SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
"Wicked: For Good" has finally got Hollywood feeling good after several slack months at the box office. But can it cast its spell over the rest of the holiday season as well? Critic Bob Mondello says there are reasons for optimism. He's here with his end-of-year movie preview.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: If green and pink witches can attract a few million moviegoers, what might a whole planet's worth of blue Na'vi do?
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH")
SAM WORTHINGTON: (As Jake Sully) This world goes much deeper than you imagine.
MONDELLO: James Cameron's epic "Avatar" introduced audiences to Pandora's forest-dwelling Na'vi. "Avatar: Way Of Water" brought contact with a coastal pride.
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SIGOURNEY WEAVER: (As Kiri, cheering).
MONDELLO: Now, in "Avatar: Fire And Ash," we'll meet the literally volcanic mountain Na'vi.
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WORTHINGTON: (As Jake Sully) Protect your sisters.
BRITAIN DALTON: (As Lo'ak) Yes, sir. Stay in the cover (ph).
MONDELLO: The Ash People are aggrieved, aggressive and, unlike the tribes in Pandora's low-lying regions, willing to embrace technology, which gives an old human foe an in.
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STEPHEN LANG: (As Recom Miles Quaritch) You want to spread your fire across the world? You need me.
MONDELLO: "Avatar: Fire And Ash" will almost certainly dominate the holidays, but it won't be alone at cineplexes. In addition to the "Zootopia" and "Knives Out" sequels already in theaters, Quentin Tarantino is releasing a combo attraction he conceived two decades ago.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR")
DARYL HANNAH: (As Elle Driver, whistling).
MICHAEL PARKS: (As Earl McGraw) Give me the gory details.
MONDELLO: "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" combines both volumes of Tarantino's martial arts revenge opus with some additional footage...
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JAMES PARKS: (As Edgar McGraw) And we're talking the whole shebang.
MONDELLO: ...In a four-hour-and-41-minute splatterfest (ph), including an intermission.
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UMA THURMAN: (As The Bride) I am going to kill Bill.
MONDELLO: There will be less demanding sits out there, including a pair of starry semibiopics. "Marty Supreme" features Timothee Chalamet as a fictionalized version of Marty Reisman...
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GWYNETH PALTROW: (As Kay Stone) Hello?
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET: (As Marty Mauser) Hey. It's Marty Mauser.
MONDELLO: ...Who was a table tennis champ in the 1950s. Like the real guy, he's a hugely talented player and also a bit of a hustler.
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CHALAMET: (As Marty Mauser) I know it's hard to believe, but I'm telling you this game, it fills stadiums overseas. And it's only a matter of time before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box.
MONDELLO: Meanwhile, in "Song Sung Blue," Hugh Jackman will also be channeling a striving showbiz type, but not the one who made this song famous, one who came later.
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HUGH JACKMAN: (As Mike/Lightning, singing) Sweet Caroline...
(As Mike/Lightning) What do you think?
KATE HUDSON: (As Claire/Thunder) You don't want to be a Neil Diamond impersonator. You want to be a Neil Diamond interpreter.
JACKMAN: (As Mike/Lightning) I was looking for the right way to say it, and you just came right out and said it.
MONDELLO: Kate Hudson's a Patsy Klein interpreter, by that measure. Other films about performers include "Is This Thing On?" starring Will Arnett as a guy who starts doing comedy about his failing marriage to avoid a $15 cover charge...
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Tell a joke.
MONDELLO: ...On open mic night.
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WILL ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) I think I'm getting a divorce.
MONDELLO: He's not very funny at first.
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ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) What tipped me off was that I'm living in an apartment on my own.
(LAUGHTER)
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) Yeah. And my wife and kids don't live there.
(LAUGHTER)
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) That was probably the biggest clue.
MONDELLO: Laura Dern plays his wife, and director Bradley Cooper also stars, though he plays third fiddle to them and their family members.
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CIARAN HINDS: (As Jan) You tell jokes?
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) Well, I mean, I try. It's more like kind of funny stories from my life.
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE: (As Marilyn) Oh, honey, I had no idea your life was this bad.
HINDS: (As Jan) Yeah, what's funny about your life?
EBERSOLE: (As Marilyn) This is why she threw you out.
MONDELLO: Amateur performers of an earlier era populate "The Choral" about a provincial British town's attempt to hold its choral group together as its members head off to fight in World War I.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I feel it's my patriotic duty.
ROGER ALLAM: (As character) We'll need a new chorus master.
ALUN ARMSTRONG: (As character) I hope he puts the wind up the Germans more than he ever did the sopranos.
MONDELLO: Alan Bennett, who wrote "The Lady In The Van" and "The Madness Of King George" penned that line, and he's conceived "The Choral" as a vehicle for their new concertmaster, played by Ralph Fiennes.
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ALLAM: (As character) He's been working in Germany.
ARMSTRONG: (As character) Treachery.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) He's an atheist.
MARK ADDY: (As character) There are atheists now. There's one in Bradford.
MONDELLO: We veered into comedy here, and this holiday season, comedies come in some specifically cinematic flavors. There's "Fackham Hall," a spoof that mixes up "Downton Abbey"...
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KATHERINE WATERSTON: (As Lady Davenport) Finally, one of our children is to be wed. She's 23, a dried-up husk of a woman.
DAMIAN LEWIS: (As Lord Davenport) I'm just delighted she's finally found the right cousin.
