commodity: a Tamil-language film released in American theaters.

Actors auditioning for “The Artist” were filmed in black and white so that the film’s director could see how their performances would look in the finished version.

Joseph Cedar, the director of Israel’s foreign-language Oscar hope, “Footnote,” is a four-time veteran of the Academy Award process.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences often seems to get it wrong when it comes to nominating documentaries, favoring the feel good over the hard hitting.

N.F.L. Films documents and promotes the National Football League, makes money for the organization and uses its signature style to turn each week’s games into epic battles.

Video shot by a farmer in the West Bank has been turned into a compelling personal tale, called “Five Broken Cameras,” now competing at Sundance.

Despite winter storms in parts of the country, moviegoers flocked to the latest installment in Sony's "Underworld" vampire series.

To make “Wings,” the 1927 silent film about World War I pilots, the director William A. Wellman mounted cameras in the cockpits of planes.

The filmmaker has one last mission: to prove that with “Red Tails,” he can still make the kind of movie everyone will want to see.

Coriolanus seems like a fantasy modern politician. But the true moral of this political fable, newly adapted by Ralph Fiennes, isn’t one we’re eager to embrace.

With shows like “War Horse,” “Rock of Ages” and “Chicago,” Broadway has come to embrace film adaptations as good for business.

Melena Ryzik talks with Jeff Cronenweth, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

A chaotic Oscar season found a bit of order on Tuesday as the Academy Awards nominees were announced.

At Sundance, the makers of "Sleepwalk With Me" and "Safety Not Guaranteed" talk about grounding magical-realist elements in astutely observed characters.

Highlights from Sundance include sweets from the non-professional star of “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and an afterparty DJ’ed by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

A visit to the hometown of Margaret Thatcher to see how "The Iron Lady" plays there.

Images from films appearing in the Museum of the Moving Image series on David Cronenberg.

Images from select films appearing at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Winners at the 2012 Golden Globe awards.

A slide show of images of fashion from the red carpet.

The novel 'War Horse' sells more copies in two weeks than it did in its first 25 years.

A chaotic Oscar season found a bit of order on Tuesday, as "The Artist" and "Hugo" joined "The Descendants" and "Midnight in Paris" in scoring an array of major nominations, including best picture and best director.

Melena Ryzik has a drink with the actor Corey Stoll, who plays Ernest Hemingway in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.”

Dee Rees, the writer and director of "Pariah," discusses her coming-out drama.

A. O. Scott looks back at Jean Renoir's 1939 satire of French society.

A look at some of the year’s top films, as selected by the co-chief film critics A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis.

Charles McGrath looks at Hergé‘s graphic novels.

A look at moments from the film.

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