Movies

In the film, which Miyazaki says is his last, the wind carries off the parasol of a fragile girl, Nahoko, into the hands of Jiro — who will fall in love with her.

Arts

'Wind Rises' Is Exquisite, And Likely To Be Hayao Miyazaki's Last

6:57pm February 21, 2014

by David Edelstein

The new film from the acclaimed Japanese animator spans 30 years and centers on a young man who dreams of designing the perfect airplane in the early 1930s. (Recommended)

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In 1975, Shoah director Claude Lanzmann (left) interviewed Benjmain Murmelstein, the last surviving Elder of the Jews of the Czech Theresienstadt ghetto, at his home in Rome. The resulting film is The Last of the Unjust.

Arts

For A Rabbi Who Worked With The Nazis, Is Judgment 'Unjust'?

2:38pm February 19, 2014

by John Powers

Claude Lanzmann's documentary profiles a Viennese rabbi put to work in a Czech concentration camp. Although Benjamin Murmelstein was himself not a free man, he was despised by fellow Jewish prisoners.

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Classical Music Piece Enhances Roald Dahl's 'Dirty Beasts'

11:03am February 18, 2014

by Ari Shapiro

On Sunday, the London Philharmonic debuted a new piece of music based on Roald Dahl's Dirty Beasts. With Matilda playing to sold-out crowds on Broadway and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory running in London's West End, this is just the latest work by the author to get a musical soundtrack.

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Eleven-year-old Jaron "Bear" Williams practices trumpet before marching in his first Mardi Gras season. The Whole Gritty City follows young student marching bands as they prepare for coveted spots in the New Orleans parade.

Arts

In 'Whole Gritty City,' Marching Bands Vie For Coveted Mardi Gras Spots

4:51pm February 13, 2014

by David Bianculli

"New Orleans buries too many of its young," Wynton Marsalis says in the documentary's introduction. The Whole Gritty City, airing Saturday on CBS, follows young students who take refuge in New Orleans marching bands.

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National

Shirley Temple Black Dies At 85

1:28pm February 11, 2014

by Alison Bryce

One of the most famous childhood stars of all times, Shirley Temple Black has died. Remembered for her curls and acting talent, she became the face of hope during the Great Depression.

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For Top-Flight Animators, The Gag Is An Art All Its Own

12:05pm February 08, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

In the animated world, just about anything goes: Toys talk, mice are chefs, and pandas do kung fu. In animation, the sky's the limit. In this encore broadcast, we learn about the hundreds of people working on big studio features who spend their days figuring out how to manufacture this silliness from the ground up. (This story originally aired on All Things Considered on Nov. 27, 2013.)

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Critic David Edelstein says that The Monuments Men has "an all-star cast" — including Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett — but that "the stars are all low-wattage."

Arts

Masterpieces In Peril, 'Monuments Men' Protects, But Also Panders

3:32pm February 07, 2014

by David Edelstein

George Clooney's film tells the largely true story of a World War II squad of art experts assigned to protect European masterworks from Nazi theft and Allied bombardment. Critic David Edelstein says the film is engaging and earnest, but a little formulaic.

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Linda Emond, Hoffman and Andrew Garfield take their opening night curtain call in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman at The Barrymore Theatre in New York City in 2012.

Arts

Philip Seymour Hoffman On Acting: An 'Exhausting' And 'Satisfying' Art

8:21pm February 03, 2014

We listen back to interviews with Hoffman from 1999 and 2008, when he told Fresh Air's Terry Gross that carrying the emotional life of a character could be "burdensome." He was found dead on Sunday at age 46.

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Philip Seymour Hoffman at a screening of The Master, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, during the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

Arts

On Philip Seymour Hoffman, And His Many Appearances

8:16pm February 03, 2014

by Bob Mondello

So many of the actor's roles dealt in appearances and self-doubt. Perhaps you don't get that good at communicating insecurity without knowing a little something about those things.

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Arts

Philip Seymour Hoffman: An 'Uncanny' Actor Of Stage And Screen

2:53pm February 03, 2014

by Elizabeth Blair

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Hoffman's award-winning performance in Capote wasn't so much an imitation as it was a channeling of "a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds." Hoffman, 46, was found dead Sunday.

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