Accessibility links
Movie Reviews Reviews of new movies, classic and art films, foreign films, and popular movies. Featuring Bob Mondello, Kenneth Turan, David Edelstein, and Mark Jenkins.

Movie Reviews

Movies

'Match Point' Explores New, Thrilling Terrain

Woody Allen leaves both comedy and New York behind for his new movie, Match Point, a thriller set in England. Bob Mondello reviews the new film staring Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Emily Mortimer and Matthew Goode.

'Match Point' Explores New, Thrilling Terrain

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5072696/5072697" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Movies

Exploring Malick's Beautiful 'New World'

Reclusive director Terrence Malick's new movie, The New World, tells the story of Captain John Smith and the beginnings of the English presence in the Americas. Critic Bob Mondello says The New World is in some ways a reflection of Malick's career -- languid in pacing, with beauty in every frame.

Exploring Malick's Beautiful 'New World'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5068193/5068194" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

78th Annual Academy Awards

'Munich': Spielberg's Most Provocative Film Yet

Set after the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Steven Spielberg's film, Munich, follows a secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and kill the 11 Palestinians suspected of having planned the attack. Critic Kenneth Turan says Spielberg's film is about the "murkiest, most divisive of real world issues."

'Munich': Spielberg's Most Provocative Film Yet

Only Available in Archive Formats.

Movies

'White Countess': Fitting Merchant-Ivory Finale

The White Goddess is the last film made by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory before Merchant's death. Set in Shanghai on the eve of World War II, the film stars Ralph Fiennes as a blind, former diplomat and Natasha Richardson as a White Russian refugee.

'White Countess': Fitting Merchant-Ivory Finale

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5065083/5065084" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Arts & Life

'Family Stone': Wake Up and Smell the Dysfunction

If you want to escape the holiday fantasies in theaters for a dose of realistic dysfunction, The Family Stone may be for you. The film, starring Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermont Mulroney, is an offbeat mixture of comic crises and the bite of the real.

'Family Stone': Wake Up and Smell the Dysfunction

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5056524/5056525" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Movies

A Revealing 'Mrs. Henderson Presents'

It's World War II, the Germans are bombing London and the widowed Mrs. Laura Henderson opens The Windmill Theater, a burlesque club. That's the gist of Dame Judi Dench's latest film, the quirky Mrs. Henderson Presents.

A Revealing 'Mrs. Henderson Presents'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5047838/5058726" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Arts & Life

'King Kong': A Beast That's A Beauty

Film critic Bob Mondello reviews director Peter Jackson's version of the classic 1933 movie, King Kong. This full-color, digitally generated Kong nearly doubles the length of the original -- and Mondello says it's worth nearly every minute.

'King Kong': A Beast That's A Beauty

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5053819/5053820" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Movies

'King Kong' Strides Back on Screen

The new film version of King Kong, the story of a lovelorn giant ape taken from his island home, was directed by Peter Jackson. It's the first release for Jackson since his trilogy of Lord of the Ring films.

'King Kong' Strides Back on Screen

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5053207/5053208" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Arts & Life

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Syriana,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'The Chronicles of Narnia'

Slate contributor Mark Jordan Legan reviews what movie critics are saying about this weekend's new film releases: Syriana, Memoirs of a Geisha and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Syriana,' 'Memoirs of a Geisha,' 'The Chronicles of Narnia'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5046446/5046447" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

'Brokeback' Taboos in Big Sky Country

The new film Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee, stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Based on a short story by Annie Proulx, it describes the relationship between two young men in the West in the 1960s.

'Brokeback' Taboos in Big Sky Country

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5046247/5046248" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Arts & Life

'Lion, Witch, Wardrobe' Preserves Book's Tone

The epic film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has some flaws, the reviewer says. But in general, he finds the movie true to the "sincerity" of the C.S. Lewis book.

'Lion, Witch, Wardrobe' Preserves Book's Tone

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5045410/5045411" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Arts & Life

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Aeon Flux,' 'Transamerica,' 'The Kid & I'

Slate contributor Mark Jordan Legan offers a roundup of what movie critics are saying about the weekend's new releases -- Aeon Flux, Transamerica and The Kid and I.

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Aeon Flux,' 'Transamerica,' 'The Kid & I'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5035985/5035986" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Arts & Life

'Syriana' Weaves Stories of Oil and Power

Fresh Air

The new film Syriana is an interwoven tale of terrorism and covert business interests. Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, the movie stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, William Hurt, Amanda Peet and Chris Cooper.

'Syriana' Weaves Stories of Oil and Power

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5035901/5035902" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Movies

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Rent,' 'The Ice Harvest,' 'Yours, Mine & Ours'

Slate contributor Mark Jordan Legan offers a roundup of what movie critics are saying about the weekend's new film releases: Rent, The Ice Harvest and Yours, Mine & Ours.

Slate's Summary Judgment: 'Rent,' 'The Ice Harvest,' 'Yours, Mine & Ours'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5027523/5027524" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript