Arts & Life 'The Nines' August 31, 2007 • A tricky, head-trippy mystery, John August's three-part cinematic thingamawhatzit seems to have been conceived as a film for puzzle addicts.
Arts & Life 'Balls of Fury' August 30, 2007 • "Martial Arts Ping Pong" probably sounded hilarious when pitched, and there are just enough laughs in the picture to fill a modestly amusing 30-second TV spot. But the thinness of the material becomes oppressive before the film is five minutes old.
Arts & Life 'The Hottest State' August 24, 2007 • The Hottest State sounds like the ultimate vanity project — it's based on director Ethan Hawke's semi-autobiographical novel — but the film turns out to be an affecting story of a young man's first love.
Movies Ethan Hawke's 'Hottest State' Is No Vanity Project August 24, 2007 • Ethan Hawke's film, based on his own semi- autobiographical novel, centers on a young actor and a beautiful singer; when they break up, he flees to his Texas homeland. Ethan Hawke's 'Hottest State' Is No Vanity Project Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/13935706/13935624" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life 'Mr. Bean's Holiday' August 24, 2007 • Rowan Atkinson says this is your last chance to catch Mr. Bean, and you should; a couple of Buster Keaton-ish bits, including an improvised and improbable staircase that gets Bean to the beach in France, are pretty inspired.
Arts & Life 'Resurrecting the Champ' August 24, 2007 • Rod Lurie's back-from-adversity movie centers on fathers and sons, losers and winners. Samuel L. Jackson is a broken-down former prizefighter, Josh Hartnett the sportswriter who finds him homeless and senses a scoop.
Arts & Life 'September Dawn' August 24, 2007 • Jon Voight stars in a handsome but ham-fisted melodrama about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Sept. 11, 1857 slaughter of California-bound pioneers by a group of Mormons. Based on an actual event, but fictionalized.
Arts & Life In 'Deep Water,' a Sailor Who's Lost His Bearings August 24, 2007 • British documentary is disturbing, unnerving and wire-to-wire involving — the story of a dream that got so wildly out of hand that it ensnared the dreamer in an intricate trap of his own creation. In 'Deep Water,' a Sailor Who's Lost His Bearings Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/13906599/13920410" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life 'The Nanny Diaries,' a Fairly Dull Read Fresh Air August 24, 2007 • Fresh Air's film critic doesn't much like the new film, based on the best-selling novel of the same name. It stars Laura Linney and Scarlet Johanssen. 'The Nanny Diaries,' a Fairly Dull Read Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/13924180/13924165" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Arts & Life 'Superbad' August 17, 2007 • The director of The 40-Year-Old Virgin here allows his favorite freaks and geeks to explore the mindset of the 18-year-old virgin. Knocked Up star Seth Rogen and his writer buddy Evan Goldberg reportedly started working on this script when they were 13, which doubtless explains the many penis jokes.
Arts & Life Two Fine Comedies, Not the Least Alike in Dignity August 17, 2007 • Sweetly smutty Superbad is all about raunch; Brit-farce Death at a Funeral is all about stiff-upper-lip reserve. Both push the envelope, and even the English one has little to do with propriety. Two Fine Comedies, Not the Least Alike in Dignity Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12884594/12887038" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life 'Death at a Funeral' August 17, 2007 • A father's death brings a family together — physically, at least — in a brightly funereal farce that mixes last rites with comic wrongs. Director Frank Oz fills the screen with Muppetlike faces and stages comic catastrophes with Monty Pythonish excess.
'Stardust' August 17, 2007 • Based on Neil Gaiman's fantastical graphic-novel romance, Matthew Vaughn's film offers up a sprite-filled kingdom, a pair of literally star-crossed lovers, and a witch whose every spell causes her to age. Also Robert De Niro, as the occasionally cross-dressing Captain Shakespeare.
Arts & Life 'Superbad': Adolescent Id, Awash in Hormones August 17, 2007 • Sex talk, alcohol and the Jungian uberdork: The latest squirmy movie from Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen may just be the most provocative teen sex-comedy ever made. 'Superbad': Adolescent Id, Awash in Hormones Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12879331/12879336" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Arts & Life Another Century, Another Space 'Invasion' August 17, 2007 • The Body Snatchers remake, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, proves the pulp classic is still startlingly in tune with the U.S. zeitgeist. Another Century, Another Space 'Invasion' Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12853009/12853434" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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