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 Dec 2023 · 7 min read
History on Horseback: Napoleon Bonaparte The French emperor and military commander played a pivotal role in an epochal transformation. Ralph Leonard 4 Dec 2023 · 16 min read
‘The Princess Bride’ at 50 A look back at William Goldman’s bonkers metafictional novel ‘The Princess Bride,’ which later became a much-loved family film. Kevin Mims 19 Jun 2023 · 17 min read
Belafonte Reappraised Neither hagiographers nor haters of the late musician, actor, and activist have managed to get him right. Ronald Radosh 20 May 2023 · 17 min read
Social Panic at Sundance Meg Smaker’s film about the rehabilitation of former Guantanamo terror suspects was nuanced and sympathetic. But the mob didn’t care. M. Pollino 14 Oct 2022 · 8 min read
Guilty and Insane Dissociative Identity Disorder and the riddle of human responsibility. Daniel Kriegman 29 Jul 2022 · 19 min read
The Delia Demolition Why is the Atlantic slinging mud at the 72-year-old author of ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ on the eve of the film’s release? Kevin Mims 19 Jul 2022 · 19 min read
The Subversive Conservatism of Rocky Balboa Rocky's vision of a good life was humble, traditional, and local. Stewart Slater 15 Jul 2022 · 7 min read
B.S. Moss and the Dawn of the Movie-Palace Era Although the vaudeville circuits would last through the 1920s, the way was now paved for impressive purpose-built movie houses with proper lighting and sound that would exhibit first-rate popular entertainment to general audiences. Charles B. Moss Jr. and Jonathan Kay 23 Dec 2021 · 15 min read
Does Christine Brown Deserve to Burn in Hell? In the pitiless moral universe of writer-director Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror film ‘Drag Me to Hell,’ guilt isn’t easily absolved and debts must always be paid in the end. Jamie Palmer 31 Oct 2021 · 12 min read
A Peculiarly Australian Kind of Hell—Revisiting ‘Wake in Fright’ Five decades after its release, Wake in Fright remains a brutally captivating reminder that modernity is just a thin veneer over the darker recesses of the human heart. Ryan Anderson 28 Sep 2021 · 16 min read
Nineteen of the Loneliest Films Ever Made Some of them are stylish pop art or lowbrow trash—depending on how initiated you are with their appeal. But they will also make you cry or simply stare at the screen with a detached jaw as you begin to rethink their implications behind your sterilized walls. Art Tavana 19 Apr 2020 · 12 min read
Once Upon a Time...Film Critics Became Joyless—A Review Tarantino is quintessentially American. He lets us linger and watch Tate in all her Technicolor radiance. He lets us love her. What’s more, he lets her watch and love herself. Steven Volynets 17 Aug 2019 · 9 min read
The Conservative Manifesto Buried in 'Avengers: Endgame' If you haven’t seen Endgame yet—or if you take comfort in the delusion that Marvel is “woke”—stop reading now. Aaron Sibarium 14 Jun 2019 · 10 min read
Tolkien—A Review The real-life Tolkien, who loathed trite allegory, would have cringed. Charlotte Allen 24 May 2019 · 7 min read