Aaron Sorkin’s Inane, Liberal History Lesson Aaron Sorkin’s Inane, Liberal History Lesson
Why his reformist retelling of the Chicago Seven fails to tell the real story of the leftists on trial.
Nov 3, 2020 / Charlotte Rosen
Why You Should Be Watching the Film ‘Z’ Right Now Why You Should Be Watching the Film ‘Z’ Right Now
Costa Gavras’s classic antifascist thriller reminds us that the moment of reckoning constitutes not the end of the story, but the beginning.
Nov 3, 2020 / Margaret Spillane
Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life Michael Apted’s Flawed but Brilliant Epic of British Social Life
The Up series was meant to investigate inequities of British class. It also ended up telling a different story as well.
Nov 2, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Susan Pedersen
Why I Hope Trump Does Not Watch ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ Why I Hope Trump Does Not Watch ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’
We don’t need the president to get any more ideas in his addled mind about how to punish American cities and activists.
Oct 30, 2020 / Jon Wiener
What the Berlin Wall Means to a New Generation What the Berlin Wall Means to a New Generation
Its fall once represented the enduring spirit of American freedom. A new documentary shows how that myth is being undone.
Oct 22, 2020 / Sophia Steinert-Evoy
Aaron Sorkin Sanitizes the Chicago 7 Aaron Sorkin Sanitizes the Chicago 7
The centrist filmmaker captures the drama of the 1960s, but tries too hard to make radicals palatable to contemporary liberals.
Oct 21, 2020 / Jeet Heer
The Myths of Martin Scorsese’s Mob Magnum Opus The Myths of Martin Scorsese’s Mob Magnum Opus
Glenn Kenny’s critical study of Goodfellas untangles the complicated impact of the 1990 film.
Oct 14, 2020 / Adam Nayman
Behind the Myth of Pier Paolo Pasolini Behind the Myth of Pier Paolo Pasolini
On the artistic afterlife of the Italian filmmaker, poet, novelist, and polemicist.
Sep 28, 2020 / Barry Schwabsky
The Perils of Creativity and Capitalism in ‘Tesla’ The Perils of Creativity and Capitalism in ‘Tesla’
Michael Almereyda’s biopic of the eccentric inventor is a portrait of the tensions that arise when art and commerce intersect.
Sep 23, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Vikram Murthi
The Political Use and Misuse of ‘Mulan’ The Political Use and Misuse of ‘Mulan’
Each new adaptation says more about its own time and place than the story’s ancient setting.
Sep 17, 2020 / Han Zhang