Movies

Watching 'Room' Is Exhausting And Exhilarating

7:04am October 16, 2015

by Kenneth Turan

The movie is based on Emma Donoghue's best-selling book about a woman who's been kidnapped and had to raise her son in captivity. Room is directed by Irish filmmaker Lenny Abrahamson.

Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) seduces Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) in <em>Crimson Peak</em>.

Arts

Del Toro's 'Crimson Peak': A Gothic Romance Inside Richly Creepy Walls

9:40pm October 15, 2015

by Scott Tobias

Guillermo Del Toro loads this genre piece with so much luscious visual language that its story and performers are almost superfluous.

Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs in the film, directed by Danny Boyle. "Steve's obsession is where we're going, not where we've been," Boyle says, "and he is maniacally focused on that, and will eviscerate anything that reminds him of the past."

Arts

In 'Steve Jobs,' A Life Told In 3 Acts — And Countless Complexities

7:27pm October 15, 2015

by NPR Staff

The mercurial Apple co-founder helped shape the world and our daily lives. Still, director Danny Boyle says, while "he's made some of the most beautiful things imaginable, he is himself poorly made."

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Action Movies Love That Typing Sound, But Where Does It Come From?

5:06pm October 15, 2015

What's that sound text makes when it appears on screen in action movies? NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Forrest Wickman of Slate, who investigated where exactly it came from.

Shu Qi in a scene from<em> The Assassin</em>.

Arts

A Most Unusual And Beautiful 'Assassin'

5:03pm October 15, 2015

by Ella Taylor

The latest work from Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien finds a ninth-century woman trained to be an assassin questioning the path that lies ahead.

Jack (Jacob Tremblay) and his Ma (Brie Larson) have been trapped in a windowless room for all of Jack's young life.

Arts

'Room' Finds A Mother And Son In Isolation

5:03pm October 15, 2015

by Andrew Lapin

Emma Donoghue wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of her novel highlighted by a sensitive performance from Brie Larson.

Tom Hanks as lawyer James Donovan in <em>Bridge of Spies</em>.

Arts

Spielberg Takes On The Cold War In 'Bridge Of Spies'

5:03pm October 15, 2015

by Mark Jenkins

The director's frequent collaborator, Tom Hanks, plays an American lawyer enlisted to carry out a complicated swap of one captured man for another.

Director Jafar Panahi is a smiling and ever-sunny cab driver in his most accessible nonfilm yet.

Riding Rings Around Iran's Censors In 'Jafar Panahi's Taxi'

4:07pm October 14, 2015

by Bob Mondello

An Iranian director banned from making films skirts the rules again in Jafar Panahi's Taxi.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

At 84, Award-Winning Actress Rita Moreno Tries New Projects

9:05am October 12, 2015

by Felix Contreras

Rita Moreno will receive the Kennedy Center Honor next month for her career in show business. With a new gig as a voice in an animated TV series and a new album, there's no way she's done performing.

Queue Listen Now

The tension in Steve Jobs comes partly from the terrific performances and partly from juxtaposing Jobs' public and private personas. Michael Fassbender (left) portrays Jobs; he's shown here with Seth Rogen, as Steve Wozniak.

Arts

'Steve Jobs': As Ambitious As Its Title Character

12:49am October 10, 2015

by Bob Mondello

Danny Boyle's new biopic, Steve Jobs, is a look at the man who made Apple mean computers, not fruit. NPR film critic Bob Mondello says it's an invigorating story told in three acts of crisis.

Queue Listen Now