Arts

Film director Rian Johnson at the premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in London.

Arts

'Last Jedi' Is Only The Beginning For The New 'Star Wars' Team

9:12am December 15, 2017

by Mandalit del Barco

Director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman have worked together for 15 years. Their new film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, will kick off the first of four Star Wars movies they'll work on together.

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Many people who have worked in kitchens say the restaurant industry's problem goes far beyond high-flying personalities and celebrity chefs. Even when harassment is not sexual, abusive work environments flourish in the industry.

Allegations Against Celebrity Chefs Reveal Abuse In The Restaurant Industry

5:55pm December 14, 2017

by Samantha Raphelson

Allegations of sexual misconduct against Mario Batali have highlighted abuse in restaurants, but many people who have worked in kitchens say the industry's problem goes far beyond celebrities.

Bull-necked wrestler John Cena voices the pacifist bull Ferdinand.

Arts

Mediocre 'Ferdinand' Will Have Bored Parents Seeing Red

5:01pm December 14, 2017

by Scott Tobias

Munro Leaf's classic children story about a pacifist bull becomes a formulaic animated film indistinguishable from scores of others.

Birdboy: The Forgotten Children is a film based on the graphic novel by Alberto Vázquez.

Arts

'Birdboy' Is A Dark, Beautiful, Boundary-Pushing Animated Film

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Andrew Lapin

Three adorable anthropomorphic animals wander a post-apocalyptic hellscape in this hand-drawn animated film from Spain that "thumbs its nose at traditional G-rated storytelling."

Bob Balaban and Peter Sarsgaard star in Wormwood, a film that investigates the death of Frank Olson.

Arts

Potent Cocktail Of Drama And Documentary Explores A Mysterious Death: 'Wormwood'

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Ella Taylor

Filmmaker Errol Morris employs fictional techniques — and famous actors — in this 241-minute meditation on the demise of a CIA operative in 1953 that left a son obsessed with finding answers.

A sidekick (Bill Pullman) gets kicked upstairs in The Ballad of Lefty Brown.

Arts

'The Ballad Of Lefty Brown' Is A Variation On A Familiar Tune

5:00pm December 14, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

Bill Pullman stars as an Old West sidekick who loses his hero and embarks upon a quest for vengeance in writer/director Jared Moshe's straight-shooting Western.

Arts

The Legacy Of Surfer And Filmmaker Bruce Brown

4:47pm December 14, 2017

Surfer and filmmaker Bruce Brown, who is best known for the movie Endless Summer, passed away earlier this week. NPR's Kelly McEvers speaks with Matt Holzman of KRCW's The Document about the filmmaker's legacy.

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Books
Arts

Poetry's Not Dead, And Here Are Books To Help Appreciate It

4:47pm December 14, 2017

by Tess Taylor

Our poetry reviewer, Tess Taylor, received a stack of books over the course of this year to help encourage reading poetry. She began reading skeptically, but grew to love two of them: Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder and A Little Book on Form by Robert Hass.

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