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Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the German film Downfall, a retelling of Hitler's final hours with an emphasis on the human being at the center of an unspeakable wave of evil. It was a controversial hit in Germany, and has been nominated for a best foreign film Oscar.

Jon Pack and Gary Hustwit are always a little late to the games. That is: They're interested in the Olympics, but only years after they end.

Journalist Jacqueline Trescott started at The Washington Post in the 1970s, during a time of social and political upheaval. But she made her mark by covering the arts, theater and film. Trescott speaks with host Michel Martin about being a young African-American reporter, starting her career at that tumultuous time.

The London Olympics opened Friday with a ceremony that was full of spectacle and pride and, unfortunately, some not-so-good television commentary.

When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.

In this morning's roundup: More Idris Elba Bond rumors, some tussling over genre fiction and literary fiction (can't get enough!), and Ai Weiwei having some fun with YouTube.

As part of Tell Me More's series for National Poetry Month, host Michel Martin shares a poetic tweet by Laura Barkat of the website TSPoetry.com. Listeners are invited to tweet original poems of 140 characters and less to #TMMPoetry.

Sure, kids have been playing with tops forever. But Beyblades are battling tops, and they come with their own fighting arena. They're a hit, and if you haven't been nagged for one this year, there's still time.

Kids' movies — or movies that appeal to the kid in everyone — are the only reliable moneymakers for Hollywood these days. And everybody's doing them: Freaking Martin Scorsese! Spielberg made two! Critic Mark Jenkins explains — and complains.

Holiday pleasures We Bought a Zoo and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn are pure entertainments — not high art, but solid family films that just want to show an audience a good time.