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Critic John Powers reviews Where to and Back, a newly released DVD trilogy from the late Austrian director Axel Corti. Written by Georg Stefan Troller, the films are loosely based on Toller's life as a Viennese Jew who took refuge in the United States as a teenager and then returned to Europe as an American soldier during World War II.

The story of anti-war protesters on trial in 1969, retold with an inventive mix of archival footage and motion-capture animation. Hank Azaria, Mark Ruffalo and other stars play Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and their compatriots.

Host Madeleine Brand's date got sick at the last minute, so she walked the red carpet at the Oscars by herself. It was fun until she realized that the people yelling at her were actually cheering for Ellen Page.

Presidential candidates — and often presidents themselves — sometimes have trouble living up to the images of heroic commanders-in-chief on the big screen. In honor of Presidents Day, film critics Shawn Edwards and Julio Martinez discuss how fictional characters relate to the true American political experience.

The Scarlet Letter's proud adulteress is a vessel for the feelings and actions of the men who surround her — and a mirror revealing the reader's true feelings about the role of women in society.

Sculptor John Bisbee has made almost all of his art with an object most people use to hang art with — nails. Recently, after decades of oxidizing, welding, bending and cutting, he realized that he was overlooking the most obvious thing he could do with nails: hammer them.

Morning Edition and Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan reviews the thriller Vantage Point. It's the story of an attempted assassination of the president told from the point of view of eight people. Turan says that it's trying to be like the classic Japanese film Rashomon, but it's more like the story of the blind men and the elephant.

Farai Chideya offers a remembrance of actor, director and producer Ivan Dixon, who died this week at the age of 76. Dixon was probably best known for his role as Staff Sergeant James Kinchloe on the 1960s sitcom, Hogan's Heroes.

Three high-schoolers hire a broke, out-of-work bodyguard to protect them from a bully; punches get thrown, groins kicked, Life Lessons learned. The bottom line? It's generic, and a probable crowd-pleaser.

Vaguely pudgy guy (Simon Pegg) leaves ravishing, pregnant bride-to-be (Thandie Newton) at the altar, hopes to win her back five years later by running a marathon. David Schwimmer directs with an amiable looseness — and a bit more slapstick than necessary.