Film

Two queer best friends start a self-defense class for girls as a ruse to hook up with cheerleaders in a film that's both a disarmingly sweet love story and a merciless comic pummeling.

Friedkin, who died Aug. 7, won an Oscar 1972 for The French Connection. "Some of the most interesting, fascinating people that I've ever known are on the other side of the law," he said in 1988

In the new indie comedy "The Adults," Michael Cera plays a guy who returns home to see his two sisters after three years apart. It was written and directed by Dustin Guy Defa, who also cast Cera in his 2017 ensemble film "Person To Person." "The Adult" is in theaters this week.

Oppenheimer writer and director Christopher Nolan is no stranger to dark, brooding films. His list of credits includes the Batman trilogy, Dunkirk, Inception and Insomnia. But he says the story of Robert Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, stayed with him in a way his other films didn't.

Ira Sachs' new romantic drama "Passages" follows a male film director who leaves his husband after having an affair with a woman. Our film critic Justin Chang says it's a hot-blooded tale of desire and a terrific showcase for its lead actor, Franz Rogowski.

This week is the release of "Haunted Mansion," a new live-action comedy based on the popular Disneyland ride, and "Talk To Me," an Australian supernatural thriller about teenagers dabbling in the occult. Our film critic Justin Chang says that despite their differences, both movies are fundamentally about characters trying to ease their grief by communing with the dead.

The "Barbie" movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, is a big topic of conversation this summer. But to a special subset of audience members, girls who played with Barbies, the movie can evoke a lot of pink-tinged feelings. Here's one of those girls, our book critic Maureen Corrigan.

Justin Chang says that whether you watch them back to back or on different days, both Barbie and Oppenheimer are well worth a theater-going experience.

The entertainment industry is in upheaval. Writers and actors are on strike, and streamers are reckoning with not being profitable. Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw talks about what viewers can expect.

Tom Cruise returns as secret agent Ethan Hunt in "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1," the seventh movie in the long-running spy series and the first half of a two-parter that will conclude next year. In the movie, which Cruise also produced, Hunt and his fellow agents battle a mysterious new global threat. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review.

The new film "Joy Ride" is an R-rated road trip comedy about four Asian Americans traveling together in China. It's the first movie directed by Adele Lim, a co-writer on "Crazy Rich Asians," and the ensemble cast includes Stephanie Hsu, a recent supporting actress Oscar nominee for "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

Arkin, who died June 29, got his start creating characters with the comedy troupe Second City and later won an Oscar for his role in Little Miss Sunshine. Originally broadcast Sept. 29, 1989.

ALICIA ROTH WEIGEL, one of three intersex people profiled in the new documentary “Every Body.” Also, JULIE COHEN, the director of the documentary.

Gottlieb, who died June 14 at 92, edited Joseph Heller, Toni Morrison, John le Carré and, for more than 50 years, Robert Caro. We listen back to an interview with Gottlieb from just a few months ago.

Justin Chang reviewed the new film "Past Lives."

Jesse Armstrong is Succession's creator, showrunner and head writer. In the past, he has been reluctant to reveal much about Succession's plot lines or the characters' motivations. But with the finale behind us, Armstrong is ready to talk. He spoke to Terry Gross, along with Frank Rich, an executive producer of the series.

Beginning today, PBS presents a new "American Masters" documentary about singer, musician and composer Richard Penniman, famously known as Little Richard. The program focuses on both his impact on popular music as he went in and out of rock 'n' roll and on his complicated, sexually shifting private life. It's called "Little Richard: King And Queen Of Rock 'n' Roll." Our TV critic David Bianculli has this review.

As controversy swirls around the benefits Thomas and his wife Ginni received from a conservative billionaire, filmmaker Michael Kirk examines the couple's path to power in a new PBS documentary.

New York Times media reporter John Koblin discusses the Hollywood writers' strike — and how streaming has upended every element of TV and film production, leading to deteriorating working conditions.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is best known for playing Elaine on the hit comedy series Seinfeld, but her credits also include SNL, The New Adventures of Old Christine and the HBO series Veep. Along the way, she's won 11 Emmy awards. In the new movie, You Hurt My Feelings, Louis-Dreyfus plays a writer whose world is turned upside down when she learns that her husband hates the novel she's working on — despite his reassurances to the contrary.