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

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We Buy A Superhero 5: Hollywood

April 30, 2021 • In the last and greatest chapter to our superhero saga, Micro-Face tries to make the jump from comic books to movies. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

We Buy A Superhero 5: Hollywood

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Eric Andre's 'Bad Trip' Is Unlike A Lot Of Prank Comedies You Might Have Seen

April 30, 2021 • Sam Sanders, host of NPR's It's Been A Minute, talks with comedian Eric Andre about making a prank movie while Black, pranking mostly people of color, and how it differs from, say, Johnny Knoxville.

Eric Andre's 'Bad Trip' Is Unlike A Lot Of Prank Comedies You Might Have Seen

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Double Feature: Refugees In 'Limbo,' And Spies And Subterfuge In 'Cliff Walkers'

Liu Haocun as Zhang Lan in Cliff Walkers, a spy thriller from Chinese director Zhang Yimou. CMC Pictures hide caption

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CMC Pictures

Review

Double Feature: Refugees In 'Limbo,' And Spies And Subterfuge In 'Cliff Walkers'

April 30, 2021 • Chinese director Zhang Yimou tells an epic tale of subterfuge and spies in Cliff Walkers. And in the Scottish dramedy Limbo, a young musician is stranded in a starkly beautiful no-man's-land.

Double Feature: Refugees In 'Limbo,' And Spies And Subterfuge In 'Cliff Walkers'

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Kate Winslet On The Roles That Scare Her And How 'Titanic' Shaped Her Career

Fresh Air

April 30, 2021 • Winslet stars in the new HBO series, Mare of Easttown. She spoke to Fresh Air in 2020 about her breakout turn in Titanic when she was in her 20s. "I was learning on the fly," she says.

Kate Winslet On The Roles That Scare Her And How 'Titanic' Shaped Her Career

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Bittersweet Film 'About Endlessness' Highlights Life's Humor And Despair

About Endlessness opens with the visual of a couple (Jan-Eje Ferling and Tatiana Delaunay) floating through gray, cloudy skies. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

Review

Bittersweet Film 'About Endlessness' Highlights Life's Humor And Despair

Fresh Air

April 30, 2021 • A priest loses his faith. A woman breaks the heel of her shoe. A couple visits their child's grave. Life unfolds as a series of stylized, bone-dry comic sketches in Roy Andersson's sublime new film.

Bittersweet Film 'About Endlessness' Highlights Life's Humor And Despair

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A Look At Tyler Perry's Complicated Legacy

April 30, 2021 • Tyler Perry's acceptance of a special Oscar for humanitarian work reveals his complicated legacy as a filmmaker, who is credited for uplifting Black people while stereotyping and profiting from them.

A Look At Tyler Perry's Complicated Legacy

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In 'The Mitchells Vs. The Machines,' A Dysfunctional Family Gets A Hard Reboot

(L-R) Maya Rudolph as "Linda Mitchell", Abbi Jacobson as "Katie Mitchell", Mike Rianda as "Aaron Mitchell", Doug the Pug as "Monchi" and Danny McBride as "Rick Mitchell". NETFLIX hide caption

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NETFLIX

Review

In 'The Mitchells Vs. The Machines,' A Dysfunctional Family Gets A Hard Reboot

April 30, 2021 • A very funny machine uprising forces an estranged daughter (Abbi Jacobson) and father (Danny McBride) to save the world — and rebuild their relationship.

'Without Remorse': Michael B. Jordan, But Make It Clancy

Jodie Turner-Smith and Michael B. Jordan star in Tom Clancy's Without Remorse. Nadja Klier/Amazon Studios hide caption

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Nadja Klier/Amazon Studios

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'Without Remorse': Michael B. Jordan, But Make It Clancy

April 30, 2021 • Michael B. Jordan has played a range of characters, from sympathetic figures like Wallace on The Wire, to an underdog in Creed and a swaggering antagonist in Black Panther. But Without Remorse marks a new era for Jordan as an action star. Based on Tom Clancy's best-selling 1993 novel of the same name, Without Remorse serves as the origin story for John Clark, an ex-Navy SEAL turned CIA operative.

