Oct 23rd, 2008 · Like Million Dollar Baby and his World War II films, the director's new true-crime drama centers on a driven protagonist facing the rigid ideology of a major institution — this time, the LAPD.
Oct 8th, 2008 · Alan Cheuse reviews two historical novels, both with protagonists immersed in sewing and slavery: Breena Clarke's Stand the Storm and Frances de Pontes Peebles' The Seamstress.
Aug 22nd, 2008 · Audacious Czech dramedy feels a bit like an Eastern European Forrest Gump — though its protagonist isn't quite so innocent, and the tumultuous times he lives through are markedly harsher. (Recommended)
Aug 7th, 2008 · Isabel Coixet's film follows a refined formula — acclaimed actors, source material by Philip Roth, a classy soundtrack. But the gentility of tone masks, when it might contrast, a brute of a protagonist.
Jul 30th, 2008 · Even the bard wasn't as bawdy or silly as drug-addled scholar "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, the fumbling protagonist of Jess Winfield's lovingly naughty academic picaresque, My Name Is Will.
Jul 9th, 2008 · Narcotics busts and abduction rescues are just ordinary parts of Detective Inspector John Rebus' work. Critic John Powers talks about 'Rebus,' the fictional British detective who is the protagonist of Ian Rankin's series of novels and the popular eponymous television show.
Jun 16th, 2008 · The television show Weeds returns for a new season, and creator Jenji Kohan has major changes in store for its drug-dealing soccer mom protagonist.
May 26th, 2008 · For our series In Character, we've asked listeners to tell us about their own favorite characters by submitting essays to the In Character blog. An 11-year-old who's been in foster care for the past four years wrote about his affinity for the protagonist of A Dog's Life: Autobiography of a Stray.