Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
For more than three decades, Mondello has reviewed movies and covered the arts for NPR, seeing at least 300 films annually, then sharing critiques and commentaries about the most intriguing on NPR's award-winning newsmagazine All Things Considered. In 2005, he conceived and co-produced NPR's eight-part series "American Stages," exploring the history, reach, and accomplishments of the regional theater movement.
Mondello has also written about the arts for USA Today, The Washington Post, Preservation Magazine, and other publications, and has appeared as an arts commentator on commercial and public television stations. He spent 25 years reviewing live theater for Washington City Paper, DC's leading alternative weekly, and to this day, he remains enamored of the stage.
Before becoming a professional critic, Mondello learned the ins and outs of the film industry by heading the public relations department for a chain of movie theaters, and he reveled in film history as advertising director for an independent repertory theater.
Asked what NPR pieces he's proudest of, he points to an April Fool's prank in which he invented a remake of Citizen Kane, commentaries on silent films — a bit of a trick on radio — and cultural features he's produced from Argentina, where he and his husband have a second home.
An avid traveler, Mondello even spends his vacations watching movies and plays in other countries. "I see as many movies in a year," he says, "as most people see in a lifetime."
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A new musical with a score by Sparks and starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard opened the Cannes Film Festival. The distinctive rock-opera with a mind and a sound of its own is opening in the U.S.
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Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney for releasing Black Widow on streaming and in theaters at the same time, saying the simultaneous release breached her contract.
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Alvin Ailey, the most influential and celebrated Black choreographer of the 20th Century is the subject of the documentary Ailey.
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Dev Patel as a knight of the Round Table, Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn, the mostly nonwhite casts of Bridgerton and Hamilton — all belong to a tradition that has its roots in live theater.
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Hollywood had had fingers crossed for months about what might finally happen this weekend. Marvel has aimed to prove that the theater experience is back with Black Widow.
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Iván and Gerardo can't be gay in Mexico, and can't be undocumented in the U.S. Filmmaker Heidi Ewing tells this real-life story with documentary footage and a swooning fictionalized drama.
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F9, the latest film in the Fast & Furious franchise is also the film that's supposed to restart the Hollywood blockbuster.
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Film studios have lots of enticements to get people back in theaters, now that they're back in business. We look at the art house treasures and would-be blockbusters Hollywood has in store.
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Samuel E. Wright, the voice of Sebastian the crab, Ariel's sidekick in Disney's The Little Mermaid has died at age 74.
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The Pittsburgh-born actor was known for his awkward manner and sharp intelligence. In addition to performing, Grodin wrote and delivered commentaries, and was a regular guest on late-night television.