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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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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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.
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Filmmaker Edson Oda was a breakout director at last year's Sundance Film Festival with his philosophical movie, Nine Days, which stars Zazie Beetz and Benedict Wong.
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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.