Movie Reviews : NPR

In 2007, 'Top 10' Doesn't Do Hollywood Justice

December 31, 2007 • It was a bonanza year for blockbusters — four topped the $300 million mark — but there was a trove of art-house gems, too. Herewith, Bob Mondello's 10 favorite films of 2007, plus an additional baker's dozen that deserve another mention at year's end.

'There Will Be Blood'

December 26, 2007 • Based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil, about a clash of capitalism and religion at the turn of the last century, this sometimes magnificent, decidedly strange film is a portrait of a terrible, rapacious man.

Oil, Money, Religion and 'Blood' in California

December 26, 2007 • There Will Be Blood, a new film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, is a morality play set in the early days of California's oil boom. It involves the unholy trinity of oil, money and religion.

'The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep'

December 25, 2007 • The Black Stallion meets Gremlins in this boy-and-his-Loch Ness Monster story. The Brit cast is fine, the digital creature is persuasive enough, and the scenery's certainly pretty — but the story might well prove too alarming for really small kids, and too twee for adults

'Persepolis'

December 24, 2007 • A young, naturally rebellious Iranian girl's life is upended by the fall of the Shah and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in this poignant, animated, coming-of-age story based on a bestselling graphic novel. (Recommended)

'The Great Debaters'

December 24, 2007 • Denzel Washington directs and stars in a formulaic but well-acted drama about a debate team from a historically black college competing against a white college in 1935. Predictable sports-underdog formula aside, the film has powerful scenes and performances.

'Charlie Wilson's War' a Satirical Spin on History

Movers and shakers: A fierce anti-Communist with a checkbook (Julia Roberts as Joanne Herring) and a maverick congressman (Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson) buy themselves a little revolution in Charlie Wilson's War. Francois Duhamel/Universal Pictures hide caption

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Francois Duhamel/Universal Pictures

Movies

'Charlie Wilson's War' a Satirical Spin on History

December 21, 2007 • The Democratic Texas Congressman conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch an operation to help the Afghan mujahedeen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

'Charlie Wilson's War' a Satirical Spin on History

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