Pulp Garbage
As the movies have come to pride themselves on their remoteness from reality, the business of movie criticism has become ever more tricky — from The American Spectator, November 2003
The Culture of Mistrust
The California recall produced boom times for the scandal trade — so how is it not a scandal that the traders pretend to serve the public interest — From The New Criterion, November, 2003
In America
Rarely has America appeared to better effect as the fairlyland of the immigrants’ dreams. It makes you ashamed to be an American
Entry from November 24, 2003
Thanksgiving always brings up the question of what we have to be thankful for. There is of course always lots to choose from, for no matter how unhappy we may be, we still have the great and miraculous happiness of life itself and with it the freedom to draw breath in the world — even…
Barbarian Invasions, The (Les Invasions Barbares)
Denys Arcand’s Decline of the American Empire, a sort of French-Canadian Big Chill, has been given a sequel that far out-classes the original
Entry from November 19, 2003
“Every Londoner now knows how it must have felt to be a citizen of Gaul, preparing for a visit from the Roman Emperor,” wrote Tom Utley in the Daily Telegraph — and he was one of the few supporters of the President to be found among the British media élites! More representative was Matthew Parris,…
Gospel of John, The
The language is too modern and miracles are a little bit cheesy, but the biggest miracle of all is that such a reverent treatment of the life of Christ ever got made into a movie
Love Actually
You’d think that Richard Curtis would have reduced the Hugh Grant romantic comedy to a formula by now, but by branching out like this, he has only made a mess
Hidden in Plain Sight
Does the USA need to train Latin American torturers? After all, Latin Americans have been torturing each other for a long time without any help from us
Revolution Will Not Be Televised, The
Even raw propaganda can do the rounds of the documentary circuit, apparently, so long as it is anti-American propaganda