Movies

Print versions of Daily Variety, like this one from 2003, will no longer be available on L.A. newsstands. Variety will continue online and in a print weekly, but the daily print edition is being dropped.

Arts

Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

10:55am March 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

Showbiz info is everywhere now, making it harder to sustain Hollywood's slang-filled must-read as a daily print publication. The magazine printed its last daily this week but will continue online and in a weekly edition. Cultural historian Neil Gabler explains why this shift is significant.

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Arts

Denzel Washington Remembers 'Malcom X' And 'The Wizard Of Oz'

1:29pm March 18, 2013

In highlights from a 2008 interview, the Oscar-winner talks with Terry Gross about reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which he calls "one of the greatest books I've ever read," and his love for the songs from The Wizard of Oz. He even sings a bar or two of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

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The noisy film is mostly wordless, with animals and nature filling in the blanks between its strangely stark images.

Arts

'Leviathan': The Fishing Life, From 360 Degrees

7:46am March 16, 2013

by Pat Dowell

Leviathan is a new film that's a documentary, and yet not quite a documentary. The mostly wordless art piece uses tiny cameras and dramatic soundscaping to probe the edges of human-animal interaction off the coast of New England. The filmmakers explain their unusual production process.

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Ginger & Rosa (starring Alice Englert and Elle Fanning) was directed by Sally Potter, who is perhaps best known for her 1992 film Orlando.

Arts

Three New Films Examine What It Means When Girls Act Out

5:37pm March 15, 2013

by David Edelstein

Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers, Sally Potter's Ginger & Rosa and Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills are wildly different films, yet they share a common impulse: to demonstrate indelibly how for girls, behaving outrageously is still a political act.

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Navy veteran Freddie (Phoenix) falls under the influence of cult leader Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in Anderson's film, which critic Ella Taylor describes as "one of the most twisted father-son tales ever told."

Arts

Paul Thomas Anderson, The Man Behind 'The Master'

11:52am March 15, 2013

The director of Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood talks to Fresh Air's Terry Gross about The Master, a tense drama with indelible performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams.

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Dolly Parton in a scene from the film 9 to 5.

Arts

The Movie Emily Spivey Has 'Seen A Million Times'

6:04pm March 09, 2013

by Lily Percy

Comedy writer Emily Spivey could watch the comedy 9 to 5 a million times. "It really showed me that women are just as hysterical and funny as men," she says.

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James Franco stars as the Wizard of Oz before the Wizard meets Dorothy in Oz the Great and Powerful.

Arts

'Oz': Neither Great Nor Powerful

1:34pm March 08, 2013

by David Edelstein

There are three reasons to see this prequel to the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz: the trio of witches played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams. But James Franco, who stars as the wizard-in-the-making, disappoints — and the film as a whole is a bit snoozy.

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Will 'Oz The Great And Powerful' Gain Emerald Status?

5:19am March 07, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

The newest movie version of The Wizard of Oz, opens this weekend. Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco as the wizard. The movie goes beyond the Technicolor wonder of the famous MGM film to a full-blown 2013 treatment with 3D and surround sound.

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In HBO's Enlightened, Laura Dern stars as corporate executive Amy Jellicoe, who returns from a post-meltdown retreat to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Series creator Mike White stars as Tyler, Amy's friend and co-worker.

Arts

Mike White On Creating HBO's 'Enlightened' Whistle-Blower

2:51pm March 04, 2013

On the HBO series Enlightened, a naive corporate executive played by Laura Dern wants to change the world. The series' creator and writer, Mike White, says the show's whistle-blowing plot line was inspired, in part, by his own father's experience.

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A film still of New York City from 1952's This Is Cinerama. The film was meant to introduce audiences to the new Cinerama widescreen.

Arts

Cinerama Brought The Power Of Peripheral Vision To The Movies

2:51pm March 04, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

In the 1950s, as movie directors were trying to offer TV watchers something they couldn't get on a small screen, Cinerama films threw three simultaneous images onto a curved screen to create peripheral vision. Two classic Cinerama films — This Is Cinerama and Windjammer — are now out on DVD.

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