Terry Gross

Film critic Stephen Schiff wonders if he's the only reviewer who laughed at Paul Mazursky's new comedy, about an actor impersonating the late dictator of a fictional Caribbean country. Schiff asks Fresh Air listeners to send their own reviews to the radio station.

A revival of Ain't Misbehavin', featuring the original cast, is now playing on Broadway. Critic-at-large Laurie Stone says she jumped at the chance to see it. Overacting and exaggerated choreography plagued the first act, but the cast showed restraint during the last half.

Eight Men Out, about a 1919 baseball scandal, is directed by John Sayles. Film critic Stephen Schiff says there are some good performances, but the movie is more of a moralistic argument than a story; it could have used some of the wit Sayles injected into his earlier B-movies.

Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Michael Keaton is too good an actor to star in Clean and Sober, a movie that focuses more on problems than characters. Schiff says the film feels like it was made for TV, rather than the big screen.

Director Jonathan Demme's newest movie is called Married to the Mob. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the characters become more likable as the film goes on; the slapstick elements not withstanding, the movie is jumpy, romantic, and very funny.

Martin Scorsese's new movie, The Last Temptation of Christ -- adapted from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis -- takes its cues from old western movies. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the director evangelizes through the back door, convincing us that we really are watching the greatest story ever told.

T.S. Eliot championed the writing of Amos Tutola decades ago for what guest critic Stuart Klawans believes may have been dubious, colonialist reasons. City Lights has just published new editions of two of Tutola's books, which Klawans says are quirky and timeless.

Critic-at-large Laurie Stone reviews this year's batch of theater festivals in western Massachusetts. She was especially taken by a production of Bertolt Brecht's Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, which recasts Nazis as Chicago gangsters.

While some film critics praise Bruce Willis's sensitive performance, Stephen Schiff says Die Hard's charm is in its fast-paced scenes of jubilant, large-scale destruction. It's this summer's guilty pleasure.

Guest critic Stuart Klawans says that Harvey Pekar's critically acclaimed comic book series is changing, and not necessarily for better or worse. While their sardonic tone remain, the latest issues focus more on significant moments in Pekar's life, and less on the the minutiae of everyday life.