“There are those who ask why this responsibility should be ours. The answer, I think, is simple: There is no one else who can do the job.” Think that’s George W. Bush defending the decision to invade Iraq? Think again. Those ultimately foreboding sentiments actually come courtesy of Lyndon Johnson as he justifies American involvement […]
Movies
Posted inMovies
Also playing…
It’s difficult to imagine a more entertaining activist figure than Jean Dominique, who over the course of 20 years battled impossible odds as a political broadcaster and the head of Radio Haiti. While Jonathan Demme’s 2003 documentary, The Agronomist, does not flinch from depicting the horrific human costs of injustice and violent oppression, the film […]
Posted inMovies
This thriller has car chases and history lessons
The search for a special object that combines in itself history, legend, and enormous monetary value energizes innumerable adventures in both literature and the cinema. Quests for some precious and numinous treasure — the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, the Maltese Falcon, for example — inspires heroes as different as the Knights of […]
Posted inMovies
The world as stage, life as acting
The screen adaptation of the Somerset Maugham novel Theatre offers something like the perfect part for what was called in the polite fiction of the past “a woman of a certain age.” Annette Bening, who stars in the film, is that woman, an actor at the same stage in her life as her character, Julia […]
Posted inMovies
The return of the husband
From its completely uninformative title and its vague, cryptic beginning to its ambiguous ending, the new movie Birth presents its audiences with a puzzle of a generally preposterous kind, with a most unsatisfying solution. Although it constantly hints at the possibility of crossing the rigid boundaries of suspense into the rich field of horror or […]
Posted inMovies
Through the power of his music
Although biopics devoted to musicians are so numerous they practically constitute a genre all their own, surely none approaches the timeliness of Ray, the film biography of the great Ray Charles, who died only a few short months ago. According to the publicity, Charles himself approved the screenplay and the casting of Jamie Foxx in […]
Posted inMovies
Also playing…
Even the most diehard fiscal conservative couldn’t deny that the corporate presence is more pervasive and all-encompassing today than in any other period in history. This is the basic point at which The Corporation begins. Filmmakers Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar (Manufacturing Consent) sidestep overt political partisanship. They immediately begin to build a case based […]
Posted inMovies
It’s the movie with a heart
The makers of the new movie I Heart Huckabees describe their work as “an existential comedy.” Apparently, that translates as a film that pretends to examine something like the meaning of life and the structure of the universe, with laughs thrown in. The picture, which features a well known and mostly distinguished cast, occasionally provides […]
Posted inMovies
Also playing…
If you’re easily offended, don’t see Team America: World Police. But if you’re partial to blistering, nonpartisan satire done with puppets who curse, puke, sing, and bring the Kama Sutra to life, it’s your lucky f**king day. The movie follows the exploits of Team America, a group of jingoistic do-gooders who travel the globe hunting […]
Posted inMovies
Look at the man behind the fashion statement
Now that he belongs to history, Che Guevara transcends his time and place and the politics that initially propelled him into international celebrity. Like some movie star or rock singer, the handsome face of the Marxist soldier-poet, peripatetic warrior for revolutionary causes, friend and advisor to Fidel Castro, boogeyman to Cuban immigrants, inspiration for countless […]
Posted inMovies
More than just a game
Among the many plangent platitudes that permeate the vocabulary of the game, one ancient adage maintains that football builds character; an alternate suggests that in fact it reveals character. The sentimental sports movies, i.e., the majority, depend upon the first statement, while the better ones naturally concentrate on the second, employing their subject as a […]
Posted inMovies
A tribut to conflagrations and courage
The usual action film of our time, familiar to any moviegoer, invariably features heavy doses of physical violence, gunfights, car chases (and crashes), advanced technology, and enough weapons of mass destruction to provoke the posturing of George W. Bush. As its title indicates, however, Ladder 49, a very different sort of action flick, celebrates the […]
