Bob Mondello

When 'G' Movies Are For Kids, Do Kids Avoid 'G' Movies?

Bob Mondello — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 20:08:00 +0000

If you're a parent with small children, summer is traditionally a time when there's lots for them to see at the multiplex. That's not untrue this summer. But if you're specifically looking for a film with a G rating, you may just be out of luck.

Two years ago, out of the more than 600 films submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America, 16 got rated G — the most in a decade. Last year, even if you counted re-releases, only 10 films got rated G. And this year, of the 250 films that have opened so far, not a single one has been rated G. Not one.

More Time Together, Though 'Midnight' Looms

Bob Mondello — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Celine and Jesse are sporting a few physical wrinkles — and working through some unsettling relational ones — in Before Midnight, but that just makes this third installment of their once-dewy romance gratifyingly dissonant.

It's been 18 years since they talked through the night that first time, Julie Delpy's Celine enchanting and occasionally prickly, Ethan Hawke's Jesse determined to charm; their chatter then, as now, scripted but loose enough to feel improvised as captured in long, long takes by Richard Linklater's cameras.

Take a peek back at 1995's Before Sunrise, and

New 'Trek' Goes 'Into Darkness,' But Not Much Deeper

Bob Mondello — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:14:00 +0000

The opening sequence of J.J. Abram's new entry in the Star Trek universe has all the ingredients of the classic franchise.

There's Kirk and his crew bellowing on the bridge, everyone worrying about the prime directive and our favorite Vulcan trapped in a volcano.

OK, I'm in. I may not be a fanboy anymore, but I sure was in my youth, and having these guys in their youths again is just as cool at the outset as it was last time.

Chris Pine's baby-Shatner is spitting his lines while Zachary Quinto channels his inner Nimoy.

Polley's 'Stories': A Family Saga Strikingly Spun

Bob Mondello — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:47:00 +0000

Sarah Polley grew up the fifth of five children in a Canadian theatrical family. Her father, Michael, is a transplanted British actor; her mother, Diane, was an actress and casting director. No wonder Sarah feels her family's narrative has the stuff of drama.

"I'm interested in the way we tell stories about our lives," she says in the film, "about the fact that the truth about the past is often ephemeral and difficult to pin down."

Prophetic words, those.

But let's start from the film's beginning.

In 'Iron Man 3,' A Metalhead Gets The Blues

Bob Mondello — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Y'know, I think this bummed-out superhero thing is catching. Depressed Bat-guy, brooding Spider-dude, even the Man of Steel seems existentially troubled in previews of his most recent incarnation.

And smart-alecky Iron Man? He'd appeared inoculated by Tony Stark's reflexive snark from succumbing to a similar ailment — but even he's having anxiety attacks these days.

Digging Into Ricky Jay's 'Deceptive' Card Tricks

Bob Mondello — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:26:00 +0000

When people talk about movie magic, they rarely mean card tricks.

On The Big Screen, The Tax Guy Can Be Your Buddy

Bob Mondello — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:24:00 +0000

It's fair to say that the bakery employees who hooted and jeered "tax maaaaaan" when mild-mannered auditor Will Ferrell showed up in Stranger than Fiction were no fans of the Internal Revenue Service. In that, they're like a lot of us, no?

So it's intriguing that Hollywood generally treats tax inspectors as nice guys. On the big screen, it's typically their IRS bosses who are the bad ones.

"High bracket, low bracket — if Uncle doesn't get his cut we nail your hide to the barnyard door," snarls Tony Randall's boss in the 1959 comedy The Mating Game.

A Film So Sumptuous, 'Renoir' Himself Might Have Helped Out

Bob Mondello — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 21:22:00 +0000

The year is 1915. A beautiful young woman bicycling through sun-dappled woods passes under an effigy of a German soldier and seems entirely unfazed. World War I is raging elsewhere in Europe, but here on the French Riviera life is serene.

The cyclist, Andree, is on her way to pose for an elderly Impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), whom she somewhat startles by claiming to be an artist herself.

"An artist," wonders the great man.

"Actress, dancer, singer," she says, smiling, as he chuckles.

Hollywood's History Of Putting Gay Rights On Trial

Bob Mondello — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:23:00 +0000

With the Supreme Court hearing arguments this week on same-sex marriage, I'd like to point out a parallel evolution in what I see as a Hollywood mini-genre: films in which gay characters are either taken to court or seek redress in court for issues involving their sexuality.

Arguably the most famous question ever asked in a courtroom about a line of poetry — "What is the love that dare not speak its name?" — was originally put to playwright Oscar Wilde in 1894 by a British prosecutor.

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

Bob Mondello — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:32:00 +0000

Adaptations of fairy tales are everywhere you look. The TV show Once Upon a Time and the police procedural Grimm are in their second seasons. Hansel and his sister Gretel are at the cineplex hunting witches with machine guns. Jack, of beanstalk fame, starts slaying giants today. And those aren't the only bedtime stories that have been redesigned to keep 20-somethings up at night.

