Movie Reviews : NPR

A Single Act Of Violence Inspires Outrage And Anger In 'Monsters And Men'

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September 28, 2018 • Reinaldo Marcus Green's haunting new film tells the story of three Brooklyn men whose lives are impacted by the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in their neighborhood.

A Single Act Of Violence Inspires Outrage And Anger In 'Monsters And Men'

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'Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.' Documents A Complex Life In Pop Atop An Unrelenting World

The life of Matangi Arulpragasam, best known as M.I.A., is examined in the new documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. Here, she performs in Denmark in 2011. PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

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PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

Music Features

'Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.' Documents A Complex Life In Pop Atop An Unrelenting World

September 28, 2018 • In the new documentary Matangi / Maya / M.I.A., director Steve Loveridge examines the development, rise and oppositional success of the iconoclastic pop star — who was always something else entirely.

3 Ways Of Looking At A Police Shooting In The Powerful 'Monsters And Men'

Through The Looking-Glass: Manny (Anthony Ramos) and Dennis (John David Washington) in Monsters and Men. Christina Zisa/NEON hide caption

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Christina Zisa/NEON

3 Ways Of Looking At A Police Shooting In The Powerful 'Monsters And Men'

September 27, 2018 • Reinaldo Marcus Green's exquisite drama examines, from three perspectives, the aftermath of the slaying of an unarmed black man; the film offers "neither unalloyed despair nor implausible hope."

A Stand-Up Comic Stands Up To Her Troubled Past In The Blistering 'All About Nina'

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays a stand-up comic in a film that's all about her life, and her act (and Common), in All About Nina. Thomas Scott Stanton/The Orchard hide caption

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Thomas Scott Stanton/The Orchard

A Stand-Up Comic Stands Up To Her Troubled Past In The Blistering 'All About Nina'

September 27, 2018 • Mary Elizabeth Winstead's bracingly mercurial performance drives this film about a New York stand-up who moves to Los Angeles for her career — and to sort out her private life.

'The Old Man & The Gun': Redford's (Possible) Swan Song Makes For Easy Listening

"I played Jeremiah Johnson like this!": Robert Redford stars as Forrest Tucker in The Old Man & the Gun. Eric Zachanowich/Fox Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Eric Zachanowich/Fox Searchlight Pictures

'The Old Man & The Gun': Redford's (Possible) Swan Song Makes For Easy Listening

September 27, 2018 • In what may be his final screen performance, Robert Redford amiably cakewalks through David Lowery's old-school, old-fashioned cops-and-robbers yarn.

The Tough Wild West — Now With Feelings — In 'The Sisters Brothers'

Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) and Eli (John C. Reilly) Sisters are a brotherly pair of assassins-for-hire in Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers. Magali Bragard/Annapurna Pictures hide caption

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Magali Bragard/Annapurna Pictures

The Tough Wild West — Now With Feelings — In 'The Sisters Brothers'

Fresh Air

September 21, 2018 • Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly play a brotherly pair of assassins-for-hire in Jacques Audiard's latest film. Critic Justin Chang calls The Sisters Brothers a "funny, stirring, brutal story."

The Tough Wild West — Now With Feelings — In 'The Sisters Brothers'

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Life Can Be A Mess, But So Is 'Life Itself'

This Is They: Abby (Olivia Wilde) and Will (Oscar Isaac) get caught up in Life Itself. jon pack/Stage 6/Amazon hide caption

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jon pack/Stage 6/Amazon

Life Can Be A Mess, But So Is 'Life Itself'

September 20, 2018 • Life Itself, from the creator of This Is Us, launches two family stories on two different continents. It offers some lovely moments, but its grand ambitions are beyond its grasp.

'Love, Gilda': A Comedy Legend, In Her Own Words

Archival photos of Gilda Radner in Love, Gilda. Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Magnolia Pictures

'Love, Gilda': A Comedy Legend, In Her Own Words

September 20, 2018 • This by-the-numbers documentary misses a step by focusing on the late Gilda Radner's celebrity over her comedy, but it's effective when it lets her recently discovered journals do the talking.

'The House With A Clock In Its Walls' Is An Eyesore

Magic is just a passing fez: Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), Uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) and Mrs. Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett) in The House with a Clock in its Walls. Quantrell Colbert/Universal hide caption

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Quantrell Colbert/Universal

'The House With A Clock In Its Walls' Is An Eyesore

September 20, 2018 • The exquisite atmosphere and sense of foreboding that made John Bellairs' 1973 book a children's classic gets discarded in favor of a relentless riot of jump-scares and visual noise.

Willy (Dominic West) and Colette (Keira Knightley) audition prospective Claudines in Wash Westmoreland's Colette. Robert Viglasky/Bleecker Street hide caption

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Robert Viglasky/Bleecker Street

'Colette' Is A Thoroughly Modern Fille

September 20, 2018 • Wash Westmoreland's biopic of a French literary lioness is well-acted, gorgeously mounted and weighed down with incongruously modern speeches about sexuality and gender.

New Biopic 'Blaze' Explores Life Of Texas Outlaw Songwriter

September 18, 2018 • One of the unsung heroes of the Texas Outlaw music movement was songwriter Blaze Foley. A new biopic directed by Ethan Hawke explores Foley's life and music.

New Biopic 'Blaze' Explores Life Of Texas Outlaw Songwriter

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Widening The Lens: Integrating The Toronto International Film Festival

Barry Jenkins' adaption of James Baldwin's novel "If Beale Street Could Talk" premiered at this year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. Courtesy of TIFF hide caption

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Courtesy of TIFF

Code Switch

Widening The Lens: Integrating The Toronto International Film Festival

September 17, 2018 • The reckoning that is reshaping Hollywood is finally making its way to the critic's perch.

A Child's Best Interest Is The Subject Of Complex Debate In 'The Children Act'

Fresh Air

September 14, 2018 • A new — and nuanced — legal drama features Emma Thompson as a family court judge trying to determine whether a minor can be forced to undergo a blood transfusion against his will.

A Child's Best Interest Is The Subject Of Complex Debate In 'The Children Act'

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'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Is A Fascinating And Frustrating Collage

Daniel Collins is one subject in the elliptical documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening. The Cinema Guild hide caption

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The Cinema Guild

'Hale County This Morning, This Evening' Is A Fascinating And Frustrating Collage

September 13, 2018 • First-time filmmaker RaMell Ross' camera captures fleeting moments in the lives of two black young men in rural Alabama, and refuses to supply us with context. We grow to care about them anyway.

After A Promising Start, 'The Predator' Loses The Scent

"'Hit Any Key?' Where's the 'any' key?" — The remorseless alien killing machine should probably just turn the console off and on again in The Predator. Kimberley French/20th Century Fox hide caption

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Kimberley French/20th Century Fox

After A Promising Start, 'The Predator' Loses The Scent

September 13, 2018 • Director/co-writer Shane Black's attempt to infuse snappy dialogue and dark humor into the alien-hunter franchise works until it, suddenly, doesn't. Blame a mess of a script and cheap-looking effects.