Movie Reviews : NPR

Movie Review: 'The Second Mother'

August 28, 2015 • The Brazilian movie, The Second Mother, is a film about the unspoken class barriers that exist within a home that come crashing down when the live-in housekeeper's daughter suddenly appears.

Movie Review: 'The Second Mother'

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Regina Casé as Val in The Second Mother. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories hide caption

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Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories

A 'Second Mother,' Trapped In Service

August 27, 2015 • Brazilian filmmaker Anna Muylaert's comedy suggests that to look at a society's political health, you look at the way the help is treated — like the housekeeper at the story's center.

'We Are Your Friends' Gets A Blissful Beat, Sometimes

Zac Efron as Cole in We Are Your Friends. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment hide caption

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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

'We Are Your Friends' Gets A Blissful Beat, Sometimes

August 27, 2015 • Zac Efron is little more than a good-looking void in this story of dance music in the San Fernando Valley, but the film is intermittently engaging as a medley of themes and genres.

From One Low Moment, 'Queen Of Earth' Follows A Swirl Of Pain

Elisabeth Moss as Catherine in Alex Ross Perry's Queen of the Earth. Sean Price Williams/Courtesy of IFC Films hide caption

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Sean Price Williams/Courtesy of IFC Films

From One Low Moment, 'Queen Of Earth' Follows A Swirl Of Pain

August 27, 2015 • The latest from director Alex Ross Perry stars Elisabeth Moss in the story of a woman who spends a very hard week in a very isolated place.

Climbing Documentary 'Meru' Is A Hair-Raising 'Peak Experience'

A climber takes on Meru Peak in Garwhal, India. Jimmy Chin/Music Box Films hide caption

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Jimmy Chin/Music Box Films

Climbing Documentary 'Meru' Is A Hair-Raising 'Peak Experience'

Fresh Air

August 21, 2015 • A new documentary charts the attempts of a trio of American climbers to be the first to scale Meru Peak, a 21,000-foot Himalayan peak. Critic David Edelstein says Meru is "cunning" — and terrifying.

Climbing Documentary 'Meru' Is A Hair-Raising 'Peak Experience'

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Straight Outta Compton' And Too Much TV

MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) form N.W.A in Straight Outta Compton. Jaimie Trueblood/Courtesy of Universal Pictures hide caption

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Jaimie Trueblood/Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Straight Outta Compton' And Too Much TV

August 21, 2015 • Audie Cornish and Gene Demby join the show to discuss a new N.W.A biopic and the idea that there are more TV shows than the public could ever watch. Plus, What's Making Us Happy this week.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Straight Outta Compton' And Too Much TV

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'She's Funny That Way': Old-School Comedy With An Old-School Premise

Owen Wilson and Isabella Imogen Poots in She's Funny That Way. Courtesy of Lions Gate Films hide caption

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Courtesy of Lions Gate Films

'She's Funny That Way': Old-School Comedy With An Old-School Premise

August 20, 2015 • The new film from director Peter Bogdanovich returns to familiar patterns about young women and older men, but it breathes some life into even its apparent cliches.

A Stoner Film Goes Up In Smoke In 'American Ultra'

Mike (Jesse Eisenberg) and Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) are a pair of potheads in American Ultra. Alan Markfield/Courtesy of Lions Gate Films hide caption

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Alan Markfield/Courtesy of Lions Gate Films

A Stoner Film Goes Up In Smoke In 'American Ultra'

August 20, 2015 • The action comedy almost makes it through on the easy chemistry of Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, but it loses its way in a series of pointless, unmotivated shootouts.

'Learning To Drive' On Well-Traveled Roads

Darwan (Ben Kingsley) and Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) in Learning to Drive. Linda Kallerus/Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures hide caption

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Linda Kallerus/Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

'Learning To Drive' On Well-Traveled Roads

August 20, 2015 • A charming performance from Patricia Clarkson can't overcome the conventional notes of a story about a privileged woman and a struggling immigrant.

Documentary Revisits The 'Dazzling' Polemics Of The Buckley-Vidal Debates

William F. Buckley (left) and Gore Vidal square off on Nov. 5, 1968. ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images hide caption

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ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images

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Documentary Revisits The 'Dazzling' Polemics Of The Buckley-Vidal Debates

Fresh Air

August 18, 2015 • Best of Enemies chronicles the 1968 debates between conservative editor William F. Buckley and liberal novelist Gore Vidal. Critic John Powers weighs in on the legacy of their verbal crossfire.

Documentary Revisits The 'Dazzling' Polemics Of The Buckley-Vidal Debates

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Discovering Movies, And How Visions Are Seldom All They Seem

A first movie, like Disney's Sleeping Beauty, can have a big impact on little kids. It might even turn them into movie reviewers one day. Courtesy of The Kobal Collection hide caption

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Courtesy of The Kobal Collection

Movies

Discovering Movies, And How Visions Are Seldom All They Seem

August 14, 2015 • NPR film critic Bob Mondello remembers the first movie he ever saw in a theater — Sleeping Beauty — and what it meant to him.

Discovering Movies, And How Visions Are Seldom All They Seem

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In 'Straight Outta Compton,' Hip-Hop Legends Get The Biopic Treatment

MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), DJ Yella (Neil Brown, Jr.), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) and Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) form the NWA hip hop group in Straight Outta Compton. Jaimie Trueblood/Courtesy of Universal Pictures hide caption

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Jaimie Trueblood/Courtesy of Universal Pictures

In 'Straight Outta Compton,' Hip-Hop Legends Get The Biopic Treatment

August 13, 2015 • N.W.A's hard-won battle for mainstream success is illustrated in a film produced by Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.

A Funny And Sexy Adaptation Of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander,) Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer,) and Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) in a scene from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Daniel Smith/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Daniel Smith/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

A Funny And Sexy Adaptation Of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

August 13, 2015 • Guy Ritchie's reworking of the 60's television show is a winning, action-packed summer blockbuster.

Generation Y Satire Meets Screwball Comedy In 'Mistress America'

Brooke (Greta Gerwig) takes Tracy (Lola Kirke) under her wing in Mistress America. Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures

Generation Y Satire Meets Screwball Comedy In 'Mistress America'

August 13, 2015 • The latest film from Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig is a jumbled tale of a college student and her future stepsister.

On Screen, 'Diary Of A Teenage Girl' Packs The Punch Of A Good Graphic Novel

Fresh Air

August 13, 2015 • The new film directed by Marielle Heller is a sexual coming-of-age story about a 15- year-old girl who loses her virginity to her mother's boyfriend. Critic David Edelstein has a review.

On Screen, 'Diary Of A Teenage Girl' Packs The Punch Of A Good Graphic Novel

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