Review Arts & Life 'Deja Vu' is First-Class Fun November 22, 2006 • Deja Vu is in the business of confounding expectations. It's not the routine potboiler starring Denzel Washington that the advertising indicates. The film makes little sense, but that hardly matters because it's some first-class genre fun. 'Deja Vu' is First-Class Fun Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6523764/6523765" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Deja Vu' is First-Class Fun Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6523764/6523765" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life The New James Bond Bets on a New Attitude November 17, 2006 • James Bond first appeared on the big screen 44 years ago. Up until today, the 20 James Bond features have been as predictable as the shaken-not-stirred martini preference of their protagonist. Now, with Casino Royale, the hero with a thousand smirks has been given a shrewd, and largely successful, attitude adjustment. The New James Bond Bets on a New Attitude Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6501477/6501478" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
The New James Bond Bets on a New Attitude Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6501477/6501478" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'A Good Year' Provides Few Good Reasons to Watch November 10, 2006 • The last time director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe got together, the Oscar-winning action epic Gladiator was the result. This time it's a romantic comedy, and the results are not nearly so successful. 'A Good Year' Provides Few Good Reasons to Watch Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6466925/6466926" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'A Good Year' Provides Few Good Reasons to Watch Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6466925/6466926" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Borat' Offends, Entertains While Mirroring Society November 3, 2006 • Borat features British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as a fictional television journalist from Kazakhstan on a tour of the United States. The satire is biting and discomforting. But it's also funny and well-suited for our times. 'Borat' Offends, Entertains While Mirroring Society Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6427400/6427401" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Borat' Offends, Entertains While Mirroring Society Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6427400/6427401" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Catch a Fire' Breathes New Life into an Old Story October 27, 2006 • Catch a Fire sounds like an awfully familiar story. And, in some ways, it is. Movies on how South Africa suffered under apartheid, and the heroic efforts made to resist that repressive system, are hardly new. So it's tempting to write off this newest look at that era as too familiar and too late. That would be a mistake. 'Catch a Fire' Breathes New Life into an Old Story Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6391281/6391282" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Catch a Fire' Breathes New Life into an Old Story Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6391281/6391282" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Infamous' Fails Where 'Capote' Succeeded October 13, 2006 • Infamous tells the story of Truman Capote as he wrote In Cold Blood. If that sounds familiar, it's because a movie about the exact same thing came out a year ago, and it was a better film. 'Infamous' Fails Where 'Capote' Succeeded Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6259809/6259810" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Infamous' Fails Where 'Capote' Succeeded Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6259809/6259810" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'King's Men' a Masterful Retelling of an Old Favorite September 22, 2006 • All the King's Men is a Hollywood remake that may be even better than its Oscar-winning predecessor of 1949. Sean Penn, Jude Law and Kate Winslet star in this wrenching tale of populist politics based loosely on the life of Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long. 'King's Men' a Masterful Retelling of an Old Favorite Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6123025/6123026" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'King's Men' a Masterful Retelling of an Old Favorite Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6123025/6123026" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life Documentaries View the Iraq War from Two Sides September 15, 2006 • Two new documentaries are out about the Iraq war: The Ground Truth and My Country, My Country. My Country shows what the war has been like for Iraqis, while Ground Truth concentrates on the personal traumas U.S. soldiers have to deal with when they return home. Both movies offer compelling views of the costs of war. Documentaries View the Iraq War from Two Sides Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6080566/6080567" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Documentaries View the Iraq War from Two Sides Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6080566/6080567" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Hollywoodland' Doesn't Quite Measure Up September 8, 2006 • Hollywoodland is an ambitious film that succeeds up to a point, but no further. It's a reasonable facsimile of film noir, but it's also an overly derivative piece of work that thinks it is doing and saying more than it is. And this despite a subtle and effective performance by, of all people, Ben Affleck. 'Hollywoodland' Doesn't Quite Measure Up Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5787021/5787022" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Hollywoodland' Doesn't Quite Measure Up Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5787021/5787022" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Not Yet Rated' Takes Viewers for a Ride September 1, 2006 • A new documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated takes aim at the MPAA rating system, and the mysterious workings of the anonymous ratings board. The film has been a hit at film festivals. But it's final rating should be "B" for boring. 'Not Yet Rated' Takes Viewers for a Ride Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5748378/5748379" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Not Yet Rated' Takes Viewers for a Ride Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5748378/5748379" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Arts & Life 'Factotum' a Satisfying Blend of Sensibilities August 18, 2006 • Factotum is a delicate melding of a trio of different sensibilities you wouldn't think would naturally cohere. It gracefully combines the bleak world of the despairing poet and novelist Charles Bukowski with the droll point of view of Norwegian director Bent Hamer. 'Factotum' a Satisfying Blend of Sensibilities Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5669222/5669223" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Factotum' a Satisfying Blend of Sensibilities Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5669222/5669223" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life Stone's Sept. 11 Movie Is Forced and Unconvincing August 9, 2006 • Oliver Stone's movie World Trade Center feels like an attempt to craft a feel-good movie out of a ghastly situation. That makes the film unconvincing. Reviewed by Kenneth Turan. Stone's Sept. 11 Movie Is Forced and Unconvincing Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5629335/5629336" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Stone's Sept. 11 Movie Is Forced and Unconvincing Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5629335/5629336" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Talladega Nights' Might Make You Laugh August 4, 2006 • Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is from the same pit crew that brought us Anchorman. Dutifully, Talladega Nights does for NASCAR what the earlier movie did for journalism. 'Talladega Nights' Might Make You Laugh Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5616638/5616639" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Talladega Nights' Might Make You Laugh Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5616638/5616639" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Miami Vice' Looks Pretty, Acts Tough July 28, 2006 • Michael Mann's movie re-make of his classic 80s TV show Miami Vice is visually stunning. But its poor plot leaves the viewer wanting more. Morning Edition and Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan says its a "B" picture with an "A" picture budget. 'Miami Vice' Looks Pretty, Acts Tough Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5588681/5588682" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Miami Vice' Looks Pretty, Acts Tough Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5588681/5588682" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Review Arts & Life 'Superman Returns' with Strong Action, Weak Story June 27, 2006 • Morning Edition and Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan gives his take on the new Superman movie, Superman Returns. Turan likes the action, but he says the characters and plot are not made of steel. 'Superman Returns' with Strong Action, Weak Story Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5514424/5514425" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
'Superman Returns' with Strong Action, Weak Story Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5514424/5514425" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
