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

Chiwetel Ejiofor's Directing Debut Takes Him To Malawi To Capture 'The Wind'

In The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chiwetel Ejiofor (left) plays Trywell, the father of titular teenager William Kamkwamba (played by Maxwell Simba). Ejiofor also directed the movie and wrote the screenplay. Ilze Kitshoff/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption

Ilze Kitshoff/Netflix

Movie Interviews

Chiwetel Ejiofor's Directing Debut Takes Him To Malawi To Capture 'The Wind'

February 28, 2019 • The English actor performed in, directed and wrote the screenplay for The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind. It's based on a memoir by William Kamkwamba, whose ingenuity helped save his village from famine.

Chiwetel Ejiofor's Directing Debut Takes Him To Malawi To Capture 'The Wind'

Listen · 8:00 8:00

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/699060631/699119072" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

'Mapplethorpe': A Transgressive Artist Gets An Aggressively Dull Biopic

We're Gonna Need A Wider Lens: Matt Smith plays photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in a new biopic. Samuel Goldwyn Films hide caption

toggle caption

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Review

Movie Reviews

'Mapplethorpe': A Transgressive Artist Gets An Aggressively Dull Biopic

February 28, 2019 • A bored-seeming Matt Smith plays the famous — and famously provocative — photographer in a plodding film that too-dutifully ticks familiar scenes off the Great Artist Biopic checklist.

Documentary 'Apollo 11' Retells History With Wide Eyes - And A Wider Perspective

The new documentary Apollo 11 features never-before-seen footage of NASA's most-high profile expedition. Neon hide caption

toggle caption

Neon

Review

Movie Reviews

Documentary 'Apollo 11' Retells History With Wide Eyes - And A Wider Perspective

February 28, 2019 • Newly restored footage of the historic 1969 moonshot widens the focus to include the hundreds of men and women who made the mission possible.

When Dancers Trip: Gaspar Noé Stages A Visceral But Vacuous Freakout In 'Climax'

Red Shoes, Brown Acid: Selva (Sofia Boutella) and her troupe have a bad night after their sangria is laced with LSD in Gaspar Noé's Climax. A24 hide caption

toggle caption

A24

Review

Movie Reviews

When Dancers Trip: Gaspar Noé Stages A Visceral But Vacuous Freakout In 'Climax'

February 28, 2019 • A French dance troupe drinks sangria spiked with LSD and descends into carnal violence in a film that turns into "just another Noé freakout, familiar in tone and stylistic tics."

In 'Transit,' A Man Fleeing Fascists Gets Caught In A Web Of Mistaken Identity

Franz Rogowski plays a man who flees to Marseilles and finds himself stuck there in the film Transit. Music Box Films hide caption

toggle caption

Music Box Films

Review

Movie Reviews

In 'Transit,' A Man Fleeing Fascists Gets Caught In A Web Of Mistaken Identity

February 28, 2019 • German director Christian Petzold adapts a 1944 Holocaust novel by setting it in the modern day. The result is a haunting and beguiling narrative of 21st-century displacement.

In 'Greta,' A Magnetic Isabelle Huppert Plays A Deadly Game of Chat-And-Mouse

Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Greta (Isabelle Huppert) spill the tea in Neil Jordan's Greta. Jonathan Hession/Focus Features hide caption

toggle caption

Jonathan Hession/Focus Features

Review

Movie Reviews

In 'Greta,' A Magnetic Isabelle Huppert Plays A Deadly Game of Chat-And-Mouse

February 28, 2019 • A young woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) befriends a mysterious older woman (Huppert) in Neil Jordan's weird thriller. As extreme as Greta gets, Huppert "finds careful nuances within the bonkers."

Review

Movie Reviews

'Transit' Offers An Extraordinary Vision Of Nazi-Occupied France

Fresh Air

February 28, 2019 • A new film by German director Christian Petzold is set in a suspended-in-time version of the present. Critic Justin Chang calls it "a piercingly sad lament for the lost and forgotten souls of Europe."

'Transit' Offers An Extraordinary Vision Of Nazi-Occupied France

Listen · 4:47 4:47

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/698893032/698992591" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Emma Thompson Quits Film After Studio Hires Executive Accused Of Harassment

Emma Thompson, shown here at a film premiere last year, has pulled out of the animated film Luck. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

Emma Thompson Quits Film After Studio Hires Executive Accused Of Harassment

February 26, 2019 • "If people who have spoken out — like me — do not take this sort of a stand ... things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter's generation," she wrote.

Oscars 2019: What Trevor Noah Really Said In His 'Black Panther' Joke

Trevor Noah introduces a "Black Panther" montage at the Oscars on Feb. 24, 2019. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP hide caption

toggle caption

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Goats and Soda

Oscars 2019: What Trevor Noah Really Said In His 'Black Panther' Joke

February 25, 2019 • While introducing the montage for best picture at the Academy Awards, the South African comedian told a joke that you'd get only if you understood Xhosa.

91st Academy Awards Had No Host But There Were Plenty Of Winners

February 25, 2019 • Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody were big winners at Sunday night's Academy Awards. Green Book won three including best picture. Bohemian Rhapsody won four including best actor for Rami Malek.

91st Academy Awards Had No Host But There Were Plenty Of Winners

Listen · 7:28 7:28

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/697615984/697615985" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Politics

News Brief: Pence In Colombia, Vatican Summit, Oscar Results

February 25, 2019 • Vice President Pence talks to Latin American leaders about Venezuela's crisis. The pope calls for an "all-out battle" against clergy sex abuse. And, Green Book wins the Oscar for best picture.

News Brief: Pence In Colombia, Vatican Summit, Oscar Results

Listen · 11:19 11:19

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/697615925/697615926" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Olivia Colman accepts the Oscar actress in a leading role for The Favourite. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

2019 Oscars Recap: The Highs And Lows

February 25, 2019 • Green Book is your best picture, and Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma took a bunch of the top prizes, too. And it all got done in a ceremony without a host. We're breaking it all down: the winners, the speeches, the songs, why we're mad, and why we're glad.

2019 Oscars Recap: The Highs And Lows

Listen · 16:14 16:14

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/696328097/697617486" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

With No Host Directing Traffic, 'Green Book' Drives Away With Best Picture

Peter Farrelly accepts the best picture award for Green Book onstage during Sunday's Academy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

With No Host Directing Traffic, 'Green Book' Drives Away With Best Picture

February 25, 2019 • Sunday night's Oscars were the first in a long while to go without a host. It didn't stop the accolades from coming, though, and the kinda sorta part-true Green Book won best picture.