Movie Reviews

Arts

'Original Cast Album: Company' provides a glimpse of Sondheim's perfectionism

2:08pm November 30, 2021

by Lloyd Schwartz

In 1970, Stephen Sondheim's comic musical Company broke most of the conventions of American musical theater. Now, a newly restored documentary goes inside the making of the original cast album.

Queue Listen Now

National

Review: Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' may be the year's best film

4:24pm November 26, 2021

by Bob Mondello

Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, stars in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza, a warmly raucous look at an ambitious teen on the make in 1980s Los Angeles.

National

A peek at some of the 30 films that are opening this holiday season

4:44pm November 25, 2021

by Bob Mondello

More than 30 films are opening between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. Here's a selective peek at all the wanna-be blockbusters and awards contenders that Hollywood has wrapped up for the holidays.

Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim are unlikely friends in Licorice Pizza.

Arts

Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' is an endearing slice of '70s Hollywood

10:00pm November 24, 2021

by Justin Chang

An enterprising teen and a 20-something photographer's assistant become unlikely friends — and then zig-zag from one comic episode to the next — in this altogether wonderful film.

National

'The Humans,' 'House of Gucci' abound with family squabbling in time for the holidays

5:06pm November 24, 2021

by Bob Mondello

Familial squabbles fuel two films opening Thanksgiving weekend: House of Gucci, about a family famous for fashion, and The Humans, a pulitzer-winning look at a clan gathering for the holidays.

Queue Listen Now

Benedict Cumberbatch is the picture of rugged American masculinity in The Power of the Dog.

Arts

Rugged masculinity takes a dark turn in 'The Power of the Dog'

1:58pm November 19, 2021

by Justin Chang

Jane Campion's Western plays out like a tightly wound psychological thriller, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as one of the scariest characters you're likely to meet this year.

Queue Listen Now

Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson during their performance at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004.

New York Times doc on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl scandal leaves questions unanswered

1:47pm November 19, 2021

by Eric Deggans

A new documentary looks at the "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show in a new light – but doesn't definitively answer some important questions.

Jane Campion's Western 'Power of the Dog' may score her another Oscar nomination

4:44pm November 18, 2021

by Bob Mondello

Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons play brothers, and Kirsten Dunst the widow who comes between them in Power of the Dog, a western set in 1920s Montana, directed by Jane Campion.

Arts

'Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time' remains faithful to the author's spirit

1:25pm November 17, 2021

by David Bianculli

A new documentary bounces randomly, rather than chronologically, through Vonnegut's life, with music, editing, photography and sequencing that are fully in line with what, and how, Vonnegut wrote.

Queue Listen Now

The family (CaitrÃÂona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Judi Dench, Jude Hill and Lewis McAskie) goes to the movies in Belfast.

Arts

Kenneth Branagh's autobiographical 'Belfast' never quite finds its point of view

1:25pm November 15, 2021

by Justin Chang

In a rare dive into personal territory, Branagh details growing up amid the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But despite some lovely moments, Belfast feels guarded in its telling.

Queue Listen Now