Movie Reviews

NPR movie critic Bob Mondello says the Argentine nominee for best foreign language film, Wild Tales, is an anthology of darkly comic stories that definitely lives up to its title.

The Last Five Years is a musical romance with a unique storytelling twist. NPR film critic Bob Mondello says the quirks and tricks have him singing the movie's praises, despite a flaw or two.

The film, based on E.L. James' best-selling novel, has been denounced by decency brigades. But it's a surprisingly mild, corny romance that affirms traditional values: It's Jane Eyre with ropes.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is visually an eyesore — a kaleidoscope of bright, mismatched colors, and in 3-D to make your headache stronger. The movie makers hit the bull's-eye.

The movie, one of five Academy Award nominees for best foreign language film this year, is about radical Islamists occupying the city in Mali. Remarkably, it's often on the verge of being a comedy.

The film about a Navy SEAL whose service in Iraq made him a mythic figure has become a cultural lightning rod. But the squabbles are too simple for a low-key movie striking in its lack of stridency.

The new documentary is not a film about Soviet-era military machines. It is the story of the legendary Soviet hockey team of the 1970s and 80s — one of the greatest dynasties in all of sports.

Leviathan follows a man who fights back after a corrupt mayor uses eminent domain to claim his house, and Red Army recounts the story of the Soviet Union's famous hockey team.

Director Ava DuVernay speaks to NPR's Michele Norris about making Selma, a searing depiction of the battle for voting rights — and the first major movie about the life of Martin Luther King Jr.