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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

Wednesday

'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

Filmmaker Radha Blank stars as a fictionalized version of herself in The Forty-Year-Old Version. The film, which began as a Web series, was inspired by Blank's own experience as a playwright and rapper in Harlem. Jeong Park/Netflix hide caption

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Jeong Park/Netflix

'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

Fresh Air

Radha Blank plays a fictionalized version of herself — a struggling artist from Harlem, who was hailed years earlier as a promising playwright. The film is gorgeously shot in black-and-white.

'The Forty-Year-Old Version' Is Fast, Funny, Multi-Faceted And No Small Feat

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Friday

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

Millie Bobby Brown stars in Enola Holmes, the new Netflix film based on the book series by Nancy Springer. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

The new, bright and breezy Netflix movie Enola Holmes stars Millie Bobby Brown as the 16-year-old sister of Sherlock Holmes. She sets out on an adventure when her eccentric mother (Helena Bonham Carter) goes missing. It also features Sam Claflin as her stuffy brother Mycroft, Louis Partridge as a romantic interest, and Henry Cavill as Sherlock.

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

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Wednesday

In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

"The train's afoot!": (L to R) Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) literally look down on their younger sister Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) in Netflix's Enola Holmes. Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix hide caption

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Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

This bright and breezy Netflix adaptation of a YA novel finds Millie Bobby Brown starring as the brilliant, fourth-wall-busting little sister of Sherlock Holmes.

Friday

Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

Tom Holland plays Arvin, a young man who refuses to let evil go unpunished in The Devil All the Time. Glen Wilson/Netflix hide caption

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Glen Wilson/Netflix

Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

Fresh Air

The Netflix adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock's novel is grim in ways that can be both exciting and wearying: so many twists and betrayals, so many awful characters, so many horrific acts of violence.

Everyone's A Sinner In 'The Devil All The Time'

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What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

Janelle Monáe stars in the new film Antebellum. Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate hide caption

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Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate

Pop Culture Happy Hour

What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

In the new horror film Antebellum, Janelle Monáe plays an enslaved woman on a plantation run by Confederate soldiers. She's desperate to escape. But Monáe also plays a successful contemporary author and speaker with a beautiful family, living a life of success and wealth. But does the film successfully tie the story together? Note: This conversation discusses specific spoiler-y plot points to explore how those roles fit together, break down what's really going on, and whether or not the movie is successful.

What Exactly Is 'Antebellum' Trying to Say?

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Friday

Charlie Kaufman's 'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things' Is A Wildly Inventive Comic Thriller

Fresh Air

The relationship at the center of Kaufman's new Netflix film might not be long for the world, but the main characters are nevertheless awfully hard to get out of your mind.

Charlie Kaufman's 'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things' Is A Wildly Inventive Comic Thriller

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We're Still Thinking Of Things In 'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things'

Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, and David Thewlis sit for an awkward dinner in Charlie Kauffman's latest film, I'm Thinking Of Ending Things. Mary Cybulski/Netflix hide caption

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Mary Cybulski/Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We're Still Thinking Of Things In 'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things'

In the Netflix film, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, the plot is easy to follow. A young couple played by Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons drives through a snowstorm to the farmhouse where Plemons' character grew up. They have dinner with his parents, played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis, then they drive home. That's it. That's the movie. Simple, right? Wrong! This is a Charlie Kaufman movie, and that means things are trippy and dreamlike and just plain weird from the jump. Note: This conversation delves into spoilers that discuss specific plot points and theories to try to unpack just what this movie is actually about!

We're Still Thinking Of Things In 'I'm Thinking Of Ending Things'

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Monday

Friday

'Mulan': A Beloved Disney Classic Reimagined As Martial Arts Epic

Liu Yifei stars in the live-action reimagining of Disney's Mulan. Disney hide caption

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Disney

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Mulan': A Beloved Disney Classic Reimagined As Martial Arts Epic

The biggest movie so far to be bumped from theaters to home viewing during the pandemic is Disney's Mulan. The live-action reimagining of the 1998 animated musical doesn't have songs or a cartoon dragon. But the story still finds young Mulan disguising herself as a man so she can fight in her father's place.

'Mulan': A Beloved Disney Classic Reimagined As Martial Arts Epic

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Thursday

Christopher Nolan's Time-Bending Thriller 'Tenet' Reviewed

Christopher Nolan's time-bending thriller is the film that Hollywood has been counting on to bring audiences back to movie theaters. Tenet was released in movie theaters Thursday.

Christopher Nolan's Time-Bending Thriller 'Tenet' Reviewed

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'Mulan' Reboot Is Beautiful, But Fails To Breathe New Life Into An Old Tale

A gifted warrior (Liu Yifei) discovers her true purpose when China comes under attack by nomadic forces in Mulan. Jasin Boland/Disney Enterprises Inc. hide caption

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Jasin Boland/Disney Enterprises Inc.

'Mulan' Reboot Is Beautiful, But Fails To Breathe New Life Into An Old Tale

Fresh Air

Spinning a Chinese legend into family-friendly entertainment with worldwide appeal is a tricky business. The new version of Mulan feels like a watered-down version of a potentially captivating story.

'Mulan' Reboot Is Beautiful, But Fails To Breathe New Life Into An Old Tale

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Friday

'Bill And Ted Face The Music': Excellent, Bogus, Or Heinous?

Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter star in Bill & Ted Face The Music. Patti Perret/Orion Pictures hide caption

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Patti Perret/Orion Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Bill And Ted Face The Music': Excellent, Bogus, Or Heinous?

Back in 1989, we met Bill S. Preston and Ted "Theodore" Logan in the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. They returned in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey in 1991. And now, almost 30 years later, they're back. In Bill and Ted Face the Music, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves return as... well, Bill and Ted, respectively. And this time, they'll need not just their triumphant band to save the world, but also their daughters.

'Bill And Ted Face The Music': Excellent, Bogus, Or Heinous?

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Thursday

More Persuasively Dickensian: 'The Personal History Of David Copperfield' Reviewed

Satirist, director and the creator of Veep, Armando Iannucci does Charles Dickens in The Personal History Of David Copperfield. And NPR's critic says there's a lot that's unexpected in the movie.

More Persuasively Dickensian: 'The Personal History Of David Copperfield' Reviewed

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