Yesterday, on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, Daniel D’Addario at Salon noted that movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not exactly broken the box office. Comparing it to previous eras of bloodshed, he wrote that “after the Vietnam War, movies like Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter drew audiences and…
Will she or won’t she? That’s the question on the minds of politicos in Kentucky and all across the nation. Will Ashley Judd challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for reelection in 2014? So far, the scales have tipped both ways. Earlier this year, it seemed a certainty that Judd would run. Rumors were floated,…
It seems so long ago. Back on January 16 – just a month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary – Senator Patrick Leahy pledged he would hold a series of hearings to address the issue of gun violence in America. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Leahy was in a position to…
And suddenly the world opened up. This morning, actress Kristin Bell and television writer Rob Thomas announced a Kickstarter campaign for a movie based on their cult show Veronica Mars. Thomas, who created the show, struck a unique deal with Warner Brothers: the studio agreed to greenlight the movie and pay for marketing, promotion, and…
The Place Beyond the Pines is just a movie, but it arrives with the unreasonable expectations of a savior. Not only does it star the so-hot-right-now Bradley Cooper and the perpetually-hot Ryan Gosling, but the film is being released in the dregs of a particularly poor winter for cinema. Need I count the ways that…
The release of No, which was nominated for an Oscar this year for Best Foreign Film, in early March positions it to be a sleeper hit in our winter of cinematic discontent. It’s been a bad year at the movies so far, as nearly every film released has been either a critical or commercial failure.…
From the studio that last year brought you Dark Shadows, Snow White and the Huntsman and other monstrosities comes Jack the Giant Slayer, another effects-driven behemoth that buries its human elements beneath the shiny stuff that kids like. The film was marketed as an “adult” take at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend. If that’s…
At various points in the run-up to the 85th Oscars on Sunday night, nearly every nominee for Best Picture found cause to associate itself with President Obama or Congress. For some films, like Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, and Lincoln, it was a natural fit. Others had to try a little harder. Beasts of the Southern…
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