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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Denis Villeneuve's Dune — based on Frank Herbert's bestselling sci-fi novel — arrives in cinemas and on home screens starring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya.
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The 25th 007 film will also be Daniel Craig's last as James Bond. But at least you get a lot of him; No Time To Die is almost three hours long.
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The "elevated Western" Old Henry stars Tim Blake Nelson as a farmer in the Oklahoma Territory whose past comes back to haunt his adversaries.
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Dan Stevens stars as the android of Maren Eggert's dreams in the German romantic comedy "I'm Your Man." -
The Toronto International Film Fest is usually mobbed with over a thousand industry types from all over the world. But this year the partially-online festival has been bleak and deserted.
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In the 20 years since the terror attacks of 9/11, movies have both been shaped by — and have shaped — the public's perception of that day's events.
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Belmondo's breakout role was in the New Wave classic Breathless and it won him international fame. French President Macron mourned the passing of a man he called "a national treasure" on Twitter.
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A look at the possible awards contenders and blockbusters that Hollywood has in store for autumn.
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The summer movie season is ending with an origin story. Marvel's 25th superhero epic, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings stars its first Asian Superhero played by Simu Liu.
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Bob Mondello reflects on the portrayal and the despair of Afghanistan's story, as shown on film for decades — in The Man Who Would Be King, Rambo III, Charlie Wilson's War, Zero Dark Thirty and more.
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A heartwarming family drama, CODA — which stands for "Child of Deaf Adults" — won four awards at this year's Sundance Film Festival, including both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award.
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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.
