Of Queers and Kong Of Queers and Kong
From Brokeback Mountain's closeted cowboys to King Kong's embrace of Anne Darrow, Hollywood has queered cherished icons of masculinity. But the two films paint a bleak picture: Lov...
Jan 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Goldstein
A History of Violence A History of Violence
Munich is a first-rate spy thriller featuring an assassin who reveals his soul. Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain gives two extraordinary actors time and space to develop a rare emotion...
Dec 20, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Imitation of Art Imitation of Art
The Chronicles of Narnia is the perfect combination of Christian allegory and The Lord of the Rings, a well-crafted commodity and nothing more. The Ice Harvest, an anti-Christmas f...
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Best Intentions The Best Intentions
Syriana disappoints; The Boys of Baraka documents the lives of inner-city kids transported to the wild beauty of Africa; and Punishment Park zeroes in on injustice in America.
Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Agee’s Gospel Agee’s Gospel
Two new volumes in the Library of America series present the life and work of James Agee, whose flashes of greatness as an essayist, screenwriter, novelist and Nation film reviewe...
Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Phillip Lopate
I Act, Therefore I Am I Act, Therefore I Am
Admired from a distance and reviled up close, Laurence Olivier could establish a relation with his audience that was like an infection. His official biography chronicles a personal...
Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / David Thomson
Five Questions for Robert Greenwald Five Questions for Robert Greenwald
What motivated director Robert Greenwald to spend a year on a documentary detailing Wal-Mart's impact on American life, culture and commerce?
Nov 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Sam Graham-Felsen
About a Girl About a Girl
Breakfast for Pluto is the upbeat and whimsical fable of a girl in a boy's body. Watching Claire Danes in Shopgirl will make you forget for a while that other actresses exist.
Nov 2, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Young and the Damned The Young and the Damned
Paradise Now explores the bond among suicide bombers; The Squid and the Whale brings two monstrously large characters to human scale and The President's Last Bang is nastily effici...
Oct 19, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Over My Dead Body Over My Dead Body
New biographies of Benito Mussolini and Marilyn Monroe contemplate exploitation of the body--in life and after death.
Oct 19, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Jon Mooallem