Film/TV

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Page 44
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (2007)

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s fade to black

The life of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died Sunday, resembles his art a little too closely, unfortunately.

Tara Lynn Johnson

Articles 2 minute read
Judi Dench, Steve Coogan in 'Philomena': Another country, another pregnancy.

Stephen Frears’s ‘Philomena’ (2nd comment)

When the Church did something right: A social worker’s story

Philomena deservedly paints the Catholic Church in its most deceptive and manipulative light. But my experience with the U.S. Church in the 1960s was a very different story.
SaraKay Smullens

SaraKay Smullens

Articles 3 minute read
Martin Luther King at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967

Martin Luther King at Riverside Church

When MLK broke with LBJ

Tavis Smiley’s two-part program on the Riverside Church speech in which Martin Luther King denounced the Vietnam War was a welcome exception to the annual ritual that diminishes King’s actual legacy.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 5 minute read
"I dunno, Bradley, what do you like for Best Picture?"

Oscars you can bet on

How I spent my snow days and learned to love them

If you haven't finalized your picks in this year's Oscar pool, here's one man's take.
Armen Pandola

Armen Pandola

Articles 5 minute read
Dench: Up from cruelty.

Stephen Frears's ‘Philomena’ (1st review)

An outrage in Ireland, but who’s responsible?

Stephen Frears’s Philomena is the true story of an outrage, but it suffers dramatically by focusing almost entirely on the anguished victims rather than the perpetrators.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 5 minute read
Here's to you, unscrupulous scumbags!

Martin Scorsese's 'Wolf of Wall Street'

Why do we love wolves?

Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is well on its way to making more than $100 million. The fact that it’s a hit should not surprise anyone. Bad guys sell tickets.
Armen Pandola

Armen Pandola

Articles 5 minute read
Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) may not have provided perspective to Tony (James Gandolfini), but she did for the viewer.

The end of the television antihero

Breaking up with the bad boy

Many are calling this a Golden Age of Television, with a plethora of dramas examining morally complex antiheroes. How complex are they, really, though?

Paula Berman

Articles 5 minute read
Ricky (Desi Arnaz) comforts Lucy (Lucille Ball) after yet another of her plots to escape her housewife existence meets an ignominious end.

The return of Lucille Ball

I Hate Lucy

With a new live show and colorization, Lucy is back. Her message was damaging enough the first time — do we really need to revisit it?
Susan Beth Lehman

Susan Beth Lehman

Articles 3 minute read
"Me? A feminist?"

Downton Abbey’s Secret Feminist

Are you ready for season four?

Even the politically progressive can get sucked in by the delightful soapiness of Downton Abbey, despite the show's troubling politico-economic subtext. Who'da thunk the only feminist of the lot was below stairs, though?
Alaina Johns

Alaina Johns

Articles 5 minute read
Inside Llewyn Davis4 W

The Coen Brother's 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

A shaggy cat tale about a modern Ulysses

The Coen brothers didn’t set out to make a nostalgic movie about the bards of Bleecker Street, and they literally pull no punches in Inside Llewyn Davis.
Ilene Raymond Rush

Ilene Raymond Rush

Articles 4 minute read