'Without Remorse': Michael B. Jordan, But Make It Clancy

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'Citizen Kane' Has A Rotten Day

April 29, 2021 • For years, Orson Welles' Citizen Kane has been widely viewed as the greatest film ever made. But now an 80-year-old negative review has resurfaced, bringing its Rotten Tomatoes score down from 100%.

'Citizen Kane' Has A Rotten Day

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Review

Collection Showcases 20 Years Of Louis Armstrong's Studio Work

Fresh Air

April 29, 2021 • A CD set from Mosaic, full of singles and albums made between '46 and '66, confirms the variety of Armstrong's studio sides — and shows how much work went into making them sound casual.

Collection Showcases 20 Years Of Louis Armstrong's Studio Work

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'Stowaway': Morals Are Tested in Outer Space

Shamier Anderson, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim and Toni Collette stars in Netflix's Stowaway. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

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'Stowaway': Morals Are Tested in Outer Space

April 28, 2021 • Netflix's Stowaway stars Toni Collette, Daniel Dae Kim and Anna Kendrick as a three-person crew on a mission to Mars. When they discover a fourth person aboard, played by Shamier Anderson, his unexpected presence places them all in jeopardy. Absent of sinister aliens, there's plenty of calculus (both mathematical and moral) as the crew tries to puzzle their way out of their rapidly worsening situation.

'Stowaway': Morals Are Tested in Outer Space

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Patti Harrison Takes The Lead In 'Together Together'

Patti Harrison stars in Together Together as Anna, a young single woman who agrees to be a gestational surrogate for a single man in his 40s. Tiffany Roohani/Bleecker Street hide caption

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Tiffany Roohani/Bleecker Street

Patti Harrison Takes The Lead In 'Together Together'

April 27, 2021 • Patti Harrison is known for bringing her absurd, caustic, yet charming comedy to supporting roles on shows like Search Party, Broad City and Shrill. But now she's in a starring role in the romantic comedy Together Together. In it, Harrison plays a young single woman who agrees to be a gestational surrogate for a single man in his 40s, played by Ed Helms. Sam talks to Patti about what it was like to play a role different from everything she's done before, why Together Together is even billed as a rom-com, and the quandary of representation as a trans woman.

Patti Harrison Takes The Lead In 'Together Together'

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'Mortal Kombat': A Less-Than-Flawless Victory

In Mortal Kombat, Lewis Tan plays struggling MMA fighter Cole Young. Mark Rogers/Warner Bros. Entertainment hide caption

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Mark Rogers/Warner Bros. Entertainment

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Mortal Kombat': A Less-Than-Flawless Victory

April 27, 2021 • The Mortal Kombat franchise began in 1992 with an arcade fighting game featuring grisly pixelated deaths. It spawned many sequels and spinoffs, comics, television shows and films. The latest entry, a film called Mortal Kombat, introduces Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan, who is tapped to save the Earthrealm with classic character like Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Jax.

'Mortal Kombat': A Less-Than-Flawless Victory

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Television

Did Last Night's Oscars Work As A TV Show?

April 26, 2021 • We've talked about the ratings and who won what — but did the Oscars telecast work as good TV? Oscars producers made some unusual choices this year. We break down the good, the bad and the ugly.

Did Last Night's Oscars Work As A TV Show?

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Nomadland's Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win an Oscar for best director. Chris Pizzello/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

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Chris Pizzello/Pool/Getty Images

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our 2021 Oscars Recap

April 26, 2021 • We are wrapping up this year's Oscars. It was a big night for Nomadland, which took best picture, best actress for Frances McDormand, and a historic best director win for Chloé Zhao. But there were also huge upsets, most notably in best actor, where Anthony Hopkins won over Chadwick Boseman. And the telecast took some big risks that didn't always pay off.

Our 2021 Oscars Recap

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