Alexander Payne

In vino veritas...Payne has supplanted the Coen Brothers as a reliable purveyor of smart comedy

A funny and horrifying allegory of American politics and adult society, as seen through the prism—or shall we say "prison"?—that is secondary education.

The timing is right for HBO's half-hour dramedy Hung...a darkly tinged recessionary comedy of (self-)destruction and erection.

If you see The Descendants, see it for Clooney (and Woodley), but don’t believe the hype that it’s one for the ages.

If you can grin and bear [certain] eye-rolling situations...there's found poetry in Nebraska's slow builds of respect and its deeply understated emotional climax: a father and son crossing past each other as they switch places.