curated cinema: the criminal conspiracy is coming from inside the White House
1976’s All the President’s Men is on Prime and Apple TV on both sides of the Atlantic, and on HBO Max in the US till June 1.
Donald Trump
Wake Up Dead Man movie review: knives way the hell out (London Film Festival 2025)
Rian Johnson’s third outing with droll detective Benoit Blanc, perhaps the most memorable original new movie character in decades, is a grimly funny gothic romp through modern hot-button Americana.
One Battle After Another movie review: où est la résistance?
Brash, chaotic, full of bleak humor and bitter irony. With blockbuster vibes over an anarchic indie heart, it’s both earnest and winking. Outstanding in-flight entertainment for our societal freefall.
Fountain of Youth movie review: raiders of the lost art
Hollywood has lost the ability to buckle swash. Guy Ritchie, shamelessly stealing from Indiana Jones, gives us a charmless treasure hunt that feels honed by corporate focus groups and cinematic SEO.
The Apprentice movie review: Donald Trump’s origin story as a loser and a user
A portrait of a weak man, humorless and friendless, desperate to be liked, desperate to be seen as someone who matters. Sebastian Stan’s brilliantly disgusting Trump is horrifically riveting.
curated cinema: convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump remains a massive danger to the US and the entire world
2020 documentary #Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump is streaming on Prime on both sides of the Atlantic, and also on library-streamer Kanopy in the US.
daily stream: the political power and religious delusion of the US–Israel relationship
2021’s ’Til Kingdom Come is on Prime in the US, BBC iPlayer in the UK.
behind the scenes: I am unmoored and paralyzed by polycrisis
tl;dr: Finally able to step back from my year of hell and take a deep breath, all I see is pandemic denial, the world on fire, and fascists getting bolder and bolder. I feel so hopeless, and so helpless.
Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer and A Crime on the Bayou documentaries review: Black history matters
Two new documentaries — one a shrewdly incisive work of journalism, the other a delicately elegant tale of injustice and friendship — tell all-but-forgotten histories of Black America. Of America.
documentaries for understanding how we got President Trump, and for ensuring we never get him or his like again
A free first peek at zeitgeisty film roundups to come…
