Search results for

Actor Russell Crowe is in command of the screen and the sea this weekend. Crowe stars in the new Peter Weir film Master and Commander. The movie is based on the novels of Patrick O'Brian. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

Director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu of Mexico made a name for himself last year with the film Amores Perros. That film used an unorthodox narrative structure to include multiple vantage points. Inarritu's new picture, 21 Grams, continues in that vein, weaving scenes from different storylines to tell a story of intersecting lives. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.

With her 1979 hit "Chuck E's in Love," Rickie Lee Jones established herself as a musician with a compelling voice and a penchant for storytelling. For Intersections, a Morning Edition series on artists and their inspirations, the singer talks about the varied sources that informed her lyrical style. Hear songs from her latest CD.

From taboos against tomatoes to blessings from bread, the history of food is filled with associations between meals and morality. Author Stewart Lee Allen chronicles sinful treats of the past in his new book, In the Devil's Garden. NPR's Susan Stamberg talks with Allen in the conclusion to her series on food.

Documentaries are bigger than ever at this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and many are finding mainstream distributors. Two of the best are about food: I Like Killing Flies -- about the battles of an eccentric chef at a small restaurant -- and Super Size Me, the tale of a man who ate nothing but fast food for a month. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and New York Times critic Elvis Mitchell.

Cowboy poets, writers, musicians descended on the small town of Elko, Nev., for the 20th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Who better to report on the sights and sounds of it all than Morning Edition's own resident cowboy poet, Baxter Black. Hear several poems and songs from the gathering.

Fashion photographer Helmut Newton died Friday in a car accident on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. He was 83. His bold and erotic photographs started a revolution of sorts in fashion photography, and he helped define the style of the sexual revolution as well. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and David Fahey, a gallery owner who was Newton's close friend.

Thomas Mallon's latest work of historical fiction is Bandbox. It's set in 1920s New York, amidst the ruthlessly competitive world of magazine publishing. For years Mallon soaked himself in the tabloids and novels and music of the era -- the key, he says, to writing authentic dialogue and narration. Hear Mallon and NPR's Scott Simon.

Billy May, a jazz trumpeter and composer best known for his critically acclaimed arrangements for Frank Sinatra, died last week at age 87. In the 1940s and '50s, May was one of the most sought-after arrangers for big-band music and American standards, working with stars such as Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

Actress Uta Hagen died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan at age 84. Hagen gained her biggest Broadway success in the early 1960s with her portrayal of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She also taught dozens of actors how to ply their trade. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.