Short List

• Share

1 | MOVIE Synecdoche, New York A theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has a Really Big Idea for a play, an obsession that upends his life and leads to madness. Charlie Kaufman's comedy about artistic ambition is challenging, invigorating and, if you go with it, brilliant fun. It's like a suicidal Fellini film--a downer 8 1/2.

2 | ALBUM Funhouse How can a pop album about boys and fame be dignified? Because Pink worries her smarter-than-necessary lyrics to a glossy economy, then gets top producers (here, riff machine Max Martin) to make sure you can dance to them. The result is a thrill that feels far from cheap.

3 | VIDEO GAME Dead Space When a derelict mining ship won't respond to radio contact, it's usually a bad sign. In this top-notch, incredibly bloody sci-fi horror game (PS3, Xbox 360 and PC), the bad guy is an alien life-form that reanimates the dead people on board into zombies. You shoot them.

4 | TELEVISION Sons of Anarchy Jax (Charlie Hunnam), scion of a California biker gang, starts to question the club's transformation from freedom-loving counter-culturalists into gunrunning criminal outfit. This gory drama (FX, Wednesdays, 10 p.m.) is a compelling story of an uneasy rider.

5 | MOVIE I've Loved You So Long From The English Patient to Gosford Park, Kristin Scott Thomas has oozed aristocracy. In Philippe Claudel's French drama, she occupies a private palace of pain as an ex-con reuniting with her sister (Elsa Zylberstein). This fine rehab film has a long fuse and a potent payoff.

Arts Online For more reviews and openings this weekend, go to time.com/entertainment