Movie Reviews : NPR

'I Do ... Until I Don't' Doesn't Quite Work ... Until It Does

Ed Helms and Lake Bell play documentary subjects Noah and Alice, whose marriage may be headed for a seven-year ditch, in the comedy I Do ... Until I Don't. The Film Arcade hide caption

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The Film Arcade

'I Do ... Until I Don't' Doesn't Quite Work ... Until It Does

August 31, 2017 • Lake Bell's follow-up to 2013's In a World ... lacks that film's focus and drive but finds itself in the final act, once its pacing grows "agreeably manic."

'Viceroy's House': A Warm-Hearted Look At The Sunset Of The British Empire

Lord Louis Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville), Mahatma Gandhi (Neeraj Kabi) and Lady Edwina Mountbatten (Gillian Anderson) smile politely in The Viceroy's House. Kerry Monteen/IFC Films hide caption

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Kerry Monteen/IFC Films

'Viceroy's House': A Warm-Hearted Look At The Sunset Of The British Empire

August 31, 2017 • Directed and co-written by Gurinder Chadha (who also directed and co-wrote Bend it Like Beckham) this crowd-pleasing, gently revisionist period drama examines the last days of British colonial rule.

A Closeted Teen Struggles To Maintain His Double Life In 'Beach Rats'

August 25, 2017 • NPR movie critic Bob Mondello reviews Beach Rats, which follows a teenager in Brooklyn who is having a lousy summer. The film won the best directing prize at Sundance earlier this year.

A Closeted Teen Struggles To Maintain His Double Life In 'Beach Rats'

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A Dancer Spins From Classical Ballet To Modern Dance In 'Polina'

It Takes Tutu To Tango: Karl (Jeremie Belingard) and Polina (Anastasia Shevtsova) in Polina. Oscilloscope hide caption

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Oscilloscope

A Dancer Spins From Classical Ballet To Modern Dance In 'Polina'

August 24, 2017 • Once it trades rote ballerina-training cliches for ecstatically shot sequences of hip-hop choreography, this French film, like its main character, comes alive.

Netflix's 'Death Note' Should Be Returned To Sender

Crouch, Potato: Detective "L" (Lakeith Stanfield) pursues student-turned-vigilante Light Turner (Nat Wolff) in Death Note. James Dittiger/Netflix hide caption

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James Dittiger/Netflix

Netflix's 'Death Note' Should Be Returned To Sender

August 24, 2017 • Based on a hugely popular Japanese manga (and anime, and live-action film series), this rushed and sloppy U.S. production Anglicizes the faces, but not the names.

'Beach Rats': A Young Man On A Collision Course With Himself

Frankie (Harris Dickinson, center) struggles to reconcile his competing desires in Beach Rats. Neon hide caption

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Neon

'Beach Rats': A Young Man On A Collision Course With Himself

August 24, 2017 • In this closely observed drama about a Brooklyn teen whose sexuality conflicts with his sense of self, writer/director Eliza Hittman makes us feel the social pressures working on him.

In 'The Villainness,' Revenge Is A Dish Served Stylishly

Assassin Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) switches sides (or does she?) in The Villainness. Jake Jung/Well Go USA hide caption

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Jake Jung/Well Go USA

In 'The Villainness,' Revenge Is A Dish Served Stylishly

August 24, 2017 • This baroque Korean revenge thriller borrows heavily from similarly themed films, but features great performances and employs a purely visual story-logic that sets it apart.

A Coney Island Teen Struggles To Come To Terms With His Sexuality In 'Beach Rats'

Fresh Air

August 24, 2017 • Eliza Hittman's second film focuses on a repressed gay teenager living in a culture of intense sexual exhibitionism. Critic David Edelstein calls Beach Rats "feverish and gripping."

A Coney Island Teen Struggles To Come To Terms With His Sexuality In 'Beach Rats'

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Haunting 'Marjorie Prime' Is Suffused With Forgiveness And Despair

Fresh Air

August 21, 2017 • The new film is set in the near future, when people can purchase holographic versions of their dead loved ones. This drama isn't about technology — it's sci-fi as a means of exploring our inner lives.

Haunting 'Marjorie Prime' Is Suffused With Forgiveness And Despair

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Movies

Classic Movie Review: 'Dr. Strangelove'

August 19, 2017 • We all have movies we somehow never got around to watching. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro had never seen Dr. Strangelove. She and NPR's Scott Simon review this old, but still relevant, film.

Classic Movie Review: 'Dr. Strangelove'

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High Spirited 'Patti Cake$' Dresses Its Cinderella Story In Dirty Jersey Drag

Fresh Air

August 18, 2017 • A hard-working aspiring rapper rises above her dead-end existence with the help of some supportive friends and her own irrepressible talent. Critic Justin Change says Patti Cake$ is irresistible.

High Spirited 'Patti Cake$' Dresses Its Cinderella Story In Dirty Jersey Drag

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A Radiant, Isolated Star: A New Documentary Tells Whitney Houston's Story

Whitney Houston performs in 1988. The new Showtime documentary, Whitney. "Can I Be Me," includes footage of her world tour in 1999. Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

A Radiant, Isolated Star: A New Documentary Tells Whitney Houston's Story

August 18, 2017 • Whitney. "Can I Be Me" is an unauthorized documentary that marshals the voices of Houston's friends and former employees to tell an intimate, tragic story.

A Radiant, Isolated Star: A New Documentary Tells Whitney Houston's Story

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L to R: Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) and Patti (Danielle Macdonald) on the road to success in Patti Cake$. Andrew Boyle/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation hide caption

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Andrew Boyle/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

'Patti Cake$' i$ $weet But $light

August 17, 2017 • A Jersey girl dreams of rap stardom in this "conventional dramedy" that highlights star Danielle Macdonald's charisma but reduces other characters to types.

'Dave Made A Maze,' But Dave Forgot A Script

A Corrugated Community: Annie (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) and Dave (Nick Thune) in the Kubrick Corridor — an attraction of Dave's Maze. Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures hide caption

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Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

'Dave Made A Maze,' But Dave Forgot A Script

August 17, 2017 • In this gorgeously designed movie, the walls of an elaborate cardboard maze are more substantial than the characters inside it.

A NASCAR Caper Comedy Fueled By Thick Southern Accents: 'Logan Lucky'

Brothers Clyde (Adam Driver) and Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) in Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky. Claudette Barius/Fingerprint Releasing/ Bleecker Street hide caption

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Claudette Barius/Fingerprint Releasing/ Bleecker Street

A NASCAR Caper Comedy Fueled By Thick Southern Accents: 'Logan Lucky'

August 17, 2017 • Steven Soderbergh's return to filmmaking after a brief hiatus features strong chemistry between its two leads, a great cast, and the faint whiff of condescension.