MONDELLO: ...And Agatha Christie mysteries.
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TIM MCMULLAN: (As Cyril) This is Inspector What.
WATERSTON: (As Lady Davenport) Well, I don't know. Inspector Phillips (ph)?
MCMULLAN: (As Cyril) No, his surname is What.
TOM FELTON: (As Archibald) I see. What is his name.
MCMULLAN: (As Cyril) Robert.
EMMA LAIRD: (As Poppy Davenport) Robert what?
MCMULLAN: (As Cyril) Exactly.
MONDELLO: And what "Fackham Hall" does for costume dramas Jack Black and Paul Rudd will be doing for a certain style of action horror.
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JACK BLACK: (As Doug McCallister) Let's do it. Let's reboot "Anaconda."
PAUL RUDD: (As Ronald 'Griff' Griffen Jr.) Yes. Wait, what?
MONDELLO: Just some guys in mid-midlife crisis.
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BLACK: (As Doug McCallister) We need a riverboat, a script, a snake handler and a real snake.
MONDELLO: Except the snake dies.
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BLACK: (As Doug McCallister) And we no longer have a snake for our snake movie. We have to go out in the jungle and find another one.
MONDELLO: What could possibly go wrong? And there's a satire about a different kind of playacting.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ATROPIA")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Welcome to Atropia, a 24/7 warfare simulation, a town populated with civilian role players and movie special effects designed to give our brave men and women the tools to fight and win.
ALIA SHAWKAT: (As Fayruz, yelling) Allahu Akbar.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) No.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) Man, are you serious?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character) Yep, I'm dead.
MONDELLO: "Atropia" won a top prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Also a favorite on the festival circuit, Park Chan-wook's social satire "No Other Choice" about a fired factory manager whose job-hunting plan includes eliminating his competition.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #7: (As character, screaming).
MONDELLO: Jim Jarmusch cocks a jaundiced eye at domestic life in "Father Mother Sister Brother."
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TOM WAITS: (As Father) What do you say we toast our tea to family relations?
MAYIM BIALIK: (As Emily) Oh.
WAITS: (As Father) You've always been my favorite son.
ADAM DRIVER: (As Jeff) Well, I'm your only son.
WAITS: (As Father) Oh, yeah.
BIALIK: (As Emily) As far as we know.
DRIVER: (As Jeff) Can you toast with tea, though?
BIALIK: (As Emily) Really?
MONDELLO: Also looking at family relationships, writer/director James L. Brooks, a co-creator of "The Simpsons" - "Ella McCay" is his first comedy in more than a decade.
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JAMIE LEE CURTIS: (As Helen McCay) You just became governor of the state you were born and raised in.
MONDELLO: "Sex Education's" Emma Mackey is the title character whose election does not exempt her from family challenges.
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CURTIS: (As Helen McCay) Your father's here.
EMMA MACKEY: (As Ella McCay) Why?
WOODY HARRELSON: (As Eddie McCay) We haven't seen each other in how long? You don't know, either.
CURTIS: (As Helen McCay) Eddie, you promised not to be yourself.
MONDELLO: And of course, at some point during the holidays, the kids will get the itch to grab some popcorn. Ready to scratch that itch is "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants."
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CLANCY BROWN: (As Mr. Krabs) Dutchman's taken SpongeBob to the deepest, most dangerous part of the sea - the underworld.
RODGER BUMPASS: (As Squidward) Under where? Ha, underwear (laughter).
MONDELLO: Enough with the jokes. You want something more substantial? Well, how about the Old Testament tale of David and Goliath?
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ASIM CHAUDHRY: (As King Achish, shouting) David, you have stolen the hearts of my people.
PHIL WICKHAM: (As David) I have never wanted the throne.
CHAUDHRY: (As King Achish, shouting) Lies.
MONDELLO: Aiming at family audiences, Angel Studios has animated and musicalized the Biblical tale, calling it simply "David." For more mature viewers, the creative couple behind last year's epic architect drama, "The Brutalist," is taking on the story of a religious community, the Shakers, and the woman who founded that early 18th century movement in "The Testament Of Ann Lee."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE")
AMANDA SEYFRIED: (As Ann Lee) We have made tremendous sacrifices to receive the greatest love that one can experience.
MONDELLO: Music plays a central role in the film's storytelling. And the holiday season also brings a full-fledged musical straight from Broadway, Stephen Sondheim's decades-spanning show that goes backwards.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Merrily we roll along, roll along.
MONDELLO: It was a standing-room-only smash last year with a cast that included "Hamilton's" King George, Jonathan Groff, and filmdom's Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe.
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JONATHAN GROFF: (As Franklin Shepard) I think Charley and I will handle success very well.
DANIEL RADCLIFFE: (As Charley Kringas) Look how well we've handled failure.
MONDELLO: That stage version, where an orchestra seat could cost up to $900, was filmed in front of a live audience, and now you can see that same "Merrily We Roll Along" for the price of a movie ticket...
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JONATHAN GROFF, DANIEL RADCLIFFE AND LINDSAY MENDEZ: (As Franklin Shepard, Charley Kringas and Mary Flynn, singing) Old friends, how do we stay old friends?
MONDELLO: ...One of many reasons to head with old friends to a cineplex over the holidays. I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OLD FRIENDS")
GROFF, RADCLIFFE AND MENDEZ: (As Franklin Shepard, Charley Kringas and Mary Flynn, singing) Here's to us. Who's like us? Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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