Arts

Arts

Depicting An Unstable Era, 'Inherent Vice' Never Jells, But It's Addictive

1:32pm December 12, 2014

by David Edelstein

The film, based on Thomas Pynchon's novel, is set in 1970 in a beach town south of Los Angeles. With wonderful actors, it's like a gorgeous stoner art object: groovy, campy, dreamlike and funny.

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Rosario Dawson (left) plays Chelsea Brown, a New York Times reporter who spends a day interviewing Rock's character, Andre Allen.

Arts

'Top Five': A Good, Not Great, Day In New York With Chris Rock

11:12am December 12, 2014

by Linda Holmes

Chris Rock's new comedy is strong on industry satire, but gets a little watery with the romance.

Arts

The Great 'Parks And Rec' Clip War Of 2014

9:41am December 12, 2014

by Linda Holmes

When critics are anticipating the end of a show they've liked a lot, strange things happen.

A drawing of two clinking martini glasses.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Live From Sixth And I

8:44am December 12, 2014

by Linda Holmes

Our live show brings us to some consideration of the year that's just ending and some of the firsts that we are sometimes at pains to recall.

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Arts

Meet the Artist: Watercolor Painter Alexis Lavine

8:19am December 12, 2014

by David Ford

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Glenn Close stars as Agnes in Edward Albee's play A Delicate Balance.

Arts

Glenn Close Ends 20-Year Broadway Hiatus With 'A Delicate Balance'

6:39pm December 11, 2014

by NPR Staff

Close stars as a suburban matron in a revival of Edward Albee's 1966 play. She tells NPR about the timelessness of Albee's play and getting a nosebleed in the middle of a recent matinee.

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Joaquin Phoenix stars as Larry "Doc" Sportello â a private investigator with a pot smoking habit â in Inherent Vice, Paul Thomas Anderson's film adaptation of the novel by Thomas Pynchon.

Arts

The 1970s, Ugly And Adrift In 'Inherent Vice'

5:03pm December 11, 2014

by Ella Taylor

Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of outlining times and places occupied by his strange dreamers. Inherent Vice, set in California in the 1970s, gets many things right, even if it's a bit too epic.

Nico Rockwell and Lana Rockwell star in Little Feet.

Arts

In A Serious Season, The Loose Charms Of 'Little Feet'

5:03pm December 11, 2014

by Tomas Hachard

Filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell features his own children in a charming, uneven, energetic film about siblings on a journey to set a goldfish free.

Scott Saul is an associate professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley and author of Freedom is Freedom Ain't: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties.

Books
Arts

Richard Pryor, A Comedy Pioneer Who Was 'Always Whittling On Dynamite'

3:14pm December 11, 2014

Scott Saul's new book, Becoming Richard Pryor, describes how Pryor went from being raised by a grandmother, who was a bootlegger and madam, to being a transformative figure in entertainment.

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Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, pictured at a gathering last week of African-American clergy, academics and activists outside Washington D.C.

In Troubled Times, Does 'The Black Church' Still Matter?

2:52pm December 11, 2014

by Michel Martin

As the nation endures a season of racial tension, NPR's Michel Martin talks about the mission of the black church and whether it remains relevant in the social justice movement.

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