Movies: Movie Reviews and Commentary on New and Classic Films : NPR

Snow White Rising: Why This Princess, And Why This Moment?

Lily Collins plays Snow White in Mirror Mirror opposite Julia Roberts as the vain Queen jealous of Snow's beauty. Jan Thijs/Relativity Media hide caption

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Jan Thijs/Relativity Media

Snow White Rising: Why This Princess, And Why This Moment?

March 31, 2012 • There are two Snow White movies scheduled for release this year, and Snow seems set to eclipse Cinderella as the fairy tale of the moment. Neda Ulaby investigates what makes this princess the one surging at this moment.

'Bully' Examines Students Targeted By Their Peers

March 30, 2012 • The new documentary Bully opens Friday, and it has an emotional impact that must be seen to be understood. The film hop scotches across the country looking at the situations of five different children that have suffered the effects of bullying.

Bullying Movie Is Released With No Rating

March 30, 2012 • The Motion Picture Association of America was going to give Bully an R rating for language, but the movie's producer decided to send it out with no rating. The nation's second-largest cinema chain AMC will show it, but Cinemark, the third-largest chain will not.

James Cameron: Diving Deep, Dredging Up Titanic

James Cameron's 1997 epic Titanic is being rereleased in 3-D. Paramount Pictures/AP hide caption

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Paramount Pictures/AP

James Cameron: Diving Deep, Dredging Up Titanic

March 30, 2012 • Filmmaker James Cameron has just returned from a successful submersible expedition to the deepest spot in the ocean — and he's also gearing up for the 3-D rerelease of his 1997 epic, Titanic. Cameron says that for him, filmmaking and exploring are two aspects of the same basic impulse.

'Mirror Mirror': A Fairy Tale Comedy, Apple-Tart

Irrepressibly warmhearted Snow White (Lily Collins), usually kept under lock and key by her wicked-queen stepmother, makes an appearance at a ball with the dreamy, easily befuddled Prince Charming (Armie Hammer). Jan Thijs/Relativity Media hide caption

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Jan Thijs/Relativity Media

Review

'Mirror Mirror': A Fairy Tale Comedy, Apple-Tart

March 29, 2012 • The first of this year's competing Snow White movies stars Julia Roberts as the queen, Lily Collins as Snow and Armie Hammer as Prince Charming. NPR's Linda Holmes says the puckish family film is a welcome surprise: a gorgeous, frothy fairy tale infectious in its good nature.

'Intruders': When Bad Dreams Feel Alarmingly Real

Mia (Ella Purnell, center) has nightmares that may or may not have something to do with the sins of her parents, Sue (Carice van Houten) and John (Clive Owen). Millennium Entertainment hide caption

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Millennium Entertainment

Review

'Intruders': When Bad Dreams Feel Alarmingly Real

March 29, 2012 • Two children in different countries have similar nightmares about a hollow-faced phantom; one girl's father (Clive Owen) sets out to protect her. Critic Andrew Lapin says this half-baked mix of horror and psychodrama has some interesting ideas but gets lost in generic spookiness.

'Womb': A Lost Love Reborn, But Not Quite Recovered

Never Let Me Go: After Rebecca (Eva Green) reconnects with Tommy (Matt Smith), a crush from her childhood — only to lose him soon after in an accident — she decides to give birth to his clone and raise him as her son. Olive Films hide caption

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Olive Films

Review

'Womb': A Lost Love Reborn, But Not Quite Recovered

March 29, 2012 • In a near future where human cloning is possible, a woman grieving the loss of her soul mate gives birth to his clone and raises him — with complications — as her son. Critic Mark Jenkins says despite the movie's provocative premise, the film is more melancholy than erotic.

Coming Of Age, And Discovering It's Rough Out There

Fifteen-year-old Alma (Helene Bersholm) finds herself consumed by her sexual fantasies — until the line between reality and daydream blurs when her crush makes an inappropriate move. New Yorker Films hide caption

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New Yorker Films

Review

Coming Of Age, And Discovering It's Rough Out There

March 29, 2012 • In Turn Me On, Dammit! a 15-year-old girl daydreams about sex — only to find the line between fantasy and reality blurring. Critic Ian Buckwalter says the nonexploitative film finds honest comedy in the pain of finding and establishing a sexual identity in a gossip-prone small town.

'Goon': A Wrecking Ball With A Heart Of Gold

Smooth Move: Sean William Scott plays dimwitted but affable Doug Glatt, a small-town bouncer who happens upon an opportunity as a minor league hockey enforcer when managers discover his talent for delivering a beating. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

Review

'Goon': A Wrecking Ball With A Heart Of Gold

March 29, 2012 • A small-town bouncer is recruited as a minor league hockey enforcer in a sweet and bloody comedy throwback to sports movies of the 1970s. Critic Scott Tobias says star Sean William Scott (Role Models) has found his Hamlet with a masterful comic performance as the affable, dimwitted goon.

'Bully': A Provocative And Essential Documentary

Alex, one of the kids who struggles with bullies in Lee Hirsch's documentary Bully. Weinstein Co. hide caption

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Weinstein Co.

Review

'Bully': A Provocative And Essential Documentary

March 29, 2012 • Bully, being released without a rating, takes a hard look at public-school students being cruelly targeted by their peers. NPR's Bob Mondello says the wrenching, intensely moral, potentially transformative documentary deserves to be seen by students, teachers, and parents. (Recommended)

Warner Home Video

Pop Culture Happy Hour

DVD Picks: 70 Years Of 'Casablanca'

March 28, 2012 • Film critic Bob Mondello recommends the 70th anniversary Blu-ray release of the movie that made Humphrey Bogart an icon.

In Japan, 'Sliced-Up Actors' Are A Dying Breed

Fukumoto in one of the numerous period costume dramas he has acted in for the Toei Company's film studios since he began work there in 1959. Toei Kyoto Studio Park hide caption

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Toei Kyoto Studio Park

In Japan, 'Sliced-Up Actors' Are A Dying Breed

March 28, 2012 • Gangster and samurai movies have long dominated the Japanese film industry, and both genres require high body counts. Kirareyaku, or "sliced-up actors," specialize in meeting that need. The group's leading light, Seizo Fukumoto, has died at least 50,000 times — on screen.

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Let's Rush To Judgment: 'Snow White And The Huntsman'

March 27, 2012 • Snow White And The Huntsman looks like the scariest Snow White there's been in a while.

'October Baby' Tells A Story Hollywood Wouldn't

First-year college student Hannah (Rachel Hendrix) goes on a road trip in search of her birth mother after she learns she was adopted following a failed attempt at an abortion. Lovell/Fairchild Communications hide caption

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Lovell/Fairchild Communications

'October Baby' Tells A Story Hollywood Wouldn't

March 27, 2012 • Morning Edition's David Greene explores the phenomenon of independent Christian filmmaking with Jon Erwin, who along with his brother has made an anti-abortion road trip movie called October Baby.

From Page To Screen: Hollywood Targets YA Fiction

Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, adapted from Suzanne Collins' bestselling novel trilogy. Lionsgate hide caption

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Lionsgate

From Page To Screen: Hollywood Targets YA Fiction

March 24, 2012 • With this weekend's release of The Hunger Games, so begins another blockbuster movie based on a series of young-adult literature. Critc Bob Mondello considers the relatively short history of Hollywood's new popular habit of targeting pre-teens at the box office.