Movie Reviews

The big family in The Happiest Season includes Burl Moseley, Alison Brie, Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Holland, Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen. (Whew!)

Arts

'Happiest Season' Is A Holiday Family Romcom With A Very Merry Cast

7:00am November 27, 2020

by Linda Holmes

Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis play Abby and Harper, a couple headed home to Abby's parents' house for Christmas. Dan Levy, Victor Garber and Aubrey Plaza are among the terrific supporting cast.

Holiday Film Preview: What To Watch Now And What To Expect Next Year

3:59pm November 26, 2020

by Bob Mondello

NPR offers an expanded holiday film preview to cover the movies that have had their releases delayed into January and February 2021.

L to R: Frank (Paul Bettany) Beth (Sophia Lillis) and Walid (Peter Macdissi) pull up to the bumper in Uncle Frank.

Arts

'Uncle Frank': A Melodramatic Meal, Undercooked And Over-Seasoned

5:00am November 25, 2020

by Glen Weldon

A great cast and good intentions can't overcome Alan Ball's rushed, thin story about a closeted gay man returning to his South Carolina hometown in 1974.

In 'Sound Of Metal,' A Man Whose Life Revolves Around Music Faces World Of Silence

3:55pm November 23, 2020

by Bob Mondello

The movie Sound of Metal, starring actor and rapper Riz Ahmed, tells the story of a drummer whose sudden hearing loss changes more than just his career.

Arts

'Collective' Chronicles The Nightclub Fire — And Corrupt System — That Killed 64

2:40pm November 23, 2020

by John Powers

A new documentary reveals how corporate and government corruption led to the use of diluted disinfectants in Romanian hospitals. Collective is a gripping story that speaks to the present moment.

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Malachi Kirby (standing) plays activist Darcus Howe in Mangrove, the first film in Steve McQueen's Small Axe anthology.

Arts

'Small Axe': A Searing Portrait Of Racism And A Community's Will To Survive

10:37am November 20, 2020

by Justin Chang

Steve McQueen's powerful anthology consists of five films, each telling a different story about the experiences of Black men and women in London's West Indian community.

Movie Review: 'Mank' Is A Love Letter To Classic Hollywood

7:13am November 16, 2020

NPR's David Greene talks to critic Kenneth Turan about David Fincher's film, Mank, which looks at the life of writer Herman Mankiewicz during the time that he wrote Citizen Kane for Orson Welles.

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Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan star as Mary Anning and Charlotte Murchison in Ammonite.

Arts

Heartbreaking And Hopeful, 'Ammonite' Is A Wind-Swept Tale Of Forbidden Love

10:25am November 13, 2020

by Justin Chang

Kate Winslet plays Victorian-era fossil hunter Mary Anning, and Saoirse Ronan is her lover, in a film that dares to envision a world in which women are ultimately free to make their own decisions.

City Hall tags along as Boston mayor Marty Walsh attends various appointments and public appearances — including this meeting about violent crime.

An Action-Packed Doc About Local Government? It's All In Wiseman's 'City Hall'

2:12pm October 30, 2020

by Justin Chang

Filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, now 90, has a gift for making riveting cinema from the minutiae of the everyday. His latest is a four-and-a-half hour documentary starring Boston City Hall, pre-COVID-19.

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Film Version Offers A New Look At Jack London's 'Martin Eden'

4:08pm October 26, 2020

by Bilal Qureshi

The new film Martin Eden is an epic retelling of Jack London's 1909 novel set in Italy in the midst of a socialist revolution. It may well be a metaphor for the "Don't tread on me" America of today.