movies

John Podhoretz on what makes a movie stand the test of time.

James Bowman on judging a classic Hollywood director by the standards of the wrong era.

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses the new Avengers trailer, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and the Netflix gambit. Sonny loves Office Space, JVL shares theories about the Avengers, and Vic shows off his Rainbow Loom bracelet—plus a possible connection between gout and salad?

Given their comparable movie careers, why is John Wayne still an icon while Gary Cooper is all but forgotten?

John Podhoretz on seeing the Coen brothers’ new western on screens large and small.

On this latest episode, the Substandard takes on Creed II and the Rocky oeuvre. JVL buys a flatscreen, Vic remembers seeing Ricky Jay, and Sonny talks about standing "on" line.

With Gary Hart, political journalists went from covering “the issues” as a public service to servicing the public with prurient material.

On this week's episode, the Substandard discusses Steve McQueen's Widows. JVL calls it No Country for Old Women. Vic and Sonny liken it to Lady Heat. The hosts talk about meeting the Substandard Expanded Universe (SSEU) for the first time, aged rum, and Beaver Nuggets. Happy Thanksgiving!

On this week's episode, the Substandard reflects on the death of Stan Lee and the greatness of The Good Place. JVL has an origin story—about Fanta. Vic hates philosophy. And Sonny Bunch returns!

The Queen pic is a surprise hit—but, writes John Podhoretz, it is unsurprisingly unoriginal.

Chris R. Morgan on the lasting appeal of the horror genre.

John Podhoretz on a down-and-out writer’s clever path to sham success.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Halloween and the blockbuster horror genre. JVL goes on a babymoon with his ... best friend? Sonny investigates a strange-looking swing set at a playground. And Vic enjoys the symphony—while watching The Empire Strikes Back. Plus JVL's decibel war…

Tim Markatos’s whirlwind weekend at this year’s New York Film Festival.

John Podhoretz: The new Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling is a joyless schlep.

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper shine in ‘A Star Is Born’—and Hollywood should make more melodramas.

On this latest episode, the Substandard takes on Venom (plus a Tom Hardy ranking!). JVL unveils his latest watch, Sonny asks why the watch has no numbers, and Vic barely survives his eating adventure in Texas.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses The House With a Clock in Its Walls and the YA adaptation genre. Does anyone want to watch a Harry Potter movie without Harry? JVL reveals his pillow obsession. Sonny asks about the existence of a Dark Sleep Web. Vic recounts watching Coma.

The comedy-thriller is memorable despite its forgettable name.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses The Predator and how on earth it ever got the green light. JVL makes the case for Chav King Arthur. Sonny hates his free earphones. And Vic is concerned about street walkers. Plus a review of the new Captain Marvel trailer!

Grant Wishard on why four young men risked prison to steal rare books from a Kentucky university library.

In our latter years The Scrapbook has become rather a sucker for books about Ronald Reagan. We own a couple of shelves of them and admit to enjoying even the mediocre ones, so highly do we esteem the modern era’s greatest president.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Peppermint and the curious career of Jennifer Garner. Sonny bids farewell to his favela, JVL shares his thoughts on Serena Williams, and Vic recounts his recent marathon (actually a 5K). Plus a Flash update, 1980s ninja movies, and tales from the…

John Podhoretz on retelling for a new generation the story of Eichmann’s capture and trial.

In this JVLess episode, Sonny and Vic discuss Crazy Rich Asians at the box office. Sonny does an Oreo pairing and Vic tries to put the fix on his blood test. As a special treat to listeners, the second half is a clip show—enjoy and see you after Labor Day!

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses the surprise hit The Meg and looks back on the summer box office—what we got right (a few things) and wrong (a lot). JVL gets called a nerd, Vic explains slot machines to his nephew, and Sonny's dog gets into a sticky situation. Plus Warner Bros. DC…

Tim Markatos on the challenges of bringing Joan of Arc’s story to the screen.

John Podhoretz reviews the latest of Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible' movies—an instant action-adventure classic.

Sophia Buono on a starkly authentic film depicting a young athlete’s struggles.

In this latest episode, the Substandard reflects on Stanley Kubrick and the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sonny and JVL wade into the James Gunn tweet controversy. Vic is celebrating Civilization and its contents. Plus ladder golf and Carmine’s portions!

Just like the woman herself.

In this latest micro episode, the Substandard breaks apart the trailers for Aquaman and Shazam! Everyone agrees Aquaman will be an unmitigated disaster. Sonny is betting Shazam! does great numbers. JVL strongly disagrees. Vic liked the version of Shazam! starring Shaquille O’Neal.

John Podhoretz explains how The Rock's poorly chosen star vehicles risk squandering fans’ affections.

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses the Rock's latest actioner, Skyscraper, and the disaster flick genre (The Poseidon Adventure > Beyond the Poseidon Adventure). JVL buys a ton of baseball cards. Sonny reappraises The Dark Knight III: The Master Race. And Vic reappraises Neve…

John Simon introduces the great director to a new generation on his centennial.

Plus, introducing TWS Access!

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Sicario: Day of Soldado. Sonny goes off on all the ways it went wrong. JVL gets ready for a day of baseball with his mystery date. Vic gets ready for a tropical 5K "fun" run. Plus a ranking of best and worst sequels and a dishwasher update!

Mister Rogers doc has viewers wishing the kindly TV host were here to save us.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Incredibles 2 and the future of Pixar—JVL ranks the worst Pixar movies. Sonny exposes A Wrinkle in Time. JVL goes shopping for a new dishwasher. Vic goes to a buffet.

On this latest micro episode, the Substandard breaks down the battle between MoviePass and now AMC Stubs A-List. JVL insists AMC Stubs membership has its privileges. Sonny and Vic remain skeptical. And question! Are there really three good movies to see each week?

All-woman crew boosts bling in latest ‘Ocean’s’ caper—reviewed by John Podhoretz.

In this latest episode, the Subtandard discusses Ocean's 8 (spoiler alerts). But things get really interesting when Sonny asks Vic and JVL to come up with their own gender-flipped cast. Plus kid updates on baseball and tap dancing!

The real reasons the latest Star Wars movie flopped.

We needed a review of the new Deadpool movie, and this is it.

Hollywood is notorious for taking certain ideas to unpleasant extremes: CGI in Star Wars movies, saccharine romantic comedy tropes, the Fast and Furious franchise. But in our current #MeToo moment, activists intent on remaking the world in a more female-friendly image have gone beyond outing…

In this latest episode, the Substandard previews the blockbusters of Summer 2018—what are we looking forward to most? And what were the great movie summers of our past? JVL's son is already talking like an MLB player. Sonny reveals his star-rating system. Vic discovers corn hole. Plus problems…

On this latest micro episode, the Substandard reflects on the passing of actress Margot Kidder and provides a ranking of Lois Lanes. But what exactly is that ranking based on?

Marvel’s funny, grand, tragic extravaganza.

In this latest mega episode, the Substandard tackles Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War. JVL reminds his son there’s no crying in baseball. Vic loves a good buffet and Sonny ranks them.

Bumping an idol of French cinema off his pedestal.

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Super Troopers 2 and stoner flicks. JVL lectures on drug policy, Sonny has a hot take on Kanye, Vic embarks on a Reduced Gluttony Diet.

Turmoil, generations, and starpower in the 1956 film classic.

Christopher Caldwell sneaks into a movie.

Al Pacino plays Penn State’s ‘JoePa’ in an HBO movie about the rape scandal.

New movie approaches the grisly story non-ideologically.

In this twee episode of the Substandard, our hosts discuss Isle of Dogs and the Wes Anderson oeuvre. Sonny gives us rankings. JVL goes back to the minors. Vic orients his kids with Chinese food. Plus "Gene" unleashed!

On this latest micro episode, the Substandard discusses the second trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story. It's actually pretty good (JVL wants more Donald Glover!). Sonny calls Emilia Clarke "a nothing." Vic uses the word "luscious." Plus a discussion of fonts!

