Movie Reviews : NPR

Film Portrays A 'Perfect Storm' That Led To Unwanted Sterilizations For Many Latinas

Carolina "Maria" Hurtado in the now abandoned maternity ward of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she was sterilized four decades ago. Renee Tajima-Peña hide caption

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Renee Tajima-Peña

Code Switch

Film Portrays A 'Perfect Storm' That Led To Unwanted Sterilizations For Many Latinas

January 31, 2016 • About 40 years ago, Consuelo Hermosillo went to the hospital for an emergency cesarean section. Against her will, she left unable to have more children. No Más Bebés airs tonight on PBS.

Film Portrays A 'Perfect Storm' That Led To Unwanted Sterilizations For Many Latinas

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Young African-American Muslims Share A Hidden Love In 'Naz & Maalik'

Gay teens Maalik (Curtiss Cook, Jr.) and Naz (Kerwin Johnson, Jr.) face rejection by their family and community, as well as suspicion from authorities, in Naz & Maalik. Wolfe Video hide caption

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Wolfe Video

Young African-American Muslims Share A Hidden Love In 'Naz & Maalik'

Fresh Air

January 29, 2016 • Jay Dockendorf's new film presents a day in the life of two gay African-American teens, who also happen to be devout Muslims. Critic David Edelstein calls Naz & Maalik "excitingly fresh."

Young African-American Muslims Share A Hidden Love In 'Naz & Maalik'

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Biopic About Nat Turner Is A Success At Sundance Film Festival

January 27, 2016 • The Birth of a Nation, directed, written, produced and starring Nate Parker, received an overwhelming response at the premiere. Renee Montagne talks to Justin Chang, chief film critic for Variety.

Biopic About Nat Turner Is A Success At Sundance Film Festival

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Sundance Favorites: 'Manchester By The Sea' And 'Eagle Huntress'

January 26, 2016 • Steve Inskeep talks to film critic Kenneth Turan about some of the movies we should watch for coming out of this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Sundance Favorites: 'Manchester By The Sea' And 'Eagle Huntress'

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The Disappointment Invades In 'The 5th Wave'

Chloë Grace Moretz and Nick Robinson star in Columbia Pictures' "The 5th Wave." Chuck Zlotnick/Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Chuck Zlotnick/Columbia Pictures

The Disappointment Invades In 'The 5th Wave'

January 21, 2016 • Chloe Grace Moretz stars in this possible franchise-starter about a teenage girl pitted against an invading alien horde. You know, the usual.

'Aferim!' May Be Romania's 'Hateful Eight'

Cuzin Toma (Carfin), Mihai Comānoiu (Ionitā) and Teodor Corban (Costandin) of Aferim! Mihai Chitu/Big World Pictures hide caption

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Mihai Chitu/Big World Pictures

'Aferim!' May Be Romania's 'Hateful Eight'

January 21, 2016 • Critic Mark Jenkins finds parallels between Quentin Tarantino's snowbound revisionist Western and this story of a constable and his son in search of an escaped slave.

'Mojave': At Least The Desert Is Good-Looking

Oscar Isaac plays a drifter named Jack in the new film Mojave. A24 hide caption

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A24

'Mojave': At Least The Desert Is Good-Looking

January 21, 2016 • Mojave wastes a hirsute Oscar Isaac and a nice twangy guitar on an insufferable neo-noir about a Hollywood director followed a little too closely by a stranger.

'Synchronicity': Sci-Fi That Smells Like More Than It Is

Strange science is afoot in Synchronicity. Magnet Releasing hide caption

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Magnet Releasing

'Synchronicity': Sci-Fi That Smells Like More Than It Is

January 21, 2016 • It wants to be a Blade Runner-inflected noir, but Synchronicity does nothing with its femme fatale and is disappointingly repetitive of other, better films.

Superlatives Notwithstanding, Even 'The Force' Has Its Limits

Gone with the Wind has sold more than 200 million tickets — most of them back when there were far fewer people on the planet. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Superlatives Notwithstanding, Even 'The Force' Has Its Limits

January 18, 2016 • NPR film critic Bob Mondello has been listening to the Star Wars hype train. Here's why he isn't climbing aboard.

Superlatives Notwithstanding, Even 'The Force' Has Its Limits

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'The Hateful Eight' And Theatrical Experiences

Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hateful Eight. The Weinstein Company hide caption

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The Weinstein Company

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'The Hateful Eight' And Theatrical Experiences

January 15, 2016 • This week's show is all about Tarantino's latest, how to sit at the movies, digital and film, and what's making us happy this week.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'The Hateful Eight' And Theatrical Experiences

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Movie Review: '13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi'

January 15, 2016 • David Greene talks to Justin Chang, chief film critic for Variety, about 13 Hours — the new movie about the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Movie Review: '13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi'

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Faking The Fake Moon Landing Brings Surprisingly Few Laughs

Ron Perlman and Rupert Grint in a scene from Moonwalkers. Courtesy of Alchemy hide caption

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Courtesy of Alchemy

Faking The Fake Moon Landing Brings Surprisingly Few Laughs

January 14, 2016 • The dopey comedy Moonwalkers wastes a potentially amusing premise imagining that a legend about Stanley Kubrick faking the moon landing was true — sort of.

'The Benefactor' Finds A Wealthy Man Emotionally Broke

Richard Gere in a scene from The Benefator. Courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films hide caption

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Courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films

'The Benefactor' Finds A Wealthy Man Emotionally Broke

January 14, 2016 • Writer-director Andrew Renzi uses the skills of Richard Gere to deftly draw a man whose wealth doesn't fully explain his inability to function with other people.

Paris And A Perilous Marriage 'In The Shadow Of Women'

Stanislas Merhar and Clotilde Courau in a scene from In the Shadow of Women. Courtesy of Distrib Films hide caption

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Courtesy of Distrib Films

Paris And A Perilous Marriage 'In The Shadow Of Women'

January 14, 2016 • Director Phillipe Garrel may seem to be making one of those French films that slowly ponders daily life, but in fact, he's packing the undoing of a marriage into 70 minutes.

'13 Hours' Finds Fodder For Action, But Not Thought, In Recent History

John Krasinski plays Jack Silva in a scene from 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Christian Black/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Christian Black/Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

'13 Hours' Finds Fodder For Action, But Not Thought, In Recent History

January 14, 2016 • Director Michael Bay makes no effort to put history in context in dramatizing the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi; he treats it as a setting for rah-rah action.