Culture 'Simpsons Movie': Bigger, Longer, Underwhelming Fresh Air July 27, 2007 • Iconic series loses something when it's padded and ironed out to conform to Hollywood's templates; the film rarely captures the magic of the show, with its lunatic free-associations and its manic highs.
Culture 'Moliere' July 26, 2007 • Appealingly preposterous biopic purports to explain what happened during a few lost months in the life of France's answer to Shakespeare; according to this sumptuously costumed comedy, his adventures inspired his best characters and plays.
Culture 'No End In Sight' July 26, 2007 • Charles Ferguson's meticulously assembled documentary will raise your hackles — either at the folks who've been prosecuting the Iraq war, or at Ferguson, whose clear aim is to hold their feet to the fire.
Culture 'This Is England' July 26, 2007 • Shane Meadows' film tracks a fatherless boy through a budding friendship with a skinhead — and into dangerous territory with a new breed of outsider — in the English Midlands just after the Falklands war.
Culture In a Changing England, a Child Irrevocably Changed July 25, 2007 • Set in early-'80s Britain, Shane Meadows' This Is England tracks a fatherless boy through a budding friendship with a skinhead — and into dangerous territory with a new breed of outsider.
Culture Big Hair, Bouncy Moves, Tons of Bawlmer Charm July 22, 2007 • This star-studded, big-budget, musicalized Hollywood take on Hairspray retains the original's funky sweetness, ramps up the subversive social-consciousness stuff — and it pretty much dares you not to love it.
Culture 'Hairspray' July 20, 2007 • This star-studded, big-budget, musicalized Hollywood take on Hairspray retains the original's funky sweetness — and ramps up the subversive social-consciousness stuff. Hugely enjoyable summer fun. (Recommended)
Culture Hollywood's Musical 'Hairspray,' a Little Too Bouffant Fresh Air July 20, 2007 • Fresh Air's film critic says Adam Shankman's candy-colored teeny-bopper parable feels fatuously energized, with the songs all blaring at one manic pitch and a heroine whose delusional optimism has peaked by the end of the opening number.
Culture 'Sunshine': Space Opera with a Dark Cloud or Two July 20, 2007 • Brightness has never seemed as menacing as it does in Sunshine, a sci-fi nail-biter about a future Earth's scramble to reignite a dying sun. It's the latest from 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle.
Culture 'Goya's Ghosts' July 19, 2007 • Milos Forman's lush epic tries to link the Spanish Inquisition, the rise of Napoleon, and the paintings of Francisco Goya; Javier Bardem is a preening monk, Natalie Portman a tortured innocent, Stellan Skarsgard the almost irrelevant title character.
Culture 'Sunshine' July 19, 2007 • The sun's bright candle is just about burnt out — will Cillian Murphy's team of squabbling space jockeys be able to relight it in time? Wait, this is science-fiction: Don't ask too many questions, or everything may blow up. Danny Boyle's movie is a flameout, but it sure is pretty.
Culture 'Joshua' July 19, 2007 • A 9-year-old who never smiles but plays a mean piano, a newborn with glass-shattering vocal cords, a mom with postpartum depression-- this intriguing drama keeps you guessing, at least initially, about whether its title character is a bad seed or just having a bad month.
Culture 'Introducing the Dwights' July 19, 2007 • A lightweight coming-of-age dramedy about a bright, handsome 20-year-old still living with Mommie Dearest — whose reluctance to let him go is ruining his chances of losing his virginity. Brenda Blethyn plays a modern Medea, but the comic impulse ultimately wins out.
Culture 'Talk to Me': The Mouth That Roared in '60s D.C. July 13, 2007 • Don Cheadle plays "Petey" Greene, an ex-con turned talk-radio DJ in '60s D.C.; when riots explode after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the loudmouth with a past discovers he's got the street cred to help a burning city bring itself back under control. 'Talk to Me': The Mouth That Roared in '60s D.C. Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/11957643/11960104" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Talk to Me': The Mouth That Roared in '60s D.C. Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/11957643/11960104" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Culture 'Talk to Me' July 12, 2007 • Kasi Lemmons' film stars Don Cheadle as "Petey" Greene, the ex-con turned radio star who helped restore calm in Washington, D.C., when rioting exploded after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Chiwetel Ejiofor co-stars.