COME WHAT MAY ANSWERS CRITICS OF ADMITTING SYRIAN REFUGEES Many politicians question the current policy of admitting Syrians who are fleeing from a brutal civil war. Yet they may have forgotten that the French, expecting the German military to take over northern parts of their country, fled south in droves with no expectation of where […]

TANNA IS MARGARET MEAD’S DREAM COME TRUE What was it like in the Hawaiian Islands before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778? There is no better portrayal on the screen than in Tanna, a contemporary Australian movie filmed on the island of Tanna, south of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila. Tanna was visited by Captain

SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU PORTRAYS 2 SENTIMENTAL DATES Director/writer Richard Tanne poses a question in Southside With You: How did Barack Obama sweep Michelle Robinson off her feet? The answer is found in a concise film consisting of preparation for a first date, the first date, and the second date ending with a kiss. Whereas Michelle

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

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

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

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