Movie Reviews : NPR

'Mapplethorpe': A Transgressive Artist Gets An Aggressively Dull Biopic

We're Gonna Need A Wider Lens: Matt Smith plays photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in a new biopic. Samuel Goldwyn Films hide caption

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Samuel Goldwyn Films

'Mapplethorpe': A Transgressive Artist Gets An Aggressively Dull Biopic

February 28, 2019 • A bored-seeming Matt Smith plays the famous — and famously provocative — photographer in a plodding film that too-dutifully ticks familiar scenes off the Great Artist Biopic checklist.

When Dancers Trip: Gaspar Noé Stages A Visceral But Vacuous Freakout In 'Climax'

Red Shoes, Brown Acid: Selva (Sofia Boutella) and her troupe have a bad night after their sangria is laced with LSD in Gaspar Noé's Climax. A24 hide caption

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A24

When Dancers Trip: Gaspar Noé Stages A Visceral But Vacuous Freakout In 'Climax'

February 28, 2019 • A French dance troupe drinks sangria spiked with LSD and descends into carnal violence in a film that turns into "just another Noé freakout, familiar in tone and stylistic tics."

Documentary 'Apollo 11' Retells History With Wide Eyes - And A Wider Perspective

The new documentary Apollo 11 features never-before-seen footage of NASA's most-high profile expedition. Neon hide caption

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Neon

Documentary 'Apollo 11' Retells History With Wide Eyes - And A Wider Perspective

February 28, 2019 • Newly restored footage of the historic 1969 moonshot widens the focus to include the hundreds of men and women who made the mission possible.

In 'Transit,' A Man Fleeing Fascists Gets Caught In A Web Of Mistaken Identity

Franz Rogowski plays a man who flees to Marseilles and finds himself stuck there in the film Transit. Music Box Films hide caption

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Music Box Films

In 'Transit,' A Man Fleeing Fascists Gets Caught In A Web Of Mistaken Identity

February 28, 2019 • German director Christian Petzold adapts a 1944 Holocaust novel by setting it in the modern day. The result is a haunting and beguiling narrative of 21st-century displacement.

In 'Greta,' A Magnetic Isabelle Huppert Plays A Deadly Game of Chat-And-Mouse

Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Greta (Isabelle Huppert) spill the tea in Neil Jordan's Greta. Jonathan Hession/Focus Features hide caption

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Jonathan Hession/Focus Features

In 'Greta,' A Magnetic Isabelle Huppert Plays A Deadly Game of Chat-And-Mouse

February 28, 2019 • A young woman (Chloë Grace Moretz) befriends a mysterious older woman (Huppert) in Neil Jordan's weird thriller. As extreme as Greta gets, Huppert "finds careful nuances within the bonkers."

'Transit' Offers An Extraordinary Vision Of Nazi-Occupied France

Fresh Air

February 28, 2019 • A new film by German director Christian Petzold is set in a suspended-in-time version of the present. Critic Justin Chang calls it "a piercingly sad lament for the lost and forgotten souls of Europe."

'Transit' Offers An Extraordinary Vision Of Nazi-Occupied France

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Supernatural Thriller 'The Changeover' Doesn't Change Up Its Genre Cliches

New Zealand, old tropes: Laura (Erana James) and Carmody Braque (Timothy Spall) look vaguely concerned in the thriller The Changeover. Vertical Entertainment hide caption

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Vertical Entertainment

Supernatural Thriller 'The Changeover' Doesn't Change Up Its Genre Cliches

February 21, 2019 • An evocative setting and a chewily fun performance from Timothy Spall as a mysterious and malevolent figure can't keep this New Zealand film from trafficking in tired tropes.

Toothless Flies Into Theaters For 'How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'

February 21, 2019 • Hiccup and Toothless will return to theaters this weekend when the conclusion of the animated How To Train Your Dragon trilogy takes viewers to a hidden world.

Toothless Flies Into Theaters For 'How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'

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Teenage Wasteland: 'Alita: Battle Angel' Doesn't Quite Earn Its Wings

Alita: Battle Angel leaves the Uncanny Valley behind to map the Uncanny Canyon. Eye-yi-yi. Twentieth Century Fox hide caption

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Twentieth Century Fox

Teenage Wasteland: 'Alita: Battle Angel' Doesn't Quite Earn Its Wings

February 14, 2019 • Despite a surfeit of impressive talent behind and before the camera, and solid set-pieces, Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of a popular manga about a deadly teenage-ish robot feels thin, and dated.

More 2019 Short Film Oscar Nominees, Reviewed: Live-Action And Documentary

Jérémy Comte's live-action short film Fauve took home a special jury prize at Sundance. It's nominated now for an Oscar at the 91st Academy Awards. H264 Distribution hide caption

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H264 Distribution

More 2019 Short Film Oscar Nominees, Reviewed: Live-Action And Documentary

February 14, 2019 • Critic Andrew Lapin reviews the 10 short films nominated in the live-action and documentary categories this year, and offers his picks for both what will — and what should -- win.

In A 'Hotel By The River,' Guests Contemplate Love, Death And Art

Ki Joo-bong stars in Hotel By The River, the latest from South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo. The Cinema Guild hide caption

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The Cinema Guild

In A 'Hotel By The River,' Guests Contemplate Love, Death And Art

February 14, 2019 • The latest from South Korean director Hong Sang-soo explores his usual theme of existential regret. The film's complex structure leads its characters to simple, if revealing, insights.

An Indigenous Community Is Drawn Into The Drug Trade In 'Birds Of Passage'

Rapayet (José Acosta) and Zaida (Natalia Reyes) perform a public dance in Birds of Passage. The Orchard hide caption

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The Orchard

An Indigenous Community Is Drawn Into The Drug Trade In 'Birds Of Passage'

Fresh Air

February 14, 2019 • An epic new film by Colombian director Ciro Guerra taps into the family versus business tension captured in great American mob sagas like The Godfather and The Sopranos.

An Indigenous Community Is Drawn Into The Drug Trade In 'Birds Of Passage'

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Movie Review: 'The Gospel Of Eureka' And 'The Lego Movie 2'

February 9, 2019 • Two movies about communities-in-conflict open in theaters this weekend, and though they come to basically the same conclusion, they could hardly be more different.

Movie Review: 'The Gospel Of Eureka' And 'The Lego Movie 2'

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Details Make The Difference In 'Everybody Knows' And 'Cold War'

Penélope Cruz stars as Laura and Javier Bardem as Paco in Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows. Teresa Isasi/Focus Features hide caption

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Teresa Isasi/Focus Features

Details Make The Difference In 'Everybody Knows' And 'Cold War'

Fresh Air

February 8, 2019 • Cold War's richness comes from being steeped in detail. And it demonstrates what Everybody Knows does not: that the road to the universal begins with the specific.

Details Make The Difference In 'Everybody Knows' And 'Cold War'

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The Business Of Sport Takes Center Stage In Soderbergh's 'High Flying Bird'

Melvin Gregg as Erick Scott and André Holland as Ray Burke in High Flying Bird, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Peter Andrews/Netflix hide caption

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Peter Andrews/Netflix

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The Business Of Sport Takes Center Stage In Soderbergh's 'High Flying Bird'

February 8, 2019 • A new Netflix film directed by Steven Soderbergh follows a sports agent who's trying to stay afloat and keep his clients happy during an NBA lockout.