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Jeff Lunden reports on one of the few critical and commercial hits this season on Broadway. Wonderful Town is a 50-year-old production created by Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green and Betty Comden.

Young Adam and Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself are both Scottish films starring male leads obsessed with death. But the two movies are really quite different. NPR's Bob Mondello offers a comparison.

It's tough making a living as a writer. NPR's Noah Adams continues his series on low-wage jobs with a look at writers in Seattle who can only dream of quitting their day job.

The movie Greendale -- a celebration of small-town life and a cautionary tale about greed and commercialism -- comes from musician Neil Young. It was shot in five weeks with a $500 camera, and characters are played by Young's friends and family. David D'Arcy reports.

In the 1970s, John Gardner was at the center of American literature, shaping the debate on what a novel should be. Gardner also had several best sellers, including Grendel, The Sunlight Dialogues and a book of literary criticism, On Moral Fiction. Barry Silesky has written John Gardner: The Life and Death of a Literary Outlaw the first full biography of the iconoclastic writer. Tom Vitale reports.

Legendary actor Omar Sharif is returning to prominence after years of relative obscurity. The 72-year-old Egyptian actor has two new movies out, Monsieur Ibrahim and Hidalgo. He says he almost retired after years of being offered caricatured roles of Arabs. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Sharif.

For 24 hours this weekend, Washington's Hirshhorn Museum screened Scottish artist Douglas Gordon's work 24 Hour Psycho. The project slows Hitchcock's classic 1960 film down to a glacial pace, stretching what was originally a 109-minute movie into a day-long art event. The museum stayed open all night for the curious and the dedicated. NPR's Susan Stone visited the museum at several points during the movie.

The Passion of the Christ opens Wednesday in 2,800 theaters. Mel Gibson's interpretation of the final 12 hours of Jesus' life has already generated much talk, anticipation and controversy. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

The notorious Rio de Janeiro slum known as "The City of God," is a place most self-respecting Brazilians would prefer to avoid. But it is now the subject of a film that focuses on drug-dealing. It has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including best director. For the film, co-director Katia Lund recruited a number of young men from the slum and trained them as actors. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

Nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary, Balseros chronicles the tale of Cubans who tried to escape to the United States on rafts in 1994. Filmed over the course of a decade, the movie uses Cuban TV footage to help tell the stories of seven balseros who made it to the United States -- and of their families in Cuba. David D'Arcy reports.