Tootsie Tootsie
Twenty-five years before Katy Perry, Jessica Lange kisses a girl and it feels good, even if it is Dustin Hoffman.
Jan 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
Roger and Me Roger and Me
The real question is who comes off worse: the callous GM executive, the bunny-cidal woman or Bob Eubanks, the anti-Semitic, joke-telling gameshow host.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
A mental institution is the setting for Ken Kesey's 1962 parable about the power of the state.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Great Dictator The Great Dictator
Hitler was said to have seen this twice. One tends to doubt, however, that he gave it a thumbs up.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Franz Hoellering
Roman Holiday Roman Holiday
The blacklisted Dalton Trumbo wrote this romantic comedy about a queen who in Gregory Peck's arms would much rather be part of the working class--that's a Marxist message for you.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Manny Farber
Grand Illusion Grand Illusion
The story may have been set in World War I, but it was the specter of fascism that loomed over Renoir's masterpiece.
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Richard Griffith
Metropolis Metropolis
Long before Orwell envisioned 1984, Fritz Lang depicted 2026 as a battleground between workers and capitalists beneath an Art Deco city
Jan 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Evelyn Gerstein
The Uneasy Documentary Vision of Susan Meiselas The Uneasy Documentary Vision of Susan Meiselas
A new exhibit explores the remarkably sophisticated wellspring of social, political and ethical deliberation of Susan Meiselas' photography.
Dec 31, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Paul Roth
Crossfire Crossfire
Hollywood turns a novel about a gay murder into a call to action against anti-Semitism. Homophobia would have to wait.
Dec 29, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
Pinter: Bare-Knuckled Citizen Playwright Pinter: Bare-Knuckled Citizen Playwright
In the end, Harold Pinter devoted himself to defining "the real truth of our lives and our societies." Now that he's gone, his twenty-nine plays will continue that rude, honorable ...
Dec 27, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Margaret Spillane