This was a pretty good year to be a fan of genre movies. More and more low-budget movies had the courage to tackle science fiction and fantasy themes, and meanwhile Hollywood seemed to step up its game a little. But at the same time, there were still tons of boring sequels and prequels, and mountains of crap.

This year's movies share a couple of major preoccupations: the apocalypse, and fables. One obsession has to do with our sheer terror about the future, while the other has to do with our longing for an idealized past. So it's jolting and thrilling to watch a movie like Beasts of the Southern Wild, which takes both of…

Beasts of the Southern Wild isn't like other movies you've seen lately. It's a really wild and beautiful movie that manages to combine magical realism with an apocalyptic sense of doom, all seen through the eyes of a six-year-old girl. But how did something this strikingly beautiful and different emerge? How did a…

Here's a taste of Benh Zeitlin's Sundance success story, Beasts of the Southern Wild. We've absolutely fallen in love with the water city dubbed "The Bathtub" and all of its seafood-eating citizens. Here's the synopsis:

Rhys Ifans reveals just what makes the Lizard tick in The Amazing Spider-Man. One of Britain's greatest acting veterans is coming to Doctor Who. Chloe Moretz starts filming the Carrie remake. Plus where is Games of Thrones headed next season?

We are completely delighted by Wink, Hushpuppy, Sticks, Walrus, and the rest of the townspeople from Bathtub in beloved indie flick Beasts of the Southern Wild. And we're even more smitten in this first-ever clip where Hushpuppy raises a blue-limbed crab to her ear like a phone, no doubt listening to the universe or…

We called Beasts of the Southern Wild beautiful, operatic and [filled] with rampaging Ice Age creatures — and the trailer delivers on every point.

The Beasts of the Southern Wild is very much one of the most buzzed films at Sundance right now. Everyone either loves it or respects it greatly. Whether or not this movie about a young girl facing a flood and terrible hog-monsters catches on with a wider audience remains to be seen — but I feel confident saying that…

Next week marks the annual return of that indie-movie orgy, Sundance! The film festival that helped launch cult classics such as TrollHunter and Moon is back.