Bob Mondello

Bob Mondello appears in the following:

Director Richard Attenborough Brought Intimacy To Big Ideas

Monday, August 25, 2014

Attenborough engaged audiences in the struggle for apartheid in Cry Freedom, and spent 20 years and his own fortune to bring Gandhi's story to the screen. NPR's Bob Mondello has this remembrance.

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'Love Is Strange' — And Funny, Hard And Heart-Breaking

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Love is Strange stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a couple whose marriage, after 39 years together, is the start of a very complicated story.

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Coogan And Brydon's New 'Trip' Is, Well, A Real Trip

Friday, August 15, 2014

Critic Bob Mondello says The Trip To Italy will make you hungry for all the delicious Italian food its stars ignore in this celebrity-impression-stuffed romp along the gorgeous Amalfi coast.

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The Countless Lives Of Lauren Bacall

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Bob Mondello remembers Lauren Bacall, an actress who constantly reinvented herself.

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A Farewell To Robin Williams, Whose Antics Never Hid The Tenderness Beneath

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

As the entertainment world mourns the loss of comedian and actor Robin Williams, NPR film critic Bob Mondello offers an appreciation.

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The Shaggy Story Of A Real-Life 'Dog'

Friday, August 08, 2014

Critic Bob Mondello says The Dog, a quirky, eye-opening documentary about the bank robber who inspired Dog Day Afternoon, will leave you "alternately amused and slack-jawed in astonishment."

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'Joss Whedon': Biography Of A 'Shiny' Geek King

Friday, August 08, 2014

Published in Britain as Joss Whedon: Geek King of the Universe and in the U.S. less cheekily as Joss Whedon: The Biography, Amy Pascale's portrait of pop culture's man of just about any recent hour may not make her title subject any new converts, but it is hero-worshipping enough to ...

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No Forgiveness, But A Kind Of Cinematic Grace In 'Calvary'

Friday, August 01, 2014

Critic Bob Mondello says Calvary, a darkly comic new film about a tough old Irish priest threatened with murder by an angry parishioner, is "bleak and corrosively funny in about equal measure."

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Who's The Man? Hollywood Heroes Defined Masculinity For Millions

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

From silent stars to John Wayne to Iron Man, film critic Bob Mondello looks at the role that Hollywood has played in defining manliness, and how that definition has changed over several decades.

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How To Name Your Sequel II: Not Just Roman Numerals Anymore

Thursday, July 24, 2014

In the middle of a summer of sequels — from The Expendables 3 to 22 Jump Street — it seemed the right moment to have Bob Mondello look at the art of (Son of, Bride of) sequel titling (Part Deux).

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By Trolley, Train, Show Boat Or Surrey, These Musicals Will Move You

Monday, July 21, 2014

When we asked movie critic Bob Mondello to contribute to our Book Your Trip series, he immediately began humming show tunes. Spend six minutes listening to this story and you'll be singing along, too.

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Oh, 'Boyhood!' Linklater's Cinematic Stunt Pays Off

Friday, July 11, 2014

Richard Linklater's new film took 12 years to make and tracks the actual youth and adolescence of its lead actor. Critic Bob Mondello says Boyhood is a rich and resonant portrait of real life.

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Sci-Fi Kid Flick 'Earth To Echo' Broadens The 'E.T.' Formula

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

First-time feature filmmaker Dave Green sets his movie apart from Steven Spielberg's classic with found footage, an African-American protagonist and a more central female co-conspirator.

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Remembering Paul Mazursky, A Filmmaker With An Ear For His Era

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Paul Mazursky has died at the age of 84. As seen in his films Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and An Unmarried Woman, Mazursky had a way of mixing comedy and drama...

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A Leap Too Far? 'Venus' And 'Jersey Boys' Bounce From Stage To Screen

Friday, June 20, 2014

An intellectual play about sadomasochism, a musical about a '60s pop group, and a pair of famously cinematic directors. There's always going to be a bit of a leap when a play moves from stage to screen — but Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur and Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys leap ...

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It's A Summer Sequel Spectacular With 'Dragon' And 'Jump Street'

Friday, June 13, 2014

There are 16 movie sequels coming out this summer. Critic Bob Mondello singles out two that handle sequel-hood in vastly different (but successful) ways: How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 22 Jump Street.

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Mike Myers Steps Behind The Camera With 'Supermensch'

Friday, June 06, 2014

After playing Shrek, Austin Powers and basement-dwelling Wayne Campbell, Myers follows up with a documentary about his agent, Shep Gordon — who also managed Wayne's beloved rock ghoul Alice Cooper.

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James McAvoy As A Creep? In 'Filth,' The Anti-Typecasting Works

Friday, May 30, 2014

The indie drama Filth, McAvoy makes a departure from his usual good-guy roles and plays Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson — a bipolar, bigoted, junkie cop.

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Multiplexes Heat Up For Summer Blockbuster Season

Monday, May 26, 2014

From apocalyptic sci-fi adventures to musical biopics and road-trip comedies, Hollywood has more than 80 would-be box-office behemoths on tap for moviegoers between now and Labor Day.

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Seeing The New 'X-Men'? Take Along A Teenager To Explain

Friday, May 23, 2014

Bob Mondello says X-Men: Days of Future Past is awesomely urgent and utterly forgettable all at once, but it'll leave you bouncing with excitement — if you can keep the multiple mutants straight.

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