NPR's Bob Mondello says J.J. Abrams' latest Star Trek film knows how to make the sparks and feelings fly, but doesn't bother making the sparks and feeling matter very much.
The amazing tale of two sisters from a poor neighborhood — who play tennis unlike anyone before them and each reach No. 1 in the world — is one we're not likely to see again.
The 12th film based on Gene Roddenberry's '60s sci-fi TV show is the second to star a new group of actors as Kirk, Spock and their crew. J.J. Abrams returns as director, and Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch plays the memorable villain.
In a striking documentary, Sarah Polley turns the camera on her own family. The director and actor, known for films such as Away from Her and The Sweet Hereafter, was teased growing up about not looking like her actor father. At 27, she discovered that it wasn't a joke.
Special effects date back to the dawn of film, but with today's tools moviemakers can put pretty much anything on-screen — which has NPR film critic Bob Mondello thinking about how movie style affects movie substance.
In Frances Ha, a 27-year-old (Greta Gerwig) navigates New York City — and the transition from prolonged adolescence to proper adulthood. Gerwig and director Noah Baumbach co-wrote the script; they join Fresh Air's Terry Gross to talk about the project.
Writer-comedian Mark McKinney could watch Hayao Miyazaki's anime film My Neighbor Totoro a million times. "It still makes me laugh, it still makes me smile," he says.
In overseeing the new film's soundtrack, music supervisor Anton Monsted says he hoped to create a "sliding door" effect between the Jazz Age and the hip-hop era.
A director's film memoir of her theatrical family is transformed by surprising discoveries about her parents' past — and her own heritage. Sarah Polley's film becomes a superb meditation on how we dramatize memory. (Recommended)