archive

February 8, 2013 The individual ingredients that make up Identity Thief could add up to a great movie. But the digital-age mistaken-identity comedy wastes a talented leading actress and a passable plot; it's a predictable trudge of a road movie.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

February 8, 2013 In Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's new film, Caesar Must Die, a group of prisoners put on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's barely an hour and a quarter, and it's physically small-scale, but it's so compressed it wears you out — in a good way.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

February 8, 2013 Best known for being the man behind Madea, Perry recently starred in the action thriller Alex Cross which is now out on DVD. We listen back to an October interview, in which he told Fresh Air's Terry Gross that his Madea character is a cross between his mom, his aunt and Eddie Murphy.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

February 7, 2013 Steven Soderbergh has said Side Effects will be his final film. But the talented director has turned in a stylish but silly thriller — a sad closing chapter for a notable career.

Summary

February 7, 2013 The Holocaust film is increasingly common, but films and novels telling the stories of German World War II survivors are still relatively rare — making Lore a welcome addition to the cinematic canon of postwar German narratives. (Recommended)

Summary

February 7, 2013 Notorious playboy Charlie Sheen plays a less extreme — but still essentially disagreeable — version of himself in Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III.

Summary

February 7, 2013 Short on thrills but chock full of dazzling CGI wizardry, the mythical Sorcerer and the White Snake is a centuries-old Chinese story of demon-human love gone wrong.

Summary

February 7, 2013 In the swinging suburbs, a husband and wife nurse their drinks and neglect their kids as their marriage implodes. Critic Scott Tobias says Julia Dyer's film is solidly performed but stultifyingly obvious with its metaphors.

Summary

February 7, 2013 Director Jonathan Levine joins NPR's Audie Cornish to explore the ins and outs of young (zombie) love — the subject of his new romantic comedy, which topped the box office in its first week.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

February 7, 2013 Hollywood blockbusters usually do well in China. But last year, Lost in Thailand, a scrappy, slapstick comedy that cost less than $5 million to make, raked in $200 million in just seven weeks. It's now the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. It begins a limited run in the U.S. on Friday.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

February 7, 2013 In 5 Broken Cameras, co-directors Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi tell the story of a Palestinian village that is protesting the establishment of an Israeli security wall that cuts villagers off from parts of their land.

Transcript

On Talk of the NationPlaylist

February 7, 2013 The actor, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in David O. Russell's film, talks about watching movies with his father as a kid in Philadelphia, his childhood fascination with soldiers and being up against Daniel Day Lewis for an Oscar.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

February 7, 2013 Birder Starr Saphir, who died on Tuesday, was at the center of a 2012 documentary about the unique world of Central Park birding.

Summary

February 5, 2013 Every seven years since 1964, the director has caught us up on the lives of 14 everyday people in his acclaimed 7 Up series. Apted was 22 when the series began, and the subjects were 7. In the latest episode — 56 Up — the subjects are well into middle age.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist