Crime

Murdoch's Scandal, a new Frontline documentary, examines allegations of phone hacking and bribery that brought down Rupert Murdoch's tabloid News of the World. Criminal and parliamentary investigations are now underway in the U.K., and dozens of journalists and top executives have been arrested.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new comedy Casa de mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell. It's a Spanish-language American film created in the style of a telenovela.

HBO's newest series Luck is set in and around the world of horse racing. TV critic David Bianculli says the series, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, is loaded with thoroughbred talent.

Gerardo Naranjo's gripping film about the Mexican drug war is Mexico's submission this year for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Critic John Powers says it deftly illuminates a society plagued with fear.

Two more shows to add to your 2012 list: Justified, which returns to FX Tuesday night for its third season, and Alcatraz, a new Fox drama and the latest from producer J.J. Abrams. TV critic David Bianculli explains why they're both worth watching.

The star of Showtime's bloody crime drama talks about the show's eventual plans for an ending — and also about matters both professional and personal, from how he plays an emotionless killer to how Hall himself, while filming Dexter, has dealt with both cancer and a divorce.

David Coleman Headley was one of the leaders of the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. A new Frontline documentary chronicles how the son of a Pakistani father and an American mother became a radicalized Islamic militant while working as an informant for the U.S. government.

Since 2006, 40,000 people have been murdered in Mexico as drug cartels battle each other and the Mexican military. Journalist Ioan Grillo traces how Mexico came to control drug trafficking in El Narco.

Drive is what Driver does, and driven is how audiences will feel after a screening of Nicholas Winding Refn's brutally moving thriller, which stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. (Recommended)

Drinking didn't stop in the United States from 1920 to 1933 — it just went underground. Author Daniel Okrent discusses the lasting cultural and political impact of Prohibition in his book, Last Call.

The new AMC drama The Killing tells the story of the murder of a young girl from three different perspectives. TV critic David Bianculli says the show is "AMC's most depressing series yet" -- and explains why it reminds him of the The X-Files, 24 and Twin Peaks.

Frank Calabrese Jr. has written a memoir about brining down his father's murderous Chicago crime family. In Operation Family Secrets, Frank details how he helped the FBI convict his father of several murders by wearing a hidden wire and taping his father's conversations.

Aaron Katz's mumblecore flick Cold Weather is set in Portland, Ore.; Lee Chang-dong's Poetry is from South Korea. Critic John Powers says both films are wonderful, in part because the stories they tell are so unpredictable.

Country music singer and songwriter Rodney Crowell brings his guitar to play some songs that relate to his new memoir, "Chinaberry Sidewalks." Crowell has been successful in the worlds of country music and alternative music. His songs have been hits for many singers, including Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings and Tim McGraw.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the recent shooting in Tucson, Arizona, arguing that traumatic events make people self-conscious about their language — and perhaps, rightfully so.

Writer Mark Feldstein says muckraking columnist Jack Anderson cut ethical corners to get Nixon exposes, and the president responded with fury. He recounts surprising details of the long-running battle between the journalist and the politician in Poisoning the Press.

The fifth season of Dexter, which premieres Sunday night, is better than ever, says TV critic David Bianculli, who calls it "one of the most inventive and exciting shows on TV."

Many of Spencer's novels feature a turning point -- a dreadful, unplanned act committed by one of the characters. In his latest book, Man in the Woods, a carpenter accidentally kills a man, which leads him to question himself and his relationship with God.

Anton Corbijn's paranoid thriller stars George Clooney as an anonymous international assassin constantly on the run. Critic David Edelstein says the spare movie "cast a spell" over the audience -- as they entered the mind of a man with no past or future.