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December 24, 2012 Patrick McGilligan, author of Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light, evaluates the accuracy of the new Hitchcock biopic starring Anthony Hopkins. McGilligan says much of the film is a "creative and clever fiction" — but that's because "people would rather believe the legend" of the man.

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December 23, 2012 On his last day hosting weekends on All Things Considered, host Guy Raz tells us about the movie he could watch a million times: Richard Linklater's School of Rock. "It's just a perfect movie," he says.

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December 22, 2012 Actor John Hawkes could watch Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life a million times. "I was struck by the darkness of the film," he says.

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December 21, 2012 Over the past quarter-century, millions of people have poured into theaters to see the stage-musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Now it's opening in movie theaters; director Tom Hooper tells NPR's Melissa Block that it was a total labor of love.

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December 19, 2012 The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami touched people in all corners of the globe. In The Impossible, Naomi Watts plays a tourist whose family is torn apart when the disaster strikes. She speaks with NPR's Melissa Block about waterborne work, and about her own fear of the sea.

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December 19, 2012 In his new film, Sopranos creator David Chase tells a coming-of-age story about Jersey boys in the 1960s who dream of riding the wave of the British invasion all the way to stardom. Chase teams up with Steven Van Zandt — of the E Street Band and The Sopranos — to make the movie's music rock.

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December 19, 2012 NPR's Renee Montagne speaks with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal. The team behind The Hurt Locker is out with a new film, Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

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December 18, 2012 Austrian actor Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his portrayal of Nazi Jew hunter Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Teamed up with Tarantino again in Django Unchained, he says Tarantino's writing and the rhythm of the language speaks to him as a performer.

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December 17, 2012 In her new movie, singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.

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December 16, 2012 The new movie Zero Dark Thirty focuses on a female intelligence officer's quest to find Osama bin Laden, but the story of how the terrorist mastermind was found wasn't quite so simple.

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December 15, 2012 Tom Hooper's cinematic adaptation of the musical Les Miserables, which was based on Victor Hugo's famous novel, opens this Christmas. It's earned huge buzz for its stars, including Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, who speak with Scott Simon about their experience with the film.

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December 14, 2012 In Hyde Park on Hudson, Laura Linney plays the introverted Daisy Suckley, a distant cousin and love interest to Bill Murray's Franklin Roosevelt. She tells NPR's David Greene that the real Daisy was "very self-contained" — and someone she came to admire deeply.

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December 8, 2012 Musician and composer Gustavo Santaolalla, best known for his Oscar-winning scores for The Motorcycle Diaries and Brokeback Mountain, could watch Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life a million times. "It gives me hope," he says.

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December 8, 2012 The Oscar-winning epic Lawrence of Arabia was first released in theaters 50 years ago this month. NPR's Scott Simon talks with Omar Sharif about playing Sherif Ali in the film.

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On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist