American Carnage
Alex Garland’s spectacular new film ‘Civil War’ is a warning of what can happen to democracies when civil society collapses.
Allan Stratton
· 7 min read
Cinema
A collection of 101 posts
Jean-Luc Godard in Retrospect Part II: Fanaticism and Failure (1966–2022)
After half a decade of critical adulation, Godard’s career slumped into doctrinaire Maoism, bitterness, incomprehensibility, and irrelevance. It never recovered.
Charlotte Allen
· 36 min read
Jean-Luc Godard in Retrospect Part I: Abstraction Hero (1930–65)
A brief five-year period produced nearly all the Godard movies that film aficionados still remember, but even these celebrated works have dated poorly.
Charlotte Allen
· 33 min read
The Delta Variant
John Landis’s 1978 comedy classic ‘Animal House’ is a time capsule from an era when humor and campus politics were very different.
George Case
· 9 min read
Sex and Smashed Steel
A look back at J.G. Ballard's ‘Crash’—one of the the 20th century’s greatest and most disturbingly prophetic novels.
Benjamin Kerstein
· 25 min read
Mystic Without a Church
Werner Herzog’s new memoir provides a look back on the magisterial and occasionally maddening career of a cinematic visionary.
Jaspreet Singh Boparai
· 17 min read
93 Years of Shatner
A tribute to an irrepressible TV star’s ability to live long and prosper.
Kevin Mims
· 21 min read
An Unlikely Cinematic Triumph
Efforts to produce a worthy film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ seemed doomed to failure—until Denis Villeneuve gave us his two-part blockbuster.
Allan Stratton
· 14 min read
A Love Letter to the Theatre
An interview with Sean Mathias, the director of a daring and original new film adaptation of ‘Hamlet.’
Hannah Gal
· 12 min read
Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny Fight Fascism
The animation industry was perhaps the United States’ most potent cultural weapon during World War II.
Jacob Bielecki
· 15 min read
The Best Picture Nominees, 2024
A look at the ten nominees for this year’s Best Picture Oscar.
Allan Stratton
· 17 min read
Bestseller Reparations
In ‘American Fiction,’ director Cord Jefferson brings a devil-may-care effrontery to bear on the culture of self-censorship, progressive pieties, and artistic hypocrisy.
Thomas Larson
· 7 min read
Leonard Bernstein Deserved Better Than ‘Maestro’
Netflix somehow managed to turn the most talented, beloved, and complex American musician in history into a two-dimensional domestic villain.
Daniel Lelchuk
· 9 min read
To Save Us All From Satan’s Power
William Friedkin’s horror classic is 50 years old.
George Case
· 7 min read
How Superhero Franchises Are Killing Original Cinema
Most new movies feature neither good storytelling nor innovative filmmaking. Instead, they rely on the nostalgia of ready-made fan bases.
Jacob Bielecki
· 7 min read