Staff Reviews
Nebraska and Charlie Countryman
A road trip with Bruce Dern and Will Forte, and a Romanian holiday with Shia LaBeouf.
Thor: The Dark World and About Time
Thunder god in diminishing return, romance in the past-tense.
Dallas Buyers Club and Ender's Game
Matthew McConaughey scores again, and a sci-fi classic sags on the screen.
Blue Is the Warmest Color and The Counselor
A great film from France and a Ridley Scott misfire.
12 Years a Slave and All Is Lost
Chiwetel Ejiofor in a stunning slavery tale, Robert Redford adrift on the stormy ocean.
Captain Phillips, Machete Kills, and CBGB
Tom Hanks goes to sea, the Mexican avenger returns, and a punk-rock chronicle flames out.
Gravity and Runner Runner
Bullock and Clooney lost in space, Justin Timberlake drawing a bad hand.
Would Conscription Put the Brakes on War?
Andrew Bacevich's new book offers a powerful critique of U.S. foreign policy-but the solution it proposes is no remedy.
Big Labor Stumbles in Wisconsin
In a showdown with Gov. Scott Walker, democracy is the big winner.
Don Jon, We Are What We Are and Muscle Shoals
Joseph Gordon-Levitt scores, horror finds a new style, and Southern R&B lives again.
The Vanity of American Exceptionalism
Charles Murray's latest book mixes American history with American flattery.
The Family and A.K.A. Doc Pomus
A befuddling De Niro dud and a monument to a master Brill Building songwriter.
Riddick, Salinger and Blind Joe Death
Vin Diesel on another planet, a great writer stripped bare, and a legendary guitarist revisited.
Passion, Getaway, and A Single Shot
A De Palma comeback, an Ethan Hawke car wreck, and another good Sam Rockwell performance.
India's Budget Academies
The private schools that educate the subcontinent's poor are under attack.
The World's End and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
Simon Pegg scores again, and another attempted tentpole collapses.
How I Learned to Start Worrying and Fear the Bomb
A new book tackles the myths that have grown up around nuclear weapons.
Lee Daniels' The Butler and Kick-Ass 2
Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey confront a racist past and Hit-Girl suits up again.
Summer Reading, Modern and Classic
Murder at the Fed, capitalism in Balzac's France, Thomas Mann's family saga, and what it takes to beat the market.
Elysium and We're the Millers
Matt Damon shoots for the stars, Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis head for the border.
Fruitvale Station
Michael B. Jordan offers a complex portrayal of Oscar Grant, who was killed by police.
The Gray Areas of Gray Matter
Neuroimaging is pretty cool, but it can't do what its most enthusiastic boosters claim.
The Spectacular Now, 2 Guns, and The Canyons
Really good, almost good, and not completely worthless.
The Myth of the Better War
The faulty history that lures Americans into foolish foreign interventions
Voices of the Industrial Revolution
A new study of the Industrial Revolution examines the lives of 350 people who lived through it.
Only God Forgives and The Conjuring
Ryan Gosling at a loss for words, ghostbusters back in business.
Taking the Pulse of Arab Opinion
A series of polls in six countries reveals a multilayered, ever-evolving Arab identity.
From Boardroom to Battlefield and Beyond: Why It's Over for Power
Moisés Naím's brilliant new book charts how the little people are winning.
