'Love, Simon' Is Your Typical Glossy, Hollywood, Teenage, Gay Rom-Com
It's a coming-of-age story that's also a coming-out story — and it's in mainstream theaters around the country. Director Greg Berlanti says that's a big deal.
Movies
Imagining — Yet Again — A New Disney Heroine
For decades, Disney has been criticized for its passive, love-struck heroines. Do the women in Black Panther and A Wrinkle In Time finally signal real change?
A New Documentary About Adults On Adderall — And Not Just For ADHD
Alison Klayman's new film Take Your Pills looks at the pervasiveness of prescription stimulants — Adderall, Ritalin, and others — in college classrooms and workplaces in the U.S.
'Tomb Raider,' Franchise Nadir
The film depicting the origin story of Lara Croft's raider of lost tombs "isn't awful," says critic Chris Klimek, "but its invasive, thudding mediocrity will make you wish it were."
Slack Hostage Drama '7 Days In Entebbe' Never Takes Off
Puzzling editing choices prevent this tale of a hijacked 1976 flight from Tel Aviv to Paris from attaining any real tension or narrative momentum.
A Gay Teen Romance, Sealed With A Peck: 'Love, Simon'
Come for the rom-com elements, familiar and dutiful though they are. Stay for the film's sensitive, specific and closely observed coming-out storyline, which feels new — and important.
'Flower' Is Thorny But Rootless
Max Winkler's tale of a teenager who uses sex to get revenge on a man who may or may not have assaulted her step-brother is a "glib character study" that tries too hard to shock.
Danny Trejo On Acting, Addiction And Playing 'The Mean Chicano Dude'
Trejo says that his experience standing in the San Quentin prison yard waiting for a riot prepared him for acting: "You're absolutely scared to death ... [but] you have to pretend you're not."
Humor Blends With Tragedy In The Farcical 'Death of Stalin'
Armando Iannucci's new film satirizes the days in 1953 when the Soviet Union lost its totalitarian leader and members of his inner circle argued, plotted and killed while selecting a successor.
From The 'Fresh Air' Archives: Eddie Bunker, Who Honed His Writing Craft In Prison
Bunker, who died in 2005, spent 18 years in prison before becoming a successful writer. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1985 film Runaway Train, which helped launch the career of actor Danny Trejo.