Movies

Can You Make A Movie With King Kong Without Perpetuating Racial Undertones?

6:56pm March 11, 2017

by Gene Demby

This month brings us the latest remake of the iconic King Kong story. Considering the history of King Kong you might wonder if there's any way the movie can avoid racial tropes.

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The inner lives of four women from different walks of life in India are explored in Lipstick Under My Burka.

Health & Safety

India Bans Award-Winning Indian Film For Being Too 'Lady-Orientated'

7:00am March 11, 2017

by Chhavi Sachdev

The movie is 'Lipstick Under My Burkha.' It won a prize at the Mumbai Film Festival — but was deemed not appropriate for Indian audiences.

Arts

'Sense Of An Ending' Lacks The Punch Of The Prize-Winning Novel It's Based On

1:28pm March 10, 2017

by David Edelstein

The film tells the story of an emotionally shut-down man who gradually learns that the events of his past are not as he remembers. David Edelstein says the movie, unlike the book, is a "non-event."

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Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) in Get Out.

Arts

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Get Out' and 'The Americans'

10:42am March 10, 2017

by Linda Holmes

It's a week of high tension as the team welcomes Gene Demby and Kat Chow of NPR's Code Switch team to talk about 'Get Out' and the return of 'The Americans.'

Kristen Stewart plays a medium who is determined to communicate with the spirit of her late twin brother in Personal Shopper.

Arts

Paranormal Activity Meets Profound Grief In 'Personal Shopper'

10:05am March 10, 2017

by Justin Chang

Olivier Assayas' chilling new film features Kristen Stewart as a medium who is trying to contact her dead twin. Critic Justin Chang calls it "moody, baffling and altogether entrancing."

Gorilla Warfare: San (Tian Jing), Weaver (Brie Larson), Conrad (Tom Hiddleston) and Slivko (Thomas Mann) in Kong: Skull Island.

Arts

In The Forgettable 'Kong: Skull Island,' A Great Cast, Cast Aside

5:00pm March 09, 2017

by Chris Klimek

Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly, John Goodman and Samuel L. Jackson help ensure that this mediocre creature feature is "no chore to sit through," says critic Chris Klimek.

To Denial!: Tony (Jim Broadbentt) and Margaret (Harriet Walter) in The Sense of an Ending.

Arts

An Unexamined Life, Examined And Re-Examined: 'The Sense Of An Ending'

5:00pm March 09, 2017

by Ella Taylor

An unsparing, unsentimental Julian Barnes novel gets a straightforward treatment — and a tacked-on, falsely redemptive ending — in Ritesh Batra's film.

The Spite of the Hunter: Villainous preacher Guy Pearce excoriates his flock in Brimstone.

Arts

A Revisionist Western With A Vision That's Oppressively Brutal: 'Brimstone'

5:00pm March 09, 2017

by Scott Tobias

Dutch writer-director Martin Koolhoven's bleak, four-part, 149-minute tale, which features Guy Pearce as a sadistic preacher in the Old West, proves "rigorously unpleasant," says critic Scott Tobias.

Veterinary students Julien (Rabah Nait Oufella) and Justine (Garance Marillier) flesh out their study plan in Raw.

Arts

'Raw' Is Not Well Done

5:00pm March 09, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

French writer-director Julia Ducournau's debut feature, about a vegetarian veterinary student who develops a taste for viscera, "is as tiresome as it is scandalous," says critic Mark Jenkins.

Arts

Hollywood's Favorite Giant Ape Returns In 'Kong: Skull Island'

4:36pm March 09, 2017

by Bob Mondello

In Kong: Skull Island, Hollywood's favorite giant ape returns to theaters, this time befriending Brie Larson and annoying John Goodman.