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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.

Movie Reviews

'Coco' Follows A Boy's Journey In A Technicolor Afterlife

Miguel and Date are prominently displayed at the the U.S. premiere of Coco at El Capitan Theatre on November 8, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Barry King/Getty Images hide caption

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Barry King/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Coco' Follows A Boy's Journey In A Technicolor Afterlife

The 2017 movie Coco is about a Mexican boy named Miguel who has an adventure on Día de los Muertos, a holiday dedicated to remembering the dead. He finds himself in the Land of the Dead, where he learns about the importance of memory and how we tell the stories of our families. In this encore episode, we revisit our conversation about the excellent Disney-Pixar film.

'Coco' Follows A Boy's Journey In A Technicolor Afterlife

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Regina King Imagines What 4 Black Icons' Gathering In 1964 Might Have Looked Like

Regina King's directorial film debut, One Night in Miami, envisions a 1964 gathering of boxer Cassius Clay, activist Malcolm X, fullback Jim Brown and singer Sam Cooke.

Regina King Imagines What 4 Black Icons' Gathering In 1964 Might Have Looked Like

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'Soul' Is A Jazzy, Joyful Celebration Of Life

Pixar's Soul is the story of a jazz musician who falls down a manhole and winds up learning a lot about the afterlife, the not-quite afterlife and what it means to be human. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Soul' Is A Jazzy, Joyful Celebration Of Life

In Disney and Pixar's Soul, a jazz musician voiced by Jamie Foxx falls down a manhole and finds himself teetering between life and the afterlife. He winds up on a New York adventure with a wandering soul, voiced by Tina Fey, who needs help getting ready to be reborn on Earth.

'Soul' Is A Jazzy, Joyful Celebration Of Life

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'Soul' Surprises With Its Messages About Finding Purpose

Pixar's new film stars Jamie Foxx as a jazz musician whose soul gets separated from his body. The animated feature explores themes of music and transformation.

'Soul' Surprises With Its Messages About Finding Purpose

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Review: News Of The World With Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks travels from town to town in the Texas frontier a few years after the Civil War, reading newspapers to settlers. When he comes across a young girl who was kidnapped, his life changes.

Review: News Of The World With Tom Hanks

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A Terrific Year For Smaller Films: Critic Justin Chang Pairs 10 Favorites From 2020

(Clockwise from upper left) Vitalina Varela plays the title character in Vitalina Varela, Jessica Cressy and Luca Marinelli in Martin Eden, Marty Walsh in City Hall and two men try to start a business in the Oregon Territory in First Cow. Courtesy of Grasshopper Film, Francesca Errichiello/Kino Lorber, Zipporah Films, Allyson Riggs/A24 hide caption

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Courtesy of Grasshopper Film, Francesca Errichiello/Kino Lorber, Zipporah Films, Allyson Riggs/A24

A Terrific Year For Smaller Films: Critic Justin Chang Pairs 10 Favorites From 2020

Fresh Air

Even though most of us stayed away from movie theaters, 2020 was a banner year for independent narrative films, feature-length documentaries and pictures of all types and genres from overseas.

A Terrific Year For Smaller Films: Critic Justin Chang Pairs 10 Favorites From 2020

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'Wonder Woman' Sequel Left Movie Critic With Mixed Feelings

NPR's David Greene talks to Claudia Puig, president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, about the new movie: Wonder Woman 1984.

'Wonder Woman' Sequel Left Movie Critic With Mixed Feelings

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'Wonder Woman 1984': Waiting For Gadot

Gal Gadot returns as Diana Prince in Wonder Woman 1984. Warner Bros. hide caption

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Warner Bros.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Wonder Woman 1984': Waiting For Gadot

Wonder Woman 1984 arrives as one of the biggest films yet to stream at home at the same time it hits theaters. Like its successful predecessor, 2017's Wonder Woman, it's directed by Patty Jenkins and stars Gal Gadot as our heroine. Chris Pine is back as Steve Trevor, and new cast members include Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal.

'Wonder Woman 1984': Waiting For Gadot

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How Empty Is George Clooney's 'The Midnight Sky'?

George Clooney as Augustine Lofthouse in the Netflix film The Midnight Sky. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

How Empty Is George Clooney's 'The Midnight Sky'?

The new George Clooney movie The Midnight Sky takes place in two very lonely, post-apocalyptic settings: the Arctic, and outer space. Clooney plays a scientist at an Arctic research station who tries to tell the crew of a NASA mission that Earth is no longer any kind of a place to return to.

How Empty Is George Clooney's 'The Midnight Sky'?

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Don't Try To Understand 'Tenet.' Just Feel It.

Elizabeth Debicki and John David Washington star in director Christopher Nolan's latest time-warping film, Tenet. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Don't Try To Understand 'Tenet.' Just Feel It.

Director Christopher Nolan's latest film, Tenet, is a riff on spy movies — featuring globe-trotting CIA agents, Russian arms dealers and big set pieces — but with a decidedly Nolan-esque time-travel twist. Is it brilliant blockbuster filmmaking or an emotionally empty miss?

Don't Try To Understand 'Tenet.' Just Feel It.

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Our 12 Favorite Things of 2020

Catherine O'Hara as Moira Rose in the series finale of Schitt's Creek. Comedy Central hide caption

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Comedy Central

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our 12 Favorite Things of 2020

At the end of the year, we like to look back on some of our favorite things from the last 12 months of pop culture. We revisit some of the TV, film and music that helped us make it through.

Our 12 Favorite Things of 2020

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A Doc About Wuhan's Lockdown Was 'Too Real' For My Wuhan-Born Dad. I'm Glad I Watched

A scene from 76 Days, a new documentary about front-line health workers and patients during the lockdown in Wuhan, China. MTV Documentary Films hide caption

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MTV Documentary Films

Goats and Soda

A Doc About Wuhan's Lockdown Was 'Too Real' For My Wuhan-Born Dad. I'm Glad I Watched

The reviewer's father, who was born in Wuhan, China, and lived there until he was 28, couldn't bear to keep watching. But she did — and was deeply moved by this new documentary film.