Movie Reviews

A young Sarah Polley and her actor father, Michael Polley, on a long-ago day; the photo is one of many family memories that surface in Stories We Tell, a superb meditation on dramatizing memory from the director of Away from Her.

Arts

Polley's 'Stories': A Family Saga Strikingly Spun

5:58am May 11, 2013

by Bob Mondello

A director's film memoir of her theatrical family is transformed by surprising discoveries about her parents' past — and her own heritage. Sarah Polley's film becomes a superb meditation on how we dramatize memory. (Recommended)

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In Iron Man 3, Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), and Gwyneth Paltrow reprises hers as his girlfriend, Pepper Potts.

Arts

'Iron Man 3': Tony Stark As Home-Brew Hero

4:01pm May 03, 2013

by David Edelstein

Director and co-writer Shane Black kicks Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., out of his comfort zone — a choice that has Stark functioning as a lone gumshoe, thinking like a garage mechanic and, when necessary, straight-up MacGyvering a fix.

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Window Dressing: Tony Stark's ongoing Iron Man research involves more than one suit of self-assembling armor.

Arts

In 'Iron Man 3,' A Metalhead Gets The Blues

6:07pm May 02, 2013

by Bob Mondello

Wiseacre billionaire Tony Stark, uncharacteristically anxious since the events of 2012's The Avengers, must face down a domestic terrorist without backup from his buddies in the latest installment of the Marvel franchise.

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Jason Holliday (nee Aaron Payne) is the soloist in front of the camera in Shirley Clarke's seminal 1967 documentary, Portrait of Jason.

Arts

Peeling Away The Layers In A 'Portrait Of Jason'

3:51pm May 02, 2013

by John Powers

In her classic '60s documentary, Shirley Clarke profiles a loquacious 33-year-old gay hustler who dreams of having a nightclub act. Her subject could hardly be more complex — and in examining him, she raises important questions about the relationship between fact and fiction.

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In Ramin Bahrani's At Any Price, Zac Efron stars as a teen rebelling against his family and dreaming of becoming a professional race car driver. Sound like a generic summer pic? Critic David Edelstein says the film has "a hell of a sting in its tail."

Arts

Two Indie Directors Go Confidently Mainstream

1:42pm May 01, 2013

by David Edelstein

Jeff Nichols and Ramin Bahrani made names with small, low-budget movies: Nichols with Take Shelter and Bahrani with Man Push Cart. Both have now directed big-budget films with big stars: Nichols' Mud features Matthew McConaughey, and Bahrani's At Any Price stars Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron.

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Arts

Tom Cruise's Latest Headed For 'Oblivion'

11:05am April 24, 2013

by David Edelstein

Joseph Kosinski's sci-fi adventure, starring Tom Cruise, is the most incoherent piece of storytelling since John Travolta's Battlefield Earth. It had critic David Edelstein crying, "What? What?" over the din of the explosions.

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Veteran magician Ricky Jay reveals much about himself in a new documentary on his life of deception. His card-trick techniques? That may be another story.

Arts

Digging Into Ricky Jay's 'Deceptive' Card Tricks

8:37pm April 17, 2013

by Bob Mondello

It's been said that to properly understand a magician, you have to get right on stage and watch how the act is done. NPR's Bob Mondello had that chance once with card whiz Ricky Jay — subject of the new film Deceptive Practice — and has a few words about how the showman works.

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'Central Park Five': Rape, Race And Blame Explored

3:28pm April 16, 2013

by David Bianculli

A documentary airing tonight on PBS tells the story of the five young black and Latino men wrongly convicted of the 1989 assault and rape of a white female jogger in Manhattan's Central Park. Ken Burns made the film with his eldest daughter, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon.

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Olga Kurylenko and Ben Affleck play two lovers in Terence Malick's latest film, To The Wonder.

Terrence Malick And Every Man's Journey 'To The Wonder'

1:17pm April 12, 2013

by David Edelstein

The director's latest cinematic meditation on the meaning of life stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko and Javier Bardem and revolves around the question of how we might locate the presence of God in the everyday and how we can accommodate ourselves to our expulsion from the Garden.

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Shaz (Toni Collette), a hotheaded stranger new to the Australian town of Dolphin Heads, becomes the unlikely answer to a local politician's problems when she steps in to nanny his children.

Arts

Going 'Mental' And Enjoying The Ride

2:39pm April 09, 2013

by David Edelstein

P.J. Hogan's new movie is madder than madcap, a zany, nonconformist boundary-pusher whose offbeat manner makes for a rich and grounded film. Toni Collette plays the part of a modern-day Maria von Trapp as if she has nothing to lose — and Anthony LaPaglia shows his true Aussie accent.

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