Bob Mondello
Stories
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Arts & Life
Oscar nominations are out, and NPR's film critic has thoughts
Oscar voters are keen on movies with social themes this year. iEmilia Pérez , Netflix's musical about a trans drug lord in Mexico, leads Oscar nominations with 13 nods, including for Best Picture.
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Arts & Life
Shakespeare meets gaming in 'Grand Theft Hamlet'
During pandemic lockdowns, two actors decided to try to stage a Shakespeare play entirely inside the game Grand Theft Auto. Grand Theft Hamlet tells the story.
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Arts & Life
What the 2025 Golden Globes say –or don't– about this awards season
The narco-musical Emilia Perez and Japanese epic Shogun were the big winners at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards. The question now is what that means for awards season, and for the Globes themselves.
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Movies
Revisiting 'Carterland,' a documentary that reappraises an oft-disparaged presidency
Looking back at the life of President Carter, we tend to focus on his humanitarian work after his presidency. A documentary released in 2024 depicted his time in office as an era of problem-solving.
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Arts & Life
Why the streaming release of 'Wicked' surprised NPR's film critic
Not even six weeks into its record-breaking run in theaters, Wicked is available for home viewing starting Dec. 31. Film critic Bob Mondello explains how theatrical releases have changed over time.
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Movies
The top 10 movies of the year, according to NPR film critic Bob Mondello
The year's box office numbers were down, due to the residual effects of actors' and writers' strikes, but quality wasn't dimmed. Bob Mondello's list of the 10 best movies of the year overflows.
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A possibly genius architect gets a taste of the American dream in 'The Brutalist'
Brady Corbet's monumental drama, The Brutalist, chronicles the journey of a Jewish architect who comes to the U.S. in 1947 and creates a troubled and troubling masterpiece.
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'The Nickel Boys' film adaptation is 'stunningly effective'
Filmmaker RaMell Ross employs a unique visual strategy to tell the story of two teens trying to survive a racist Jim Crow-era reform school. The film is adapted from Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer-winning novel.
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Arts & Life
In the movies, villainous health insurers have been a chronic condition
For better or — mostly — worse, Hollywood has helped shape the public's image of the health insurance industry in films ranging from John Grisham's The Rainmaker to the Oscar-winning As Good as It Gets.
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Movies
Breaking down the 'historic' box office records this Thanksgiving weekend
Hollywood set an all time record over the Thanksgiving holidays. But does that actually mean anything? Movie critic Bob Mondello says it's wise to take the numbers with a grain of salt.
