Movie Reviews : NPR

Movies

A 'Miracle' That's Somewhat Less Than Wondrous

September 26, 2008 • Spike Lee's latest highlights the oft-neglected contributions of African-American servicemen in World War II. But an overstuffed screenplay and an uneven tone undercut the effort.

A 'Miracle' That's Somewhat Less Than Wondrous

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/95010037/95106881" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Movies

Spike Lee's Epic Canvas, Painted With Broad Strokes

Fresh Air

September 26, 2008 • Miracle At St. Anna, based on James McBride's novel, follows four soldiers of the all-black 92nd Infantry Division after they're cut off by Axis forces in the Tuscan countryside during World War II.

Spike Lee's Epic Canvas, Painted With Broad Strokes

Listen · 5:36 5:36

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/95086125/95086241" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Movies

'Eagle Eye': Death By A Thousand Cuts

September 25, 2008 • Hyperkinetic jump-cut editing and a clangorous Mission Impossible-style score can't cover up the essential idiocy of D.J. Caruso's paranoid thriller, which seems cobbled together from random elements of far better movies.

Movies

'The Lucky Ones': Suspiciously Serendipitous

September 25, 2008 • Three returning soldiers deal with a massive power outage, a barroom catfight, a visit to a megachurch, a certain amount of silly sex comedy and an entirely implausible plot twist involving a twister.

Movies

LaBute's 'Terrace' Comes With A View (But Whose?)

September 18, 2008 • "What could be safer than living next to a cop?" Almost anything, if the cop is Samuel L. Jackson's Abel Turner. The latest from Neil (Nurse Betty) LaBute has a weird, anxious edge — which helps make up for its plot.

Movies

'Appaloosa': Fun With The Guys, Until A Filly Arrives

September 18, 2008 • With two laconic, unflappable heroes and a nicely psycho villain, Ed Harris' new Western does a lot right. The bit with the pretty young widow, unfortunately, isn't one of them.

'Appaloosa': Fun With The Guys, Until A Filly Arrives

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94753888/94795846" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Movies

In A Crowded 'Ghost Town,' One Spirited Standout

September 18, 2008 • After curmudgeonly dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) almost (but not quite) dies, he finds that he can see the recently departed — and they are really, really annoying.

Movies

For Wang's 'Good Prayers,' A Merely Modest Result

September 18, 2008 • Wayne Wang's low-key father-daughter story succeeds less with the peaks and valleys of its family drama than with the gently amusing immigrants-discovering-America vignettes it offers.

Movies

A 'Battle In Seattle,' Staged With Politics In Mind

September 18, 2008 • Based on events — anti-globalization protests turned violent — that occurred barely a decade ago, Stuart Townsend's directorial debut plays like an update of '30s social melodrama.

Movies

In 'Moving Midway,' A House And Its Home Truths

September 18, 2008 • A New Yorker and his cousins relocate a North Carolina plantation house. In the process, they grapple with the legacy of their common ancestors — those who lived there, and those who worked its land.

Movies

'The Duchess': Free Spirits, Tight Laces And Scandal

September 16, 2008 • Saul Dibb's lavishly pretty historical romance, about an 18th century aristocrat with a penchant for politics and politicians, gets beyond the gilded surfaces to show the constrictions — and the pains they caused.

'The Duchess': Free Spirits, Tight Laces And Scandal

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94662956/94680726" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Movies

For 'The Women,' A Cut-Rate Reno-vation

September 12, 2008 • Despite the best efforts of an able cast (including Meg Ryan and Annette Bening), this loose remake's only virtue is that it allows critics to talk about the stylish, gossipy George Cukor original.

For 'The Women,' A Cut-Rate Reno-vation

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94421361/94572476" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Movies

'Burn' Notice: Losers Losing, And No One Cares

Fresh Air

September 12, 2008 • Joel and Ethan Coen's new black comedy sets its dim-bulb characters careening through a blackmail-and-infidelity plot. The cast is top notch, but the directors seem so little invested, they might as well be on autopilot.

'Burn' Notice: Losers Losing, And No One Cares

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94552936/94558390" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Movies

'Towelhead': An Awakening, With Laughter And Pain

September 11, 2008 • Alan Ball's film follows the dark but shockingly funny story of Jasira, a 13-year-old Arab-American girl, as she navigates the confusing and frightening paths of adolescence and sexual awakening.

Movies

'Burn After Reading' — And Repeat As Necessary

September 11, 2008 • The Coen brothers' latest may be a comedy, but it's a Coen brothers comedy — meaning it's as bleak and hopeless as comedies are allowed to get before the laughter dies bitterly on your lips.

'Burn After Reading' — And Repeat As Necessary

Listen

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94526051/94545586" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript