Spirited lark 'Angels Share' keeps you rooting to end

You'll have to wait until it ends to see whether crime pays in Ken Loach's spirited caper "The Angels' Share." But it's a testament to the veteran British filmmaker's wily ways - and to his strong social (and socialist) conscience - that you'll find yourself rooting for his band of underclas…

'The Big Wedding': Unhappily ever after

"Marriage is like a phone call late at night," Robert De Niro says, in dulcet voice-over mode, at the outset of "The Big Wedding." "First comes the ring, and then you wake up."

Acting adds much to coming-of-age film

Elle Fanning is scary. Scarily good.

'On the Road' pulls over too soon

People have been trying to film Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," the talismanic Beat novel, just about since the day it was published in 1957.

The Loft to screen all Oscar-nominated shorts

Is the whole animated shorts world suddenly all about 'toons without words?

All right, all right - hold your horses

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'Jason Statham steals this film

It would be great, one day, to see Jason Statham try his hand at a romance, or slapstick farce. He wouldn't have to change what he does - if he could, which seems doubtful. Somehow, the counterintuitive casting of the taciturn British action star - shaved dome, sinewy, snarling his lines as …

Exposure to chemicals poses daily risk for consumers

PHILADELPHIA - In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Ken Cook spoke passionately about 10 Americans who were found to have more than 200 synthetic chemicals in their blood.

Oscar contender 'Sister' is an absolute must-see

A ski-lift gondola, rumbling up the side of a Swiss mountain, is the means by which Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein), the 12-year-old boy at the center of Ursula Meier's dark fairy tale of a film, "Sister," gets to work.

Around the nation

A band, appropriately using a Volkswagen Beetle, performs a tribute to Beatles music during the 113th annual Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

Higher education in US No. 1 for these Chinese students

At China's High School Attached to Capital Normal University in Beijing, students take advanced-placement courses taught by American and Canadian teachers.

Higher education in US No. 1 for these Chinese students

BEIJING - Teachers at a new high school here, like teachers the world over, like to boast about all the colleges that have accepted their students.

Nothing wrong with 'Guilt Trip,' but nothing quite right, either

Maybe on paper - a cocktail napkin, perhaps, but certainly not the shooting script - "The Guilt Trip" seemed like a good idea. Take a geeky grown-up with no dating or mating skills and put him in a car for a cross-country road trip with his smothering, motor-mouth mom.

Nick Foles

The Philadelphia Eagles took quarterback Nick Foles in the third round of the 2012 draft. (DAVID MAIALETTI / PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER)

'Wuthering Heights' remake loses its way in gimmicks

O, the misery!

Monday Night Football: Saints 28, Eagles 13: Saints get 'the type of momentum we want'

Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson intercepts a pass from Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick before returning it for a 99-yard touchdown.

Electoral College tie vote isn't out of question, experts say

The final days of a close race for the White House, like the one now unfolding between President Obama and Mitt Romney, are always loud, tense and messy, but most end with a clear result.

Remembering Arlen Specter's appeal for moderation

When I heard on Sunday that Arlen Specter had died, I sought solace in rummaging through personal remnants of our 30-year friendship.

Cervical cancer vaccine successful in small study

PHILADELPHIA - A vaccine against cervical cancer, being developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Blue Bell, Pa., produced positive results in a small sample of 18 women.

Penn State may settle with 20 Sandusky accusers

PHILADELPHIA - Penn State University has entered into preliminary settlement talks with at least 20 men accusing Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse, the college's appointed mediators said.

Defiant Sandusky: 'I did not do alleged disgusting acts'

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Defiant and unrepentant, Jerry Sandusky blasted Pennsylvania State University, his accusers and the media Monday in a taped statement the day before his sentencing on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

Sandusky: ‘I did not do these alleged disgusting acts’

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Defiant and unrepentant, Jerry Sandusky blasted Pennsylvania State University, his accusers and the news media Monday in a taped jailhouse statement the day before he is to be sentenced on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

Deer on the lawn

A herd of deer feeds on someone's front lawn in Kennett Square, Pa. on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Michael Bryant)

Memories of the horror of 9/11 already are fading

Tuesday is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. And three months later, we will mark the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The two worst attacks on American soil each resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths and led the nation to war. Still, given the passage of time, Dec. 7 will be n…

How's your scholastic app-titude? Here's help to download textbooks

Going back to school means filling a backpack or - more and more often - a digital device with textbooks. Here are some ways to get that chore done with smartphone applications.

B-17 offers tours, glimpse of history

World War II veterans, including Harry Stebner, 89, wait to board a B-17 at Trenton Mercer Airport.

