Accessibility links
Movies: Movie Reviews and Commentary on New and Classic Films NPR Movies podcast, movie reviews, and commentary on new and classic films. Interviews with filmmakers, actors, and actresses.

Movies

'John Wick: Chapter 4' wonders, 'When does this all end?'

Keanu Reeves returns as John Wick in John Wick: Chapter 4. Murray Close/Lionsgate hide caption

toggle caption
Murray Close/Lionsgate

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'John Wick: Chapter 4' wonders, 'When does this all end?'

In previous John Wick films, Keanu Reeves played a retired hitman out of revenge. In the latest entry, John Wick: Chapter 4, his reasons are a little more simple — he just wants to be left alone. Wick's quest for freedom takes him all across the world, as encounters would-be assassins, busy traffic, and a sadistic French aristocrat.

'John Wick: Chapter 4' wonders, 'When does this all end?'

Listen · 25:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164696433/1165438794" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Breaking down the Jennifer Lopez Wedding Industrial Complex Canon
United Archives GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo; Ana Carballosa/Lionsgate; Universal Pictures; RGR Collection/ Alamy Stock Photo

It's Been a Minute

Breaking down the Jennifer Lopez Wedding Industrial Complex Canon

It's basically spring - which means wedding season is starting to rev up. And no one does weddings quite like Jennifer Lopez - both on-screen and off. Host Brittany Luse is joined by New York Magazine features writer Rachel Handler to break down J.Lo's wedding planning movies (the Jennifer Lopez Wedding Industrial Complex Canon), how they add to J.Lo's brand, and what they say about our investment in the real-life wedding industrial complex.

Breaking down the Jennifer Lopez Wedding Industrial Complex Canon

Listen · 29:27
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1163325641/1165066396" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Why a horror film starring Winnie the Pooh has run into trouble in Hong Kong

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was initially approved by Chinese officials to screen at more than 30 cinemas in Hong Kong and Macau on Thursday. But days ahead of the screening, the film's distribution company was told it was no longer allowed to show the slasher film starring a murderous Winnie the Pooh. Chen Cici/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Chen Cici/AP

Why a horror film starring Winnie the Pooh has run into trouble in Hong Kong

The film featuring a murderous Pooh bear has been pulled from theaters in Hong Kong and Macau without explanation. Some say it's a result of China's censorship of memes related to leader Xi Jinping.

Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

Jonathan Majors. Nickolai Hammar/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Nickolai Hammar/NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

Actor Jonathan Majors is having a moment right now: he recently starred in Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Friend of the show and host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday Ayesha Rascoe recently sat down with Majors for a fun and wide-ranging conversation about his path to acting, how he picks his roles, and how he defines masculinity.

Jonathan Majors on his meteoric rise through Hollywood

Listen · 28:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164816436/1165070104" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

Billy Crudup plays a salesman marketing timeshares on the moon in the futuristic series Hello Tomorrow! Apple TV hide caption

toggle caption
Apple TV

Television

From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

Fresh Air

Crudup stars as a fast-talking salesman in the retro-futurist Apple TV+ series Hello Tomorrow! He won an Emmy for his role as a cynical TV executive in the series The Morning Show.

From 'Almost Famous' to definitely famous, Billy Crudup is enjoying his new TV roles

Listen · 44:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164275110/1164804071" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Big names including Steve Buscemi, Conan O'Brien come out to honor Adam Sandler

Adam Sandler accepts Mark Twain prize on March 19. Scott Suchman/Kennedy Center hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Suchman/Kennedy Center

Pop Culture

Big names including Steve Buscemi, Conan O'Brien come out to honor Adam Sandler

Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston and Chris Rock were also among those in Washington, D.C. this weekend to celebrate Sandler, who worked on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s and moved on to films.

Big names including Steve Buscemi, Conan O'Brien come out to honor Adam Sandler

Listen · 2:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164641044/1164641753" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Let's celebrate the mistakes the Oscars didn't make

Directors Daniel Kwan (left) and Daniel Scheinert pose with their best director trophies for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Let's celebrate the mistakes the Oscars didn't make

Just one last word about the 2023 Academy Awards, which wrapped Sunday in a manner largely free of catastrophic embarrassment: Here's an unsexy-but-crucial rundown of the mistakes that were avoided.

