The president has just been re-elected to a second term, and he intends to use his political capital to pass a bill addressing the most important issue of the day. The bill has already passed the Senate but is opposed by a majority in the House. This former lawyer from Illinois turned beloved president is…
Last week, John Cusack announced that he will play conservative talk show icon Rush Limbaugh in a new biopic to be directed by Betty Thomas (Private Parts, 28 Days). The project is being described as an exploration of “the rise and reinvention of American Talk Radio, and Limbaugh’s continued influence and impact over the last…
Critics were busy last weekend heaping praise upon big-time director Robert Zemeckis for Flight, which they deemed the kind of sophisticated adult drama Hollywood does not make much of anymore. But that film, with its sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll opening and its after-school special of an ending, is more like something a teenager thinks an adult film is…
Flight has been pitched to the general public as the kind of adult drama that doesn’t get made much anymore, and the first scene of the film confirms that assertion. It opens with a close-up of a naked woman. We zoom out to see a hotel room in a state of post-coital disarray – empty…
Five weeks and two repeat viewings later, I am still having new thoughts about The Master. Upon its initial release, many critics had trouble grasping its meaning. Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post called it “confounding.” Roger Ebert at least put it eloquently: “When I reach for it, my hand closes on air.” Many other…
Thirteen years ago, The Matrix was released, and its themes of oppression and revolution connected deeply with critics and audiences alike. The filmmakers – siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski – were similarly oppressed by its success and have spent the last decade failing to live up to it. But now their time has come. In…
From Obama: 2016 to Argo, the movies of 2012 have been particularly heavy on political content, and naturally some pundits have wondered if a film can influence an election. It seems clear that many in Hollywood think it could – and they want nothing to do with it. Three political films originally scheduled to hit…
This morning The Atlantic published an article of mine as part of their online content. The subject is one of grave importance to every concerned citizen of this nation: the potential political careers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. I had a great time analyzing their political statements and, more importantly, the subtextual political elements…
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