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…
Now that we have reflected on 2012 at the movies, it is time to look ahead. There is plenty to be excited about in 2013, whether you like comic-book blockbusters (Iron Man 3, Man of Steel), real-life drama (Captain Phillips, the Paul Greengrass/Tom Hanks drama about a Navy Captain abducted by Somali pirates), or moustaches…
Promised Land, the new environmental drama from eco-buddies Matt Damon and John Krasinski, tries really hard to be an important film – and that is precisely why it fails. This is a message movie: its only reason to exist is to educate the public about the environmental dangers of natural gas extraction. But in these…
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…
A few months ago, I questioned the wisdom of casting Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan in the upcoming Lee Daniels film, “The Butler.” Fonda is a fine actress and, all things being equal, is up to the challenge of playing Reagan, but it seems clear that her personal politics will be distracting. As the film’s…
For a society that places so much emphasis on celebrity, it is kind of surprising that in the century or so that movies have been our most popular art form, we have only elected a handful of movie stars to public office. I suspect the reason for this is one that only raises more questions:…
Reel Change 
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