Movies Nothing 'Standard' About Eye-Opening Prison Film April 25, 2008 • Asian-American stoners Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay while a new Errol Morris film, Standard Operating Procedure, documents the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal in Iraq. Bob Mondello says the latter is an eye-opener.
Culture 'Standard Operating Procedure' April 25, 2008 • Errol Morris presents a disturbing documentary look at the prisoner-abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. With photographs and reenactments, the film shows where the military draws the line on abuse — which isn't where you might think.
Culture 'Baby Mama' April 25, 2008 • Saturday Night Live's DNA is all over this surrogate-pregnancy comedy, in which a sophisticated single businesswoman recruits a South Philly dim-bulb to bear the child she can't carry herself.
Culture Documentary Investigates Abu Ghraib Conditions Fresh Air April 25, 2008 • Fresh Air film critic David Edelstein reviews Standard Operating Procedure, a documentary from Errol Morris about the treatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib detention center in Iraq in 2003.
Culture 'Deception' April 24, 2008 • A bored accountant finds excitement when an acquaintance's cell phone offers entree to an exclusive sex club. A promisingly mysterious beginning gives way to an increasingly preposterous plot.
Culture 'Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay' April 24, 2008 • Hollywood's favorite stoners just want to get to Amsterdam, but a misheard comment puts them on the wrong side of homeland security. From there, it's one scrape after another as the two undertake a quest to prove their innocence.
Culture 'Sarah Marshall': Sex Comedy, Awkwardness Intact Fresh Air April 18, 2008 • Hapless Peter (Jason Segel) takes a Hawaii vacation, hoping to forget his ex-girlfriend. But unbeknownst to him, she's vacationing at the same resort — with her new beau.
Movies 'Forbidden Kingdom' Is a Doofy Union for Chan, Li April 18, 2008 • Jackie Chan and Jet Li, two well-known martial arts film stars, just finished their first collaboration. Morning Edition and Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan says their new movie, The Forbidden Kingdom, was not worth the wait.
Culture 'The Forbidden Kingdom' April 18, 2008 • Theoretically based on a Chinese epic, this brightly idiotic fantasy is basically The Wizard of Oz in martial-arts drag. A kung-fu movie buff, hunting for DVDs in Chinatown, gets transported to ancient China to free a warrior from the evil Jade Warlord.
Culture 'The Life Before Her Eyes' April 18, 2008 • A mother and teacher struggles to cope with a school shooting that nearly took her life 15 years earlier. Elaborate symbolism, expressive music and an intriguing plot frame strong performances from Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood.
Culture 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' April 18, 2008 • From the Judd Apatow laff factory: Crushed by a breakup with his famous girlfriend, Peter (Jason Segel) heads for Hawaii to mend his heart — only to find his ex in residence with her new rock-star beau.
Culture '88 Minutes' April 18, 2008 • Dr. Jack Gramm, college professor and FBI forensic psychiatrist, receives a mysterious phone call telling he has only 88 minutes before he is murdered, presumably by the caller. Racing against the clock, Gramm must discover who's out for his head.
Culture 'The Visitor,' Finding a Welcome in His Own Home April 11, 2008 • Sleepwalking through his days, a widowed New York economics professor finds an unlikely friendship — and a way back toward happiness — with an immigrant who teaches him how to play the djembe drum.
Culture In Paris, a 'Red Balloon' with an Eastern Air Fresh Air April 11, 2008 • Fresh Air's film critic says Hou Hsiao-hsien's homage to the 1956 Alan Lamorisse film is as much a masterpiece as the original — but on its own singular terms.
Culture 'The Visitor' April 10, 2008 • An economics professor finds a young couple, victims of a real-estate scam, living in his New York apartment. He lets them stay. The film's a touching story of a budding friendship laced with biting commentary on U.S. immigration policies.