Movies

Arts

The Movie Alex Karpovsky Has 'Seen A Million Times'

4:35pm March 03, 2013

by Lily Percy

Actor-writer-director Alex Karpovsky could watch Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch Drunk Love a million times. "I saw it with a friend of mine, and we both absolutely loved it and immediately started quoting it," he says.

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Rachel Weisz plays the witch Evanora in director Sam Raimi's upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful. The film is one of nine upcoming Oz adaptations and tackles more frightening and adult themes than those that came before it.

Arts

Fairy Tales For Grown-Ups? More Are On The Way

8:01pm March 01, 2013

by Bob Mondello

A slew of new fairy tale films is on the way to your nearest cineplex, but the intended audience might not be what you'd think. Bob Mondello explains how these movies, like their audiences, are growing up, taking on adult themes and dealing with the fears of a new generation of young adults.

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Nicole Kidman (left) and Mia Wasikowska star as Evelyn and India Stoker in Park Chan-wook's new thriller.

Arts

A Disappointing Thriller Channels Hitchcock And Bram 'Stoker'

2:26pm March 01, 2013

by David Edelstein

The film is ripe with a creepy-crawly feel that would be affecting if the tone weren't so arch. Directed by Park Chan-wook, written by Wentworth Miller and starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode, Stoker is a vile little chamber horror, says critic David Edelstein.

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Acclaimed writer-director-producer Robert Zemeckis has worked on more than 30 films, including the Back to the Future series and Forrest Gump, for which he won an Oscar for best director.

Arts

'Flight' Takes On Questions Of Accountability

2:22pm March 01, 2013

The Robert Zemeckis film, out now on DVD, stars Denzel Washington as a pilot with a secret substance-abuse problem who successfully crash-lands an airplane while high on drugs and alcohol. He must then ask himself tough questions about whether his heroism is undermined by his addiction.

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Director Dror Moreh was nominated for an Academy Award for his documentary The Gatekeepers.

Arts

'The Gatekeepers' Offer Candid Assessment Of Israel's Security

1:30pm February 28, 2013

Director Dror Moreh interviews six former heads of the Israel's Shin Bet security service in his Oscar-nominated documentary. The men look back on their work and conclude that continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinians will not resolve the conflict.

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Movie trailers can drive people to the theaters or keep them away altogether.

Arts

Movie Trailer Math: Getting 'Butts In The Seats' In Minutes

3:05pm February 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

Before films hit theaters, they are heralded by trailers that can either drive people to the box office or keep them away. Stephen Garrett, owner of the trailer production company Jump Cut Creative, talks about what it takes to lure audiences without spoiling a film.

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Linguist Geoff Nunberg finds that in the film Lincoln, screenwriter Tony Kushner oscillates between old and modern meanings of "equality."

Arts

Historical Vocab: When We Get It Wrong, Does It Matter?

7:12pm February 26, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

We're living in an age obsessed with authenticity, says linguist Geoff Nunberg, but we often choose to nitpick the wrong details. Whether it's Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Lincoln or Argo, Nunberg argues, a historical novel or screenplay should give us a translation, not a transcription.

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Adele performs the theme song to "Skyfall."

Arts

The Oscars Broadcast, Zooming Way Past Cheeky To Land Squarely On Crass

4:36pm February 25, 2013

by Linda Holmes

Seth MacFarlane hosted the 85th Academy Awards which Monkey See's Linda Holmes says was one of the worst hosting performances in Oscar history. Jokes about women just kept coming. His sexist jokes were in poor taste, sure, but if they'd been funny, nobody would have cared.

Arts

'Argo,' 'Life Of Pi' Win Top Oscars

4:26pm February 25, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

The movies Argo and Life of Pi and actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence were among the winners at Sunday's Academy Awards. But no one movie swept the show.

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Jennifer Lawrence's 'Silver Linings' Night

3:55pm February 25, 2013

Jennifer Lawrence's best actress win at the Oscars on Sunday may be remembered longer than her performance at the awards show. On the red carpet, she was bleeped after uttering a four-letter word; and while walking to the stage to accept her award, she tripped on the stairs.

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