Miracle
A patriotic-spirited account of the US hockey team’s victory over the Russians in 1980 is marred by the gloomy backdrop of Jimmy Carter’s “malaise”
Entry from February 2, 2004
Already it’s clear that the Presidential election of 2004 is shaping up to be a referendum — of Americans — on the legitimacy of American power. When you look at the position staked out by the Democratic candidates, even that of the more hawkish among them, you notice the curious fact that they are unanimous…
The Mountains of Instead
The media and opposition politicians both love the hypothetical, the first because it is a cheap way to generate scandal, the second because it is a cheap way for them to look competent
— from The New Criterion, January, 2004
Perfect Score, The
Hollywood misses yet another chance to say something meaningful to teenagers, preferring as usual to flatter them
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton
Wholesome Middle America once again refuses to be corrupted by Tinseltown — but then Tinseltown’s powers to corrupt aren’t what they used to be
Butterfly Effect, The
Hollywood has been insulting adult intelligence for years, but this movie is an insult even to teenage intelligence.
Touching the Void
An unforgettable docu-drama about a climbing accident in the Andes nearly 20 years ago which is still being talked about among mountaineers
Entry from January 22, 2004
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Greg Hitt complains that the State of the Union Address has gone from being a speech to being a TV show. “Once a somber presidential report on the soundness of the nation, the event has become another prime-time reality- TV special.” The problem is that ever since 1982 Address,…
Japanese Story
Another slow moving film about an encounter between Japan and the West in which two things happen — two more than in Oscar nominated Lost in Translation
Along Came Polly
First the good news about Along Came Polly, written and directed by John Hamburg. In parts it is very funny. True, a lot of the humor depends on thunderous borborygmus and torrential bodily extromissions, which may seem simply gross to those of finer sensitivities. Presumably Mr. Hamburg, who co-wrote the screenplay of that earlier and…
A Sharp Eye and a Sharp Tongue
Too bad that one of America’s shrewdest critics of fiction hasn’t devoted more of his energies to criticism
— From The Wall Street Journal
Entry from January 5, 2004
Michael Jackson seems never to have made any secret of the fact that he shares his bed with the young boys he invites to his Neverland ranch. He admitted as much to Martin Bashir in Julie Shaw’s documentary, Living With Michael Jackson, and again in interview with Ed Bradley on “60 Minutes” when Bradley asked…