"Hannah Arendt,' ill-served again (2nd review)

When bad movies happen to profound philosophers

Attempting more than a courtroom drama of the Eichmann trial but less than a full biography of Hannah Arendt, the filmmakers pack too many complex relationships and big ideas into 113 minutes with far too little intellectual substance for support.

Gresham Riley

Jul 08, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

The ordeal of "Hannah Arendt' (1st review)

Enemy of her people?

For the crime of trying to understand Nazi behavior and raising uncomfortable questions about how to cope with evil, the political theorist Hannah Arendt became a pariah among her fellow Jews.

Dan Rottenberg

Jun 27, 2013 · Articles · 7 minute read

Brad Pitt's apocalypse: "World War Z'

Hands off my zombies, Brad!

The movie version of World War Z glosses over the zombies that made the book interesting and replaces them with derivative action sequences. It was almost painful to watch the bastardization of a genre so near and dear to my heart.

Lance Manion

Jun 25, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

Zal Batmanglij's "The East'

Those evil corporations again

Evil corporations get their comeuppance in The East, but Zal Batmanglij's mess of a film is almost a primer in how not to do political paranoia. Next reel, please.

Robert Zaller

Jun 24, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

My son as "The Graduate'

Where have you gone, Dustin Hoffman? Or: In my house, it's 1967 all over again

If you think life doesn't imitate art, visit my home, where things have taken a strange turn now that my son Brandon has graduated from high school.

Perry Block

Jun 20, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha'

To be young, rootless and struggling— but oh, the possibilities!

In Noah Baumbach's latest film, 27-year-old Frances is caught somewhere between who she is and whom she wants to be— a world not yet defined and unexpectedly magical.

Maxine Krenzel

Jun 18, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

"The Doctor': Julius Erving, beyond the hype

Flying a little too high

Julius Erving was once a great basketball player, role model and family man. In retrospect, he benefitted from the contrast between his relatively clean self and the coke-snorting brothers who were despoiling professional basketball's image before he came along.

Robert Liss

Jun 18, 2013 · Articles · 4 minute read

Ten questions about 'Man of Steel'

Maybe they should call it Brains of Steel

You don't need Superman's X-ray vision to spot the logical holes in his latest film.

Alaina Johns

Jun 17, 2013 · Articles · 3 minute read

What I learned from "Rocky Horror'

A would-be faggot comes of age: How Rocky Horror changed my life

I wasn't gay in high school, but I was a freak— and The Rocky Horror Picture Show endowed my circle of freaks with a transcendent sense of our value. Or was it the other way around?

Lance Manion

Jun 15, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read

Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby'

The book was so much better

Why do film directors seem intent on trashing great literature? Baz Luhrmann's glitzy, elaborate version of The Great Gatsby is all self-important spectacle, and, like Joe Wright's recent Anna Karenina, a travesty of the original.

Robert Zaller

May 21, 2013 · Articles · 5 minute read