ALI DELIVERS A KNOCKOUT PUNCH TO HIS CRITICS & APPLAUSE TO HOWARD KOSELL Of all the boxers, Muhammad Ali was perhaps the most politically savvy. The film Ali attempts to weave politics into what might otherwise seem a conventional biopic, with many minutes of fight scenes, love stories, and musical interludes. Directed by Michael Mann, […]
ALI DELIVERS A KNOCKOUT PUNCH TO HIS CRITICS & APPLAUSE TO HOWARD KOSELL Of all the boxers, Muhammad Ali was perhaps the most politically savvy. The film Ali attempts to weave politics into what might otherwise seem a conventional biopic, with many minutes of fight scenes, love stories, and musical interludes. Directed by Michael Mann,
Political Film Review #121 Read More »
A BLACKLISTED HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITER SUFFERS A BLACKOUT IN THE MAJESTIC Far from Washington, Hollywood is an easy target for those in Congress to find scapegoats. After World War II, the pattern of emergence of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, involving the media in part, frightened some Americans into believing that a similar fate was in
A BLACKLISTED HOLLYWOOD SCREENWRITER SUFFERS A BLACKOUT IN THE MAJESTIC Far from Washington, Hollywood is an easy target for those in Congress to find scapegoats. After World War II, the pattern of emergence of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, involving the media in part, frightened some Americans into believing that a similar fate was in
Political Film Review #120 Read More »
UPRISING IN THE WARSAW GHETTO SHOWS HOW TO RESPOND TO BARBARITY WITH HONOR In 1943 the Warsaw Ghetto, created by the occupying Germans to contain the Jewish population of the city, erupted in guerrilla warfare against the Nazis. In Uprising, director Jon Avnet provides a docudrama of the era, from prewar Warsaw to the end
UPRISING IN THE WARSAW GHETTO SHOWS HOW TO RESPOND TO BARBARITY WITH HONOR In 1943 the Warsaw Ghetto, created by the occupying Germans to contain the Jewish population of the city, erupted in guerrilla warfare against the Nazis. In Uprising, director Jon Avnet provides a docudrama of the era, from prewar Warsaw to the end
Political Film Review #119 Read More »
AN AMERICAN SOLDIER SEES THE EVILS OF THE BOSNIAN WAR WHILE AWAITING RESCUE In the midst of the Bosnian War, American naval aircraft in the Adriatic Sea were assigned by NATO command to conduct aerial surveillance of the combat while negotiations to end the conflict were in progress. On one such mission in 1995, a
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AN AMERICAN SOLDIER SEES THE EVILS OF THE BOSNIAN WAR WHILE AWAITING RESCUE In the midst of the Bosnian War, American naval aircraft in the Adriatic Sea were assigned by NATO command to conduct aerial surveillance of the combat while negotiations to end the conflict were in progress. On one such mission in 1995, a
Political Film Review #118 Read More »
What are the “best interests of the child” and who decides? In I Am Sam, directed and cowritten by Jessie Nelson, thirtysomething Sam (played by Sean Penn) has the intelligence of a seven-year-old but works as a cheerful and sweet busboy at Starbucks; he hangs out with his best friends, other mentally retarded men. Though unmarried,
THAI VOLLEYBALL TEAM TRIUMPHS IN THE IRON LADIES In 1996 a mostly gay Thai volleyball team, the first of its kind, won the national amateur championship. The Iron Ladies (Sa-ree-lex), a film based on the story with clips from some of the games as credits roll, won Audience Awards for best feature film in the