Movies

'First Reformed': Paul Schrader Injects His Education Into Another Agonized Outsider

6:14pm May 19, 2018

Paul Schrader's new film, First Reformed, stars Ethan Hawke as a priest in spiritual crisis. NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with Schrader about his own spiritual education.

'Deadpool 2' Returns With More Trash Talk And Humor

5:42pm May 17, 2018

by Bob Mondello

NPR critic Bob Mondello says Deadpool 2 marks the return of the adventures of Marvel's trash-talking-est R-rated superhero. But this time, there's a bit more humor.

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Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen, and Jane Fonda are freed of their inhibitions after reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" in Book Club.

Arts

Here's Everything You Need To Know About 'Book Club': Keaton, Fonda, Bergen and Steenburgen

5:00pm May 17, 2018

by Scott Tobias

When the film puts its four leads together, it sparkles. When they're apart, it's simply "a pleasant, low-stakes affair, as numbing as a two-glass buzz."

You Gettin' Lucky, Punk?: Elle Fanning and Alex Sharp star in How to Talk to Girls At Parties, a sweet-natured romp through 1970's London.

Arts

London Calling (Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft): 'How To Talk To Girls At Parties'

5:00pm May 17, 2018

by Chris Klimek

John Cameron Mitchell's "sweet, slight comic fantasy" explores what happens when a young man (Alex Sharp) in 1977 London meet-cutes a young woman (Elle Fanning) who's from ... out of town.

Ethan Hawke has said that his great-grandmother longed for him to be a priest; he plays a conflicted Christian minister in First Reformed.

Arts

'First Reformed' Asks: 'Will God Forgive Us For Destroying His Creation?'

2:41pm May 16, 2018

by Justin Chang

Director Paul Schrader's film tackles war and climate change with a fierce moral anger. Critic Justin Chang says Schrader makes no attempt to conceal the fact that he's written a polemic.

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What's Playing At Cannes

7:13am May 16, 2018

Movie reviewer Kenneth Turan talks with NPR's David Greene about the newest movie in the Star Wars franchise and other noteworthy films coming out of this year's Cannes festival.

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'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Has A Long Buildup But Offers More Background On Han

5:32pm May 15, 2018

by Bob Mondello

Like every film emanating from "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," Solo: A Star Wars Story has been kept tightly under wraps before its release. But the wraps are now coming off before audiences learn the story of a young Han Solo before he became a Star Warrior.

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Never tell him the odds: L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Arts

'Solo' Makes The Jump To Light-Speed ... Eventually

5:00pm May 15, 2018

by Glen Weldon

The odds of successfully telling the origin story of the Star Wars trilogy's lovable rogue are approximately 3,720 to 1. After a sluggish start, Solo: A Star Wars Story beats those odds.

Ultraviolent super-mercenary Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) references a film that many people will recognize — that's kind of his whole deal — in Deadpool 2.

Arts

Grim 'N' Gritty Is Out, Glib 'N' Smarmy Is In: 'Deadpool 2'

5:00am May 15, 2018

by Glen Weldon

Ryan Reynolds once again assays the role of a deadly mercenary who makes many references to various pop culture properties while disemboweling folk a lot. No fourth wall is safe.

Books
Arts

He Felt He Could No Longer Be Funny, Says Robin Williams Biographer

2:56pm May 14, 2018

by Terry Gross

Dave Itzkoff examines Williams' life and death in a new biography. Williams took his own life in 2014; an autopsy later revealed he had Lewy body dementia.

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