How Stan Lee Became the Face of an Exploitative Industry How Stan Lee Became the Face of an Exploitative Industry
The Marvel editor became a Hollywood icon by claiming credit for other people’s creations.
Jul 28, 2023 / Jeet Heer
The Muddled Feminism of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” The Muddled Feminism of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”
In trying to say too much, the film winds up not saying much at all.
Jul 27, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Tarpley Hitt
This “Barbie” Is in Crisis This “Barbie” Is in Crisis
Greta Gerwig tackles philosophical questions that are more daunting than a film based on a children’s toy can handle. It results in a strange, uneven, but beautiful movie.
Jul 26, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Erin Schwartz
The Psychic Theater of Boots Riley The Psychic Theater of Boots Riley
Absurdist, darkly funny, I’m a Virgo tells a story of first love, capitalism’s surreal excesses, the contradictions of Black life, and how much politics a work of art can bear.
Jul 25, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte
The Many Enigmas of Oppenheimer The Many Enigmas of Oppenheimer
In Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan neither indicts nor vindicates the physicist. Instead, he offers a study of a man full of contradictions.
Jul 21, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte
Even as the Oppenheimer Film Rights a Historic Wrong, the Memo That Smeared Him Remains Redacted Even as the Oppenheimer Film Rights a Historic Wrong, the Memo That Smeared Him Remains Redacted
The physicist was punished for opposing development of the hydrogen bomb, and for warning about the dangers of nuclear proliferation.
Jul 21, 2023 / Peter Shinkle
Hollywood’s Robot Overlords Hollywood’s Robot Overlords
The tech-driven takeover of the film industry aims at squeezing maximum profit out of art, draining it of all its humanity in the process.
Jul 21, 2023 / Left Coast / Sasha Abramsky
May “Oppenheimer” Stimulate Conversation About the Issues He Was Desperate to Speak About May “Oppenheimer” Stimulate Conversation About the Issues He Was Desperate to Speak About
What it means to be a patriot, a scientist, and a heretic.
Jul 19, 2023 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Barbie Is on the Picket Line Barbie Is on the Picket Line
Don’t be surprised that Margot Robbie backs the SAG-AFTRA strike—she has deep roots in Australia’s labor movement.
Jul 18, 2023 / John Nichols