This chronicle of all the times since 1991’s Oslo Accord that Israelis and Palestinians have attempted to come to a peace agreement with the U.S. as negotiator demonstrates how deep-seated the hostility is between the two sides. Israelis were so against Yitzhak Rabin’s signed agreement with the Palestinians he was killed. Palestinians were so much against an […]
This is a history of Martin Luther King’s courageous fight for civil rights in this country from 1955 to 1968. From the beginning of his activism, he was a suspect for treason in J. Edgar Hoover’s mind. The head of the FBI grew up in the south, and maintained an attitude toward Blacks signifying that they are by
For a comprehensive look at city government, Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall would be almost all you would need to see. Not that every city is the same, but to see the wide breadth of a big city mayor’s reach and responsibilities, it’s educational. At least it was for me; although I’ve lived in a big city for years, always
The film written by Niall Johnson and directed by Geoffrey Sax is interesting, but a disappointment in that it highlights three publicly visible figures of the alt-right in America without defining exactly what the alt-right is supposed to mean. The three figures are all highly individualistic—even critical of one another—and about the only thing that unites
Most of us have probably never heard of Pete Souza, but I predict he will be known by millions more after his recent documentary, The Way I See It, is released and witnessed. Pete was always in the background during his years of being the chief White House photographer during President Reagan’s and President Obama’s terms of
Seventeen year-old boys being politicians and running for office—that’s something to see. And you can see it too in Boys State, a documentary by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss chronicling the 2018 proceedings in Austin, Texas. Established years ago by the American Legion (one for girls, and one for boys in their junior year of high school), it’s
If you have ever wondered what would happen if someone combined the investigative journalism seen in best picture winner “Spotlight,” with the controversial story behind “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Report” will satisfy that curiosity. Written and directed by Scott Z. Burns (“Contagion,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”), with a producing credit from frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh, this
Nowadays, we seldom get an intelligent comedy—not only in the sense of being well constructed—but one sprinkled throughout with philosophical and literary references that are to the point yet still funny, at least in the way the main character quotes them, and to whom (like a bank teller who hasn’t the foggiest notion of what
Whether you realize it or not, “Long Shot” is “Notting Hill” re-imagined. Of course, “Notting Hill” was just a modern day, gender-flipped “Cinderella.” The screenplay isn’t written by Rogen, yet it’s the typical Rogen weird-guy-lands-the-hot-girl story, with plenty of vulgar masturbation jokes and illegal drug use. The timing for a film about running for president
Is 76-year-old Mike Leigh’s latest film “Peterloo” the most mundane film you will see this year? Probably. Which explains why it didn’t sell at last year’s Toronto Film Festival and is only now hitting theaters seven months later. Leigh’s argument that the events of “Peterloo” are more relevant today than ever before is quite correct.