Movies 'Year Of The Fish': A Cinderella Story, In Chinatown August 29, 2008 • A pretty, plucky heroine, a wicked massage-parlor proprietress, and a handsome-prince figure more perceptive than most — this modern fairy tale stays breezy, brisk and down to Earth.
Movies 'Trouble The Water' Captures Katrina On Camcorder Fresh Air August 29, 2008 • As New Orleans' levees buckled, Kimberly Rivers Roberts turned her video camera on marooned friends, relatives and neighbors. Roberts' footage has been adapted into a powerful documentary that is as much about America as it is about the deadly storm. 'Trouble The Water' Captures Katrina On Camcorder Listen · 5:02 5:02 Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94100777/94105887" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Movies 'Hamlet 2': Something Deliriously Rotten August 22, 2008 • Steve Coogan stars as an Arizona drama teacher inspired to save his failing theater program — with a musicalized sequel to the best-known drama in the English language. The results? Tragically funny. 'Hamlet 2': Something Deliriously Rotten Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93525052/93866199" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Movies 'I Served The King': Smooth Operator, With Issues August 22, 2008 • Audacious Czech dramedy feels a bit like an Eastern European Forrest Gump — though its protagonist isn't quite so innocent, and the tumultuous times he lives through are markedly harsher. (Recommended)
Movies 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona': Woody Allen, Uninspired August 14, 2008 • Though Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz almost redeem the film, the director's latest is almost as flat as its title. Critic Kenneth Turan is left wondering: Can't we just have the old Woody back? 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona': Woody Allen, Uninspired Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93523963/93619359" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Movies 'Henry Poole,' Learning To Love His Neighbors August 14, 2008 • The Luke Wilson vehicle is a parable of averted martyrdom that turns on a Roman Catholic notion of the miraculous — though its fundamental message is closer to a Hallmark card than to the New Testament.
Movies 'Girl Cut in Two': An Old Scandal, Stylishly Redressed August 14, 2008 • There are ominous goings-on, yes — a murder, even — but mostly what gets slashed in Claude Chabrol's wittily accomplished new black comedy are bourgeois facades and upright reputations.
Movies 'Tropic Thunder': A Category 2 Comedy Disaster August 12, 2008 • A Hollywood parody of the Scary Movie variety, Tropic Thunder becomes the butt of its own joke. Bombastic actors satirically play bombastic actors — without much effect, says critic Cynthia Fuchs. Ooh, how meta.
Arts & Life French Thriller 'Tell No One' Gains Momentum In U.S. August 12, 2008 • Tell No One is a French thriller that was a hit in Europe, but it had a hard time finding distribution in the United States. Now it's been out for some weeks, and its audience is growing through strong word-of-mouth. French Thriller 'Tell No One' Gains Momentum In U.S. Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93522536/93522508" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
French Thriller 'Tell No One' Gains Momentum In U.S. Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93522536/93522508" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Movies A Too-Tasteful 'Elegy,' Feeling Mildly Lamentable August 8, 2008 • Isabel Coixet's film follows a refined formula — acclaimed actors, source material by Philip Roth, a classy soundtrack. But the gentility of tone masks, when it might contrast, a brute of a protagonist.
Movies What's In A Name? In 'Hell Ride,' A Really Awful Lot August 7, 2008 • A B-movie of a B-movie, Hell Ride was intended to pay homage to bikesploitation flicks of yore. Critic Nathan Lee calls it a "witless sleazefest, violently tedious and aggressively irrelevant."
Movies A 'Frozen River,' Treacherous And Deep August 5, 2008 • With its bleak landscape and bleaker plot, Courtney Hunt's directorial debut — a Sundance festival favorite — provides a moving portrait of two women's desperation in a Canadian border town. A 'Frozen River,' Treacherous And Deep Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93280688/93293349" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Movies 'Mummy' 3: Enter The Dragon Emperor August 1, 2008 • The latest Mummy-franchise flick moves from the Nile Delta to the Yellow River Basin. If it makes a hash of history, it's an engaging homage to Chinese movies that earlier plundered the Qin emperor's grave.
Movies 'Pineapple Express': Sweetly, Stylishly Dopey August 1, 2008 • The Judd Apatow comedy team has turned every stoner's worst nightmare — our ganja-connoisseur heroes must flee a corrupt cop and a ruthless druglord — into a surprisingly artful comedy.
Movies In Chilly 'Transsiberian,' An Endlessly Twisty Ride July 31, 2008 • In a summer of forward-looking superhero films and sci-fi flicks, Transsiberian revives the Russian crime drama. This cool thriller offers it all: seedy mobsters, stunning snowscapes and even a suitcase full of babushka dolls.