Filmmakers are the parents of their characters in more ways than one; artists don’t just give birth, they also have to guide their creations through life. Some filmmakers are too quick to punish flaws and to force their children to melt under their judging gaze; others coddle and rationalize, letting their brats run rampant and pretending that their bad behavior is adorable.

Collaborating on the script for “Frances Ha,” lead actress Greta Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach treat their progeny just right — they let her make mistakes and learn from them, but they obviously love her and want her to succeed. And it’s a feeling that...

Some documentaries dig deep and rip the lid off their subject matter, revealing secrets and surprises that the audience never knew. Others tread in more familiar territory, but if they’re comprehensive and detailed enough, they can still be compelling for people interested in the material.

“Venus and Serena,” a look at the astoundingly talented tennis-playing Williams sisters, fits firmly into the latter category. Fans of these groundbreaking athletes probably won’t learn much they don’t already know, but the film covers enough ground to feel like the movie equivalent of one of those lengthy, in-depth articles you used to get in the magazine of your Sunday newspaper.

Filmmakers...

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "The Great Gatsby" tells the story of a man with a shady past who is willing to waste countless millions of dollars in the pursuit of love and respect, so it's no surprise that the story has constantly proven to be catnip for people in the movie business.

Now making its fourth foray onto the big screen, under Baz Luhrmann’s uniquely ADHD-fueled supervision, "The Great Gatsby" uses the unbridled excess of the Roaring Twenties as an excuse to unleash the unbridled excess of 21st century digital effects, but we're left with nothing but roar.

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A documentary so loving and unquestioning of its subject that it could play on permanent loop in the shoe department, “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s” is an unabashed valentine to one of Manhattan’s preeminent temples of commerce.

If pretty clothes, elaborate window displays and air-kiss interviews from some of the biggest fashionistas on the planet are your idea of a good time, “Bergdorf’s” offers 90 minutes of couture bliss. Those less enraptured by the world of expensive clothes and the people who make, sell and purchase them will find themselves feeling like Anne Hathaway’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada,” wondering why there’s so much fuss over all this frippery.

Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman took us into every nook and cranny of Neiman-Marcus’ flagship Dallas...