Movies

Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors reacts after the Phoenix Suns missed a basket during a game Dec. 3.

From Steph Curry to 'Squid Game,' this year-end list will surprise and delight you

1:39pm December 10, 2021

by John Powers

As the year draws to a close, critic John Powers singles out seven revelatory people or things that made 2021 a little brighter. At the top of his list? Basketball star Steph Curry.

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Ariana DeBose (center) is Anita in West Side Story.

Arts

Steven Spielberg's 'West Side Story' will make you believe in movies again

1:39pm December 10, 2021

by Justin Chang

This is the first musical Spielberg's ever made, but he proves a natural: Few other American filmmakers have a more instinctive sense of rhythm and visual flow, or more direct access to your emotions.

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Lina Wertmüller's most famous film, Seven Beauties, is about a dissolute Italian Army deserter captured by the Germans during World War II. She's shown above in September 1984.

Arts

Lina Wertmüller, first woman nominated for Oscar in directing, has died

5:04pm December 09, 2021

by Neda Ulaby

The Italian filmmaker made extravagant, eye-popping films. She used to say she wasn't surprised to be the first woman nominated for an Oscar in directing — she was only surprised that she didn't win.

Spielberg offers a more complete telling of musical theater classic 'West Side Story'

4:51pm December 09, 2021

by Bob Mondello

Tony and Maria, Sharks and Jets — Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner take a fresh look at the musical theater classic West Side Story.

Halle Berry plays MMA fighter Jackie Justice in Bruised.

Arts

Halle Berry entered the ring ready — she's been a fighter all her life

2:55pm December 08, 2021

by Tonya Mosley

Berry stars as a disgraced MMA fighter in Bruised — a film she also directed. It's a role that she identifies with fundamentally: "I've also been a fighter my whole life, my whole career."

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Arts

'Being the Ricardos' dramatizes Lucy and Desi's very complicated relationship

2:55pm December 08, 2021

by David Bianculli

Aaron Sorkin's latest film zeroes in on one very stressful week in the lives of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), when Lucy was accused of being a Communist.

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Mel Brooks (shown here in 1984) calls comedy his "delicious refuge" from the world: "I hide in humor and comedy. I love it."

Books
Arts

Mel Brooks says his only regret as a comedian is the jokes he didn't tell

9:02pm December 07, 2021

by Terry Gross

Brooks wrote countless edgy jokes over the years, but he doesn't regret any of them. He calls comedy his "delicious refuge" from the world. "I hide in humor," he says. His new memoir is All About Me!

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Misaki (Tôko Miura) is the personal driver to a grieving actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) in Drive My Car.

Arts

'Drive My Car' may be the most absorbing ride you take all year

2:27pm December 07, 2021

by Justin Chang

After his wife's death, a middle-aged stage actor forms an unlikely bond with the 20-something woman sent to be his chauffeur. Drive My Car is an intricately structured drama about love and loss.

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Why everyone loves to hate Kenny G, according to the jazz musician himself

11:52am December 06, 2021

NPR's David Folkenflik speaks with Kenny Gorelick, best known as Kenny G, and director Penny Lane about her new documentary about the soprano saxophonist, Listening to Kenny G.

Lady Gaga stars as Patrizia Reggiani and Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci.

Arts

Lady Gaga responds to criticism of her performance in 'House of Gucci'

5:35pm December 03, 2021

She stars in the film as the woman at the center of a scandal in the fashion world. But the actors' Italian accents have been panned and the Gucci family has criticized the way it was depicted.

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