Wondering what else is in theaters this weekend? Here are five films recommended by The New York Sun’s critics that you can still catch around town.

THE NATIVITY STORY
PG, 100 minutes

A movie by the director of “Thirteen” and “Lords of Dogtown” about unmarried teenage pregnancy and young runaways fleeing the law? What new sort of sordidness and shock are we in for now? But wait, it’s not what you might think. Catherine Hardwicke’s “The Nativity Story,” from a screenplay by Mike Rich, is not the tale of yet another teen rebel but of the most conspicuous nonrebel in history: Mary, the mother of Jesus.

“The Nativity Story” is the best thing of its kind that there’s been. This is because it does what “The Passion of the Christ” so signally failed to do, which is to make us forget that we are watching a movie and to bring a completely foreign landscape and culture alive on the screen without ever making it seem too remote.

– James Bowman (December 1)

CASINO ROYALE
PG-13, 144 minutes

Ian Fleming’s love letter to Cold War British hooliganism has finally been realized in a movie that offers up a 007 utterly faithful to the author’s intent. As the new James Bond, Daniel Craig is a thuggish gorilla trained to wear a tuxedo and chomp caviar so he can infiltrate high society with a Walther PPK tucked into his cummerbund. Not only does Mr. Craig’s Bond remorselessly murder for the Queen, but he does it with just the tiniest thimble of heart.

The recipe is simple and tasty — start with generous slabs of sex and violence, toss in car chases, sneering villains, gee-whiz gizmos of death, a dash of cool “Rule, Britannia,” and add plenty of gallows humor.

– John Devore (November 17)

DANCE PARTY, USA
Unrated, 65 minutes

If purity of intent counts for anything, then “Dance Party, USA” may be one of the best American films of the year. Shot for what looks like almost no budget, with a young cast of unknowns in Portland, Ore., the movie is a mere 65 minutes long and is filled with as much open, elliptical space between its characters as the thoughts they struggle to articulate.

Directed by Aaron Katz, a 25-year-old filmmaker based in Brooklyn, “Dance Party” trails a pair of high school kids through the groggy mornings and beer-sodden late nights of a Fourth of July weekend. Since Mr. Katz is very nearly a peer of his characters, his feel for their language and his choice in casting actors who can naturally embrace it gives the film a documentary feel. This is enhanced by loosely intimate camera work, which compensates for the movie’s washy color resolution with tight close-ups and the casual exterior photography that has always been the inventive, lowbudget filmmaker’s best friend.

-Steve Dollar (November 17)

VOLVER
R, 111 minutes

“Volver” means “to return,” and the recurrence of the past is the film’s major theme. In the movie’s fantastical logic, death, however inconvenient, does not bring an end to unsettled business. Restless souls can rise from the grave in search of closure, and ghosts can seem as real and as caring as sisters, daughters, and mothers.

Fantasy and reality freely mix in “Volver,” which manages to treat big themes like incest, betrayal, murder, abandonment, mortality, and loneliness in a charmingly blithe, yet nonetheless serious, manner. This enchanting alchemy also translates to unforgettable details. Several still shots perfectly capture Pedro Almodóvar’s unique blend of earnestness and perverseness.

-David Grosz (November 3)

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
R, 82 minutes

Embodying the worst aspects of the Eastern European stereotype, Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) jaunts across America, spouting his sexist and anti-Semitic beliefs to unsuspecting people as if, of course, they share his point of view. But Borat’s questions aren’t what’s funny. What’s funny is that his unsuspecting targets give him answers.

As Borat skips coast to coast, he effortlessly makes a fool of everyone he encounters along the way (the release contract offered to those appearing in the film was rumored to be vague at best).

Despite some side-splitting moments involving bewildered Americans, the film works best when it drops the social satire and simply erupts with pure anarchy. In fact, it’s a good lesson for all comedies: Spend less time making points and more time showing fat naked men wrestling, and you’ll be on the right track.

-Grady Hendrix (October 31)