KRUGMAN

Obama Faces His Anzio
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: November 5, 2009

Remember those Republican boasts that they would turn health care into President Obama’s Waterloo? Well, exit polls suggest that to the extent that health care was an issue in Tuesday’s elections, it worked in Democrats’ favor. But while health care won’t be Mr. Obama’s Waterloo, economic policy is starting to look like his Anzio. More

Precious (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Precious: Based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire, with Gabourey Sidibe in the title role, opens Friday in selected cities.
Howls of a Life, Buried Deep Within
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 6, 2009

Claireece Jones, the Harlem teenager at the center of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” lives in a world of specific and overwhelming horror. She goes by her middle name, Precious, which seems like a cruel taunt, since nearly everyone around her thinks she’s worthless and lets her know it. More

That Evening Sun (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

Hal Holbrook as an 80-year-old farmer fighting for his property in “That Evening Sun.”
Reclaiming a Home at the Sunset of Life
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: November 6, 2009

In “That Evening Sun,” the story of a feisty Tennessee farmer who flees a nursing home to return to his rural homestead, where he discovers that another family has taken up residence, Hal Holbrook strips the stereotype of the grumpy old man of sentimental shtick and cutesy old-codger mannerisms. More

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

A scene from “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet,” a documentary filmed at the Palais Garnier.
Creating Dialogue From Body Language
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 4, 2009
Agnès Letestu and Mathieu Ganio in "La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet."

In “La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet,” his 36th documentary in more than 40 years, Frederick Wiseman takes his camera into the stately and elegant Palais Garnier in Paris, observing rehearsals, staff meetings and, finally, performances of seven dances, including classics like “The Nutcracker” and spiky new work by younger choreographers. To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its rhythm, is a feast for ballet lovers is to state the obvious and also to sell Mr. Wiseman’s achievement a bit short. Yes, this is one of the finest dance films ever made, but there’s more to it than that. More