Movies

Dustin Hoffman makes his directorial debut with the film Quartet. He has starred in such classics as The Graduate, Kramer vs. Kramer and Tootsie.

Arts

'Quartet': Dustin Hoffman, Behind The Camera

3:08pm January 17, 2013

The veteran actor makes his directorial debut with a film about four aging opera singers who stage a concert at their retirement home. Starring Maggie Smith and Tom Courtenay, the film explores friendship, memory and the time that remains.

Queue Listen Now

Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo. Affleck also directed the film, which is based on events surrounding the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.

Arts

Affleck On 'Argo' And The 1979 Hostage Crisis

1:11pm January 15, 2013

Fresh off Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, where he won for best director and his film won for best motion picture/drama, the actor and director talks about his approach to the story of six diplomats who managed to escape a hostile Iran — and the CIA operative who helped them do so.

Queue Listen Now

Barbara shows a quiet, restrained normalcy in the former East Germany.

Arts

In 'Barbara,' A New Look At Life Behind The Wall

5:21pm January 14, 2013

by Bilal Qureshi

Already an awards-season staple, German historical dramas are moving beyond the horrors of the Third Reich and delving into the nuanced past of the former East Germany. Films like Christian Petzold's Barbara, a quiet story about a troubled young doctor, tell a different kind of history.

Queue Listen Now

The Big Picture: The Takeaway From 'Django Unchained'

2:58pm January 14, 2013

Quentin Tarantino's latest film is proving to be one of his most controversial. Django Unchained has drawn admiration and condemnation from critics, and has sparked debates about history, race and violence. NPR's Celeste Headlee reads from a variey of opinion pieces about the film.

Queue Listen Now

Ann Dowd plays Sandra, a hard-nosed Midwestern manager of a fast-food franchise in Compliance. The actress spent $13,000 to try to get an Oscar nomination for the role.

Arts

Ann Dowd's One-Woman Oscar-Nomination Campaign

11:01am January 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

Actress Ann Dowd received huge acclaim for her role in the indie film Compliance. But the studio told her it didn't have money to lobby the Academy for a best supporting actress award for her. So Dowd did something exceedingly rare in Hollywood: She spent $13,000 on her own campaign.

Queue Listen Now

Getting A Handle On Why Fingers Wrinkle

1:03pm January 11, 2013

Why do your fingers get pruney after a long water bath? Only a handful of researchers (ever) have looked into the finger-wrinkling experience. Reporting in the journal Biology Letters, researchers make the case for finger wrinkles as treads — wet wrinkled fingers seem to grip better than wet smooth ones.

Queue Listen Now

Arts

Oscar Nominees Announced: 'Lincoln' Leads With 12

3:04pm January 10, 2013

Nominations for the 85th Academy Awards were announced in Los Angeles on Thursday. The movie Lincoln scored big with 12 nominations, including best picture.

Queue Listen Now

Bobby Cannavale (right) stars in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway. Cannavale has also starred in television shows such as HBO's Boardwalk Empire and in films such as The Station Agent.

Arts

Bobby Cannavale, At Home On Broadway

12:25pm January 09, 2013

The actor, who's currently starring in Glenngarry Glen Ross opposite Al Pacino, has been acting for the stage since he was a teenager in Union City, N.J. "It was the only thing I ever wanted to do, really," he says.

Queue Listen Now

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in the science-fiction thriller Looper.

Music & Culture

'Looper': A World Of Musical Clicks And Pops

2:19pm January 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

The score of the time-travel thriller has little in common with the slick orchestral scores of science-fiction classics. Composer Nathan Johnson found his source material by immersing himself in the sounds of the film.

Queue Listen Now

John Schlesinger's 1971 film Sunday Bloody Sunday has just been released on Blu-ray. The film's complex love triangle starred Peter Finch, Murray Head and Glenda Jackson.

Mozart's Starring Role In 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'

1:35pm January 07, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

The 1971 John Schlesinger film, recently released on Blu-ray, tells the story of a love triangle and makes moving use of a trio from the opera Cosi fan tutte as the film's musical theme.

Queue Listen Now