This month in culture: August 2024
What should be on your radar this August
Film
Thursday
How one bad scene can ruin an otherwise great movie
When I go on an early 1970s jag — revisiting the golden age of American cinema — I can never bring myself to rewatch Five Easy Pieces
Monday
This month in culture: July 2024
What should be on your radar this July
Wednesday
This month in culture: June 2024
Our guide to what should be on your radar
Tuesday
The wild times on the late, great John Belushi’s most famous film
Daniel de Visé’s entertaining — if that is the right word — canter through Belushi and Aykroyd’s lives and times covers a fair number of bases
Christopher Nolan, creator of worlds
The filmmaker has Hollywood at his feet
Sunday
The intriguing revival of the British gangster picture
It is unlikely that either Sexy Beast or The Gentlemen will have their legacies seriously challenged by the television series based on them
Reconsidering Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice
If the Thomas Pynchon novel adaptation has anything to say about the American dream, it is to mock its high-falutin’ nature
Thursday
Edward Zwick on his hits — and his misses
Hits, Flops and Other Illusions is a fascinating book, both for what it includes and what it either omits or deals with in parentheses
Tuesday
Does Joan Crawford deserve her bad reputation?
It’s unlikely a Crawford could happen in today’s Hollywood
Tuesday
Have we misunderstood David Fincher?
The director’s continuing ability to challenge, provoke and entertain is a marvel
Revisiting Gettysburg
No filmmaker has explored the imaginative appeal of the Civil War in as much depth or from such diverse angles as Ron Maxwell
In praise of Hallmark Christmas movies
There is not enough football on TV not to get drawn into the Countdown to Christmas
Friday
John Waters, the pope of cliché
Cinema’s pet subversive deserves a proper reappraisal
Left-wing politics has repoliticized the arts
The left’s cultural triumph
Wednesday
The lamentable rise of VFX in horror films
CGI is no substitute for glue, tape and ketchup
Is a Kevin Spacey comeback possible?
The actor is not going to disappear into the shadows quietly
Friday
Maureen Ryan exposes the Hollywood horror show
At the end of Burn it Down , it’s hard not to wish that the industry could simply be shut down and rebooted all over again
Finding the warmth in Alfred Hitchcock’s filmography
When I look at the Hitchcock movies, I don’t see icy detachment. Instead what strikes me is their intimacy, gentleness and passion
The death of Superman
How Hollywood killed the American hero