Movie Reviews

To 'Fill The Void,' A Choice With A Personal Cost()  

Domestic drama: Among the ultra-Orthodox world of Tel Aviv's Haredi Jews, Rivka (Irit Sheleg, left) and her daughter Shira (Hadas Yaron, second from left, with Hila Feldman and Razia Israeli) are confronted with a dilemma after a death in the family.

May 23, 2013 Rama Burshtein's ravishing family story is a love poem to life in an insular community — the ultra-Orthodox Hasidim of Tel Aviv, where the director lives. Studiously nonpolitical, it's a low-stakes story with the emotional punch of high drama. (Recommended)

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Movie Reviews

'Fast 6': Silly, Speedy And Certain To Cash In()  

Hot Pursuits: Agents Hobbs and Riley (Dwayne Johnson and Gina Carano) enlist Dom and his gear head crew to combat a something something terrorist something skidding explosions muscles.

May 23, 2013 Fast & Furious 6 pits Dominic's crew against a wily terrorist in a high-tech battle royale — but it has a devil of a time explaining why everyone should hop into their cars.

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Pitbull Gets 'Epic': 'You Constantly Have To Defend Your Success'()  

Pitbull's latest album is titled Global Warming, and he voices the character Bufo in the new movie Epic.

May 23, 2013 Armando Christian Perez — better known as Pitbull or Mr. Worldwide — has sold five million albums and had No. 1 hits in more than 15 countries. He tells NPR's Michel Martin about using music as an escape and playing a well-dressed toad in the animated film Epic.

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Movie Interviews

Julianne Moore, Relishing Complicated Characters()  

Moore (photographed at New York Fashion Week in February 2013) has earned Oscar nominations for her roles in Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far From Heaven and The Hours.

May 23, 2013 In What Maisie Knew, Moore plays a troubled rock star who might initially seem like a rotten person, but Moore's performance humanizes the character, highlighting her human frailties — something Moore has done in many parts.

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Television

Douglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'()  

Michael Douglas stars as the flamboyant pianist and entertainer Liberace in Steven Soderbergh's new HBO biopic, Behind the Candelabra.

May 23, 2013 Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a showbiz story about Vegas icon Liberace and his secret lover — played, respectively, by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, both terrific in their roles. It premieres Sunday on HBO.

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Monkey See

'Before Midnight': Jesse And Celine Are Older Now, And So Are We()  

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Midnight.

May 23, 2013 It took Jesse and Celine 18 years to find themselves back where they started in the lovely third installment of the series that began with 1995's Before Sunrise.

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The Two-Way

Book News: Lydia Davis Wins Man Booker International Prize()  

Lydia Davis poses during a photocall in May for the finalists of the 2013 Man Booker International literary prize in London.

May 23, 2013 Also: Amazon to begin publishing fan fiction; Paul Ryan and Elizabeth Warren are writing books; Keith Richards' exorbitant library fines.

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Monkey See

Really Most Sincerely Bad: Fox's Nasty 'Does Someone Have To Go?'()  

Employees argue over who's the worst in Fox's Does Someone Have To Go?

May 23, 2013 A distasteful new show forces employees to turn on each other in a phony display of power.

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Monkey See

Breakin' The Rules: 20 General Principles Suspended In 'Fast And Furious 6'()  

This little skeleton-of-the-Batmobile-y looking thing is actually one of the vehicles on display in Fast & Furious 6.

May 23, 2013 There are many principles of day-to-day life that don't make their way into the Fast, Furious universe.

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Monkey See

Cannes Diary: Delusions Of 'Gatsby' (And Dreams Of Notoriety) ()  

The cast of Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, which writer Raj Ranade says has set a high bar for other contenders at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

May 22, 2013 All is Gatsbyish excess on the Croisette, where the Cannes Film Festival's early tone might well have been set by Baz Luhrmann's lavish film — and by Sofia Coppola's accomplished The Bling Ring.

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Author Interviews

A Race Against Time To Find WWI's Last 'Doughboys'()  

Arthur Fiala, shown here in 1918 and 2005, was a private in the 26th Company of the 20th Engineers Regiment during World War I.

In 2003, Richard Rubin set out to talk to every American veteran of World War I he could find. With help from the French, he tracked down dozens of centenarian vets and recorded their stories in a new book called The Last of the Doughboys.

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The Salt

The Great Charcoal Debate: Briquettes Or Lumps?()  

Lump charcoal can burn hotter and can be made with specific woods that impart desirable flavors on food.

Does the kind of charcoal you use really make a difference when it comes to grilling up a tasty steak or other food on the grill? Yes — but deciding which one to use depends on what you're after. Both briquettes and lump charcoal — aka "natural" hardwood charcoal — have their advantages and disadvantages.

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Monkey See

Are Women Really Missing From Film Criticism? ()  

Two women watch a movie screen.

Are women really being shut out of film criticism? One recent study claims that they're worse off in the online world than they were in print.

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Movie Reviews

This Time, It's A Dull Ache Of A 'Hangover'()  

Dazed And Confused (And Just Plain Lazy): Zach Galifianakis (center), with Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper, is back for a third Hangover film.

In dumping his formula, director Todd Phillips has thrown out just about everything else that made the surprise-hit first movie even a little likable.

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The Picture Show

Sara Hock, 11, poses for a portrait in her bedroom window. Sarah was at school during the tornado, while her father, Brian Hock, took shelter.

A portraits series shows what — or rather, who — remains in an Oklahoma neighborhood.

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