Pa. judge rejects effort to block voter-ID law

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A state judge has denied a bid by civil-rights groups to block Pennsylvania's new voter-identification law from taking effect, delivering a first-round victory to Gov. Tom Corbett and legislative Republicans who pushed the measure through last spring, saying it was needed t…

Travelers can keep up to date with smartphone apps

A handful of smartphone applications can help intrepid international travelers stay current on the safety of countries they visit, make changes in hotel reservations, and stay in touch, cheaply, with the folks back home

Shower victim in Sandusky case is found, plans lawsuit

PHILADELPHIA — A man who says he was the unidentified victim in the now-infamous 2001 shower-room assault by Jerry Sandusky announced plans Thursday to sue Penn State University.

Penn State removes Paterno statue, 'an obstacle to healing'

PHILADELPHIA - A construction crew took down the iconic statue of Joe Paterno from outside Pennsylvania State University's football stadium on Sunday, removing what had become, for fans of the late coach, a symbol of his central role on campus and, for critics, a constant reminder of the wor…

Defense rests, keeping Sandusky off the stand

Editor's note: This story contains graphic sexual descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.

2012 Pulitzer winners in journalism

Philadelphia Inquirer staff members react Monday to learning they received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their series on school violence.

Where does money go when super PACs die?

PHILADELPHIA - Consider the forlorn fate of a super PAC that has outlived its political purpose:

'Pariah' tells moving story of teenage girl coming out

For all adolescent girls, the teenage years are a time of chrysalis, a time when caterpillars become butterflies. This is especially true for Alike (ah-LEE-kay), a Brooklyn high-schooler known in certain quarters by the name of Lee. Describing her own metamorphosis in a poem for her Advanced…

Romney, Obama hold on to own versions of truth

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign event in The Iron Shop in Broomall, Pa. Romney and President Obama have been attacking each other's stands on health care, foreign policy and the unemployment rate.

Detergent removes film from glasses, ruins pans

We've been focusing lately on finding products to accommodate "improvements" in technology.

Holocaust film speaks to human endurance

Agnieszka Holland's "In Darkness," nominated for a foreign-language Academy Award (it lost, to "A Separation"), is set in the city of Lvov, then part of Poland and now the Ukraine, in the midst of World War II. It's a harrowing Holocaust tale, but one that speaks to humankind's capacity to e…

Game of the day: Phillies 4, Tigers 3: Cabrera's move to 3rd base turns bloody

Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera was hit in the face by a hard grounder from Philadelphia's Hunter Pence during the first inning.

NIT Overview: 16 sweet reasons to watch NIT

There will be three games in Philadelphia tonight, including one between Knights (UCF) and Dragons (Drexel).

Freedom to be liar at root of fake-medals debate

A new movie about Navy SEALs opened Friday, and it has Doug Sterner concerned. The film, "Act of Valor," revolves around a team of SEALs trying to rescue a captured CIA agent. What's unusual about it is that it features several actual, active-duty SEALs as actors. Sterner, who hunts military…

Skillful 'Tyrannosaur' burns with intensity

Rage and ruin burn off the screen in "Tyrannosaur," a first-time directorial effort from Irish actor Paddy Considine in which Peter Mullan - veteran of many a Ken Loach pic - seethes with hate and self-hatred.

Romney must meet critics of business dealings head-on

It was as if Oliver Stone had written a Mitt Romney sound bite when last week the candidate was quoted as saying, "I like firing people." After all, Stone directed Michael Douglas, as Gordon Gekko, saying similar things in the 1987 movie classic "Wall Street."

Shakespeare . . . er, rather . . . Goethe in love

The original German title of "Young Goethe in Love" is simply "Goethe!" Note the exclamation point, because director Philipp Stölzl's account of the love affair that set the great German author on the path to literary stardom is all about exuberance and exaggeration.

A look at celebs of all sorts who left us in the past year

Some believe that in 2011, the world lost its most beautiful woman.

NBA notebook: Sixers like this year's Iguodala

PHILADELPHIA - The best things about 76ers forward Andre Iguodala are the things he's without.

25-song Christmas playlist

Humbug, I say, to those who don't like Christmas music. But no, I don't want to hear "Do You Hear What I Hear?" again, either.

Sandusky waives hearing at last minute

BELLEFONTE, Pa. - Former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky changed tack at the last minute Tuesday and waived his preliminary hearing on charges he sexually assaulted 10 boys over 15 years.

Boxing: Jones wins undercard bout over Argentine

NEW YORK - Instead of the fast opponent Mike Jones expected, he got a sluggish Sebastian Lujan on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, and the Philadelphia native took full advantage.

Intense research aims to create IED-resistant military armor

At Villanova, armor researcher Ledjan Qato holds a crushed section of steel tubing and another he hopes tests better.

Intense research aims to create IED-resistant military armor

PHILADELPHIA - It was a simple act, really, one that Ledjan Qato performed dozens of times in the corner of a spacious engineering lab at Villanova University.