Two years ago, the big-fanged critter threatening Amanda Seyfried's Red, in the Red Riding Hood re-conceived by Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, was a werewolf.

Despite Dark Themes, A Big Oscar Bounce

Bob Mondello — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:54:00 +0000

How much is a best-picture Oscar worth? Not the statuette — winners are required to sell that back to the Academy for a buck if they want to get rid of it. No, what's the Oscar worth at the box office?

It's tricky to estimate, obviously, what with some pictures already on DVD when the contenders are nominated, and others just starting their theatrical runs. Still, this is a year where nominations appear to have made a difference, with a surprising number of popular nominees.

Home Video Review: 'Buster Keaton: The Ultimate Collection'

Bob Mondello — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 22:44:00 +0000

Time now for a home-viewing recommendation from NPR movie critic Bob Mondello. A quiet recommendation — because Bob is touting the Ultimate Buster Keaton Collection, a 14-disc set of classic silent comedies.

Silent film had three great clowns.

Home Video Review: 'Slings And Arrows'

Bob Mondello — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:03:00 +0000

Time now for a home-viewing recommendation from movie critic Bob Mondello. He recently caught an online episode of the Shakespeare-centric comedy Slings and Arrows and says it reminded him how much he liked the whole series.

Even though he's a major character, Oliver, a flamboyant director at the fictional New Burbage Theater Festival (modeled on Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Fest) gets killed by a truck in the first episode of the first season of Slings and Arrows. A truck labeled "Canada's Best Hams," no less — appropriate for a guy who deals with actors.

Bob Mondello's Best Movies of 2012

Bob Mondello — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:08:00 +0000

A lot of movie box-office records fell in 2012. The comic-book blockbuster The Avengers had the biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history. Skyfall will be the first James Bond film to top $1 billion worldwide. And the box-office year as a whole is easily the movie industry's biggest ever. But what about quality?

A 'Hobbit,' Off On His Unhurried Journey

Bob Mondello — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:25:00 +0000

The Hobbit's path to the screen may have started out as tortuous as a trek through the deadly Helcaraxe, filled with detours (Guillermo del Toro was initially going to direct), marked by conflict (New Zealand labor disputes) and strewn with seemingly insurmountable obstacles (so many that the filmmakers threatened to move the shoot to Australia).

But with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy having taken in almost $3 billion at the box office, there was never any real doubt that J.R.R.

Hollywood Heights: The Ups, Downs And In-Betweens

Bob Mondello — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Hollywood can make any actor look imposing by shooting from a low angle or building sets with short door frames. But the fact is that we want our heroes big and our villains bigger, and the average male actor is about the same size as the average American male — roughly 5 foot 9 1/2. And some very "big" stars have been a good deal less than that.

Yoda's a special case, obviously, but action-movie heroes often loom larger onscreen than they do in person.

For Pi, A Wonderful 'Life' Finds Its Way To Film

Bob Mondello — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 21:34:00 +0000

When your dad owns a zoo in India, as Pi's dad does, it's perhaps natural to regard animals as your buddies. Cool if you're talking goats and turtles; less cool if the animal you decide you want to pet is a Bengal tiger.

"He's an animal, not a playmate," his terrified father shouts. "Animals have souls," the boy replies gently. "I have seen it in their eyes."

Fast forward a few years, and Pi will get a chance to test that theory when his family closes the zoo and is accompanying the animals on a sea voyage to their new home in Canada.

'Tis The Season For Oscar-Bait Adaptations

Bob Mondello — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:49:00 +0000

It's the sort of juxtaposition that often arises at this time of year: novel adaptations arriving in droves at movie theaters, hunting for Oscar nominations.

J.R.R.

Bond Is Back And Living Up To His Reputation

Bob Mondello — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 23:02:00 +0000

Istanbul: Somebody's stolen a hard drive with info sensitive enough that ... oh, who cares? Bond is giving chase, and that's all that matters — cars careening through bazaars, motorcycles flying across rooftops until Daniel Craig's 007 lands atop a speeding train.

"Atop" is a problem, though; how to get inside? Maybe by commandeering a derrick from a car in back, ripping a hole in the roof of a passenger car and leaping through the hole just as the back of the car tears off.

Lincoln's Screen Legacy, Decidedly Larger Than Life

Bob Mondello — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:43:00 +0000

He's a statue in many a monument, a profile on the penny, a face on the $5 bill, and an animatronic robot at Disneyland. He's even carved into a mountain in South Dakota. So, of course, Abe Lincoln has been a character in the movies — more than 300 of them, in fact.

