Alexander Payne’s film is subtly attuned to the way that class constricts people’s lives.
America is to this day hell-bent on holding Tracy Flick down. But she will have her revenge.
Payne’s defenders might call his often acidic touch Swiftian, though it comes off more toothlessly noncommittal.
It’s a good thing the Best Director category didn’t go the way of Best Picture to accommodate more nominees, because this year’s campaign has only ever been a three-man race even in its most competitive stages.
The most pleasant surprise of this awards season has been the widespread embrace of Her.
A buzzworthy turn overshadowing a movie’s failings is a trend this Oscar season.
Alexander Payne’s overview of America is extraordinarily, multifariously profound.
There’s homage, and then there’s the new poster for Alexander Payne’s Nebraska.
The men in Alexander Payne’s movies are on a constant journey.
Berman, Pulcini, and Diane Lane are consistently engaged in the discussion of the production of the film.
Payne’s lovely, resonant fifth film does the hula on a lonely island of imminent death and wasted life.
Conventional wisdom suggested that adaptations of the biggest bestsellers would make up much of this year’s shortlist.
Less a race than a ping-pong match, this year’s battle for Best Director has shifted favor from an obvious lock to a popular spoiler and back again.
The directing race has boiled down to nine names, four of which you can pretty safely etch into stone.
It’s both unfair and too easy to shake out predictions for this category based on what is most likely to appeal to the Kindle Fire set.
Payne’s films don’t have the distinct visual styles of those by Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson, but they’re quickly recognizable just the same.
This season presents two Oscar contenders, Hugo and The Artist, that both bask in the dreaminess of cinema’s early days.
The Descendants is unassumingly superb, and it’s sure to clinch a whole lot of Oscar nominations. Indeed, it’s a Clooney.
On the basis of About Schmidt, you’d think Alexander Payne had a problem dealing with grief.
Part Coen brothers and part James L. Brooks, Alexander Payne makes comedies about serious stuff like abortion and midlife crises.