Movie Reviews : NPR

'Blade Runner 2049': Even Sharper Than The Original

Your Basic Pleasure Model: Ryan Gosling plays K in Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. Stephen Vaughan/Warner Brothers hide caption

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Stephen Vaughan/Warner Brothers

'Blade Runner 2049': Even Sharper Than The Original

September 29, 2017 • Critic Chris Klimek says this "inspired, expansive" sequel is "an astonishing achievement" that features Harrison Ford's most deeply felt performance in years.

'Blade Runner 2049': Even Sharper Than The Original

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In 'Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House,' Deep Throat Isn't So Deep

A Very Particular Set of Skills: Liam Neeson is Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House Bob Mahoney/Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Bob Mahoney/Sony Pictures Classics

In 'Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House,' Deep Throat Isn't So Deep

September 28, 2017 • Peter Landesman's film, based on Felt's book, features a stolid but unenlightening performance from Liam Neeson as the FBI official who secretly fed information to reporters.

In 'Super Dark Times,' An Act of Violence Imperils A Friendship

Teen, Idle: Owen Campbell stars as Zach in Super Dark Times. The Orchard hide caption

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The Orchard

In 'Super Dark Times,' An Act of Violence Imperils A Friendship

September 28, 2017 • First-time director Kevin Phillips displays a remarkable gift for evoking a time and place, but loses control when this tale of a teenage friendship shifts from character study to grisly thriller.

'Lucky': Harry Dean Stanton Gets A Quiet, Ruminative Sendoff

The late Harry Dean Stanton brings a raw-boned grace to Lucky. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

'Lucky': Harry Dean Stanton Gets A Quiet, Ruminative Sendoff

September 28, 2017 • Effectively a loving cinematic eulogy to its late star, Luckyworks best when it allows Stanton to express his character's "wistfulness, his bewilderment at the mere fact that he's alive," says critic Andrew Lapin.

Take Me To The Pilot: 'American Made' Soars

I'd Like to Fly the World Some Coke: In American Made, Tom Cruise plays Barry Seal, a drug- running pilot in the 1980s. David James/Universal Studios hide caption

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David James/Universal Studios

Take Me To The Pilot: 'American Made' Soars

September 28, 2017 • Doug Liman's "cheerfully blistering yarn" about a pilot who flew guns and drugs for the CIA makes the most of Tom Cruise's gifts as a leading man, and Liman's directorial fondness for low-level chaos.

Farcical And Madcap, 'American Made' Stars Tom Cruise At His Best

Fresh Air

September 28, 2017 • Cruise plays a drug-smuggling pilot working for the DEA, CIA and Medellin Cartel in his new film, a dark comedy set in the '80s. Critic David Edelstein calls American Made "breathlessly entertaining."

Farcical And Madcap, 'American Made' Stars Tom Cruise At His Best

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: What's In Theaters Now

Justin Theroux voices Garmadon in The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Pop Culture Happy Hour: What's In Theaters Now

September 27, 2017 • This week, the panel catches up with Lego Ninjago and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and then tries to figure out how to feel about Darren Aronofsky's mother! (Not about Darren Aronofsky's mother.)

Pop Culture Happy Hour: What's In Theaters Now

23:07

'Loving Vincent' Paints Van Gogh Into A Murder Mystery

Robert Gulaczyk as a Vincent van Gough self portrait in Loving Vincent Courtesy of Breakthru Films hide caption

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Courtesy of Breakthru Films

'Loving Vincent' Paints Van Gogh Into A Murder Mystery

September 26, 2017 • Loving Vincent is a murder mystery animated a unique way — with 65,000 oil paintings in the` style of Vincent Van Gogh.

'Loving Vincent' Paints Van Gogh Into A Murder Mystery

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Movies We Missed: 'Titanic'

September 23, 2017 • Weekend Edition Oliver Dearden had never seen Titanic. In our latest installment of Movies You Missed, he watched it and reviews it for NPR's Scott Simon.

Movies We Missed: 'Titanic'

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'Battle Of The Sexes' Poised To Be A Crowd-Pleaser All Over Again

September 22, 2017 • Battle of the Sexes tells the story of the 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. The event drew an enormous audience and NPR's Bob Mondello says the movie could too.

'Battle Of The Sexes' Poised To Be A Crowd-Pleaser All Over Again

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'Battle Of The Sexes' Revisits Billie Jean King's Historic Win Against Bobby Riggs

Fresh Air

September 22, 2017 • Emma Stone stars as King in a breezy new film that carries us back to '73, and the heyday of the women's lib movement. Critic John Powers says the message of Battle of the Sexes still resonates today.

'Battle Of The Sexes' Revisits Billie Jean King's Historic Win Against Bobby Riggs

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'Kingsman' Sequel: This Time, A Flat 'Golden Circle'

Taron Egerton stars in Kingsman: The Golden Circle as Eggsy. Giles Keyte/20th Century Fox hide caption

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Giles Keyte/20th Century Fox

'Kingsman' Sequel: This Time, A Flat 'Golden Circle'

September 22, 2017 • The new chapter in the spy franchise ramps up the first film's caustic, violent cynicism but leans even harder into the artifice; a reliance on soundstages and CGI dampens the excitement and energy.

NPR's Movie Preview: 16 New Films To Watch This Fall

(From left) Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name; Jason Mitchell in Mudbound; Emma Stone in Battle of the Sexes; and Idris Elba in Molly's Game. 61st BFI London Film Festival/ Steve Dietl, 61st BFI London Film Festival/ Melinda Sue Gordon, 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/ Courtesy of TIFF hide caption

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61st BFI London Film Festival/ Steve Dietl, 61st BFI London Film Festival/ Melinda Sue Gordon, 2016 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/ Courtesy of TIFF

Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR's Movie Preview: 16 New Films To Watch This Fall

September 22, 2017 • As summer gives way to fall, blockbusters give way to award contenders. Here are some of the best, buzziest and otherwise noteworthy films coming to theaters.

NPR's Movie Preview: 16 New Films To Watch This Fall

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'Victoria And Abdul': Part Satire, Part Love Story, All Charming

Amusing, But Not Amused: Judi Dench stars as the Queen of England and the Empress of India in Victoria and Abdul. Peter Mountain/Focus Features hide caption

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Peter Mountain/Focus Features

'Victoria And Abdul': Part Satire, Part Love Story, All Charming

September 21, 2017 • Judi Dench returns to the role of Queen Victoria — this time in her dotage — for Stephen Frears' film about the monarch's eyebrow-raising friendship with a young Indian man (Ali Fazal).

Plastic Less-Than-Fantastic: 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie'

If It's Not Brick, Don't Fix It: Lloyd, voiced by Dave Franco, and his father Garmadon, voiced by Justin Theroux, in The LEGO Ninjago Movie. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Plastic Less-Than-Fantastic: 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie'

September 21, 2017 • LEGO films have become their own genre, and despite stellar voice work from Justin Theroux as the evil Lord Garmadon, the genre is — surprisingly — already showing its age.