archive

November 20, 2012 Rose Bosch's docudrama, La Rafle, recounts the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris, in which 13,000 Jews were sent to detention camps. Critic Joel Arnold says that although the film is compelling, it stretches the docudrama format nearly to the breaking point.

Summary

November 20, 2012 Dan Bradley's remake of 1984's Red Dawn retells a story of high schoolers fighting off communist invaders. Critic Mark Jenkins says the new version suffers the same fate as many reboots, lacking weight and coming off as an inadvertently comic misfire.

Summary

November 20, 2012 Ang Lee's adaptation of Yann Martel's 2001 best-seller employs cinema's most advanced digital techniques in the service of an adventure yarn that's gloriously old-fashioned — and often just glorious. (Recommended)

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

November 20, 2012 The producer of an upcoming Nina Simone biopic has cast Afro-Latina actress Zoe Saldana in the lead role — a move that's proved controversial. Critics say that while Saldana is a talented actress, she's too close to traditional light-skinned Hollywood beauty standards.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

November 20, 2012 Bradley Cooper has been a comedy star — and People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive." In Silver Linings Playbook, he plays an emotionally damaged schoolteacher trying to get his life together after being institutionalized. He speaks with Linda Wertheimer about the film.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

November 20, 2012 Life of Pi and Cloud Atlas are two complicated, ambitious novels recently adapted for the big screen. NPR's Elizabeth Blair explores what makes some singular narratives workable on film — and what makes some fail.

Transcript

On Morning EditionPlaylist

November 19, 2012 In Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln, Sally Field plays Abraham Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, opposite actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Field lobbied hard for the role of the emotionally tormented, complex first lady and did extensive research to capture the character.

Transcript

On Talk of the NationPlaylist

November 19, 2012 Actor Irrfan Khan talks about his role in the new movie Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee and based on the best-selling novel of the same name. Khan also starred in Slumdog Millionaire, The Namesake and A Mighty Heart.

Transcript

On Fresh Air from WHYYPlaylist

November 18, 2012 What happens when you take a group of junior high kids from a school with a poverty level of more than 65 percent and teach them how to play chess? Katie Dellamaggiore's documentary, Brooklyn Castle, explores the amazing results.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

November 18, 2012 In his new documentary, Photographic Memory, Ross McElwee lingers on small moments and (mis)remembered experiences as he turns the camera on his son, Adrian. McElwee hoped to understand his son better through his work on the film, which he describes as a piece of "comic melancholy."

Transcript

On Weekend Edition SundayPlaylist

November 17, 2012 With films including period pieces like Sense and Sensibility, big-budget action films like Hulk and epic romances like Brokeback Mountain, Lee can't be pigeonholed. So he was up for the challenge when presented with a story that takes place almost entirely on a boat — with a real tiger.

Transcript

On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

November 17, 2012 The award-winning playwright and screenwriter is best known for such works as Arcadia and Shakespeare in Love. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the screenplay for Joe Wright's adaptation of Anna Karenina.

Transcript

On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist

November 17, 2012 Actor Christopher Plummer has taken his Tony Award-winning performance as actor John Barrymore to film. He speaks with Weekend Edition host Scott Simon about Barrymore as a man and as a role.

Transcript

On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist