Politics
Political Documentaries, Political Thrillers, Political Dramas
MISS SLOANE is Upcoming In Theaters On November 25, 2016
November 24, 2016MISS SLOANE is the story a brilliant but ruthless lobbyist (Jessica Chastain) who is notorious for her unparalleled talent and her desire to win at all costs, even when it puts her own career at risk. The thriller pulls back the curtain on how Capitol Hill games are played and won as Sloane faces off […]
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George Clooney says he’ll never run for office: ‘Who would ever want to live like that?’
October 18, 2015Kanye West and Lindsay Lohan have both expressed interest in running for president in 2020, but don’t expect George Clooney to join them. At a press conference for Our Brand is Crisis, Clooney (who produced the film) said he has no interest in venturing into politics. “I’ve been asked that for almost 20 years now and the […]
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Critical Mass: Bridge of Spies is an old-fashioned thriller at its best
October 16, 2015It’s a sad commentary on our turbulent geopolitical times that the peak of the Cold War is now viewed with some pangs of nostalgia. In 1957, the globe was split down the middle, with the threat of Soviet and American nukes hanging over every potential crisis and negotiation. Perhaps there was some comfort in the […]
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London Film Review: ‘My Scientology Movie’
October 14, 2015Courtesy of Red Box Films The very title “My Scientology Movie” suggests a juvenile goof-off on a serious subject. It could even be read as a dryly self-deprecating acknowledgment — as befits writer-presenter Louis Theroux’s very British demeanor — of its shagginess in the wake of Alex Gibney’s searing Scientology inquiry “Going Clear” earlier this […]
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Film Review: ‘Very Big Shot’
October 11, 2015If the fake-moviemaking ploy from “Argo” were repurposed to disguise a drug-smuggling caper, it might inspire a comedy like “Very Big Shot,” a slyly amusing feature debut from Lebanese director Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya. Beginning as a hard-boiled crime drama, the movie gradually reveals a more satirical intent, commenting on what it sees as untapped potential […]
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Film Review: ‘Future June’
October 5, 2015Courtesy of Rio Film Festival A rigorous sociology lesson without one iota of teacherly rhetoric, Maria Augusta Ramos’ superb new documentary “Future June” instead counts on penetrating powers of perception to lay bare the economic imbalances ailing contemporary Brazil. After taking on the addled Brazilian justice system in her three previous features, Ramos once more […]
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Film Review: ‘Zoom’
October 4, 2015Courtesy of O2 Filmes “Who’s zoomin’ who?” asked Aretha Franklin in her 1985 hit of the same name — and while the song doesn’t feature amid the film’s cooler musical selections, it summarizes the key dramatic question of “Zoom.” A spirited if spotty solo debut for Brazilian helmer Pedro Morelli, this breathless trifle triangulates the […]
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Film Review: ‘The Piper’
October 4, 2015Carnivorous rats are mickey mouse compared with the heinous humans in “The Piper,” South Korean helmer-scribe Kim Gwang-tae’s chilling transposition of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” to a Korean hamlet in the early ’50s. As a bleak fable on human nature (“Crimes committed for survival should be forgiven,” notes one character), it’s pretty old hat, but as an […]
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Michael Moore on school shootings: ‘Things can change and will change’
October 2, 2015Michael Moore invaded the New York Film Festival on Friday to screen his new documentary, Where to Invade Next, for an American audience for the first time. The film follows the filmmaker globetrotting to various countries to hijack political and cultural practices — like workers’ paid vacations, free college tuition, and true gender equity — that […]
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Busan Film Review: ‘The Virgin Psychics’
October 2, 2015Courtesy of Busan Film Festival Watching Sion Sono’s unruly telepathic sex comedy “The Virgin Psychics” is a bit like having a dog hump your leg for the better part of two hours; it’s filthy and monotonous and fairly interminable, but after a while you’ve been so thoroughly numbed that you have to admit it’s kind […]
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Film Review: ‘Bolshoi Babylon’
September 24, 2015Photo courtesy of Toronto Film Festival Promising a lot more dirt than it delivers, “Bolshoi Babylon” proves that Russia’s most famous performing-arts institution isn’t just of great value to the Kremlin, it’s like the Kremlin, too, in that the secrets behind its cutthroat internal politics generally stay secret. Nick Read’s docu finds the ballet company […]
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Film Review: ‘French Blood’
September 23, 2015Photo courtesy of Toronto FIlm Festival Opening with a bang and ending with a whimper, “French Blood” follows more than 20 years in the life of a neo-Nazi skinhead, from the bloody street fights of his youth to a transformative adulthood, but comes with its own set of regrets and misgivings. It’s an epic tale […]
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