When it was released 32 years ago, Michael Cimino's revisionist Western was considered one of the most colossal flops in Hollywood history. Critic John Powers takes a second look at the film and concludes that it's clearly "the work of one man and ... he wanted you to remember it forever."
It's holiday box-set season, and Fresh Air critic David Bianculli shares some favorites for the TV-lover on your list. "Giving someone a gift of a TV show," he says, "is somehow very personal. You're giving something that you love, and that, in many cases, will occupy many hours ... of their time."
In his new book, author and oenophile Paul Lukacs traces the 8,000-year history of our original alcoholic beverage — from ancient times, when wine was believed to be of divine origin, to the sauvignon blanc you find in your supermarket today.
In his new novel, The Testament of Mary, Irish author Colm Toibin imagines Mary's life 20 years after the crucifixion, as she wonders what she might have done differently to ease her son's suffering. "I felt that I was Mary," he says. "I was her consciousness, watching the thing happening."
Robert Zemeckis' film tells the story of a pilot who crash-lands a plane while drunk and high. Friends and songwriters Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale just released a new album of duets. Also, Hilary Mantel has just won her second Man Booker Prize, this time for her novel Bring Up The Bodies — the sequel to Wolf Hall.
Thorn has recorded a holiday album, Tinsel and Lights, that critic Ken Tucker says might just work for warmer weather, as well. Tucker praises Thorn's voice as "bolstered by a firm intelligence," and says she avoids the fatty treacle that often weighs down Christmas albums.
New York Times advice columnist Philip Galanes details how to handle breakups, cellphone calls and food allergies — among other topics — in his book Social Q's: How to Survive the Quirks, Quandaries and Quagmires of Today.
In the Robert Zemeckis film starring Denzel Washington, a pilot with a secret substance-abuse problem successfully crash-lands an airplane while high on drugs and alcohol. He must then ask himself some tough questions about whether his act of heroism is undermined by his addiction.
Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale just released a new album of duets. Critic Ken Tucker says Buddy and Jim recalls an earlier era of country music. The pair's voices, Tucker says, connect through "shared emotion in a song."
The violinist attempts to mix jazz, classical and traditional Chinese music with his octet on Burning Bridge.
Hilary Mantel is the first woman to win the Man Booker Prize twice, first for her 2009 novel, Wolf Hall, and now for that book's 2012 sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. The novels are part of a historical fiction trilogy about Tudor England and the events surrounding the reign of King Henry VIII.
From "King Herod's Song" to Ben Folds Five, Stephen Colbert talks about some of his favorite music. America's Test Kitchen experts Jack Bishop and Bridget Lancaster join Fresh Air to explain what makes a great marinade. And critic David Edelstein reviews Life of Pi.
On its 50th anniversary, Robert Aldrich's classic horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? has just been released on Blu-ray. Though it's far from a musical, classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says its musical elements are crucial to the film.
Ang Lee's meticulously controlled style makes a perfect fit for Life of Pi, a passionately overcontrolled adaptation of a wondrous adventure story with a surprisingly harsh sting in its tail.
Listen to an in-studio concert and conversation with the Canadian singer and her longtime guitarist, Jordan Officer.