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Movie Reviews Reviews of new movies, classic and art films, foreign films, and popular movies. Featuring Bob Mondello, Kenneth Turan, David Edelstein, and Mark Jenkins.

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'Little Women' Is A Dynamic Sister Act

Laurie (Timothée Chalamet) and Amy (Florence Pugh) in Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women. Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Little Women' Is A Dynamic Sister Act

Greta Gerwig was nominated for an Oscar for directing 2017's Lady Bird. She's following it up with an adaptation of Little Women that features two of her Lady Bird stars, Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet. Ronan plays Jo, the free-spirited March sister. She's joined by Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep. Gerwig also wrote the script, which makes some changes to the story and the structure of Louisa May Alcott's book.

'Little Women' Is A Dynamic Sister Act

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'Cats' Is The Dirty Litter Box Of The Soul

Taylor Swift as Bombalurina in Tom Hooper's Cats. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Cats' Is The Dirty Litter Box Of The Soul

What has ears, tails, Andrew Lloyd Webber music, and the Idris Elba/Taylor Swift duet you've been waiting for all your life? That's right, it's Cats, the new film adaptation of the musical that became a surprise smash in the 1980's. The movie directed by Tom Hooper, who also made the Les Miserables adaptation that won Anne Hathaway an Oscar. Cats wrestles with how to present a variety of cat characters, dance numbers, and even a drug-induced catnap.

'Cats' Is The Dirty Litter Box Of The Soul

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'1917' Is A World War I Epic Crafted To Look Like A Single Continuous Camera Shot

The World War I film, 1917, tells of an urgent rush to the front lines and has been designed to look as if it's a single, continuous shot.

'1917' Is A World War I Epic Crafted To Look Like A Single Continuous Camera Shot

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A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Merritt Wever and Toni Collette play two detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults in the Netflix show Unbelievable. Beth Dubber/Netflix hide caption

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Beth Dubber/Netflix

Pop Culture

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Fresh Air

Few things haunt a critic more than loving something and not being able to share it. This year, Fresh Air critic John Powers circles back to Unbelievable, Atlantics, Where the Light Falls and more.

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

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Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker'

The third movie in the third trilogy of the scrappy little space-opera-that-could — Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — opened this weekend.

Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker'

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'Little Women' Again? Greta Gerwig's Adaptation Is Both Faithful And Radical

March sisters Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), Jo (Saoirse Ronan) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) return to the screen in a new adaptation of Little Women. Wilson Webb/CTMG/Columbia Pictures hide caption

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'Little Women' Again? Greta Gerwig's Adaptation Is Both Faithful And Radical

Fresh Air

Gerwig gives us the warm, homespun pleasures of Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel, but she also holds the well-worn text up to the light to consider some of its flaws and compromises.

'Little Women' Again? Greta Gerwig's Adaptation Is Both Faithful And Radical

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'Star Wars': The End Is... Sigh

Rey (Daisy Ridley) returns in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm Ltd. hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Star Wars': The End Is... Sigh

It's time to say goodbye to a story that began in 1977 with a movie then known as Star Wars. Nine films later, this branch of the saga concludes with Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. In this chapter, director J.J. Abrams attempts the almost impossible by trying to bring all this in for a landing. Scavenger Rey, her friends Finn and Poe, and the mysterious Kylo Ren are all back for one last lap, and so are brief glimpses of many faces from movies past.

'Star Wars': The End Is... Sigh

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NPR's Favorite Movies Of 2019

The Cave, The Farewell, Booksmart, Little Women, Hustlers and Fast Color (from left, starting in top row) all made NPR's favorite-movie list this year. National Geographic, Casi Moss/A24, Annapurna Pictures, Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures, Alison Cohen Rosa/STXfilms, Jacob Yakob/Codeblack Films hide caption

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National Geographic, Casi Moss/A24, Annapurna Pictures, Wilson Webb/Columbia Pictures, Alison Cohen Rosa/STXfilms, Jacob Yakob/Codeblack Films

Movies

NPR's Favorite Movies Of 2019

Parasite, Knives Out, Avengers: Endgame, Little Women and Marriage Story are among the year-end list of 20 films that NPR critics loved the most.

'The Rise Of Skywalker' Makes For An Exciting, Exhaustive, Effortful Ending

Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) take on the enemy one last time in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilms hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Rise Of Skywalker' Makes For An Exciting, Exhaustive, Effortful Ending

The final chapter in "The Skywalker Saga" returns J.J. Abrams to the director's chair, and the result, while overstuffed with characters and plot, delivers on space-operatic action.