127 Hours - NYT Critics' Pick

James Franco as Aron Ralston in “127 Hours.”
The Tale of a Shocking Fall and a Gritty Resolve
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 4, 2010

In April 2003 Aron Ralston, a 27-year-old hiker, fell and was trapped in a narrow slot in Blue John Canyon in Utah, his right arm wedged against the rock wall by a boulder. Mr. Ralston’s ordeal — described in many interviews after the fact and in his lively, unaffected memoir, “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” — was a struggle for survival and a profound existential crisis. More

Fair Game (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Marital Strife and C.I.A. Obligations
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 4, 2010

“Fair Game,” directed by Doug Liman from a screenplay by the brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, is partly, maybe even primarily, the portrait of a modern marriage under stress. More

For Colored Girls (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

From left, Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad and Anika Noni Rose in “For Colored Girls.”
A Powerful Chorus Harmonizing ‘Dark Phrases of Womanhood’
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: November 4, 2010

Tyler Perry has been led out to critical slaughter so many times, it might seem a wonder that he continues to make movies. Except that Mr. Perry addresses his movies to black audiences and, until recently, has shown relatively little interest in crossing over. His enormous commercial success with a mainly black audience and the often ferociously hostile reviews from mostly white critics might seem symptomatic of an insurmountable racial divide. Black people love him and white people don’t get him, and that sort of thing, which might be somewhat true but ignores that another important dividing line runs along taste and not color. More

Four Lions - NYT Critics' Pick

A scene from “Four Lions,” about a set of would-be terrorists.
Harebrained Plans by Half-Wits
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: November 4, 2010

Terrorism is stupid. Terrorists are stupid. It seems to me that these truths have not been sufficiently acknowledged, especially by movies, which tend to imagine terrorists as the diabolically clever authors of complicated conspiracies. But surely the recent historical record suggests that for every extremist mastermind scheming in a cave somewhere, there are innumerable stooges, fools and copycats, their dreams of glory tethered to half-baked ideas and harebrained plots. Incompetence married to zeal is hardly benign — dumb people have done their share of damage in the world — but it can nonetheless be funny. More

Megamind (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Animated Ambiguity, Featuring a Big Head
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: November 4, 2010

Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” blasted near the end of “Megamind,” the witty 3-D animated deconstruction of superhero movies from DreamWorks Animation, encapsulates the paradoxes of a story in which evil morphs into good and vice versa. There was always something innately silly in Jackson’s wispy-voiced, childlike affectation of macho ferocity. My first reaction to a singer whose clout suggested a crooked finger more than a clenched fist was, “Oh, come off it, little boy.” More

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009) NYT Critics' Pick

Jason Palmer and Desiree Garcia in “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.”
The Blissed-Out Rhythms of the Young and in Love
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: November 4, 2010

Visually distinctive and aurally delightful, “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench” has style to burn. A soulful black-and-white commentary on love, art and their competing demands, this Boston-based musical from Damien Chazelle floats on a wave of spontaneity and charm. More

Red Hill - NYT Critics' Pick

Ryan Kwanten, left, and Steve Bisely in “Red Hill.”
Western Meets Horror
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: November 4, 2010

Western meets horror in the Australian high country in “Red Hill,” a galloping revenge tale that uses young blood to unearth old sins. More

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday, erikvolson.

QotD

In a response to Krugman's post, Wages And The Slide Toward Deflation,

No doubt the right wing will look at this chart and start braying – especially folks like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin, the Four Jackasses of the Apocalypse – that wage growth was much stronger during Pres. Bush’s last two years than during Pres. Obama’s first two. Link