Film

Babylon, Streaming Residuals, and the Boss’s Hollywood

Babylon, Streaming Residuals, and the Boss’s Hollywood Babylon, Streaming Residuals, and the Boss’s Hollywood

A pending showdown with Hollywood unions might kill nostalgia for the golden age of film moguldom.

Jan 13, 2023 / Ben Schwartz

Characters stand on the private island in the Netflix movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

The Butler Didn’t Do It! On Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” The Butler Didn’t Do It! On Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion”

While Knives Out was a brilliant inversion of the class politics of an Agatha Christie whodunit, the sequel wants to have it both ways.

Dec 29, 2022 / Ethan Iverson

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Wild and Kinetic EO

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Wild and Kinetic EO Jerzy Skolimowski’s Wild and Kinetic EO

If Au Hasard Balthazar is austere and precise, EO is excessive and elusive.

Dec 28, 2022 / Books & the Arts / J. Hoberman

Conservative Jews Made a Terrible Bargain With Trump and the Right Over Israel

Conservative Jews Made a Terrible Bargain With Trump and the Right Over Israel Conservative Jews Made a Terrible Bargain With Trump and the Right Over Israel

American Jewish leaders have spent so long genuflecting before the Christian right that even the most blatant anti-Semitism finds them unable to stand up or speak out.

Dec 21, 2022 / Eric Alterman

Michael Cimino, a Chaotic Auteur

Michael Cimino, a Chaotic Auteur Michael Cimino, a Chaotic Auteur

A new biography examines the work of a flamboyant director who placed himself at the center of his own private Hollywood cosmology.

Dec 20, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Adam Nayman

Were We All Wrong About “Tár”?

Were We All Wrong About “Tár”? Were We All Wrong About “Tár”?

What made the movie both striking and dubious was somewhat overlooked in the initial critical fervor.

Dec 13, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Phoebe Chen

Chantel Akerman helms a camera

The “Sight and Sound” Wokeness Furor Signifies Little The “Sight and Sound” Wokeness Furor Signifies Little

The backlash to a film's elevation into the list’s number-one spot highlights the fierce immobility of critical consensus in the film industry. 

Dec 9, 2022 / Ben Schwartz

The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther”

The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther” The Melancholy Return of “Black Panther”

After the death of Chadwick Boseman, the makers of the superhero movie had to reimagine the series. The result makes for a sobering and affecting sequel. 

Dec 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Kearse

The Problem With “Jihad, Rehab” Isn’t Filmmaker Meg Smaker’s Color or Religion

The Problem With “Jihad, Rehab” Isn’t Filmmaker Meg Smaker’s Color or Religion The Problem With “Jihad, Rehab” Isn’t Filmmaker Meg Smaker’s Color or Religion

The idea that a white woman cannot make a film about non-white men is absurd. But as “Meg,” the film’s narrator, her voice is the voice of the cop.

Nov 7, 2022 / Moustafa Bayoumi

Martine Syms’s Portrait of Art School Alienation

Martine Syms’s Portrait of Art School Alienation Martine Syms’s Portrait of Art School Alienation

With her feature film The African Desperate, the visual artist delves into the social and intellectual pitfalls of the MFA experience.

Nov 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Coley

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