Movies

Arts

From Scar to James Bond enemy Safin, movie villains have long shared a harmful trope

7:34pm October 20, 2021

by Avery J.C. Kleinman

The new James Bond film No Time To Die is providing an opportunity for advocates to push back on ways villains are portrayed with scars and other facial differences.

Art critic J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) lectures in The French Dispatch.

Arts

'The French Dispatch' is a love letter to 'The New Yorker' — and to love itself

6:00pm October 20, 2021

by Glen Weldon

Wes Anderson's meticulously-constructed tenth feature adopts the format of a New Yorker-like Sunday magazine supplement to tell three very different, but equally idiosyncratic, love stories.

Velvet Underground documentary gets to the heart of the band's radical magic

1:23pm October 20, 2021

by John Powers

Todd Haynes' inventive, immersive movie is full of interesting ideas. The Velvet Underground neatly sidesteps the usual rock-doc banalities as it plunges us into the Velvets and their world.

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Arts

How Troy Kotsur of 'CODA' broke barriers as a deaf actor, on stage and on screen

2:29pm October 19, 2021

by Mandalit del Barco

The new film CODA tells the story of a hearing daughter living with her deaf family. It represents a breakthrough for deaf representation on screen and it stars acclaimed actor Troy Kotsur.

'Genius' actor Cynthia Erivo opens up her voice on 'Ch. 1 Vs. 1'

1:20pm October 18, 2021

by Terry Gross

The British actor and singer played abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet, and Aretha Franklin in Genius: Aretha. Now Erivo has a debut album. "I sing often with a bit of a smile," she says.

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Economy

Behind-the-scenes workers in Hollywood avert a strike

7:16am October 18, 2021

Crew members in the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees have reached a deal. A strike would have shut down much of the film and TV production across the country.

'The Last Duel' was inspired by a real trial by combat in medieval France

6:00am October 18, 2021

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to film critic Kenneth Turan about The Last Duel, directed by Ridley Scott. The story takes place in 14th century France, based on true events about a trial by combat.

IATSE vice president believes tentative deal will be 'overwhelmingly ratified'

5:04pm October 17, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Michael Miller, of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, about a deal they struck with Hollywood studios, averting the threat of a labor strike.

British author Douglas Adams, left, and Nick Landau read Adams' book The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy in October 1979.

Books
Arts

It's been 42 years since 'The Hitchhiker's Guide' answered the ultimate question

7:54am October 17, 2021

The first Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book was published in October 1979. Fans are looking back at how the series has endured in popularity and why it's still relevant.

Paul (Timothee Chalamet) and the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother (Charlotte Rampling) regard each other warily in DUNE.

Arts

'Dune': A sweeping, spectacular spice-opera — half of one, anyway

11:00pm October 16, 2021

by Glen Weldon

Denis Villeneuve's take on Frank Herbert's novel of galactic intrigue and revolution manages to be both epic and introspective, though it doles out its story with gravid deliberateness.