Paul (2011)

Calm Down, People; He Comes in Peace
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: March 17, 2011

Extraterrestrials have been invading the big screen since 1902, when earthlings met acrobatic aliens in Georges Méliès’s “Trip to the Moon,” widely thought to be the first science-fiction film. Back then the space beings wore unitards with lobsterlike claws. The titular otherworldly creature in the genial comedy “Paul” (voiced by Seth Rogen) has the classic far-out look — the ponderous, bald bobble head, the big eyes and gaunt limbs — only he wears board shorts and a backpack: he’s a little green dude. More

Win Win (2011) NYT Critics' Pick

Paul Giamatti, left, with Alex Shaffer in “Win Win,” directed by Tom McCarthy from his screenplay.
Riding the Wave of Life’s Indignities
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: March 17, 2011

There are actors who suffer nobly, with tragic and stoical reserve. Then there is Paul Giamatti. Squirrel cheeked and beetle browed, with rounded shoulders and a scratchy voice, he is a virtuoso of exasperation, a maestro of disappointment, an intrepid navigator through squalls of frustration and failure. Who else could have played John Adams, the most misunderestimated of the founding fathers, a great man and also a petty one, possessed of an outsize sense of grievance? Or Harvey Pekar, the Cleveland file clerk who wrung deadpan, misanthropic comic-book masterpieces from the grind of daily existence? More

Nostalgia for the Light (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

A scene from the documentary “Nostalgia for the Light.” More Photos »
Chile’s Past Is Present in the Desert
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: March 17, 2011

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile — the setting of Patricio Guzmán’s transfixing cinematic essay “Nostalgia for the Light” — is a place where heaven and earth converge. Or some might say heaven and hell. More

Bill Cunningham New York (2010) NYT Critics' Pick

Bill Cunningham at work during a Fashion Week show in Chelsea, in Richard Press's documentary “Bill Cunningham New York.”
Capturing a ‘Look at Me’ Milieu With Impish Modesty
By CARINA CHOCANO
Published: March 15, 2011

A few moments into the film “Bill Cunningham New York,” its subject — the legendary street-fashion photographer and society chronicler for The New York Times — is seen darting into the maw of Midtown traffic, unconcerned about the threat of death by taxi. Fast, intensely focused and apparently able to tune out all but the shot he’s after, Mr. Cunningham calls to mind a war photographer, which is an unlikely thing for an 82-year-old fashion photographer to call to mind. More

The Forgotten Millions

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March 17, 2011

More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed. More

When the hounds of spring

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