 |
 |
|
|
|
||
Writes Bill Kauffman, in Look Homeward, America, of Hopper’s signature film: I don’t really have to convince you that Easy Rider is a reactionary picture, do I? The only characters depicted as unqualifiably virtuous are the homesteading family, living on their own acreage, raising their own food, teaching their young. If they’re not Treichlers then [...]
I can’t wait to see this — Oliver Stone’s “W.” Link via LRC.
Filed under: Film
I wonder if next time Chris Carter could shoehorn a few more fashionable causes into his generic (and thrill-less) thriller script masquerading as an “X-Files” movie. The new one, “X Files: I Want My Money Back,” only touches on gay marriage, stem cells, and pedophile priests. And a bit of Russophobia, too, though nothing linked [...]
Filed under: Film, Pop culture
Two “Predator” actors — Ahnold and Jesse “The Body” Ventura — have already become U.S. governors. Now Sonny Lanham is running as a Libertarian for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in Kentucky. Slate has produced this so-so video about “Predator’s” political legacy. (Hat tip to Lew Rockwell.)
Filed under: Film, Politics, Pop culture
The commentariat seems to be having a hard time interpreting “Iron Man.” The eponymous hero’s alter ego, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, is a capitalist, in fact an arms merchant at the beginning of the movie. After an ill-starred trip to Afghanistan, however, he decides to get out of the munitions business — but later returns [...]
Filed under: Film
It’s amazing what you can find on Google Video. This is the Academy Award-winning (yes, really) documentary about Karl Hess, who was one of the founding editors of National Review and a key Goldwater speechwriter — and who later became a New Leftist and an outspoken (as well as tax-resisting) libertarian. A very interesting figure, [...]
He more than deserves the Oscar, but it’s a sign of just how dull the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is that he finally gets it for “The Departed” rather than “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” “Goodfellas,” or “The Aviator,” are all of which were much better. I like long films, but even I [...]
Filed under: Film
I’m looking forward to “Apocalypto.” While promoting the new film, Mel Gibson put the collapse of Mayan civilization in context: In describing its portrait of a civilization in decline, Gibson said, “The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the same, time and time again,” drawing parallels between the Mayan civilization on the brink [...]
Filed under: Film, Social criticism, War
I'm behind schedule on a few things and won't be seeing anything myself, but if you're wondering about what's playing at the local multiplex (or foreign-film cinema, perhaps) Leon Hadar has a couple of brief reviews for you — "The Lost City" and "Wah Wah."
Filed under: Film
Nobody in his or her right mind would follow my lead in recreational pursuits, but for the voyeuristic among you here's what I'm devoting my downtime this weekend to… Reading: Look Homeward, America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists. The latest from Bill Kauffman. We've lined up a very apt reviewer for TAC, [...]