Tricia Olszewski leads this week’s arts section with her take on Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, which she says it’s “expertly crafted and acted,” but with some damning plot failures. She follows with her take on Josh Radnor‘s rom-com Liberal Arts, concluding that maybe dude should stick to doing sitcoms.

In theater, Rebecca Ritzel praises Round House’s production of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and Trey Graham recommends Constellation’s Taking Steps for folks who are into that over-the-top farce thing. Kokayi, under the name CZRS, releases the fun-but-serious Pro Deo et Patria, which Marcus J. Moore calls “impressive.” Mark Andersen appreciates but has some qualms with The Rise and Fall of The Clash, Daniel Garcia’s documentary about The Clash‘s later period.

On the grazer page: Reese Higgins talks to Drop Electric about “Empire Trashed,” the haunting opener from Sampler Platter, and Alan Zilberman and Matt Cohen offer short reviews of a few films in this year’s (big!) Latin-American Film Festival at AFI. Eve Ottenberg closes the arts section with a review of Huffington Post editor Timothy L. O’Brien‘s historical-fiction page-turner The Lincoln Conspiracy, in which the president’s assassination is investigated by a D.C.-based Irish detective who face-pounds his way to finding the schemers who plotted Lincoln’s death.