The Story: The story of the rise and fall of an oil tycoon and his relationship with an evangelical minister. The Lowdown: A savage, disturbing and wholly unusual work from Paul Thomas Anderson that's as apt to infuriate viewers as please them.

The Story: A woman returns to the orphanage of her early childhood, only to find her son disappearing and the past closing in around her. The Lowdown: A beautifully crafted ghost story that also functions as a horror film and a psychological thriller.

The Story: A young girl's lie sets the stage for this period drama about doomed lovers. The Lowdown: A beautifully crafted, intelligent film that somehow misses being as emotionally powerful as it needs to be to cross the line into greatness.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Black Book at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville. (From Asheville, take I-26 to U.S. 64 West, turn right at the third light onto Thompson Street. Follow to the Lake Point Landing entrance and park…

The Story: Two terminally ill men set out to fulfill a list of things to do before they die. The Lowdown: Terminally contrived and fraudulent, Rob Reiner's The Bucket List never rises above its trite carpe diem bromides.

The Crime of Padre Amaro, part of a series of Classic Cinema From Around the World, will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, at Courtyard Gallery, 9 Walnut St. in downtown Asheville. Info: 273-3332.

The Asheville Art Museum will present Inspirations at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, and Sunday, Jan. 13.

The Story: Two battling siblings reunite for a wedding. The Lowdown: An uninspired, uninspiring and somewhat unpleasant film with infrequent flashes of humor and insight that aren't enough to compensate.

The Story: Folks start getting phone messages foretelling their impending deaths. The Lowdown: A contrived, dull rehash of yet another J-horror movie with bits and pieces of lots of other movies mixed in.

The Story: Battling outer-space monsters go at it in small-town America. The Lowdown: A perfectly awful compendium of bad acting, bad cinematography and bad screenwriting.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show A Cottage on Dartmoor at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville. (From Asheville, take I-26 to U.S. 64 West, turn right at the third light onto Thompson Street. Follow to the Lake Point Landing entrance…

The Story: Set during World War II, a lonely Scottish boy finds an egg that hatches to reveal a strange sea creature. The Lowdown: Surprisingly intelligent, well-made family fare that grounds the fantasy with believable characters of some depth and complexity.

The Story: A teenage girl finds she's pregnant and makes arrangements to give her baby to a childless couple. The Lowdown: Avoiding the pitfalls of indie hipness, Juno emerges as a warm, witty film with terrific characters and performances.

The Story: A young student turned spy seduces a man who is collaborating with the Japanese in 1930s China with the object of having him assassinated. The Lowdown: Ang Lee's new film is a visual masterpiece that's constantly entertaining, but it never becomes profoundly moving.

The Story: Treasure hunter-historian Ben Gates must find the lost city of gold to clear an ancestor's good name. The Lowdown: A mildly diverting adventure yarn that suffers from adhering too closely to formula.

The Story: A young widow receives letters from her late husband telling her how to get on with life. The Lowdown: A preposterous concept that's given an even more preposterous -- and amazingly overlong -- treatment, not helped by a miscast lead.

The Story: An Afghan émigré in California finds his past coming back to haunt him in the form of a childhood debt owed to a friend he betrayed. The Lowdown: Perhaps it's a little too heavily plotted (and maybe too contrived), but Marc Forster's new film is nonetheless a compelling examination of personal guilt and…

The Story: A trio of singing chipmunks become wildly popular recording stars and success proves too much. The Lowdown: A thoroughly humdrum revival of an idea that needed cremation, not resuscitation.

The Story: Good-time Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson becomes involved in financing a covert war to help Afghanistan drive out the Russian army. The Lowdown: Biting satire, witty lines, brisk direction and beguiling performances from Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman make Mike Nichols' latest film a must-see.

The Story: Will Smith plays the "last man on earth" in this postapocalyptic zombie yarn. The Lowdown: Uneven special effects, a clunky structure and a lack of any real focus undermine this third attempt at filming this story.