Why is Steven Spielberg devoting so much of his time to making cartoons? Ready Player One, his mammoth new movie, is the third film he's made since 2011 using motion-capture animation. The first two—The Adventures of Tintin and The BFG—were simultaneously hyperactive and dispirited. Spielberg is…

In this latest episode of the Substandard, Sonny reviews The Death of Stalin, a movie Vic did not see because he refused to pay for parking. The return of Jony Ive is met with skepticism. Recriminations are launched, profanities are hurled. It's the crankiest Substandard yet!

Sunday’s Oscar telecast was a little bit like a State of the Union address given by a president in the final year of a failing administration.

The 2018 Oscars were always going to be weird, but in a mostly predictable way.

In this latest episode, the Substandard discusses Annihilation and the Natalie Portman oeuvre. Vic suffers Xbox nausea. Sonny and JVL weight the future (or lack thereof) of Batgirl. Plus Oscar predictions!

The end of video? When I was younger, I recall a photoshop the Sidney (Ohio) Daily News did on the front page of Tonya Harding becoming a wrestler. The story was about the wonders of digital photo editing technology, and was essentially the first "fake news" I ever saw. Now, such technology is…

In the late 1930s, or perhaps it was as late as 1940, my father and uncle, the screenwriters Philip and Julius Epstein, sought to join the American armed forces. The Army turned them away; it apparently considered their anti-fascism premature. That, at any rate, is family lore, and I have every…

On this latest episode, the Substandard tackles (so to speak!) the playoff picture. JVL soars like an eagle. Vic hates getting interrupted. Sonny recounts his basement-dwelling years. Plus a discussion of post-9/11 war movies and a review of 12 Strong.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a “reboot,” whatever that means, of a 1995 Robin Williams movie about kids magically transported inside the world of a board game. Sony Studios knew that the new Jumanji was likely to be a hit from the reaction of preview audiences, but no one expected it would…

In this latest mega-episode, the Substandard discusses the works of director Paul Thomas Anderson—JVL reveals himself to be a PTA scholar. Sonny reviews Phantom Thread. Vic reveals his favorite bathroom in D.C. JVL is writing Eagles fanfiction. And Sonny still hates coconut.

We all know by now that retweets do not equal endorsements. But it’s apparently time for a reminder that an actor’s performance does not equal an endorsement of the character he or she is playing either.

We are living in the age of the retread. From Beauty and the Beast to Baywatch, 2017 saw a Hollywood bereft of ideas and artistic courage rehashing—er, sorry, “rebooting”—long-since retired films and franchises.

The movie The Post arrives at a perfect cultural moment. As women today forcefully assert their presence, Katharine Graham is finally getting the spotlight she has always deserved. Notably, her glaring omission from All the President’s Men has now been rectified.

The staff of THE WEEKLY STANDARD and contributors weigh in on the most pressing holiday question: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

It may well be impossible ever to make a film adaptation of The Great Gatsby that can successfully live up to the full majesty of the novel. Hollywood has tried it five times, each with disappointing results despite impressive casts including Robert Redford and, most recently, Leo DiCaprio. The…

Back in 2013, in my last weeks as a high school senior, with plenty of free time on my hands, I wrote a survival guide for future students. This tome, full of wit and wisdom, remains unpublished, safely stored on a laptop buried somewhere in my closet. Which is just as well. I now realize Tina Fey…

There's a song I’ve started to play on the piano. It’s called “Money,” a fairly straightforward arrangement by Burt Bacharach. The only problem is Liza Minnelli’s eyes. They keep staring back at me from the opposite page.

Darkest Hour is a movie about the first three weeks of Winston Churchill’s premiership in May 1940, and it is balderdash. In a razor-sharp National Review critique, Kyle Smith takes out after the movie for shrinking Churchill “down to a more manageable size” by portraying him as undergoing an…

On this disaster of an episode, the Substandard discusses The Disaster Artist and cult classics. From Kentucky Fried Movie to Office Space, what counts and what doesn’t? And speaking of episodes, one of the hosts suffers a major breakdown that leaves the studio in chaos. Plus tips on how to handle…

Sir, we have to land over there so I can use the bathroom. A non-stop flight from New York to Seattle had to divert to Billings, Montana because its toilets were full, the Billings Gazette reports:

One of the rituals of Thanksgiving weekend is heading out to see a movie. And so, with that in mind, let me do you a mitzvah: Do not see Justice League. Under any circumstances do not go to see Justice League.

Prep football playoffs have begun in many states and are about to kick off in Texas, home of the Dillon Panthers of Friday Night Lights renown and center of high-school football culture. The crazed Texas playoff system invites countless schools to gargantuan sets of brackets that produce 12 state…

We are living through the golden age of the cinema of Sacramento. Oh, you didn’t know there was such a thing? There is. It’s new. Very new. In 2015, the Sacramento radio station NOW 100.5 could find only eight movies filmed in part in Sacramento over the previous 30 years, and in all of them it was…

In the mid 1950s, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev initiated the process of “De-Stalinization.” Much of this was political: Khrushchev liberalized the Stalinist political system (without, alas, dismantling it) and freed many gulag prisoners. But a big part of De-Stalinization was purely aesthetic.…

Marvel-ous Creator

Marvel-ous Creator

Hollywood casting has been much in the news, what with the revelation that Harvey Weinstein has for decades been making the most of the old casting couch—and the fact that Weinstein is hardly the only predator demanding sexual favors for the chance at movie roles. Which made it a good time for the…

Half a century ago, fashionable young moviemakers looking for new ways to separate themselves from old Hollywood fuddy-duddies—and to épater la bourgeoisie even though it was that very bourgeoisie they needed to become rich and powerful—sank their teeth into the notions that America and capitalism…

“Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country?” Donald Trump tweeted last week, using German-style capitalization. Trump may have been thinking of the NFL’s headquarters tax exemption which, applying to the league’s New York City…

As I was leaving the theater after a screening of Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, the friend I watched it with turned to me and observed, “For a documentary about a library, that movie didn’t have a whole lot to say about books.”

Can there be such a thing as a great movie that is also unsatisfying? It would seem like a contradiction in terms. After all, how can something work when it doesn’t work? And yet it does happen. The early Marx Brothers and Woody Allen pictures are disastrous pieces of storytelling, but who cares…

Can there be such a thing as a great movie that is also unsatisfying? It would seem like a contradiction in terms. After all, how can something work when it doesn’t work? And yet it does happen. The early Marx Brothers and Woody Allen pictures are disastrous pieces of storytelling, but who cares…

As I was leaving the theater after a screening of Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris: The New York Public Library, the friend I watched it with turned to me and observed, “For a documentary about a library, that movie didn’t have a whole lot to say about books.”

Thousands of people work on National Football League coaching staffs and in front offices. Millions of Americans pretend to do these roles in fantasy leagues, or simply fantasize about running an NFL team. Everyone wonders: What is the secret to NFL success?

I used to have this annual argument at Christmas with my brother-in-law, a well-regarded film editor in Hollywood. I would arrive brimming with complaints about a movie like Argo, said to be “based on actual events” but with an entirely fictitious Keystone Kops-like airport chase scene. I would…

I used to have this annual argument at Christmas with my brother-in-law, a well-regarded film editor in Hollywood. I would arrive brimming with complaints about a movie like Argo, said to be “based on actual events” but with an entirely fictitious Keystone Kops-like airport chase scene. I would…

On this latest episode, the Substandard discusses mother! and movies they never want to see again. Sonny admits he used to love Baskin Robbins bubble gum ice cream—two treats in one! JVL just might pay 7 euros for Irish ice cream. Vic refuses to pay $60 for steak. It’s a classic First World…

YOU get a baby, YOU get a baby, EVERYONE GETS A BABY! If you're not hip to the popular memes kids are using, that's an Oprah reference. Amazon mistakenly sent out an email to lots of people yesterday—perhaps hundreds of thousands—suggesting somebody bought something off of their (in most cases…

In this latest mini episode, Sonny, Vic, and JVL (he's back!) address the worst summer at the box office in years. Who's to blame? Fanboys, the lack of ideas at the studios, or China? Tune in (or download, really) to find out!

On this week’s episode, the Substandard discusses The Dark Tower, the best and worst Stephen King film adaptations—i.e., rankings!—and this summer’s box office doldrums. Sonny reveals himself as a Stephen King scholar. JVL thinks Tolstoy > Stephen King (he must be joking). Vic hated the deli slicer…

I saw Dunkirk over the weekend. What a lousy movie!

The Big Sick is a movie about a struggling comedian from a Pakistani family and his graduate-student waif of a girlfriend. They break up. She gets a mysterious infection and is put in a medically induced coma. He must deal with her parents, who are angry with him for the way he treated her, and his…

The Big Sick is a movie about a struggling comedian from a Pakistani family and his graduate-student waif of a girlfriend. They break up. She gets a mysterious infection and is put in a medically induced coma. He must deal with her parents, who are angry with him for the way he treated her, and his…

On this week's mini episode, the Substandard looks back on the life and work of George Romero and Martin Landau. Sonny reflects on the zombie legacy of Romero, JVL remembers the time he met Landau, and Vic may or may not have played hours of Doom.

David Edelstein is one of the better-known film critics in the country. He's been a critic for decades and is currently the chief film critic for New York magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS's Sunday Morning. Like everyone else in his position, he recently wrote a…

On this week's episode, the Substandard reviews King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and the Guy Ritchie oeuvre—in other words, rankings! Sonny cleans his grill and suffers a terrible injury. JVL talks mages and +5 ice swords. Vic complains about breakfast in bed. Plus Powers Boothe and a word from our…

On this week's episode, the Substandard reviews King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and the Guy Ritchie oeuvre—in other words, rankings! Sonny cleans his grill and suffers a terrible injury. JVL talks mages and +5 ice swords. Vic complains about breakfast in bed. Plus Powers Boothe and a word from our…

The recently released Lost in Florence is a movie about a young American man who, like the city's greatest poet, recognizes that he has fallen off the straight path and, now lost, must find his way again. Heartbroken and healing from an injury that derailed his professional football career, Eric…

It's Gamblers Unanimous on this week's episode: Jonathan and Vic play craps on the high seas while Sonny brings down the house playing poker. Plus the Substandard lists their favorite gambling movies (who doesn't love Teddy KGB?) and bid a sad farewell to Bill Paxton.

Are you going to watch the Academy Awards this Sunday? Please don't. You'll only drive yourself crazy. If you love Donald Trump, you'll be outraged at all of the idiotic, self-important protests. If you hate Donald Trump you'll be exasperated that the idiots in Hollywood somehow managed to find the…

The first words I learned in Italian were gamba di legno, or wooden leg, for which Benito Mussolini and Walt Disney are to blame: After the war, my mother, who was fluent in Italian, had been involved with a charity that provided artificial limbs for Italian amputees. And for decades thereafter,…

On this week's episode, the Substandard takes on M. Night Shyamalan and the art of the movie twist, Sonny reviews Split, Vic admits to watching Ghost (ditto!), and JVL wears his Prada jeans in studio. Plus inauguration memories and an ending you won't believe!

I don't know about you, but I hate movie twists.

Endnotes and digressions from the latest show:

Over the weekend BuzzFeed published what it called "the definitive ranking" of Disney animation films. All 56 of them.

Endnotes and digressions from the latest show:

Some endnotes and digressions from the latest show:

Editor's note: The piece below first ran on THE WEEKLY STANDARD's website in May 2002, upon the release of Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones. It is reprinted here to commemorate Friday's release of the latest Star Wars movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which serves as a standalone…

Some endnotes and digressions from the latest episode of the Weekly Substandard podcast:

The WEEKLY SUBSTANDARD Podcast with Sonny Bunch, Jonathan V. Last, and Victorino Matus discussing Die Hard and other Christmas classics. Does anyone like eggnog? Plus the Substandard Holiday Gift Guide!

The WEEKLY SUBSTANDARD Podcast with senior editor Victorino Matus, senior writer Jonathan Last, and Sonny Bunch of the Washington Free Beacon, on Tom Hanks and Anthony Weiner's third act.

