Friendship

Writer-director Judd Apatow's new film Funny People is a vaguely autobiographical comedy starring Apatow's former roommate Adam Sandler as a comic mentoring a younger colleague (Seth Rogen).

Seattle director Lynn Shelton's fabulously squirmy film Humpday centers on two seemingly straight men who decide to have sex with each other as part of an amateur porn video competition.

Critic-at-large David Edelstein considers Paul Rudd's search for "bromance" in I Love You Man and the spy-romance of Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in Duplicity.

The man behind Nemo and Wall-E has warmed hearts with his unlikely heroes — a clownfish? A sentient trash compactor? He tells Terry Gross about finding inspiration in unlikely places, and in everyday objects.

Pixar has always focused on loss, decay, and the dark side of materialism. Here that theme extends to the ruination of the planet — and Wall-E ranks among the most sublime feature-length works of animation ever made in this country.

Four years after Sex and the City's TV finale, Carrie Bradshaw and her posse return — a little older, a little more settled, but with Cosmos still in hand. If you loved the TV show, the movie will fly by; if you hated it, brace yourself.

Fresh Air film critic David Edelstein reviews Reprise, the first feature film by Norwegian writer and director Joachim Trier.

It's January, the stock market is shaky, and the Hollywood writer's strike is still dragging on, but Fresh Air's book critic says there's at least one piece of good news this month: Sue Miller has a new novel out.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews Friends with Money, the new film by writer/director Nicole Holofcener who wrote and directed Lovely & Amazing and Walking and Talking.

The animated feature Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is the latest big-screen adventure featuring an inept man and a clever dog. The characters, fan favorites in Great Britain, are the work of Nick Park.

Critic-at-large John Powers reviews Mikey & Nicky, a film first released in 1976 written and directed by Elaine May starring John Cassavetes and Peter Falk. It's now out on DVD.

Pickett's novel Sideways has been made into a critically acclaimed film starring Thomas Paul Giamatti and Haden Church (left). It's about two ex-college roommates, now middle-aged, who set off on a week's trip through California wine country.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews "sideways".

Television critic David Bianculli reviews last night's series finale of the hit NBC sitcom Friends, and looks at the history of series finales.

Critic-at-Large John Powers reviews two recent DVDs, Kill Bill Volume 1 and Lost in Translation.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists 1854-67, by Rachel Cohen. It's a book about friendships between American writers and artists and photographers.

She wrote and directed the film Lost in Translation. It's up for four Academy awards, including Best Director and Best Picture. The film stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsen as two Americans visiting Tokyo. Sofia Coppola is the daughter of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

His new semi-autobiographical novel, The Fortress of Solitude, tells the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in an African-American and Latino neighborhood in New York. His last novel, Motherless Brooklyn, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. His other books include Girl in Landscape and Amnesia Moon.

Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new Sofia Coppola film, Lost in Translation. The film stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.