Son of Rambow
A funny and enjoyable movie but also one which loses a great opportunity through taking the movies too much at their own valuation
Entry from May 6, 2008
The night before Deborah Jean Palfrey took a length of nylon rope and stepped into her mother’s garden shed in a trailer park in Florida to hang herself, I went to see a production of Antony and Cleopatra at the Shakespeare Theatre of Washington. Among that play’s memorable lines, you will remember, are those of…
Remember to Laugh
Like heroism, villainy has become an in-joke in the movies and, increasingly, in the culture at large — From The American Spectator of April, 2008
Blurring the Lines
The media soap opera of the Democratic primary campaigns continues, and continues to entertain — from The New Criterion of April, 2008
Defining Definitions Down
To posit “constituencies” for the meanings of words is to mark a truly scary politicization of our common language — From The Wall Street Journal of April 26, 2008
Smart People
A charmless, tedious and unfunny movie that cultivates an image of — of all things — intelligence
Priceless (Hors de Prix)
A charming French romantic comedy that is also something of a throwback
Entry from April 11, 2008
Remember the Millennium Dome? Well, no, come to think of it you probably don’t. But if you want to remind yourself of what this giant tent looked like when it was erected in London’s former docklands near Greenwich, you only have to watch the opening sequence of The World Is Not Enough (1999), the third…
Band’s Visit, The
A gently comic and poignant film about the hope of youth and the disappointments of age set against the backdrop of Arab-Israeli relations
Entry from March 31, 2008
The “Free for All” page of the Saturday Washington Post has become mainly a forum for the politically correct to complain that their exquisite sensitivities have been rudely violated by some Post reporter or editor who has failed, say, to include the pronouns appropriate to both sexes or who has made the mistake of mentioning…
Rock-Star Status
Do we really want our politicians to be celebrities or do we only have fits of thinking that we do? The answer will determine who is our next president — From The New Criterion of March, 2008