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David Edelstein David Edelstein is a film critic for New York magazine and for NPR's Fresh Air, and an occasional commentator on film for CBS Sunday Morning.
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David Edelstein

Movie Interviews

'Taking Woodstock': Bystanders At The Revolution

Fresh Air

Ang Lee's film focuses not on the 1969 music festival itself, but on one of the people whose lives were changed by it: Elliot Teichberg, a closeted gay man who offered up his parents' decrepit motel as a home base for the festival's producers. David Edelstein reviews.

'Taking Woodstock': Bystanders At The Revolution

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Tarantino's Rollicking, Rocky Rewrite Of WWII

Brad Pitt puffs out his jaw to play Aldo Raine, a part-Apache Southerner in Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglourious Basterds. Francois Duhamel/TWC hide caption

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Francois Duhamel/TWC

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Tarantino's Rollicking, Rocky Rewrite Of WWII

Fresh Air

Set in German-occupied France, Quentin Tarantino's World War II revenge fantasia Inglourious Basterds is an ungainly pastiche — that also manages to feel organic. David Edelstein has a review.

Tarantino's Rollicking, Rocky Rewrite Of WWII

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A World In Crisis, And Only Love Can Save The Day

Ponyo (left) and Sosuke learn the power of true love — and of what lies under the sea — in Hayao Miyazaki's enchanting animated fable Ponyo. Nibariki-GNDHDDT hide caption

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A World In Crisis, And Only Love Can Save The Day

Fresh Air

Straightforward and kid-friendly, Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo isn't the animation master's most complicated film. But in some ways, the film's simplicity offers a clearer look at the director's greatness.

A World In Crisis, And Only Love Can Save The Day

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'Julie And Julia': Take Two Foodies, Stir On Screen

Review

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'Julie And Julia': Take Two Foodies, Stir On Screen

Fresh Air

Though Meryl Streep shines in Julie & Julia, film critic David Edelstein says Nora Ephron strains to blend the lives of the two women is her new film.

'Julie And Julia': Take Two Foodies, Stir On Screen

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'The Cove': A Stirring Crusade Against A Grim Trade

Diver Mandy-Rae Cruikshank is part of an Ocean's Eleven-style team assembled to gather evidence of dolphin abuse in Japan. Oceanic Preservation Society hide caption

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Oceanic Preservation Society

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'The Cove': A Stirring Crusade Against A Grim Trade

Louie Psihoyos' new film graphically — and movingly — documents the sale and slaughter of dolphins captured by Japanese fishermen. David Edelstein says the movie could be a game-changer for the industry.

'The Cove': A Stirring Crusade Against A Grim Trade

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Hardcore Turns Hilariously Awkward In 'Humpday'

Fresh Air

Seattle director Lynn Shelton's fabulously squirmy film Humpday centers on two seemingly straight men who decide to have sex with each other as part of an amateur porn video competition.

Hardcore Turns Hilariously Awkward In 'Humpday'

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Dolce & Guevara: 'Bruno's Guerrilla-Comic Assault

Fresh Air

Sacha Baron Cohen's latest jaunt — as a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista — is funnier and riskier than Borat. Sure, he's a cheap-shot artist, but he's one who's often got a righteous point.

Dolce & Guevara: 'Bruno's Guerrilla-Comic Assault

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'Public Enemies': Michael Mann's Mobster Waxworks

Fresh Air

This lush, good-looking crime flick doesn't really have a theme, and it never quite sparks to life. But it's got lots of incidental pleasures — Johnny Depp's spirited performance chief among them.

'Public Enemies': Michael Mann's Mobster Waxworks

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'Hurt Locker': American Bomb Squad In Baghdad

Fresh Air

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow knows how to get under your skin and control your responses — as she does in her latest feature, the Baghdad-set war movie The Hurt Locker. David Edelstein has a review.

'Hurt Locker': American Bomb Squad In Baghdad

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For Health Or Profit, But Not Necessarily For Both

Fresh Air

Filmmaker Robert Kenner explores the underbelly of America's food industry — and the health consequences of its food-supply stranglehold — in his documentary Food, Inc.

For Health Or Profit, But Not Necessarily For Both

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Another Hollywood Remake Derails In 'Pelham'

Fresh Air

Film critic David Edelstein reviews The Taking of Pelham 123, a remake of the 1974 subway-hostage thriller starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta, and Luis Guzman.

Another Hollywood Remake Derails In 'Pelham'

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A Weekend Spent 'Up' In The Sky Or Down In 'Hell'

Fresh Air

It's a double feature from critic David Edelstein, who says Pixar's sublime new film Up reaches heavenward, while Sam Raimi's deliciously gory Drag Me to Hell crawls in the opposite direction.

A Weekend Spent 'Up' In The Sky Or Down In 'Hell'

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'Terminator Salvation': Resistance Is Futile

Fresh Air

He's not referred to as a Terminator anymore, but back in 1984, a sci-fi thriller made a star out of a cyborg assassin from the future. Film critic David Edelstein reviews the franchise's fourth film.

'Terminator Salvation': Resistance Is Futile

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In 'Summer Hours,' A Handsome View Of The Tomb

Fresh Air

Masterpieces make their own rules — and David Edelstein says it's hard to think of a work comparable to Olivier Assayas's hauntingly beautiful film, about cultural tides and the people carried on them.

In 'Summer Hours,' A Handsome View Of The Tomb

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The 'Star Trek' Franchise Moves Forward

The first generation of Star Trek actors is old or gone, so Paramount, eager to relaunch their franchise, tapped director J.J. Abrams for a new incarnation. David Edelstein reviews the film.

The 'Star Trek' Franchise Moves Forward

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