Oscar Documentaries And A Foreign Language Film We Loved
On this week's show, we run down an impressive list of Oscar-nominated documentary features and dive into Asghar Farhadi's complicated, suspenseful The Salesman.
Movie Reviews
James Baldwin, In His Own Searing, Revelatory Words: 'I Am Not Your Negro'
Raoul Peck's Oscar-nominated documentary transforms an unfinished Baldwin manuscript about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers into an urgently resonant film.
'Youth In Oregon' Follows A Fractious Family On A Bittersweet Road Trip
Frank Langella is an aging, stoic patriarch determined to end his life in this uneven but effective cross-country comedy-drama.
Maudlin Teen Romance 'The Space Between Us' Burns Up On Re-Entry
Martian, Martian, Martian!: Asa Butterfield stars as a Mars-born teen who struggles under Earth's gravity — and a treacly script — in this sci-fi romance.
'The Salesman' Offers A Brilliant Portrayal Of Marriage And Vengeance
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's latest film is one of the five nominees for this year's foreign-language Academy Award. Critic David Edelstein says The Salesman is tense and powerful.
Attention Must Be Paid To What 'The Salesman' Is Selling
A review of The Salesman, an Iranian film about a couple whose home life becomes unsettled while they're starring together in a production of Death of a Salesman.
Cliches And Sentimentality Hound 'A Dog's Purpose'
A dog cycles through several canine lifetimes while teaching a series of owners to live, laugh and love. Critic Scott Tobias found the film's repeated, mawkish depictions of doggy death "wearying."
Fool's 'Gold': As An '80s Huckster, McConaughey Outshines The Film Around Him
Matthew McConaughey gained weight and lost hair to throw himself into this tale of a real-life stock-market swindle. The film aches for us to admire his reckless, grasping selfishness; we don't.
A Gay Activist's Journey To Christian Fundamentalism: 'I Am Michael'
Director Justin Kelly documents the life of the inscrutable Michael Glatze (James Franco), who rejected his gay identity in favor of a strict Christian faith, without judging the man, or his choices.
'The Salesman': A Violent Act Tests A Marriage, And One Actor's Humanity
As a Tehran couple perform Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, troubling parallels emerge in their home life. Writer-director Asghar Farhadi's nuanced film is one to which attention must be paid.