Arts

Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) gets a look into Giant Country thanks to a Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance).

Arts

Spielberg's 'The BFG' Parallels Another Friendly Outcast

6:34pm June 30, 2016

by Bob Mondello

The BFG is the new Steven Spielberg movie based off the Roald Dahl book. It's about a girl and a friendly giant triumphing over bullies and adversity. And it's got something familiar about it, too.

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In District Merchants, Akeem Davis plays Lance, a freed slave who has a crisis of conscience when he learns his boss, Shylock, may have been involved in the slave trade.

Arts

This Shakespeare Reconstruction Sets 'Merchant' In Post-Civil War D.C.

6:34pm June 30, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

In District Merchants, Shylock is still Jewish, but half of the other characters are freed slaves. The playwright says he was inspired but a reference to slavery in Shakespeare's original text.

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Arts

Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Invites New Members

6:34pm June 30, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to UCLA professor Darnell Hunt about the new class of members on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

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Gail Perkins (Naomie Harris) and Perry Makepeace (Ewan McGregor) in Our Kind Of Traitor.

Arts

Le Carre Adaptation Takes 'Our Kind of Traitor' On A Tour Of The Underworld

5:00pm June 30, 2016

by Ella Taylor

A professor (Ewan McGregor) gets drawn into a seedy and violent world of criminal intrigue by a boisterous Mafioso (Stellan Skarsgard).

A group of nuns deals with loss and violence in The Innocents.

Arts

Faith And Fear In A Story Of 'Innocents'

5:00pm June 30, 2016

by Mark Jenkins

Inspired by real events, The Innocents visits a convent in 1945 where a doctor finds herself unexpectedly treating pregnant nuns.

Arts

Floppy Ears And Green Gas From One 'BFG'

5:00pm June 30, 2016

by Scott Tobias

Steven Spielberg directs an adaptation of the Roald Dahl book that goes long on sentiment and on ... well, length, but finds charm in its deployment of Mark Rylance as the CGI giant's voice.

Encore: 'Future Shock' 40 Years Later

4:26pm June 30, 2016

by Martin Kaste

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler was a huge sensation when it was published in 1970. The book perfectly captured the angst of that time and prepared society for more changes to come.

An award-winning yogurt-maker is in prison for burning down a yogurt factory.

Arts

In Prison, The Passion That Drove A Yogurt-Maker To Arson Still Burns

4:04pm June 30, 2016

by Dan Charles

The yogurt entrepreneur who set fire to his factory remains in prison, but he's in better spirits now. "He's dreaming again," says his wife.

Harriet Logan, owner of Loganberry Books in Shaker Heights, Ohio, shares her summer reading recommendations including a graphic novel about trash and a George Eliot classic.

Books
Arts

Pack These Pages: Three Must-Reads For Summer

5:07pm June 29, 2016

Harriet Logan, owner of Loganberry Books in Shaker Heights, Ohio, recommends a graphic novel about trash, a George Eliot classic and a children's book about a bear pianist.

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Rolf and Daughters, in Nashville, Tenn., boasts exposed brick, bare bulbs and ceiling pipes.

Arts

Why Does Every New Restaurant Look Like A Factory?

4:58pm June 29, 2016

by Natalie Jacewicz

The stripped-down look of exposed brick, poured cement floors and Edison light bulbs is popular in restaurants across America. One reporter dares to ask, "Seriously, why?"