Arts

Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett, lower right. Clockwise from upper left are Buddy Ebsen (as Jed Clampett), Nancy Kulp (as Jane Hathaway), Raymond Bailey (as Milburn Drysdale), Douglas, Max Baer Jr. (as Jethro Bodine) and Irene Ryan (as "Granny").

Arts

Donna Douglas, Elly May On 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' Dies At 81

7:13pm January 02, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The actress who played the tomboy daughter of Ozark mountain man Jed Clampett also appeared on-screen alongside Elvis Presley and starred in a classic episode of The Twilight Zone.

Marion Cotillard is Sandra, who must convince her factory co-workers to vote against giving themselves a bonus in order to preserve her job, in Two Days, One Night.

Arts

'Leviathan' And 'Two Days' Look For Oscar Gold

6:23pm January 02, 2015

by Bob Mondello

The week between Christmas and the new year often delivers Oscar hopefuls to our screens; NPR's Bob Mondello praises two foreign films that grapple with social issues through the lens of family.

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Arts

What 'Back To The Future 2' Got Right — And Wrong — About 2015

6:23pm January 02, 2015

The movie Back to the Future 2 imagined 2015 as a world full of hover skateboards, flying cars and 3-D printed pizzas. How many of those predictions came true?

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Books
Arts

For The New Year, Ray Bradbury's Buoyant Vision Of The Future

6:23pm January 02, 2015

by Jason Sheehan

We saw a lot of dystopias in both films and books this year. Author Jason Sheehan has had enough. He plans to celebrate the new year with some science fiction that's actually hopeful about the future.

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Arts

'Life Itself': An Unflinching Documentary Of Roger Ebert's Life And Death

4:12pm January 02, 2015

In late 2012, filmmaker Steve James and Roger Ebert began talking about filming a documentary based on Ebert's memoir. Ebert's wife, Chaz, agreed. They didn't know that he would die within months.

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Billy Joel, Popular Song, PBS, And Needing A Piano

2:36pm January 02, 2015

by Linda Holmes

A PBS concert special looking at the legacy of Billy Joel brings some great stuff, some less great stuff, and a chance to reflect.

Allen Leech as Tom Branson and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary.

Arts

The Madly Uneven 'Downton Abbey' Turns Its Eye From Money To Sex

2:12pm January 02, 2015

by Linda Holmes

The fifth season of Downton Abbey continues some trends from past seasons — flawed pacing, especially. But its looks at the choices of women are intriguing.

"The egg is a lens through which to view the entire craft of cooking," says food writer Michael Ruhlman.

Arts

No Yolk: Eggs Beat Most Other Foods In Our Blog Last Year

1:13pm January 02, 2015

by Eliza Barclay

We looked back at the most popular posts of 2014 and found many of them were about eggs. So we asked: What makes this everyday food so intriguing?

Alexey Serebryakov as Kolya in Leviathan.

Arts

'Leviathan' Shows A Film And Filmmaker Unafraid Of Big Questions

10:33am January 02, 2015

by Ella Taylor

Andrey Zvyagintsev's story of corruption in post-Soviet Russia won funding from the Ministry Of Culture, but his picture of his homeland is unsettling.

Arts

Murder, Cows And Bad Funerals In The Absurd Comedy Of 'Li'l Quinquin'

10:16am January 02, 2015

by Mark Jenkins

Bruno Dumont's inconclusively plotted story of a boy crossing paths with detectives and other locals was made as a miniseries, but feels little like traditional television.