SONNY BUNCH

BEYOND: Asperger’s syndrome takes spotlight

Though autism awareness is on the rise, it's not often understood that the disorder comes in a number of varieties; symptoms and severity range from the annoying to the debilitating. Published August 7, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Funny People’

"Funny People," Judd Apatow's new comedy, will be the perfect test of the Academy Awards' decision to expand the best picture category from five nominees to 10 in order to attract more mainstream, viewer-friendly fare. Published July 31, 2009

Digitized culture: Signal interference?

In the Internet age of iPods and Kindles and digital libraries -- cultural intellectual property out of sight -- are we changing the way in which interpersonal relationships are formed? Published July 31, 2009

TV’s ‘The Wanted’ out to grab terrorists, viewers

Eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks and the beginning of the war on terror, leaders and supporters of terrorist organizations still lead free and open lives around the world. Published July 27, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Humpday’

"Humpday" is the reductio ad absurdum of the recent spate of bromance movies — buddy comedies such as "I Love You, Man" and "Superbad" that examine male friendships that are, occasionally, uncomfortably close. Published July 24, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘G-Force’

The worst thing about "G-Force" isn't that the plot is so formulaic that the entire movie can be divined from the first 20 minutes or that it's not particularly funny, even for a kiddie comedy. The worst thing is what it does to your impression of the talent involved. Published July 24, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Orphan’

"Orphan" is the latest in a long line of movies in which precocious children commit acts of remarkable evil while half the people in the film think nothing is wrong. Published July 24, 2009

BEYOND: Office politics

The director of "In the Loop," Armando Iannucci, hopes you'll find a little of your own office's follies in his new comedy. Published July 24, 2009

EDGE: ‘Bruno’ getting lifeline from right?

Are audiences more wary of graphic footage than either Hollywood or cultural conservatives give them credit for? Published July 17, 2009

Brand reprises role at VMAs

Russell Brand is back to host the MTV Video Music Awards Published July 15, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Half-Blood Prince’ not for clueless

The best way to think about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is not as the sixth film in the franchise but, rather, the first film in a new trilogy. Published July 14, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Hurt Locker’

"The Hurt Locker" is an action-packed thriller of the first order, the most entertaining movie to be made to date about the Iraq war. Published July 10, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Bruno’

Enough with the puritanical hand-wringing. Is "Bruno" funny? Yes and no. Published July 10, 2009

Transforming effect

Michael Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" took in more than $200 million last weekend, the second-highest five-day total in box-office history. Military men and women helped make the movie compelling. Published July 3, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: Dinos crash into ‘Ice Age’

Dawn of the Dinosaurs": They were just hanging out in a tropical land slightly under the Earth's icy crust, waiting for our favorite mastodons and their furry pals to drop in for some wacky adventures. Published July 1, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Public’ lacks emotion

Michael Mann, director of "Public Enemies," has capped an extremely impressive decade of work with a movie that approaches greatness but just misses. His take on the violent gangsters of the 1930s and their pursuit by the FBI fails to find the emotional center it so desperately needs to rise above the level of a really good cops-and-robbers film. Published July 1, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘$9.99’

In the animated adaptation "$9.99," Israeli author Etgar Keret and co-writer Tatia Rosenthal have taken several of his stories, moved them to Australia and woven them together to create an interlocking narrative, a sort of stop-motion "Pulp Fiction." Published June 26, 2009

EDGE: ‘Stoning’ shows true face of torture

In a time when the word "torture" is tossed about relatively casually — especially in ritual denunciation of the Bush-Cheney war on terror — the medium of film is uniquely qualified to remind people just what torture actually looks like. Published June 26, 2009

‘Transformers’ tiring

Revenge of the Fallen," wants us to think about the big questions in life. Should man embrace his fate or run from it? Can love survive distance and temptation? Will an audience ever tire of giant robots fighting one another while the U.S. military throws everything in its arsenal against other giant robots? Published June 24, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Year One’

There are two kinds of Harold Ramis movies: thoughtful, introspective comedies with deeper societal implications and gross-out, poop-joke comedies. "Year One" falls squarely into that second category. Published June 19, 2009