Movies

2 new movies center on filmmakers who lead disruptive, messy lives

4:42pm August 04, 2023

by Bob Mondello

A pair of new indie films — Ira Sachs' Passages and Randall Park's Shortcomings — center their stories on filmmakers who espouse rigorous standards but lead messy lives.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fun and visually striking animated feature directed by Jeff Rowe.

Arts

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return, rebooted and reinvigorated, for 'Mutant Mayhem'

5:01am August 04, 2023

by Stephen Thompson

With a terrific voice cast and distinctive animation, Mutant Mayhem offers a fun and kinetic reset of a long-running franchise.

Arts

Oprah, Meryl Streep and more have donated at least $1 million to help striking actors

5:33pm August 02, 2023

by Ayana Archie

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation has raised $15 million over the past three weeks for its emergency fund. The Entertainment Community Fund has received over $6 million since the WGA went on strike.

Los Angeles based background actors Rebecca Safier (left), Alexandria Rubalcaba and Dom Lubsey have all had production companies scan their faces and bodies to make digital replicas.

Arts

Movie extras worry they'll be replaced by AI. Hollywood is already doing body scans

2:12pm August 02, 2023

by Bobby Allyn

Five background actors told NPR they had to undergo face and body digital scans while on TV and movie sets. The use of digital replicas is a sticking point in the ongoing strikes in Hollywood.

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National

The Hollywood sign that towers over Los Angeles is now 100 years old

5:09am August 02, 2023

The Hollywood sign is LA's monument to the entertainment industry. NPR's A Martinez talks to Alison Martino, a writer and amateur historian, about the signs origins and symbolism.

Malevolent robot stories used to be more about brawn than brain — so it was a genuine shock for audiences in 1968 when the sentient HAL-9000 computer calmly said, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." Above, Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Arts

'Open the pod bay door, HAL' — here's how AI became a movie villain

8:44pm July 31, 2023

by Bob Mondello

When Tom Cruise battles a sentient artificial intelligence "Entity" in the latest Mission Impossible film, he joins a long list of heroes who've had to fight a malevolent machine onscreen.

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Arts

Pee-wee Herman creator Paul Reubens dies at 70

6:42pm July 31, 2023

by Glen Weldon

Reubens' persona of Pee-wee Herman was a petulant man-child, yes — but he was also a trickster spirit, a burst of joyous id that snuck his brand of anarchy into the mainstream.

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The original blond Barbie sells well in India but an Indian version with dark hair and Indian-style garments did not catch on. In this store display, Indian Barbies are flanked by a fair-haired doll and an African American Barbie.

The dreams and disappointments of India's Barbie

4:36pm July 28, 2023

by Kamala Thiagarajan

The doll is very popular. But an Indian version of a dark-haired, sari-clad Barbie was not a big seller. And one woman has written a poem about what it felt like to grow up unable to afford a Barbie.

Arts

'Haunted Mansion' is a skip, but 'Talk to Me' is a real scare

1:30pm July 28, 2023

by Justin Chang

Two films take on the horror of grief: While Disney's live-action comedy is neither funny nor frightening, the Australian horror-thriller about teenagers dabbling in the occult is terrifically creepy.

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Arts

Is Barbie a feminist icon? It's complicated

7:54am July 27, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

The Barbie movie is being celebrated (and slammed) as a feminist film, with its themes of female empowerment and critiques of the patriarchy. Can the same be said for the doll at the center of it?

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