Movie Interviews

Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh wants to change the way we think of superheroes

Fresh Air

Yeoh felt relieved when she first read the script for Everything Everywhere All at Once: Finally, here was a film that cast a middle-aged mother as an action hero. Originally broadcast April 2022.

Oscar-winning actor Michelle Yeoh wants to change the way we think of superheroes

Listen · 19:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164230126/1164315077" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Movie Interviews

How Adam Sandler carved out a niche in musical comedy: 'The guitar helped relax me'

Fresh Air

Sandler will be awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on March 19. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2019, along with writer/directors Josh and Benny Safdie, about their film Uncut Gems.

How Adam Sandler carved out a niche in musical comedy: 'The guitar helped relax me'

Listen · 17:46
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164232596/1164315341" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' is a near myth

"Forget Pat's, forget Geno's. Jim's. Jim's in the best cheesesteak in Philly." Shazam (Zachary Levi) and Hespera (Helen Mirren) have a sit-down. Warner Bros. hide caption

toggle caption
Warner Bros.

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' is a near myth

The sequel to the 2019 film that starred Zachary Levi as the adult superhero persona of a lonely teen goes bigger. And goofier. But the fuel mixture's off and Levi's one-note performance grates.

'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' is a near myth

Listen · 4:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1163927830/1164383947" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' has lost some magic

Zachary Levi, with (l-r) Adam Brody, Meagan Good, and D.J. Cotrona in Shazam! Fury Of The Gods. Warner Bros. hide caption

toggle caption
Warner Bros.

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' has lost some magic

Four years ago, Shazam! was a surprise hit and a lighthearted entry in the DC Extended Universe. It follows teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who's bestowed with magical powers and turns in an adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi. In the new sequel Shazam! Fury Of The Gods, Levi returns with a big cast that includes newcomers Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler.

'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' has lost some magic

Listen · 15:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1161879943/1164067941" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How the slam dunk became this director's metaphor for the Asian American experience

Director Jingyi Shao arrives for the launch event of Disney's Chang Can Dunk. VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

Main Character of the Day

How the slam dunk became this director's metaphor for the Asian American experience

When is a dunk more than a dunk? When it's wrapped up in proving yourself to your entire high school.

How the slam dunk became this director's metaphor for the Asian American experience

Listen · 7:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164060276/1164082557" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Movie Interviews

'Chang Can Dunk' is the coming-of-age sports film Jingyi Shao wished for as a kid

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with filmmaker Jingyi Shao about Chang Can Dunk, a coming-of-age sports film about an Asian American teen's quest to reinvent himself — by learning to dunk.

'Chang Can Dunk' is the coming-of-age sports film Jingyi Shao wished for as a kid

Listen · 7:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1164050913/1164053518" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Do we, in fact, all scream for 'Scream 6'?

Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter and Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter in Scream 6. Philippe Bossé/Paramount Pictures hide caption

toggle caption
Philippe Bossé/Paramount Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Do we, in fact, all scream for 'Scream 6'?

The Ghostface killer is taking yet another stab at the box office as Scream 6 has arrived in theatres. It's a sequel to last year's reboot – or requel – of everyone's favorite deeply meta slasher franchise. Starring Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barerra, Scream 6 takes the characters who managed to survive the last Scream movie out of bucolic Woodsboro and into the urban jungle of New York City.

Do we, in fact, all scream for 'Scream 6'?

Listen · 20:42
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1161709821/1163673670" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

Jasmin Savoy Brown stars in Scream 6 and Yellowjackets. photo by Robb Klassen/design by NPR hide caption

toggle caption
photo by Robb Klassen/design by NPR

Perspective

Code Switch

Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

Host B.A. Parker talks to Jasmin Savoy Brown, of the recently-released Scream 6, about playing a queer Black girl who lives. And film critics Richard Newby and Mallory Yu discuss how horror movies can actually help us empathize with each other

Whose Nightmares Are We Telling? How Horror Has Evolved for People of Color

Listen · 33:53
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1159794320/1163557501" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Michelle Yeoh called out sexism in Hollywood. Will it help close the gender gap?

Michelle Yeoh, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress on Sunday, delivered a rallying cry for Hollywood's older actresses during her acceptance speech. Evan Agostini/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Evan Agostini/AP

Michelle Yeoh called out sexism in Hollywood. Will it help close the gender gap?

The 60-year-old best actress winner addressed the timing of her historic win, which comes decades into her spectacular career. But is the industry ready for more complicated, older female characters?

Browse archive or search npr.org