Movie Reviews : NPR

Will Smith And Martin Lawrence Reunite In 'Bad Boys For Life'

Will Smith returns as Mike Lowrey in the hit movie Bad Boys For Life. Kyle Kaplan/Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Kyle Kaplan/Columbia Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Will Smith And Martin Lawrence Reunite In 'Bad Boys For Life'

January 31, 2020 • In 1995, while Will Smith was on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Martin Lawrence was on Martin, the two teamed up for the cop buddy movie Bad Boys. They reunited in 2003 for Bad Boys II, and now, almost 17 years later, they're back in Bad Boys For Life. Bad Boys For Life comes to theaters in a very different atmosphere around policing than existed in 1995. And the cops in the film have changed, too: There are still car chases and guns and bad guys, but there are also grandkids and deteriorating vision, and there's even Vanessa Hudgens.

Will Smith And Martin Lawrence Reunite In 'Bad Boys For Life'

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2 Friends Scarred By War Attempt To Heal In 'Beanpole'

Iya (Viktoria Miroshnichenko) looks on in the grim but ultimately warm-hearted Beanpole. Liana Mukhamedzyanova/Kino Lorber hide caption

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Liana Mukhamedzyanova/Kino Lorber

2 Friends Scarred By War Attempt To Heal In 'Beanpole'

January 30, 2020 • In post-WWII Leningrad, two women bonded by grief, guilt and hardship set out to make their futures brighter than the horrors of their shared past.

'The Assistant': When A Workplace's Silence Can't Be Broken

Jane (Julia Garner) slowly comes to realize something terrible about her boss in Kitty Green's The Assistant. Bleecker Street hide caption

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Bleecker Street

'The Assistant': When A Workplace's Silence Can't Be Broken

January 30, 2020 • In this "quietly shattering drama," a young woman (Julia Garner) learns that her new boss is a serial sexual predator; her efforts to call him out meet with indifference and hostility.

A Super-Assassin Named Stephanie: Blake Lively looks pensive in The Rhythm Section. Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Paramount Pictures

'The Rhythm Section' Misses A Beat

January 30, 2020 • Stephanie (Blake Lively) trains to become a super-assassin to avenge the murder of her parents in this well-paced, well-directed, but poorly scripted Bond knockoff.

'The Assistant' Helps Explain How Predatory Behavior Stays Hidden

Julia Garner stars as a young college graduate who grows increasingly uncomfortable working for a New York-based movie mogul in The Assistant. Ty Johnson/Bleecker Street hide caption

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Ty Johnson/Bleecker Street

'The Assistant' Helps Explain How Predatory Behavior Stays Hidden

Fresh Air

January 28, 2020 • A young woman grows increasingly uncomfortable working for a movie mogul reminiscent of Harvey Weinstein. The drama explores how easy it is for powerful people to exploit absolute authority.

'The Assistant' Helps Explain How Predatory Behavior Stays Hidden

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A Drug Kingpin Worries Over His Imminent Regicide In 'The Gentlemen'

Rosalind (Michelle Dockery) and Mickey (Matthew McConaughey) in The Gentlemen. Christopher Raphael/STX Films hide caption

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Christopher Raphael/STX Films

A Drug Kingpin Worries Over His Imminent Regicide In 'The Gentlemen'

January 23, 2020 • Guy Ritchie returns to the genre he made his bones on, and the film's "rigorous and largely circular" plot is fun; more fun than McConaughey's undercooked performance, anyway.

'Zombi Child': When The Real Horror Is Colonialism

The story of a man (Mackenson Bijou) who was brought back from the dead casts a long shadow into the present in Zombi Child. Film Movement hide caption

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Film Movement

'Zombi Child': When The Real Horror Is Colonialism

January 23, 2020 • Writer-director Bertrand Bonello uses the tale of a Haitian zombie to explore intergenerational racial trauma in this quiet, moody film.

No Love, Little Craft In Pulpy Body-Horror Flick 'Color Out Of Space'

An alien force adjusts reality's tint for Nathan Gardner (Nicolas Cage) and family in Color Out Of Space. RLJ Entertainment hide caption

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RLJ Entertainment

No Love, Little Craft In Pulpy Body-Horror Flick 'Color Out Of Space'

January 23, 2020 • In this loose, grisly adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story, a family undergoes a series of mutations while Nicolas Cage gets increasingly unhinged; the result is "a gory mess."

Vrooming Engines Meet Flaring Tempers In 'Ford V Ferrari'

Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) in Ford V Ferrari. Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox hide caption

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Merrick Morton/Twentieth Century Fox

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Vrooming Engines Meet Flaring Tempers In 'Ford V Ferrari'

January 22, 2020 • Cars that are going very fast have been cinema staples for decades. In the Oscar best picture nominee Ford v Ferrari, we find out a little about what it can take to make them go that fast. Starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, the film indeed tells the tale of an epic battle of Ford versus Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1966.

Vrooming Engines Meet Flaring Tempers In 'Ford V Ferrari'

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Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) shows off a diamond-encrusted Furby. A24 hide caption

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A24

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We're Ride Or Diamond For 'Uncut Gems'

January 17, 2020 • A gambler, a rock, a ring, and Kevin Garnett are the primary ingredients in Uncut Gems, a thriller directed by Josh and Benny Safdie. Adam Sandler stars as compulsive gambler Howard Ratner, and the film is so tense that calling it tense seems completely inadequate.

We're Ride Or Diamond For 'Uncut Gems'

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Who'll Stop The Rain? She Will: 'Weathering With You'

In writer/director Makoto Shinkai's latest animated feature, Hodaka (voiced by Kotaro Daigo, L) meets Hina (voiced by Nana Mori, R), a girl who can stop the rain. Gkids hide caption

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Gkids

Who'll Stop The Rain? She Will: 'Weathering With You'

January 16, 2020 • Makoto Shinkai's latest animated feature doesn't live up to his hit Your Name, with which it shares many plot similarities. But it speaks to anxieties about climate change in a captivating way.

'Dolittle' Does A Lot, All Of It Terribly

"Polly want a movie!": Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and parrot (voiced by Emma Thompson) are lost at sea in Dolittle. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

'Dolittle' Does A Lot, All Of It Terribly

January 16, 2020 • Robert Downey Jr.'s first post-Marvel Universe foray "is not a film. Dolittle is a crime scene in need of forensic analysis. Something happened here. Something terrible. Something inexplicable."

'Weathering With You' Is The Latest Anime From Makoto Shinkai

January 16, 2020 • There's a new anime movie from the creator of Your Name — this one about a girl who may be able to control the weather.

'Weathering With You' Is The Latest Anime From Makoto Shinkai

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'1917' Is A Mind-Boggling Technological Achievement — But Not A Great Film

Fresh Air

January 15, 2020 • Sam Mendes filmed his suspenseful beat-the-clock thriller in what appears to be one continuous take. It's an impressive feat — but it makes the WWI movie feel like an overly polished one-shot wonder.

'1917' Is A Mind-Boggling Technological Achievement — But Not A Great Film

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George MacKay as Lance Corporal Schofield in the film 1917. Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'1917' Is Not Your Dad's War Movie

January 10, 2020 • The war epic 1917 startled a lot of awards watchers Sunday night when it won the Golden Globe for best dramatic film. That's in part because it's just now going into wide release. 1917 is directed by Sam Mendes and follows two young World War I soldiers who are sent on a dangerous mission to deliver a crucial message. And just to increase the level of difficulty a little, the whole movie is crafted to look like one continuous shot.

'1917' Is Not Your Dad's War Movie

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