Movies

After college, Geena Davis got a job at an Ann Taylor clothing store. Then she noticed an empty chair in a window display, and she decided to sit down and freeze. "I was a live mannequin," she says.

Arts

From Mannequin To Actor: Geena Davis' 'Ridiculous, Ridiculous' Break

11:41pm August 02, 2015

by Daniel Hajek

Geena Davis has played unforgettable roles in movies like Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own. But before her acting debut in Tootsie, she worked at a clothing store in window displays.

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Arts

James Earl Jones: From Stutterer To Janitor To Broadway Star

11:40pm August 02, 2015

by Daniel Hajek

The 83-year-old was once a farm kid who didn't want to talk. Today, the unmistakable stage and screen actor (not to mention the voice of Darth Vader) still calls himself a "journeyman actor."

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The documentary Back On Board follows the career of four-time Olympic champion Greg Louganis.

Sports
Arts

'Who Am I Without My Sport?' Greg Louganis On Life After Olympics

7:03pm August 02, 2015

by NPR Staff

The documentary Back On Board traces the highs and lows of the star diver's career, the turmoil he faced as a gay, HIV-positive athlete — and the identity crisis that he experienced after retirement.

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Arts

'Best Of Enemies': When Televised Verbal Fireworks Were A Novelty

8:28am August 02, 2015

A new documentary chronicles the famed Gore Vidal-William F. Buckley debates and the beginnings of TV political punditry. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with directors Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon.

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A LEGO Brickumentary explores the enduring global appeal of the little plastic toys.

Arts

More Than A Toy: Lego Enthusiasts Have Built A Community

6:55pm August 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

A LEGO Brickumentary chronicles how children and adults alike use Legos for work, play and therapy. The documentary also explores the Lego Group's near demise — and meteoric return.

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Skyler Gisondo (from left), Steele Stebbins, Christina Applegate and Ed Helms star as the next generation of Griswolds in Vacation.

Arts

New Griswolds Take New Dysfunctions On A 'Vacation'

2:08pm July 31, 2015

by Scott Tobias

This time it's Rusty Griswold, the grown son of Chevy Chase's Clark Griswold, dragging his family on a doomed road trip. Critic Scott Tobias says the movie is overeager to provoke and offend.

A spry 52 when the film was shot, Tom Cruise — still his own stuntman — careens a motorcycle, sans helmet, around a winding Moroccan highway at suicide-miles-per-hour.

Arts

'Rogue Nation' Fulfills The Mission Of A Reliable Blockbuster Series

1:49pm July 31, 2015

by Chris Klimek

Tom Cruise returns as secret agent Ethan Hunt in the latest Mission: Impossible -- a super-fun sequel executed with rigor, clarity, and creative use of Puccini's Turandot.

Jesse Eisenberg (left) plays journalist David Lipsky and Jason Segel plays David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour.

Arts

'The End Of The Tour' Is A Film For David Foster Wallace Buffs

1:44pm July 31, 2015

by Mark Jenkins

The movie, which draws from journalist David Lipsky's interviews with Wallace in 1996, offers an intriguing (if not altogether convincing) portrait of the Infinite Jest author.

Jason Segel plays writer David Foster Wallace in the new film The End of the Tour.

Books
Arts

'End Of The Tour': An Unauthorized 'Anti-Biopic' Of David Foster Wallace

1:20pm July 31, 2015

by Joel Rose

Instead of telling the author's life story, the film (which the Wallace estate does not approve of) focuses on five days in 1996 during the publicity tour for Infinite Jest.

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In 1968, ABC paired two pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum — William F. Buckley Jr. (left) and Gore Vidal — for a cut-throat intellectual faceoff. The documentary Best of Enemies explores this media milestone.

Arts

In 1968, The 'Best Of Enemies' Faced Off In A Brutal, Televised Feud

1:15pm July 31, 2015

by Ella Taylor

ABC paired two pundits from opposite ends of the political spectrum — William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal — in a series of debates. A new documentary explores the legacy of this war of words.