Movie Reviews

National

First-time filmmaker Cord Jefferson's 'American Fiction' is both moving and hilarious

5:15pm December 14, 2023

by Bob Mondello

Jeffrey Wright plays a frustrated author who writes an preposterously stereotypical "Black" book as a joke, only to have it become a bestseller in the comedy American Fiction.

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Clockwise from top left: Past Lives, Showing Up, All of Us Strangers, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, Afire, Poor Things.

Arts

2023 was a great year for moviegoing — here are 10 of Justin Chang's favorites

1:39pm December 14, 2023

by Justin Chang

Film critics like to argue, but Chang says that he and his colleagues agree that this was a really good year on screen. Beyond the Barbie and Oppenheimer blockbuster, here's what you shouldn't miss.

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Timothée Chalamet stars as the iconic candyman in the new musical film Wonka.

Arts

'Wonka' returns with more music, less menace

7:00am December 14, 2023

by Linda Holmes

Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet as the titular candy mogul, is a much brighter story than Roald Dahl's original telling. But its sunny salute to dreaming your dreams has a charm all its own.

In Poor Things, Emma Stone stars as Bella Baxter, a woman created as part of a back-from-the-dead mad science experiment.

Arts

Unhinged yet uplifting, 'Poor Things' is an un-family-friendly 'Barbie'

1:57pm December 08, 2023

by Justin Chang

Emma Stone stars as an adult woman with the anarchic spirit of a very young child in a strangely touching film that's filled with transgressive sex, sadistic power games and grisly violence.

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Arts

'Poor Things': a Frankenstein-inspired black comedy

4:47pm December 07, 2023

by Bob Mondello

Emma Stone teams up with director Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things, a Frankenstein-inspired black comedy about a young woman shaking up the society around her as she comes into her own.

Anselm offers both a thrilling portrait of Anselm Kiefer at work and, with the aid of terrific archival footage, lets us see what infuses his work with such intensity.

Arts

'Anselm' documentary is a thrilling portrait of an artist at work

1:24pm December 07, 2023

by John Powers

Painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer was born in war-ravaged Germany in 1945. Wim Wenders' new film conveys the beauty, bleakness and moral weight of Kiefer's art.

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A review of 'Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé' from NPR's 'It's Been a Minute'

5:07pm December 05, 2023

NPR's It's Been a Minute reviews megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's film Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.

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Twelve-year-old Mahito journeys into an otherworldly realm in The Boy and the Heron.

Arts

In 'The Boy and the Heron,' Miyazaki asks: How do we go on in the midst of grief?

1:37pm December 01, 2023

by Justin Chang

Hayao Miyazaki's beguiling new fantasy combines the excitement of a boy's grand adventure and the weight of an older man's reflection. The hypnotic story is a partial self-portrait by an anime master.

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Two lonely souls (Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) come together in Fallen Leaves.

Arts

Sentimental but not soppy, 'Fallen Leaves' gives off the magic glow of a fable

2:44pm November 27, 2023

by John Powers

Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's melancholy romantic comedy about two lonely souls trapped in dead-end jobs builds to a gorgeous ending — with a great and revelatory final joke.

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Bradley Cooper plays composer Leonard Bernstein in Maestro.

Arts

Bradley Cooper's 'Maestro' fully captures Bernstein's charisma and complexity

12:07pm November 24, 2023

by Justin Chang

Cooper plays the legendary composer and Carey Mulligan is his wife, Felicia Montealegre, in a new drama that exquisitely renders Bernstein's musical brilliance and human flaws.

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