Movies

Through The Decades: Examining The Black Male Film Hero

3:26pm April 01, 2016

by Karen Grigsby Bates

The release of the new Miles Davis biopic shows a Davis that was assertive and assured. Assertive black men are seldom portrayed in film. We look back at who some of them are and the impact they made.

Queue Listen Now

Don Cheadle as Miles Davis in Miles Ahead.

When Is A Biopic Not A Biopic? When Don Cheadle Meets Miles Davis

2:52pm April 01, 2016

by Andrew Lapin

Cheadle takes on the jazz great in an uneven but inventive film that struggles at times to bring clarity to its idea of Davis but experiments intriguingly with past, present, fact and fiction.

Arts

'Miles Ahead' Shows A Dissipated Davis Who Still Burns Hot

1:49pm April 01, 2016

by David Edelstein

The new Miles Davis biopic begins in the 1970s, at the end of Davis' five-year hiatus from the music scene. Critic David Edelstein calls Don Cheadle's portrayal of the musician "electrifying."

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Fresh Air Remembers Actress Patty Duke

1:48pm April 01, 2016

Duke won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Helen Keller in 1962's The Miracle Worker. She died Tuesday at the age of 69. Originally broadcast in 1988.

Queue Listen Now

Johanna Korthals Altes and Vincent Nemeth in Francofonia.

Arts

In 'Francofonia,' The Ugly Collision Of Art And War

11:40am April 01, 2016

by Mark Jenkins

Director Alexander Sukurov blends the real history of the Louvre with a fictional tale of a ship under threat while considering the fate of art and the costs of war.

In No Home Movie, the director, Chantal Akerman, films her elderly Polish mother in her Brussels apartment.

Arts

A Great Director's Last Look At Her Mother And Herself

11:28am April 01, 2016

by Scott Tobias

Chantal Akerman's No Home Movie captures conversations the filmmaker had with her mother, which take on additional weight given that both women have died since the film was made.

Henry Cavill as Superman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Batman V. Superman' And The Objects We Desire

6:00am April 01, 2016

by Stephen Thompson

We look at a big new movie and discuss what we want from our blockbusters. Then it's on to a discussion of the pop-culture objects we covet, plus What's Making Us Happy this week.

Queue Listen Now

'Rush Hour' On CBS Reimagines Classic Buddy Action Films

10:27pm March 31, 2016

by Eric Deggans

On Thursday night, CBS premieres Rush Hour, a reimagining of the buddy action flicks. Not much has changed as the show relies on stereotypes of the old film franchise.

Queue Listen Now

Writer, director and journalist Nora Ephron died in 2012 of complications from leukemia.

Books
Arts

In 'Everything Is Copy,' Nora Ephron's Son Tries Her Philosophy

3:25pm March 31, 2016

Jacob Bernstein named his documentary about his mother after an Ephron family saying — "everything is copy," meaning that anything and everything that happens to you is fair game to write about.

Queue Listen Now

Anne Bancroft holds Patty Duke's hand to teach her a new word in a scene from the 1962 film The Miracle Worker.

National

Oscar-Winning Actress Patty Duke Dies At 69

2:58pm March 29, 2016

by Laura Wagner

Duke, whose real name was Anna Pearce, died early Tuesday morning of sepsis from a ruptured intestine, her agent said.

Queue Listen Now