Silvan Elves leading their captives, Thorin Oakenshield’s dwarves, in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second installment in The Hobbit Trilogy.

A Touch of Sin, a new film by Jia Zhangke.

The Snow Flake Queen in The Nutcracker by José Mateo Ballet Theatre.

MIT Professor Joe Haldeman’s new novel, Work Done For Hire.

Charles M. Vest speaking at MIT’s Commencement.

The Institute closed on Friday, Jan. 3 in response to a snowstorm that blanketed the northeast with large amounts of snow. Here, a snow-shoveling crew takes a break in Lobby 7 on Friday afternoon. Ismael Imul, one of the members of the crew, said that they started clearing snow from walkways around 5:00 a.m., and they had stopped around 2:30 p.m. because the snow had stopped falling. He said they were expecting to start again in the evening if the snow returned.

Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and a disgruntled P. L. Travers (Emma Thompson), the author of the Mary Poppins books, in Saving Mr. Banks.

Patchi, center, and his herd make their annual migration across the frozen Alaskan tundra.

Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) in Inside Llewyn Davis, a film about a folk singer-songwriter in New York in the 1960s.