Books & the Arts

A Day at the Races A Day at the Races

Who doesn't love a hot tootsie-frootsie ice cream?

Jan 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Mark Van Doren

Gandhi Gandhi

Ben Kingsley's channeled Mohandas Gandhi so deeply that it's difficult to view pictures of the sainted Indian leader without thinking of the actor.

Jan 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch

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

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