Advertisements for Myself Advertisements for Myself
Solo theatrical performances are like ads. Everyone claims to hate them but nevertheless finds the good ones irresistible. A good ad acts like a tonic, making a new idea easy to sw...
Mar 4, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Kalb
Raw Material Raw Material
Since Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991, the merchandising machine has been in overdrive, pushing repackaged classics (Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain), niche compilations a...
Mar 4, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Brian Morton
A Passion for Hatred That Mocks Christ’s Message A Passion for Hatred That Mocks Christ’s Message
Mel Gibson's movie is a blood libel against the Jewish people.
Mar 2, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Robert Scheer
Blind Faith Blind Faith
From the moment when Mel Gibson began promoting The Passion of the Christ--was it only ten years ago?--he has insisted that his goal was to be true to the Gospel text.
Feb 26, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
JC’s Resurrection JC’s Resurrection
The story of American popular music contains several moments when a career that has gone south is dramatically resurrected before an awed and grateful public.
Feb 19, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Hedin
May Fools May Fools
Bernardo Bertolucci has long fed off a cinephilia he appears to despise.
Feb 12, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Company Man Company Man
The name Shakespeare in Britain is rather like the names Ford, Disney and Rockefeller in the United States. He is less an individual than an institution, less an artist than an a...
Feb 12, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Terry Eagleton
McNamara: The Sequel McNamara: The Sequel
Apparently to McNamara's mortification, Errol Morris, whose film The Fog of War I discussed in my last column here, passes over his subject's thirteen-year stint running the Worl...
Feb 5, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Alexander Cockburn
Men in Black Men in Black
Several generations of doomy, bookish youth have grown up listening to the Cure.
Jan 29, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Douglas Wolk
Europa, Europa Europa, Europa
Considered as a subset of the road movie, the post-Holocaust, return-to-Poland documentary has been a dismayingly static genre. Most of these films are journeys in only the physi...
Jan 28, 2004 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans