Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway? Whose “It’s a Wonderful Life” Is It Anyway?
How everybody’s favorite Christmas movie about the perils of monopoly capitalism became a victim of monopoly capitalism.
Dec 25, 2023 / Ray Nowosielski and David Cassidy
The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction” The Misguided Satire of “American Fiction”
A buzzy film adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure, a novel about publishing’s racial politics, misreads what is truly ailing the book industry.
Dec 22, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse
Isaac Julien’s Truth Isaac Julien’s Truth
Dealing with time, race, and utopias, his work challenges conventional notions of where film belongs and should be consumed.
Dec 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Joan Baez Looks Back Joan Baez Looks Back
I Am a Noise, a career-spanning documentary, makes it clear that the folk singer was one of the most important political musicians of her generation.
Dec 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sarah M. Seltzer
Christina Sharpe and the Art of Everyday Black Life Christina Sharpe and the Art of Everyday Black Life
In Ordinary Notes, Sharpe considers Black culture “in all of its shade and depth and glow.”
Dec 13, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Omari Weekes
How 2 Companies Came to Dominate the Media Business How 2 Companies Came to Dominate the Media Business
Once upon a time, six companies controlled the media in this country. That, it turns out, was the good old days…
Dec 13, 2023 / Feature / Thomas Schatz
Bayard Rustin Was No Hollywood Figurehead Bayard Rustin Was No Hollywood Figurehead
The new biopic about the socialist organizer stops at the March on Washington. What is it leaving out?
Dec 12, 2023 / Class Notes / Adolph Reed Jr.
History According to Ridley Scott History According to Ridley Scott
Ultimately what we learn in Napoleon says far more about the director than it does about Napoleon.
Dec 4, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Mike Duncan
Steve McQueen and Jonathan Glazer Confront the Holocaust Steve McQueen and Jonathan Glazer Confront the Holocaust
In Zones of Interest and Occupied City, the two filmmakers attempt to depict the ordinary fascism and everyday violence of World War II.
Dec 4, 2023 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman
David Fincher’s Man Without Qualities David Fincher’s Man Without Qualities
His grim action movie satire The Killer pokes fun at the blandness of modern life and modern moviemaking.
Nov 30, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Beatrice Loayza