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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

What Hollywood Could Learn From The 20-Year Success Of 'Fast & Furious'

Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and Dom (Vin Diesel) are still together in F9, 20 years after the franchise began. Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures hide caption

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Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures

Consider This from NPR

What Hollywood Could Learn From The 20-Year Success Of 'Fast & Furious'

What's behind the 20-year success of the Fast & Furious franchise? Casting, storytelling and reinvention. NPR's Linda Holmes — who wrote an owner's manual to the franchise — explains.

What Hollywood Could Learn From The 20-Year Success Of 'Fast & Furious'

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'I Carry You With Me' Blends Reality And Drama In A Wrenching Gay Love Story

Christian Vázquez as Gerardo and Armando Espitia as Iván in I Carry You with Me. Alejandro Lopez Pineda/Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Alejandro Lopez Pineda/Sony Pictures Classics

'I Carry You With Me' Blends Reality And Drama In A Wrenching Gay Love Story

Iván and Gerardo can't be gay in Mexico, and can't be undocumented in the U.S. Filmmaker Heidi Ewing tells this real-life story with documentary footage and a swooning fictionalized drama.

'I Carry You With Me' Blends Reality And Drama In A Wrenching Gay Love Story

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Review: 'F9' Puts The Pedal To The Metal To Restart The Hollywood Blockbuster

F9, the latest film in the Fast & Furious franchise is also the film that's supposed to restart the Hollywood blockbuster.

Review: 'F9' Puts The Pedal To The Metal To Restart The Hollywood Blockbuster

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Dive Into 'Luca' And 'Undine,' 2 Under-The-Sea Films To Treasure

Two sea creatures go undercover as boys in a small Italian Riviera town in the charming Pixar film Luca. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Dive Into 'Luca' And 'Undine,' 2 Under-The-Sea Films To Treasure

Fresh Air

Two sea creatures go undercover as boys in an Italian Riviera town in the charming Pixar film Luca. In the German drama Undine, a water sprite must take the life of human lovers who betray her.

Dive Into 'Luca' And 'Undine,' 2 Under-The-Sea Films To Treasure

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In 'Luca,' The Tears Just Might Sneak Up On You

Jack Dylan Grazer and Jacob Tremblay voice friends Alberto and Luca in Disney and Pixar's latest, Luca. Disney/Pixar hide caption

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Disney/Pixar

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'Luca,' The Tears Just Might Sneak Up On You

Luca, the latest movie from Disney and Pixar, whisks us across the globe and into a fictional coastal Italian town in the 1950s. There, the titular young hero and his new friend Alberto get into adventures and dream of buying their very own Vespa. But, there's a catch: In a quite literal take on the fish-out-of-water story, Luca and Alberto are humans on land and — unbeknownst to the rest of the townspeople — sea monsters when wet. Hijinks ensue as they attempt to keep their identities a secret from their new friends and foes.

In 'Luca,' The Tears Just Might Sneak Up On You

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'In the Heights' Explodes With Joy

Anthony Ramos stars in Jon M. Chu's film adaptation of In The Heights. Macall Polay/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. hide caption

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Macall Polay/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'In the Heights' Explodes With Joy

Before Hamilton made him a household name, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the musical In The Heights. The Broadway production won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The film adaptation, directed by Jon M. Chu, stars Anthony Ramos as Usnavi. He hopes to return to the Dominican Republic, where he can live out the dream of his late parents. In fact, just about everyone in this story has big dreams and mountains to climb.

'In the Heights' Explodes With Joy

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'In The Heights' Leaps From Stage To Screen With Exuberance To Spare

In the Heights is Lin-Manuel Miranda's pre-Hamilton Broadway musical directed by Jon Chu for the big screen. The story celebrates not a founding father, but a New York neighborhood.

'In The Heights' Leaps From Stage To Screen With Exuberance To Spare

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'In The Heights' Is A Spirited, Socially Undistanced, Summer Crowd Pleaser

Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera play Usnavi and Vanessa in the film In the Heights. Warner Bros. hide caption

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Warner Bros.

'In The Heights' Is A Spirited, Socially Undistanced, Summer Crowd Pleaser

Fresh Air

Set during a record-breaking New York City heat wave, this vibrant screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's stage musical pulses with musical numbers that blend of hip-hop, Latin pop and salsa.

'In The Heights' Is A Spirited, Socially Undistanced, Summer Crowd Pleaser

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Is 'The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It' An Occult Classic?

Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Warner Bros. hide caption

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Warner Bros.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Is 'The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It' An Occult Classic?

The 2013 horror film The Conjuring made more than $300 million and spawned a blockbuster cinematic universe. The main Conjuring movies center on the heavily fictionalized accounts of two real-life demon-hunters, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who solve paranormal mysteries. In the new, third film in the series, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, our heroes try to figure out what compelled a young man to brutally kill his landlord.

Is 'The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It' An Occult Classic?

'Plan B' Is A Raunchy Road Trip Comedy With Heart

Victoria Moroles plays Lupe, and Kuhoo Verma plays Sunny in the film Plan B. Brett Roedel/Hulu hide caption

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Brett Roedel/Hulu

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Plan B' Is A Raunchy Road Trip Comedy With Heart

The new Hulu movie Plan B is about best friends Sunny and Lupe (played by Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles), who go on an emergency road trip. They're not on the run from criminals or some terrible misunderstanding. They're trying to get to a Planned Parenthood office to get a morning-after pill for Sunny. The girls have a long night of crazy adventures and heartfelt conversations. Directed by Natalie Morales, the film is a really good mix of silly and honest and unexpected.

'Plan B' Is A Raunchy Road Trip Comedy With Heart

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'Bo Burnham: Inside' Is A Surprising, Toe-Tapping Peek At Despair

Bo Burnham, pictured here at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, wrote, directed and performed the entirety of his new Netflix special, Inside, by himself. Rich Polk/Getty Images hide caption

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Rich Polk/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Bo Burnham: Inside' Is A Surprising, Toe-Tapping Peek At Despair

Bo Burnham's new Netflix special Inside is not stand-up comedy. It's one-man isolation theater, shot in one enclosed space and bursting with musical performances and video sendups of genres from sad-dude acoustic guitar songs to '80s synth pop. Filmed over more than a year of pandemic disruption, it's whimsical, biting, empathetic and full of earworms.

'Bo Burnham: Inside' Is A Surprising, Toe-Tapping Peek At Despair

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Listen Carefully: The Tense 'Quiet Place' Sequel Speaks To Our Present Time

Marcus (Noah Jupe), Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) brave the unknown in A Quiet Place Part II. Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures

Listen Carefully: The Tense 'Quiet Place' Sequel Speaks To Our Present Time

Fresh Air

John Krasinski's follow-up to his 2018 thriller about aliens who hunt by sound showcases humanity at its best and worst — and feels particularly relevant as we slowly emerge from the pandemic.

Listen Carefully: The Tense 'Quiet Place' Sequel Speaks To Our Present Time

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'A Quiet Place Part II' Amps Up The Action

Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and Emily Blunt star in A Quiet Place Part II. Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'A Quiet Place Part II' Amps Up The Action

A Quiet Place told the story of a world overrun by monsters who kill anything that makes a sound. Starring Emily Blunt and the film's director John Krasinski, it was a blockbuster in 2018. Now, after a long delay, A Quiet Place Part II is finally hitting theaters, and picking up where the last movie left off.

'A Quiet Place Part II' Amps Up The Action

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