Arts & Life 'Simpsons Movie': Bigger, Longer, Underwhelming July 27, 2007 • Iconic series loses something when it's padded and ironed out to conform to Hollywood's templates; the film rarely captures the magic of the show, with its lunatic free-associations and its manic highs. 'Simpsons Movie': Bigger, Longer, Underwhelming Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12297974/12300113" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Arts & Life 'Moliere' July 26, 2007 • Appealingly preposterous biopic purports to explain what happened during a few lost months in the life of France's answer to Shakespeare; according to this sumptuously costumed comedy, his adventures inspired his best characters and plays.
Arts & Life 'No End In Sight' July 26, 2007 • Charles Ferguson's meticulously assembled documentary will raise your hackles — either at the folks who've been prosecuting the Iraq war, or at Ferguson, whose clear aim is to hold their feet to the fire.
Arts & Life 'This Is England' July 26, 2007 • Shane Meadows' film tracks a fatherless boy through a budding friendship with a skinhead — and into dangerous territory with a new breed of outsider — in the English Midlands just after the Falklands war.
Arts & Life In a Changing England, a Child Irrevocably Changed July 25, 2007 • Set in early-'80s Britain, Shane Meadows' This Is England tracks a fatherless boy through a budding friendship with a skinhead — and into dangerous territory with a new breed of outsider. In a Changing England, a Child Irrevocably Changed Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12225611/12229175" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life Big Hair, Bouncy Moves, Tons of Bawlmer Charm July 22, 2007 • This star-studded, big-budget, musicalized Hollywood take on Hairspray retains the original's funky sweetness, ramps up the subversive social-consciousness stuff — and it pretty much dares you not to love it. Big Hair, Bouncy Moves, Tons of Bawlmer Charm Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12048410/12135334" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Big Hair, Bouncy Moves, Tons of Bawlmer Charm Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12048410/12135334" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
Arts & Life 'Hairspray' July 20, 2007 • This star-studded, big-budget, musicalized Hollywood take on Hairspray retains the original's funky sweetness — and ramps up the subversive social-consciousness stuff. Hugely enjoyable summer fun. (Recommended)
Arts & Life Hollywood's Musical 'Hairspray,' a Little Too Bouffant Fresh Air July 20, 2007 • Fresh Air's film critic says Adam Shankman's candy-colored teeny-bopper parable feels fatuously energized, with the songs all blaring at one manic pitch and a heroine whose delusional optimism has peaked by the end of the opening number. Hollywood's Musical 'Hairspray,' a Little Too Bouffant Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12122633/12122636" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
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Arts & Life 'Sunshine': Space Opera with a Dark Cloud or Two July 20, 2007 • Brightness has never seemed as menacing as it does in Sunshine, a sci-fi nail-biter about a future Earth's scramble to reignite a dying sun. It's the latest from 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle. 'Sunshine': Space Opera with a Dark Cloud or Two Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/12097685/12102434" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life 'Goya's Ghosts' July 19, 2007 • Milos Forman's lush epic tries to link the Spanish Inquisition, the rise of Napoleon, and the paintings of Francisco Goya; Javier Bardem is a preening monk, Natalie Portman a tortured innocent, Stellan Skarsgard the almost irrelevant title character.
Arts & Life 'Sunshine' July 19, 2007 • The sun's bright candle is just about burnt out — will Cillian Murphy's team of squabbling space jockeys be able to relight it in time? Wait, this is science-fiction: Don't ask too many questions, or everything may blow up. Danny Boyle's movie is a flameout, but it sure is pretty.
Arts & Life 'Joshua' July 19, 2007 • A 9-year-old who never smiles but plays a mean piano, a newborn with glass-shattering vocal cords, a mom with postpartum depression-- this intriguing drama keeps you guessing, at least initially, about whether its title character is a bad seed or just having a bad month.
Arts & Life 'Introducing the Dwights' July 19, 2007 • A lightweight coming-of-age dramedy about a bright, handsome 20-year-old still living with Mommie Dearest — whose reluctance to let him go is ruining his chances of losing his virginity. Brenda Blethyn plays a modern Medea, but the comic impulse ultimately wins out.
Arts & Life 'Talk to Me': The Mouth That Roared in '60s D.C. July 13, 2007 • Don Cheadle plays "Petey" Greene, an ex-con turned talk-radio DJ in '60s D.C.; when riots explode after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the loudmouth with a past discovers he's got the street cred to help a burning city bring itself back under control. 'Talk to Me': The Mouth That Roared in '60s D.C. Listen Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/11957643/11960104" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript
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Arts & Life 'Talk to Me' July 12, 2007 • Kasi Lemmons' film stars Don Cheadle as "Petey" Greene, the ex-con turned radio star who helped restore calm in Washington, D.C., when rioting exploded after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Chiwetel Ejiofor co-stars.