Movie Reviews

Arts

'The Post' Is A Crackling Newsroom Thriller With Electrifying Relevance

1:41pm December 20, 2017

by Justin Chang

Steven Spielberg's new drama revisits The Washington Post's 1971 decision to publish the Pentagon Papers in defiance of the Nixon administration. Justin Chang calls it "terrifically entertaining."

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Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Florida Project, The Big Sick, Coco and Girls Trip all made NPR's top list.

Arts

NPR's Favorite Movies Of 2017

10:26am December 19, 2017

You may not agree that a given film belongs on this list, or we might have left your favorite off. But movies are meant to inspire discussion and debate; why shouldn't year-end lists do the same?

In A Year Of Heartbreak And Reckoning, 12 Films Remind Us Of Cinema's Greatness

3:04pm December 18, 2017

by Justin Chang

Film critic Justin Chang picks his top 12 movies of the year, pairing them thematically, from Call Me By Your Name and The Florida Project, to War For The Planet of the Apes and Dunkirk.

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Arts

'Last Jedi' Puts The Smarts — And The Heart — Back Into The 'Star Wars' Franchise

1:39pm December 15, 2017

by David Edelstein

The late Carrie Fisher makes her final appearance — now as General Leia — in Star Wars Episode VIII. Critic David Edelstein says The Last Jedi is nothing short of terrific.

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Bull-necked wrestler John Cena voices the pacifist bull Ferdinand.

Arts

Mediocre 'Ferdinand' Will Have Bored Parents Seeing Red

5:01pm December 14, 2017

by Scott Tobias

Munro Leaf's classic children story about a pacifist bull becomes a formulaic animated film indistinguishable from scores of others.

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children is a film based on the graphic novel by Alberto Vázquez.

Arts

'Birdboy' Is A Dark, Beautiful, Boundary-Pushing Animated Film

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Andrew Lapin

Three adorable anthropomorphic animals wander a post-apocalyptic hellscape in this hand-drawn animated film from Spain that "thumbs its nose at traditional G-rated storytelling."

Bob Balaban and Peter Sarsgaard star in Wormwood, a film that investigates the death of Frank Olson.

Arts

Potent Cocktail Of Drama And Documentary Explores A Mysterious Death: 'Wormwood'

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Ella Taylor

Filmmaker Errol Morris employs fictional techniques — and famous actors — in this 241-minute meditation on the demise of a CIA operative in 1953 that left a son obsessed with finding answers.

A sidekick (Bill Pullman) gets kicked upstairs in The Ballad of Lefty Brown.

Arts

'The Ballad Of Lefty Brown' Is A Variation On A Familiar Tune

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

Bill Pullman stars as an Old West sidekick who loses his hero and embarks upon a quest for vengeance in writer/director Jared Moshe's straight-shooting Western.

Arts

'The Last Jedi' Is Not More Of The Same In 'Star Wars' Franchise

4:29pm December 13, 2017

by Bob Mondello

A review of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the latest in the intergalactic franchise. Fans are especially excited to see what happens to General Leia, played by Carrie Fisher, who died earlier this year.

The British TV series National Treasure (available on Hulu) features Robbie Coltrane as a beloved comedian who has been accused of sexual assault, and Julie Walters (right) and Andrea Riseborough as his wife and daughter.

Critic's 'Ghost List' Has Books, Music And A TV Show That Deserve A Second Look

2:23pm December 13, 2017

by John Powers

Every year, critic John Powers is haunted by the things he wishes he'd reviewed. The themes his 2017 "Ghost List" range in spirit from cosmic surrealism to ripped-from-the-headlines immediacy.

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