Film

Film critic Stephen Schiff thinks Brian de Palma's gangster movie showcases both the director's technical prowess and weak character development. Despite its flaws, the film is still enjoyable.

After working as prostitute in England, Cynthia Payne started her own brothel which featured parties and other social gatherings in addition to sex. The new film Personal Services tells her story.

Film actor, writer, and director Robert Townsend satirizes his experiences as an African American in Hollywood in the new film, Hollywood Shuffle. He says that television commercials have given him more opportunities than movies to play diverse roles.

Film director David Lynch has collaborated with Alan Splet on all of his movies. Splet joins Fresh Air to discuss how he helped Lynch create an unsettling atmosphere in movies like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.

Michael Crichton gave up a medical career to become a science fiction author and film director. His newest book, Sphere, deals with an alien encounter and a growing fear of computers.

While some reviewers think River's Edge could become the Blue Valentine of 1987, film critic Stephen Schiff says the film suffers from a weak message and poor casting.

Allan Arkush is part of a new breed of directors who switches back and forth between film and television. A veteran of B-movies and cult films, he says TV offers more room for experimentation and narrative innovation.

Director Tim Hunter's new movie is about a teenage murderer and the impact his actions have on his friends. The movie stars Dennis Hopper, Keanu Reeves, and Crispin Glover.

James Lardner's new book examines how videocassette recorders have changed the motion picture industry and viewers' movie and television watching habits. The author also considers how nearly all VHS players are manufactured in Japan, though the technology was developed in the U.S.

Film critic Stephen Schiff credits the success of Beverly Hills Cop II more to its star, Eddie Murphy, than the movie itself -- which doesn't share any of the virtues of its predecessor.

For those who missed the theatrical release, critic Ken Tucker recommends watching the suspense film on home video.

Stephen Schiff thinks everyone involved in the new film Ishtar was going through the motions, including stars Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty.

Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel's new book compiles promotional photographs of film actors that were taken while they were under contract with movie studios -- a publicity model which became obsolete with the advent of television talk shows and the decline of studio contracts.

Stephen Frears directed a new biopic about the life and death of the gay British playwright called Prick Up Your Ears.

Film critic Stephen Schiff believes that the proliferation of film critics on television, whose insights he believes are often superficial, has led moviegoers to believe that emotional manipulation is the sole criterion for great cinema.

Stephen Schiff reviews Prick Up Your Ears, about the relationship between playwright Joe Orton and his partner Ken Halliwell -- which ended in a murder-suicide.

Jill Godmilow's American Playhouse film explores the relationship between the avant-garde writer and her partner Alice Toklas. While much of the plot is invented, Godmilow was careful to stay true to the women's lives.

Nicholas Proffitt's book Garden of Stone, inspired by his ceremonial role in the Army during the Vietnam War, was recently adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola.

Language commentator Geoff Nunberg considers why actors adopt foreign or regional accents in film -- and why they sometimes speak in their natural voice, regardless of the part they play.

Diane Johnson's first novel in eight years deals with an American woman's affair during the Iranian revolution. She joins Fresh Air to talk about writing biographies and screenplays and why it took her so long to finish her newest book.