Search results for

Gandalf, the dwarves, and the titular hobbit continue their quest for the mountain in the second of Peter Jackson's three Lord of the Rings prequels. Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom and Benedict Cumberbatch star.

A painstaking analysis of 14 James Bond novels by some British doctors reveals that the international spy consumed six or more drinks a day, on average. He also went on benders that would have made his driving stunts downright suicidal.

The players that year faced a sobering new reality: The nation was at war, and they'd soon leave the football field behind for the battlefield. In All American, author Steve Eubanks recalls that game through the eyes of two players — Army quarterback Chad Jenkins and Navy linebacker Brian Stann.

The stars of Saving Mr. Banks — a movie about the struggle between Walt Disney and author P.L. Travers over how the Mary Poppins film would be made — talk to NPR's Renee Montagne about the film, and what their counterparts might have thought of their performances.

A pair of con artists and their FBI wrangler go after political corruption in American Hustle, inspired by the Abscam scandal of the '70s. Critic David Edelstein says the film, directed by David O. Russell, is "a bit of a hustle itself" — and still a hell of a ride. (Recommended)

Also: The Dictionary of American Regional English goes digital; Alice Gregory on the literature of anorexia; the censorship policies at Guantánamo Bay.

The nonpartisan PolitiFact has given the president's claim about his health care program a dubious honor. Obama said that "if you like your health care plan, you can keep it." When it became clear that wasn't correct, the White House tried to "rewrite his slogan," the fact checkers say.

Mark Pagel says early humans developed language as a tool to cooperate. But with thousands of different languages, Pagel says language also exists to prevent us from communicating outside our tribal groups.

On this week's round-table podcast, we take a deep dive into the frozen landscape of, well, Frozen, from its unusual princesses to its teeny tiny waists. Then we talk character deaths and, as always, what's making us happy this week.