"Wellesnet," the online Orson Welles news and fan site has noted that Donald Trump's campaign is coming, more and more, to resemble the doomed election bid of Charles Foster Kane in the 1941 film. One will remember that things for Citizen Kane started to come unraveled when he threatened, at a big…

Vincent Hanna was strung out on coke. If that means anything to you, read on. (And if it doesn't, read on, anyway. I need the clicks.) This was just one of many revelations during a panel discussion following a Wednesday night screening of Heat, a remastered 20th anniversary edition of Michael…

Gene Wilder, the comedic actor and director who died Monday at the age of 83, had the qualities of a good character actor: an idiosyncratic voice, a mop of curly hair, and a familiarly quirky manner. But somehow, he became a star in a string of successful comedies in the 1970s and 1980s, including…

We mourn those closest to us when they die: parents, relatives, family, friends. When a leader or athlete dies, an obituary is good; it's something to share.

It's been two years since Christopher Nolan had a film out—Interstellar—and four years since The Dark Knight Rises. He's currently working on Dunkirk, slated for 2017. It's been all hush-hush until a segment of a trailer leaked last week. This led to Warner Bros. releasing an "announcement"…

In Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson plays a washed up actress living as a recluse. When a stranger stumbles into her mansion, he pauses for a moment: "You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big."

Kudos to Variety for interviewing members of the cast and crew of Stand By Me, which came out in the summer of 1986. As I've insisted here before, if you grew up in the 1980s, '86 was a hell of a year for pictures: Top Gun, Platoon, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Aliens, About Last Night, and Back to…

Have you been to the movies lately? If so, you may have noticed that just about every other weekend there's a new comic book movie out: Deadpool, Batman v. Superman,Captain America, X-Men. If you're a comic book fan (like me) this is pretty great.

Arguably the greatest scene in what many consider the best movie of all time belongs to French actress Madeleine LeBeau in Casablanca.

When Ted Cruz is standing on the debate stage, does he ever reflect on the words of Michael Corleone? "Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment." After all, the Texas senator and presidential contender did recently admit The Godfather Part III is one of his favorite movies.

There’s a great joke about acting. One actor says to another actor, Hey, I just got cast in Hamlet. The other actor says, I know this is embarrassing, but I've never read or seen it. What's it about? The first one says, It's about this guy, Gravedigger #2 .  .  .

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens wide at midnight tonight and I don't want to get out over my skis here, but it's pretty much the most important movie in the history of cinema.

Will anyone go to the movies 25 years from now? Will there even be movie theaters 25 years from now? These are not idle questions. New research from the Motion Picture Association of America shows how the moviegoing audience of those between the ages of 25 and 39 has contracted…

It’s been several weeks since the actor and comedian Patton Oswalt (you may remember him from his star turn as “Toast A Bun Manager” in 2009’s Observe and Report) outraged his tens of thousands of Twitter followers with the following suggestion: 

Last week, I wrote about how the professional left was attacking Clint Eastwood's new biopic about Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle. American Sniper is almost exclusively about the struggles and heroism of one remarkable man who fought in the Iraq war, but the film's critics can't seem to forgive the…

Who is the best young actress in the movies? The obvious answer is Jennifer Lawrence, all of 24 and with a deserved Oscar to her credit for Silver Linings Playbook and a second she should have won for her supporting role in American Hustle. (She’s also the most popular, with her third Hunger Games…

The summer of 2014 confirms it: Hollywood is dying. By “Hollywood,” I mean the industry that produces mainstream, conventional movies that are made and distributed by big studios. This summer was a great disappointment for the business, with total ticket sales down 15 percent from the year before:…

Movie stars go cold. It’s part of the way popular culture works. For a long time, people just love watching them. People can’t get enough of them. And then, after they go to the well once too often with a formula that has gone flat, or after their messy personal lives get all mixed up in the…

A top of advisor to President Barack Obama is in Los Angeles to try to get Obamacare written into scripts of TV shows and movies. Valerie Jarrett explained in an appearance on Top That! on PopSugar.com:

Harold Ramis died on Monday morning. Having written, directed (or written and directed) five of the funniest movies of the last 40 years, I think it's safe to put him on the short list for Funniest Guy of His Generation.

Trance has to be judged one of the great disappointments in recent cinema, given that it is only the second movie Danny Boyle has made since Slumdog Millionaire. That Oscar-winning worldwide smash may have been the best film of the past decade. Not so Trance, which is very much like one of those…

President Obama released the following statement on the passing of film critic Roger Ebert:

Someone living in Barack Obama’s America, circa 2013, says these words to you: “I’m so behind.” In previous epochs—say, the Age of Lewinsky, or of disco—this might mean any number of things. A person might have failed to collate the year’s receipts for his accountant. Another might not have…

Les Misérables grabs you by the lapels from the first moment and never lets you go. In this respect it is little different from the stage musical from which it derives—and not so different from the Victor Hugo novel from which the stage musical derives. How you respond to its unabashed histrionics…

Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, portraying the president’s battle to abolish slavery at the end of the Civil War, illustrates one of the fundamental paradoxes inherent in constitutional democracy: that sometimes high principle can be vindicated only through low politicking. In the last week, myriad…

I recall an interview with William Faulkner in which he said that he didn’t read books but read in books, the distinction being that he seldom consumed a volume from start to finish but preferred to stick his toes in here and there, read favorite chapters over and over, proceeding from finish to…

When a movie receives rave reviews from critics who say they need to see it again to understand it fully, you should treat such a recommendation as though you were Will Robinson from the old 1960s TV show Lost in Space hearing his friendly robot companion as it flails its accordion-like arms and…

"What really matters,” said Rob (John Cusack) in High Fidelity, “is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films—these things matter.” 

A new zombie movie called World War Z starring Brad Pitt and budgeted at $150 million won’t be coming to your local multiplex anytime soon, even though it was originally supposed to premiere this Christmas. Nor will the sequel to the G. I. Joe movie I’m sure you didn’t see, which cost $125 million…

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, takes to Facebook today to review the Avengers, a movie about a bunch of superheroes banding together to save the world, “which focuses on a new, limitless clean energy source called ‘The Tesseract,’” according to Chu.

There are important discoveries to be made when you see J. Edgar, Clint Eastwood’s new film about the progenitor of the FBI. I’m not referring to the movie’s wild speculations about Hoover’s supposed homosexuality, of which there is not a shred of proof—but the bald assertion of which allows…

Did the Obama administration compromise intelligence and sensitive military information by giving a Hollywood director high level access to details of the killing of Osama bin Laden? That’s what Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, wants to investigate.

Do movies matter? 

First lady Michelle Obama, at a Joining Forces screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two earlier today, revealed that her husband, Barack Obama, is a fan of the megahit Harry Potter series.

X-Men: First Class

Kari Barbic reviews Kung Fu Panda 2 in the Washington Times:

THE WEEKLY STANDARD's Kelly Jane Torrance reviews three new films this weekend for The Washington Examiner. First up is the French film The Princess of Montpensier:

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal ran a special section reporting on the paper’s recent conference entitled “Women in the Economy: An Executive Task Force.” One of the taskforce members was Geena Davis, the Academy Award winning actress and more recently founder of the Geena Davis Institute on…

Kelly Jane Torrance reviews Joe Wright's new movie, Hanna:

A few years ago, on Turner Classic Movies, I came upon a 1952 MGM movie called Love Is Better Than Ever that was entirely unknown to me. It turned out to be a delightful romantic comedy about a fast-talking press agent whose head is turned by a young dancer. The press agent is always insulting the…

Jennifer Egan beats Jonathan Franzen to win the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. The Los Angeles Times still leads its story with a picture of the over-hyped Franzen.

I’ve been told 2010 was a great year for movies—everything from The King’s Speech to The Social Network to Inception. Not that I would know. As a parent of two toddlers, I get to a movie theater at most once or twice a year.

So I had a rare Saturday night to myself and decided at the last minute to go to the movies—and owing to scheduling, found myself with four possibilities. There was Rabbit Hole, for which Nicole Kidman has received an Oscar nomination. There was Blue Valentine, for which Michelle Williams was…

James Stewart, the star of It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rear Window, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Spirit of St. Louis, to list just a few of his classic films, was truly an American hero, embodying the ideal of the self-reliant, decent, community-focused,…

My favorite movie critic, David Thomson, has a great piece on Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, Inception. Key bit:

The Cuban missile crisis is the closest the human race has come to Armageddon. Oddly though, like the moon landing -- another 1960s event of millennial importance -- it has faded from our historical imagination. For a new generation, its gravity is unappreciated. Thirteen Days, the new Kevin…