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

Vera Farmiga plays Corinne Walker, a woman who decides to join and then flee a fundamentalist religious group. The film, directed by Farmiga, is based on Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir This Dark World. Molly Hawkey/Sony Picture Classics hide caption

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Molly Hawkey/Sony Picture Classics

A Graceful Search For 'Higher Ground'

Fresh Air

August 31, 2011 • Vera Farmiga makes her directorial debut with Higher Ground, which centers on a woman who joins and then flees a fundamentalist religious order. Film critic David Edelstein says the movie is "complicated and unresolved in the best possible way."

Pets Or Meat? Let's Play Guess-The-Victim With 'Shark Night 3D'

Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan star in Shark Night 3D. Steve Dietl/Relativity Media hide caption

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Steve Dietl/Relativity Media

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pets Or Meat? Let's Play Guess-The-Victim With 'Shark Night 3D'

August 31, 2011 • Who's going to die in Shark Night 3D? We have a very scientific approach to figuring that out. Well, not "scientific." Perhaps "haphazard" is a better way to describe it.

A Gainsbourg Portrait, Through An Imaginative Lens

Played out: Eric Elmosnino is the iconoclast entertainer Serge Gainsbourg in Joann Sfar's adventurous film biography. Music Box Films hide caption

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Music Box Films

Review

A Gainsbourg Portrait, Through An Imaginative Lens

August 31, 2011 • At first glance, Joann Sfar's film about the taboo-shattering French entertainer is like no biopic you've seen before. But despite its (graphic-) novel approach and its startling visuals, Gainsbourg is a standard-issue music bio at heart.

'The Debt': History's Burden, And A Moral Calculus

Settling A Tab? Rachel (Jessica Chastain, left) and David (Sam Worthington) are '60s-era Mossad agents in John Madden's thriller The Debt. Laurie Sparham/Focus Features hide caption

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Laurie Sparham/Focus Features

Review

'The Debt': History's Burden, And A Moral Calculus

August 31, 2011 • A classy cast and a sober premise drive John Madden's thriller about three Mossad agents coping with the fallout from a long-ago mission — but the movie's feverish plotting and sullen overacting deplete all efforts at gravitas.

On Location: A 'Summertime' Romance In Venice

Katharine Hepburn (left) and Rossano Brazzi in Venice in David Lean's 1955 film Summertime. United Artists/Photofest hide caption

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United Artists/Photofest

On Location: A 'Summertime' Romance In Venice

August 31, 2011 • David Lean's 1955 film about an American woman who falls in love while on holiday in Venice is a love letter to the romantic power of the city that he called his second home, and the movie that the two-time Best Director Oscar winner considered his most personal.

Rumor Has It George Lucas Changed 'Jedi': Hey, Think Anyone Would Mind?

Filmmaker George Lucas, seen here in March 2011, is the subject of another round of really really angry comments over alleged tweaks he's made to The Return Of The Jedi for its upcoming Blu-ray release. Ethan Miller/Getty Images hide caption

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Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Rumor Has It George Lucas Changed 'Jedi': Hey, Think Anyone Would Mind?

August 31, 2011 • What has Star Wars fans all freaked out this time? Well, a slight tweak to the Ewoks, plus a dialogue change that you wouldn't think would be all that big of a deal, but in fact, it has set a tiny segment of the internet ablaze.

A 'Stuntman!' Discusses His Death-Defying Feats

Veteran Hollywood stuntman Hal Needham — who turned director for the 1977 hit Smokey and the Bandit — lines up a shot with Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed and Happy the dog. Universal Studio/Getty Images hide caption

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Universal Studio/Getty Images

Author Interviews

A 'Stuntman!' Discusses His Death-Defying Feats

Fresh Air

August 31, 2011 • Hal Needham worked as a Hollywood stuntman for over 40 years. He details some of his most death-defying feats (and why he can't stand modern special effects) in his memoir, Stuntman!

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Let's Rush To Judgment!: 'Fireflies In The Garden'

August 30, 2011 • We rush to judgment on the long (long) delayed Julia Roberts film, Fireflies In The Garden, which has played around the world for more than three years and never seen a U.S. release until now.

Summer Movies: The Timelessness Of Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor died in March 2011 at the age of 79. Express Newspapers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Express Newspapers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Talk of the Nation's Summer Film Festival

Summer Movies: The Timelessness Of Elizabeth Taylor

August 30, 2011 • In March, Hollywood lost one of its brightest stars — Elizabeth Taylor. Murray Horwitz wraps up the 2011 Summer Movie Series with his favorite Liz Taylor films.

Music Box Films

Comics Star Joann Sfar, Capturing 'A Heroic Life'

August 30, 2011 • A movie about the provocative, multitalented French performer is the latest project for a filmmaker — already a star in the comic books universe — who is as interesting as his subject.

Twenty Iconic Male Movie Roles In Which Helen Mirren Would Have Ruled

Actress Helen Mirren attends a screening of The Debt last week. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images hide caption

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Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

Opinion

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Twenty Iconic Male Movie Roles In Which Helen Mirren Would Have Ruled

August 29, 2011 • Helen Mirren can do basically anything, and we've come up with a list of 20 movie roles written for men where we still think she would have been pretty great.

A Filmmaker On The Complexities Of 'Debt'

Director John Madden works on the set of his espionage thriller The Debt, a remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name. Madden says he was initially attracted to the story's complexity. Laurie Sparham/Focus Features hide caption

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Laurie Sparham/Focus Features

Opinion

Movie Interviews

A Filmmaker On The Complexities Of 'Debt'

August 28, 2011 • Director John Madden says he likes his audience to "do a little bit of work" when they watch his films. His latest, The Debt, chronicles a group of young Israeli Mossad agents in the 1960s whose mission is to track down and capture a Nazi war criminal.

'Hood To Coast' Documentary Races All 197 Miles

August 27, 2011 • In the Pacific Northwest, there's a 197-mile, 30-hour relay race called the "Hood to Coast." Host Scott Simon talks with Christoph Baaden, director of the eponymous documentary, which details four teams' experience running the race.

A Devil And An Angel, In Love In 'Brighton Rock'

Sam Riley (left) as Pinkie Brown, and Andrea Riseborough as Rose, in Rowan Joffe's adaptation of Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock. Alex Bailey/IFC Films hide caption

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Alex Bailey/IFC Films

Movie Interviews

A Devil And An Angel, In Love In 'Brighton Rock'

August 27, 2011 • A new adaptation of Graham Greene's novel of crime and romance, starring Andrea Riseborough and directed by Rowan Joffe, transplants the action from the pre-World War II era in England to the year 1964, and in doing so highlights the tension of a new generation coming into power.

For Vera Farmiga, A Search Leads To 'Higher Ground'

Vera Farmiga as Corinne Walker in the film Higher Ground, which Farmiga also directed. Molly Hawkey/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Molly Hawkey/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Movie Interviews

For Vera Farmiga, A Search Leads To 'Higher Ground'

August 26, 2011 • The Oscar-nominated actress, who has appeared in Up in the Air and The Departed, talks about her directorial debut, a film about a woman's search for faith. Farmiga, who calls herself a "seeker," also stars in the film.