Dir. Stephen Frears. Starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell The hoi polloi being interviewed about Diana’s death are certainly passionate, if nothing else, and in their grief they look for someone to blame. The royal family becomes the obvious target—although only an ironical Blair aide makes the case that the Windsors literally killed her—and… Read More The Queen (2006)
Dir. Tom Ford. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Aaron Taylor-Johnson Nocturnal Animals checks off boxes for me, in the sense that it does things which typically annoy me in a movie. It can’t decide which part of its plot it’s most interested in and sacrifices both pieces for it. At a little less than two… Read More Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Dir. Ron Howard. Starring Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Matthew Macfadyen Howard Zinn is probably the most important historian that the United States has ever produced. (Sorry, Charles Beard. I love you too.) Regardless of how you feel about him – in other words, regardless of whether or not you think “historical revisionism” is an honest… Read More Frost/Nixon (2008)
Seeing Things Secondhand 