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Summer Movies: The Sweet, The Light And The Loud Trailer: 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' Trailer: 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' Trailer: 'The Hurt Locker' Trailer: 'Whatever Works' Trailer: 'Julie An

May 27, 2014 - 12:00am

The summer-movie slate looks like a typically airheaded one, from Land of the Lost to the naughty new spoof Bruno. But fear not: We found a few dramas — even some foreign weepies — to help tide you over.

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'We Steal Secrets': A Sidelong Look At WikiLeaks

1 hour 10 min ago

The latest documentary from the prolific Alex Gibney digs into the genesis — and the implications — of what creator Julian Assange describes as "an intelligence agency of the people." (Recommended)

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To 'Fill The Void,' A Choice With A Personal Cost

1 hour 58 min ago

Rama Burshtein's ravishing family story is a love poem to life in an insular community — the ultra-Orthodox Hasidim of Tel Aviv, where the director lives. Studiously nonpolitical, it's a low-stakes story with the emotional punch of high drama. (Recommended)

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'Lunch Lady' Author Helps Students Draw Their Own Heroes

2 hours 25 min ago

Can you imagine your own superhero? That's the question author and illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka posed to kids on a recent afternoon at a school in Washington, D.C. Krosoczka also described how he overcame a difficult childhood to become the author of the beloved Lunch Lady series.

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Julianne Moore, Relishing Complicated Characters

3 hours 22 min ago

In What Maisie Knew, Moore plays a troubled rock star who might initially seem like a rotten person, but Moore's performance humanizes the character, highlighting her human frailties — something Moore has done in many parts.

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Breakin' The Rules: 20 General Principles Suspended In 'Fast And Furious 6'

5 hours 9 min ago

There are many principles of day-to-day life that don't make their way into the Fast, Furious universe.

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Douglas, Damon Illuminate HBO's 'Candelabra'

5 hours 9 min ago

Steven Soderbergh's latest film is a showbiz story about Vegas icon Liberace and his secret lover — played, respectively, by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, both terrific in their roles. It premieres Sunday on HBO.

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A Read Down Memory Lane: Lessons From Your Former Self

5 hours 58 min ago

Writings from childhood — cards, stories and other notes — can hide for decades, like time capsules tucked away in boxes, old bedrooms, attics and journals. Writer Jim Sollisch talks about how old thank you notes from his youth foreshadowed his adult life.

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A Read Down Memory Lane: Lessons From Your Former Self

5 hours 58 min ago

Writings from childhood — cards, stories and other notes — can hide for decades, like time capsules tucked away in boxes, old bedrooms, attics and journals. Writer Jim Sollisch talks about how old thank you notes from his youth foreshadowed his adult life.

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Categories: NPR Feeds

A Read Down Memory Lane: Lessons From Your Former Self

5 hours 58 min ago

Writings from childhood — cards, stories and other notes — can hide for decades, like time capsules tucked away in boxes, old bedrooms, attics and journals. Writer Jim Sollisch talks about how old thank you notes from his youth foreshadowed his adult life.

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Really Most Sincerely Bad: Fox's Nasty 'Does Someone Have To Go?'

6 hours 37 min ago

A distasteful new show forces employees to turn on each other in a phony display of power.

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Pitbull Gets 'Epic': 'You Constantly Have To Defend Your Success'

6 hours 58 min ago

Armando Christian Perez — better known as Pitbull or Mr. Worldwide — has sold five million albums and had No. 1 hits in more than 15 countries. He tells NPR's Michel Martin about using music as an escape and playing a well-dressed toad in the animated film Epic.

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HBCU President Asks Dr. Dre, Why Not Us?

6 hours 58 min ago

Hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre and music producer Jimmy Iovine recently donated $70 million to the University of Southern California. Many people are applauding their generosity, but some aren't so happy. Host Michel Martin speaks with Walter Kimbrough, President of Dillard University, about why he thinks an HBCU should have gotten the money.

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'Before Midnight': Jesse And Celine Are Older Now, And So Are We

10 hours 17 min ago

It took Jesse and Celine 18 years to find themselves back where they started in the lovely third installment of the series that began with 1995's Before Sunrise.

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Book News: Lydia Davis Wins Man Booker International Prize

11 hours 23 min ago

Also: Amazon to begin publishing fan fiction; Paul Ryan and Elizabeth Warren are writing books; Keith Richards' exorbitant library fines.

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Heartbreaking Choice Sets Siblings On Separate, Unequal Paths

11 hours 58 min ago

A poor father sells his daughter to a wealthy, childless couple, dividing her from her beloved brother and setting a chain of stories in motion in Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed. Moving and morally complex, this is the most ambitious book yet from the author of The Kite Runner.

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Cannes Film Festival Keeps Kenneth Turan Coming Back

14 hours 20 min ago

David Greene talks with Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan about some of the movies at this year's Cannes Film Festival in France. They include a standout from American director Alexander Payne called Nebraska. Turan first covered the movie festival 42 years ago.

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Cannes Diary: Delusions Of 'Gatsby' (And Dreams Of Notoriety)

May 22, 2013 - 1:47pm

All is Gatsbyish excess on the Croisette, where the Cannes Film Festival's early tone might well have been set by Baz Luhrmann's lavish film — and by Sofia Coppola's accomplished The Bling Ring.

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Fictional 'Mothers' Reveal Facts Of A Painful Adoption Process

May 22, 2013 - 1:08pm

After years trying to conceive, novelist Jennifer Gilmore and her husband decided to adopt. What they thought would be a relatively simple process was instead a long and painful one. In her latest novel, Gilmore channels these autobiographical experiences into fiction.

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China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

May 22, 2013 - 12:37pm

In 2011, police detained Ai Weiwei for 81 days. Now, he's released a song that's turned the experience into a heavy metal protest song, along with a dystopian nightmare video. The lyrics are explicit and angry. Ai says his music is for the many political prisoners who remain jailed.

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