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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

Friday

'Life Of Crime' Has Authentic Elmore Leonard Snap

The late author wrote close to 50 novels, and several of them, including Get Shorty and Out of Sight, were made into films. His 1978 book The Switch has been turned into a film called Life of Crime.

'Life Of Crime' Has Authentic Elmore Leonard Snap

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Thursday

Saturday

'Love Is Strange' — And Funny, Hard And Heart-Breaking

Love is Strange stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a couple whose marriage, after 39 years together, is the start of a very complicated story.

'Love Is Strange' — And Funny, Hard And Heart-Breaking

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Friday

Werner Herzog's Audacious Early Films Showcased In New Boxed Collection

Werner Herzog's 1972 film Aguirre, the Wrath of God was shot along the Amazon in Peru. It probes one of the filmmaker's themes: an unsentimental look at humankind's relationship to landscape and nature. Courtesy of The Shout! Factory hide caption

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Courtesy of The Shout! Factory

Werner Herzog's Audacious Early Films Showcased In New Boxed Collection

Fresh Air

The 71-year-old German filmmaker made daring movies in the 1970s that pushed viewers into unsettling mental spaces. The tremendous boxed set Herzog: The Collection highlights his authentic style.

Werner Herzog's Audacious Early Films Showcased In New Boxed Collection

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Romance Fans Will Fall For Characters In 'If I Stay'

If I Stay is based on the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman. Chloë Grace Moretz plays a 17-year-old girl, in a coma after a car wreck, who has to choose between life or death.

Romance Fans Will Fall For Characters In 'If I Stay'

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Thursday

Monday

'Giver' Fans Likely To Be Disappointed By Movie's Pace

The new movie The Giver stars Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges. It's an adaptation of the young adult novel by Lois Lowry about a world where emotion and feeling have been done away with.

'Giver' Fans Likely To Be Disappointed By Movie's Pace

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Saturday

Lois Lowry Says 'The Giver' Was Inspired By Her Father's Memory Loss

Lois Lowry says she didn't think of The Giver as "futuristic or dystopian or science fiction or fantasy" — it was just a story about a kid making sense of a complicated world. Matt McKee/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hide caption

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Matt McKee/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Author Interviews

Lois Lowry Says 'The Giver' Was Inspired By Her Father's Memory Loss

Lowry's father didn't have Alzheimer's but as he began to forget his past, the author says, she began to imagine a book about eliminating painful memories. The Giver has just been adapted into a film.

Lois Lowry Says 'The Giver' Was Inspired By Her Father's Memory Loss

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Friday

Coogan And Brydon's New 'Trip' Is, Well, A Real Trip

British comedians Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan return for another round of dining, arguing and celebrity impressions — this time in Italy. IFC Films hide caption

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IFC Films

Coogan And Brydon's New 'Trip' Is, Well, A Real Trip

Critic Bob Mondello says The Trip To Italy will make you hungry for all the delicious Italian food its stars ignore in this celebrity-impression-stuffed romp along the gorgeous Amalfi coast.

Coogan And Brydon's New 'Trip' Is, Well, A Real Trip

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Thursday

'The Giver' Strikes Old And Ominous Notes About The Dark Side Of Serenity

Jeff Bridges (left) produces and stars as the title character in The Giver, alongside Australian actor Brenton Thwaites, who plays Jonas, his young apprentice. The Giver is the first film rendition of the popular 1993 young adult novel by Lois Lowry. Courtesy of The Weinstein Co. hide caption

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Courtesy of The Weinstein Co.

'The Giver' Strikes Old And Ominous Notes About The Dark Side Of Serenity

The film adaptation of Lois Lowry's 1993 novel clearly owes a debt to many other stories for teens and adults, and it struggles to find anything new to say.