Biopics

The music "biopic" parody Weird stars Daniel Radcliffe in an over-the-top version of Al Yankovic's life. In the film, making up words to songs that already exist is considered the work of a visionary, playing the accordion is akin to being a guitar hero and Yankovic is asked to be the next James Bond.

Tesla unfolds as a series of funny-sad vignettes from the life of Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor who has often been relegated to a historical footnote — as the younger, hipper rival to Thomas Edison.

British filmmaker Terence Davies turns his attention to the gifted New England poet in his new movie. Critic Justin Chang calls the film a "sharp, sensitive portrait" of a woman ahead of her time.

A new biopic tells the story of Ray Kroc, who turned a single burger restaurant into a multi-billion dollar worldwide franchise. Critic David Edelstein says The Founder offers a dark dose of realism.

Screenwriter Oren Moverman talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the film's depiction of the Beach Boy's troubled life. We'll also listen back to an interview Gross recorded with Wilson in 1988.

The biopic of landscape painter J. M. W. Turner depicts a man whose mind is barely engaged by anything other than his work. He's a mystery, and his art is magically indefinite — just like the movie.

The 19th century painter wasn't always "very pleasant" and he was a "man of massive contradictions," Spall says. So Spall says he had to "dig deep" to play the title role in Mr. Turner.

Cumberbatch stars as British mathematician and World War II code breaker Alan Turing in a film directed by Morten Tyldum and co-staring Keira Knightley as Turing's comrade in arms.

Foxcatcher is about wealthy heir John du Pont who hosted Olympic wrestlers on his estate. The director talks about casting Steve Carrell, the challenge of filming wrestling scenes and his film Capote.

The film tells the true story of Richard Phillips, whose container ship was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009. Navy SEAL sharpshooters eventually freed the captain from the small lifeboat where he was held hostage for five days. Tom Hanks stars in the film, which is directed by Paul Greengrass.

David Edelstein reviews Fruitvale Station, a dramatization of the last day of a man shot by San Francisco transit police in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.

Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay for the film Lincoln, which focuses on the 16th president's tumultuous final months in office. Kushner read more than 20 books before writing about Lincoln, a man who had "an enormous capacity for grief that didn't deprive him of the ability to act."

Two of the year's most highly anticipated movies arrive this week. Steven Spielberg's Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and Skyfall, the third film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond 007, directed by American Beauty Oscar-winner Sam Mendes. Film critic David Edelstein has this review of both.

Rhapsody in Blue, a 1945 film version of the life of George Gershwin, is out for the first time on DVD. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says it's a fascinating mixture of real facts, pure invention and memorable musical moments.

Meryl Streep stars as Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd's biopic about the former prime minister of the United Kingdom. Film critic David Edelstein applauds her performance, calling it "one of the greatest impersonations I'd ever seen."

The lives of writers drive two films opening this week: The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp, dramatizes a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Roland Emmerich's Anonymous, meanwhile, examines who wrote Shakespeare's plays. Critic David Edelstein says both films show how hard it is to write about writers.

Mark Wahlberg and David O. Russell talk about creating a movie based on the real-life boxer Micky Ward, who won a welterweight championship in 2000 after several years away from the boxing ring.

James Franco doesn't just spend his time acting in the movies. The star of Milk, Howl and the forthcoming 127 Hours is also an accomplished writer and graduate student. He explains how he juggles his many roles — and why he continues to take on new challenges.

Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires painted an unflattering portrait of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. The film version gets the programmer-nerd details (and Harvard's oak-and-crimson ambiance) right -- but fails to see the upside of a worldwide social network.