Movies

Accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers prepare ballots for last year's Oscars mailing. Glitches in a new online voting system have prompted organizers to push back this year's balloting deadline.

Arts

E-Vote Hiccups Delay Oscar Balloting

6:10pm January 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

A new online option was meant to make things easier for Oscar voters — but widespread reports of difficulties have prompted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to extend the deadline.

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In Bernie, Jack Black plays a small-town mortician who murders his live-in companion after she won't stop nagging him. The movie is based on a true story.

Jack Black: On Music, Mayhem And Murder

5:44pm January 02, 2013

Actor Jack Black plays a kindly small-town funeral director who murders a millionaire in the film Bernie. Black is also one-half of the comedy folk-rock group Tenacious D. In May, they released an album in the style of heavy metal bands from the 1980s.

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Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a slave owner, holds Django's wife captive.

Arts

Tarantino On 'Django,' Violence And Catharsis

5:06pm December 28, 2012

by NPR Staff

Quentin Tarantino's new Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a freed slave turned bounty hunter. The writer and director discusses the film's violence with Audie Cornish and explains why he feels American history can withstand an approach that has more in common with Reservoir Dogs than with Roots.

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Doris Day will celebrate her 88th birthday on Tuesday, April 3.

Arts

Doris Day: A Hollywood Legend Reflects On Life

4:23pm December 28, 2012

Day started singing and dancing when she was a teenager, and made her first film at 24. After nearly 40 movies, she walked away from that part of her life in 1968, and started rescuing and caring for animals. Here, she speaks to Terry Gross in a lengthy interview about her career in film and music.

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Music & Culture

Vic Flick's Riff Captures The Sound Of James Bond

4:39pm December 26, 2012

The 007 theme is one of the most famous themes in movie history. The infamous guitar riff that gives the theme its secret agent feel was performed by Vic Flick, who spoke to Morning Edition about the day he played it, 50 years ago. (This piece initially aired on October 03, 2012 on Morning Edition).

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In Friends With Kids, Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) play two best friends who decide to have a baby together while keeping their relationship platonic — so that the baby doesn't interfere with their own romantic relationships.

Arts

David Edelstein's Top 12 Movies of 2012

2:47pm December 24, 2012

Fresh Air's movie critic does not think any masterpieces were made this year, but he does compare Daniel Day-Lewis to Julius Caesar and have some choice thoughts on the movie version of Les Mis.

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Director David Chase and Executive Producer and Music Supervisor Steve Van Zandt on the set of Not Fade Away.

'Not Fade': Rock 'N' Roll, Here To Stay

12:58pm December 21, 2012

In his new film, Sopranos creator David Chase tells a coming-of-age story about Jersey boys in the 1960s who dream of riding the wave of the British invasion all the way to stardom. Chase teams up with Steven Van Zandt — of the E Street Band and The Sopranos — to make the movie's music rock.

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was No. 1 at the box office this past weekend. But a No. 1 ranking means less about whether a movie will be profitable â and more about a fleeting cultural moment.

Arts

No. 1 At The Box Office? Four Reasons Why It Doesn't Matter

5:19pm December 17, 2012

by Sami Yenigun

Every weekend, movies compete to be No. 1 at the box office. But a No. 1 ranking means less about whether a movie will be profitable — and more about a fleeting cultural moment.

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Barbra Streisand is Joyce Brewster in The Guilt Trip. The multitalented performer has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony — a feat achieved by fewer than a dozen artists.

Arts

'Guilt Trip': Streisand On Songs, Films And Family

12:27pm December 17, 2012

In her new movie, singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.

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The Beatles look out of the Magical Mystery Tour coach skylight, on location in England in September 1967.

Behind The Scenes Of The Beatles' 'Magical Mystery Tour'

3:01pm December 14, 2012

by David Bianculli

A new documentary on PBS about the making of the Beatles' 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour features outtakes from the original and new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. TV critic David Bianculli calls the film "wonderfully thorough."

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