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Oscars 2013: The 85th Annual Academy Awards
Playing The Big Room: An Oscars Joke-Writer Reflects
February 13, 2013 After the teary acceptance speeches, the most quotable moments from any Oscars telecast are the jokes. Comedy writer Dave Boone, a regular joke writer for Hollywood's biggest night, offers his tips on how to make 'em laugh in Movieland and beyond.
Oscars 2013: The 85th Annual Academy Awards
Harrowing Stories Of 'How To Survive A Plague'
February 12, 2013 Director and producer David France documents the struggle of HIV/AIDS activists as they fought for better care and access to new medicines in the early days of the epidemic. "There are today, 8 million people alive on those drugs that were spearheaded in this remarkable meeting of minds and hearts," France says.
Oscars 2013: The 85th Annual Academy Awards
Beyond The Battlefield, Soldiers Fight An 'Invisible War'
February 11, 2013 The Invisible War looks at the ongoing issue of sexual assault in the military. Victims document the unsettling repercussions of reporting their assault within the military adjudication system. Part of an ongoing series of conversations with Oscar nominated documentary filmmakers.
Music Interviews
Hollywood's 'Hooray': Hardly A Happy Hymn
February 11, 2013 It's Oscar season, meaning that classic toe-tapper "Hooray for Hollywood" will soon be booming out of TV speakers everywhere. But the cheery cinema hymn has a more complicated compositional past, as NPR's special correspondent Susan Stamberg explains.
Movies I've Seen A Million Times
The Movie Roman Coppola Has 'Seen A Million Times'
February 9, 2013 Writer-director Roman Coppola could watch Woody Allen's Stardust Memories a million times. "It's a film that is endlessly imaginative and has wonderful surprises at every corner," he says.
Theater
The Scottish Play (The Olivier Way)
February 9, 2013 British stage and screen legend Laurence Olivier had always hoped to produce his own film version of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Now, decades after Olivier's death, a researcher has stumbled across his lost screen treatment of "the Scottish play."
Movie Reviews
'Identity Thief': Nearly Two Hours, Stolen
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.
Movie Reviews
'Caesar' Comes Alive In An Italian Prison
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.
Movie Interviews
Tyler Perry Transforms: From Madea To Family Man
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.
Movie Reviews
A '70s 'Playroom,' Without Much Room For Fun
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.
Movie Reviews
A Sorcerer, A White Snake, And Lots Of CGI Magic
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.
Movie Reviews
Sheen's 'Swan' Is One Ugly Duckling
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.
Movie Reviews
'Lore': After Hitler, An Awakening For The Reich's Children
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)
Movie Reviews
Warning: 'Side Effects' May Include Eye-Rolling
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.
Movie Interviews
'Warm Bodies' Director: Teen Romance, Undying
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.





