Rome and Rhetoric
A version of my review of Garry Wills’s Rome and Rhetoric: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in The Washington Times of February 9, 2012
Young Adult
A sometimes amusing take on a traditional Hollywood theme that ends in something close to despair
Entry from February 7, 2012
The hard-hitting journalism of The New York Times took us behind the scenes yesterday to show us the oppo research operation of the Obama campaign in action at the very moment when it pounced on Mitt Romney’s remark that he was “not concerned about the very poor.” The writer, Helene Cooper, seemed almost as excited as…
Middle Class Gloom Fictionally Dispelled
Stewart O’Nan tells us to cheer up. Maybe a miracle will happen. — From The Washington Times of February 3, 2012
The Nonpartisan Charade
The media’s search for a consensus narrative is itself an untold story, at least by the media — From The New Criterion of January, 2012
The Dawn of Print
Has the death of the ‘physical’ book been exaggerated? — From The Weekly Standard of January 30, 2012
Separation, A (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)
A brilliant and heart-breaking Iranian film that is also a superbly plotted detective story
Artist, The
A delightful return to the — amusingly tweaked — conventions of silent film for an unexpectedly moving if familiar love story
Entry from January 20, 2012
In my book, Honor, A History, I wrote of Lord Herbert of Cherbury who, shipwrecked at Dover in 1609, commandeered the only rescue boat and, with his drawn sword, kept anyone else off of it and on the sinking ship except Sir Thomas Lucy. He later mentioned the incident in his autobiography without any apparent sense…
Iron Lady, The
A patronizing movie about Britain’s greatest post-war prime minister which is only interested in her mental and physical decay and not at all in her achievements
Entry from January 18, 2012
Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard’s “Morning Jay” has a great analysis of the slight uptick in the President’s approval rating in recent weeks — something he sees as reflecting a solidification of the Democrats’ liberal base in response to Mr Obama’s aggressively left-wing moves in recent weeks. If so, this would be consistent with the…
Entry from January 12, 2012
In the light of the New Hampshire primary results and Newt Gingrich’s extraordinary outburst against Mitt Romney’s business career at Bain Capital, it’s beginning to look as if it is bye-bye Newt. He’s still hoping to turn things around in South Carolina, but the most recent polls there, as elsewhere in the country, are not…