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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

'Petite Maman' is the best — and most surreal — family movie you'll see in a while

Twins Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz are 8-year-old playmates in Petite Maman. Lilies Films hide caption

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Lilies Films

'Petite Maman' is the best — and most surreal — family movie you'll see in a while

Fresh Air

Identical twin sisters play a pair of mysterious playmates in Petite Maman, an enchanting film that achieves an emotional depth that eludes many movies twice its length.

'Petite Maman' is the best — and most surreal — family movie you'll see in a while

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In 'X,' horror and pleasure are deeply intertwined

Mia Goth stars in Ti West's latest horror flick, X. Christopher Moss/A24 hide caption

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Christopher Moss/A24

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'X,' horror and pleasure are deeply intertwined

In the terrific horror thriller X, a ragtag film crew sets up shop in a creepy rural farmhouse, where they plan to shoot a porno movie without attracting the attention of their elderly hosts. But it's only a matter of time before things get stabby. Starring Mia Goth and Brittany Snow, and directed by Ti West, X has an arty, stylish feel – as well as larger points to make about filmmaking, aging, exploitation, and sex. Vote for your favorite American Idol contestants at npr.org/AmericanIdol

In 'X,' horror and pleasure are deeply intertwined

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In 'The Northman,' it takes a pillage

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Amleth and Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga in director Robert Eggers' The Northman. Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features hide caption

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Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'The Northman,' it takes a pillage

In The Northman, Alexander Skarsgård plays a Viking prince who flees his island kingdom when his uncle kills his father and marries his mother. It's based on a very old but familiar story that predates Shakespeare's Hamlet by a few centuries. Directed by Robert Eggers, The Northman is a tale of bloody revenge with painstakingly researched historical accuracy surrounding the gods and monsters of Viking culture. Vote for your favorite American Idol contestants at npr.org/AmericanIdol

In 'The Northman,' it takes a pillage

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Review: 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' references Nick Cage's multitudes

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Nicholas Cage plays a movie star named Nic Cage in the adventure comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Review: 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' references Nick Cage's multitudes

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Nicolas Cage carries 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'

Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate hide caption

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Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Nicolas Cage carries 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'

In the action comedy The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalized Nicolas Cage. This down-on-his-luck version of the actor must get out of a jam after he is offered a million dollars to attend the birthday party of a potentially deadly superfan, played by Pedro Pascal. Also starring Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz and Sharon Horgan, the movie gets meta as it draws heavily on the Cage's career and long history of eccentric performances. Vote for your favorite American Idol contestants at npr.org/AmericanIdol

Nicolas Cage carries 'The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent'

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Review: Robert Eggers' 'The Northman' is 2+ hours of art-house savagery

The legend that Shakespeare based Hamlet on has inspired another work: Robert Eggers' violent new film, The Northman.

Review: Robert Eggers' 'The Northman' is 2+ hours of art-house savagery

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'Navalny' documentary spotlights the Russian who dared to take on Putin

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks with journalists during a 2019 rally in Moscow. Navalny premieres April 24 on CNN and CNN+. Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Maxim Zmeyev/AFP via Getty Images

'Navalny' documentary spotlights the Russian who dared to take on Putin

Fresh Air

Daniel Roher's film about Russian dissident Alexei Navalny offers intimate, sometimes amazing access to the bravery — and human cost — of opposing a despot.

'Navalny' documentary spotlights the Russian who dared to take on Putin

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'Ambulance' is peak Michael Bay, peak meh

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jake Gyllenhaal star in the new Michael Bay thriller Ambulance. Andrew Cooper/Universal Pictures hide caption

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Andrew Cooper/Universal Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Ambulance' is peak Michael Bay, peak meh

Ambulance is Michael Bay's latest action movie, and if you think you know exactly what you're going to get — you'd be correct. It's more than two hours of pure, unrelenting adrenaline featuring gun fights, explosions and dizzying camera work. The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jake Gyllenhaal as adoptive brothers who get caught up in a bank heist gone spectacularly wrong. And true to the title, it involves a high-speed ambulance chase.

'Ambulance' is peak Michael Bay, peak meh

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In 'Morbius,' Jared Leto is a living vampire undone by a bloodless script

Jared Leto in a scene from Morbius. Marvel/Sony hide caption

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Marvel/Sony

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'Morbius,' Jared Leto is a living vampire undone by a bloodless script

In Morbius, Jared Leto stars as the mysterious and brilliant Dr. Michael Morbius, who was born with a rare and debilitating blood disorder. With the aid of vampire bats, he comes up with a treatment that gives him superpowers, but also gives him a taste for blood. The movie takes place in the Sony wing of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and serves as an origin story for this vampiric antihero.

In 'Morbius,' Jared Leto is a living vampire undone by a bloodless script

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'Nitram' is a deeply unsettling portrait of an Australian mass shooter

In Nitram, Caleb Landry Jones plays the man who killed 35 people and wounded 23 others in a 1996 mass shooting in Australia. IFC Films hide caption

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IFC Films

'Nitram' is a deeply unsettling portrait of an Australian mass shooter

Fresh Air

In 1996, a 28-year-old man went on a shooting rampage in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people. This tense film imagines the weeks and months before the tragedy from the shooter's perspective.

'Nitram' is a deeply unsettling portrait of an Australian mass shooter

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Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latest film directed by the Daniels. Allyson Riggs/A24 hide caption

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Allyson Riggs/A24

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Everything Everywhere All At Once is the kind of movie that lives up to its title. It's a zany and profound sci-fi action comedy set in multiple dimensions, bursting with ideas about the pursuit of happiness, familial duty and the meaning of life. It stars Michelle Yeoh as a businesswoman whose world is turned upside down the day her family attempts to file their taxes. Forced to confront her life choices, she clashes with her daughter, her husband and a cranky IRS inspector in the weirdest of ways.

Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

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Jared Leto is Marvel's bat-man in the vampiric 'Morbius'

Dr. Michael Morbius aims to cure himself of a debilitating illness, but ends up infecting himself with vampirism. Sony Pictures hide caption

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Sony Pictures

Movies

Jared Leto is Marvel's bat-man in the vampiric 'Morbius'

An ailing biochemist aims to cure himself of a debilitating illness, but ends up infecting himself with vampirism in the Marvel movie Morbius.

Jared Leto is Marvel's bat-man in the vampiric 'Morbius'

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Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in a scene from The Lost City. Kimberley French/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Kimberley French/Paramount Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

In the new film The Lost City Sandra Bullock plays a romance novelist who is kidnapped by a duplicitous billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) looking for the real-life lost treasure referenced in her writing. Her cover model (Channing Tatum) embarks on a bumbling quest through the jungle and save her.

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

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There's a multiverse of roads not taken in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

Michelle Yeoh stars as a woman who suddenly develops the power to leap between parallel universes in the action-adventure-fantasy Everything Everywhere All at Once. A24 hide caption

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A24

There's a multiverse of roads not taken in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

Fresh Air

Michelle Yeoh stars as a Chinese American immigrant who suddenly develops the power to leap between parallel universes in this moving and often exasperating movie.

There's a multiverse of roads not taken in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

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