For a while, playing Honest Abe was enough to make an unknown actor a star, as 24-year-old Ralph Ince discovered in 1911 after appearing in beard and stovepipe hat in The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Home Video Review: Universal's 'Classic Monsters' Collection

Bob Mondello — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 21:58:00 +0000

Time now for a home viewing recommendation from film critic Bob Mondello. This week, Bob's getting ahead of the Halloween curve, with an 8-disk Classic Monsters collection from Universal Pictures.

The scene you know best is nowhere to be found in the novel Frankenstein. No electrifying the creature with lightning, no ecstatic doctor's cry of "It's alive, it's aliiiiiiive!"

Purists will tell you Mary Shelley created Frankenstein's monster, but the 1931 movie is what brought him to life.

Vice Presidential Debate Mirrors 'American Idol'

Bob Mondello — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 21:59:00 +0000

The first two debates of the 2012 election cycle have had stratospheric viewership on TV. Critic Bob Mondello isn't surprised. He argues we've spent the last decade training the public to watch contests on television and then vote — think American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

During the debates, networks all but beg us to kibitz in social media, which makes instant judgment universal. We're encouraged to watch for the purpose of reacting.

And the stories we like best? Underdogs triumphing, last minute comeback, a real horserace.

'Argo': A Rescue Mission With Real Hollywood Style

Bob Mondello — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Ben Affleck's new thriller, Argo, chronicles a secret CIA rescue mission — a mission that remained classified for years. When details finally came to light, the operation sounded like something only Hollywood could come up with. As we find out, there's a reason for that.

It's 1979, and the Iranian public's hatred for their U.S.-backed shah erupts when he leaves the country. A crowd grows around the U.S. Embassy in Tehran — they're climbing the gates and taking dozens of Americans hostage.

The shocked Canadian ambassador in Tehran finds himself secretly sheltering six escaped U.S.

In The Theater Of Politics, Staging Is Everything

Bob Mondello — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:07:00 +0000

During the next two weeks, the major political parties will assemble their faithful in Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C., to officially nominate their presidential tickets. These conventions were once places of high political drama. But over the decades, as the primary system has determined the candidates well in advance, conventions have become political theater. With that in mind, there's much to be said on staging in politics — not substance, but style.

In the theater, stars are stars at least partly because of the way they're presented — in brighter lighting, on higher platforms.

Stratford's Big Stars, From The Bard To The Bieb

Bob Mondello — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 20:09:00 +0000

Most theaters let audiences know the show is about to start by blinking the lights. Stratford's Festival Theater in Stratford, Ontario, is a bit more festive. Four burgundy-uniformed buglers and a drummer quicken the pace of hundreds of theatergoers who've been ambling up the hill from the banks of the Avon River. When curtain time arrives, a cannon will boom.

Nora Polley works in the theater's archives and has been with the festival since she was in high school 48 years ago.

Franchises Age, But Their Stars Stay Forever Young

Bob Mondello — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:54:00 +0000

The Bourne Legacy, which opens in theaters this week, is the fourth thriller in the series, and the first without either Jason Bourne or the star playing him, Matt Damon. They're suddenly not necessary, even though the series is named for Bourne? Why am I not surprised?

When a film hit becomes a film franchise, it's not wise to get too attached to the stars.

Looking For The Megabucks? Think Megapixels

Bob Mondello — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Imagine you're a movie producer, and you've got a couple of hundred million dollars to gamble on a single massive blockbuster. Which genre do you suppose will be your safest bet — superhero? Action-adventure? Sci-fi? All of those have had huge successes, but they've also all had hugely expensive failures.

There's one genre, though, that's hardly a gamble at all. It's been almost foolproof since it first came into being in 1995: computer animation.

Pixar's Toy Story was the first fully computer-animated feature film, and it started a revolution.

A Lanky Teenager On The Path To (Super) Power

Bob Mondello — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:07:00 +0000

I know you're skeptical. Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man was last slinging webs just five years ago. Broadway's Spider-Man started singing about webs less than two years ago. Now here comes another Spider-dude: This Andrew Garfield guy. So he'd better be really something, right?

A Boy And His Bear, At Large In A Man's World

Bob Mondello — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:37:00 +0000

Seth MacFarlane is known mostly for creating, writing and directing the animated TV show Family Guy. In the show, he also voices Peter and Stewie Griffin, and their dog, Brian.

With his new movie, Ted, he has moved to the big screen for the first time, again creating, writing and directing. And though it's a live-action picture, he has again voiced one of the characters — the titular teddy bear, whom I tried to resist but couldn't.

Really, I did try. The opening bit struck me as too cute by half.

Hollywood Dreams Of Wealth, Youth And Beauty

Bob Mondello — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Tinseltown didn't invent the American dream, but it sure put it out there for the world to see — a dream lit by the perpetual sunshine of Southern California, steeped in the values of the immigrant filmmakers who moved there in the early 1900s and got enormously rich.

It was their own outsider experience these Italian, Irish, German and often Jewish moviemakers were putting on screen, each optimistic, escapist fantasy a virtual American dream checklist:

Hard work carries the day in Mr.