Makeshift and Marginal: On ‘The Master’ Makeshift and Marginal: On ‘The Master’
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, a drifter meets a rude awakening.
Oct 10, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
‘Occupy Unmasked’—Unmasked ‘Occupy Unmasked’—Unmasked
The documentary, starring the late Andrew Breitbart, is a deranged hodge-podge of bizarre memes, wild dot-connecting and unadulterated fury.
Oct 9, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Michael Tracey
Bad Lessons From ‘Won’t Back Down’ Bad Lessons From ‘Won’t Back Down’
A crude and hackneyed film, Won't Back Down peddles an improbable and deceptive message about schools and poverty.
Sep 26, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Dana Goldstein
Last Picture Shows: Film and Obsolescence Last Picture Shows: Film and Obsolescence
Until the final reel of celluloid is shot and projected, will every film’s primary subject be film itself?
Sep 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb
The Plague Years The Plague Years
David France’s How to Survive a Plague, Heidi Ewing and Rache Grady’s Detropia, Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage.
Sep 12, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Daylight Answers: On ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Daylight Answers: On ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
A massacre in Aurora and the cinema of social hallucination.
Aug 8, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Louis Malle’s Vanya on 42nd Street; Vera Farmiga’s Higher Ground; John Cassavetes’s Too Late Blues
Jul 24, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb
Lobbyists Bribed Congress With a Free Screening of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Lobbyists Bribed Congress With a Free Screening of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Are lobbyists using the new Batman movie as a form of bribery? Senator Leahy’s second cameo, and a special preview screening for staff, is a problem.
Jul 23, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Lee Fang
A Vast Choir of Voices: On Claude Lanzmann A Vast Choir of Voices: On Claude Lanzmann
In his memoir, The Patagonian Hare, the Shoah director’s life upstages his masterwork.
Jun 13, 2012 / Books & the Arts / David Rieff
Heart and Soul Heart and Soul
Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus
Jun 13, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans