DENIAL IS A LAW SCHOOL TEXTBOOK CASE FOR LIBEL On April 11, 2000, a British judge issued a landmark ruling on academic libel case in which David Irving (played by Timothy Spall), a British historian denying the Holocaust, sued Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), an Emory University professor. Based on her book History on Trial: My […]
TWO MUST DECIDE THEIR FATE IN HELL OR HIGH WATER The bank threatens to foreclose on a home occupied by a Texan’s sons and former wife. The economy has gone bust, no income stream is rolling in, so what does Toby Howard (played by Chris Pine) do? What can he do? Rather than becoming a
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SULLY PORTRAYS A “DUKE” OF NEW YORK Chesley Sullenberger (played by Tom Hanks), nicknamed Sully, is the pilot who landed a commercial airplane on the Hudson River in January 2009 after both engines failed to operate due to a sudden influx of birds. As expected, the film reenacts the landing and rescue of all passengers
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN IS A KID’S MOVIE FOR ADULTS Director David Yates tries to blend the story about the origins of Tarzan, reared by apes, with the rape of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium. Titles at the beginning inform that the international conference in Berlin during 1884/85, when the African continent
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JASON BOURNE SHOWS HOLLYWOOD’S NAÏVE SUPPORT FOR DONALD TRUMP For years, Hollywood blockbusters have been transmitting a common theme—a crisis exists (sometimes because of government meddling), and the crisis cannot be solved by bureaucratic Washington; ergo, a hero outside government emerges to solve the problem for the people. Hunger Games, Jason Bourne films, etc. The
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR IS ABOUT A POST-TRUMP PRESIDENCY Writer/director James DeMonico had no idea that Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee for president in 2016. Nobody did. Least of all, Trump himself. But if Trump served two terms in office, then The Purge might be a vision of 2024, with a Trump successor
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SEOUL SEARCHING ALMOST GOES BACK TO THE WOMB Thousands of Koreans have been adopted around the world. In some cases, their mothers wanted them to have a better life for reasons mostly unspecified in Seoul Searching. The film tries to recall the annual summer camps for teenage Korean expatriates held in Seoul so that they
LIES ARE REDEEMED IN THE DEBT In 1965, Mossad assigns Rachel Singer (played by Jessican Chastain), Stefan Gold (Marton Csokas) and David Peretz (Sam Worthington) to kidnap Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), the Surgeon of Birkenau in East Berlin. They succeed, but Vogel escapes. But the trio tells Israel that Rachel killed Vogel. In 1997, when
A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING LACKS A COMEDIAN Directed by Tom Tykwer, A Hologram for the King shows how Saudi Arabia is unbusinesslike. The screenwriter inserts several jokes, but they are not delivered by a comedian, and Boston business exec Alan (played by Tom Hanks), far too serious, finds a female companion who seeks company
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KILL ZONE 2 IS THE LATEST KUNG FU CAPER The most important premise for yet another kung fu film is announced by the Hong Kong police chief early in Kill Zone 2, directed by Pou-Soi Cheang. He states that thousands of persons disappear without a trace each year. The reason appears to be a hunt