Film

What This Is It lacks in tactful timing, it makes up for with perspective on Michael Jackson's backstage life. Although Jackson's star persona stays front and center, critic David Edelstein says director Kenny Ortega makes a real effort to show us the performer's human side — a treat that makes the King of Pop all the more stellar.

Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story made a splash, but critic John Powers says its critique of capitalism is "the kind of scattershot tirade I used to hear in my college dorm." Better object lessons: New documentaries, Schmatta and American Casino, that do far more to explain how grand economic forces shape our daily lives.

Director Mira Nair's Amelia attempts to capture the free-spirited life of famed pilot Amelia Earhart. But with a flat script and shallow story, says critic David Edelstein, the movie is more of a blueprint--it never breathes.

An adaptation from Maurice Sendak's book, Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are has a vision all its own, says critic David Edelstein. And it casts a singular sort of spell: With a crack ensemble cast and an almost hallucinatory blending of reality and make-believe, it's "a fabulous treehouse of a movie."

The director of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation discusses his new film, Where the Wild Things Are, adapted from Maurice Sendak's classic children's book of the same name.

Shot on a $15,000 budget, director Oren Peli's Paranormal Activity is a bare-bones thriller about things that go bump in the night.

A Serious Man is the Coen Brothers latest (and most specifically Jewish) take on the question of cosmic injustice. Larry Gopnik, a staid Mid-western physics professor, watches helplessly as his life begins to crumble. Critic David Edelstein says the movie unfolds like a strange, sad joke that makes you wonder whether the punchline "will make you laugh or want to kill yourself."

In remembrance of M*A*S*H creator Larry Gelbart, we listen back to a 1996 interview with the comedy writer. Gelbart died Sept. 11, 2009 at the age of 81.

Set in the 19th century, Jane Campion's Bright Star centers on the unconsummated affair of John Keats and his Hampstead neighbor. Reviewer David Edelstein says the film doesn't have a single less-than-perfect performance.

Fresh Air producer Ann Marie Baldonado has just returned from the Toronto International Film Festival to tell us about the films, the celebrities and the scene on the ground.