Barbie’s Toxic Feminism: Yes, Women Are Flawed, Too
In the mind of modern Hollywood, what’s the difference between men and women? Flaws. “The Lion King’s” Simba has a problem: his uncle, the conniving Scar, has masterminded a royal coup, killed Simba’s father Mufasa, and banished Simba from his homeland. Simba, who is partially responsible for his father’s death due to ignoring his advice, …
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How Students Turned $10K into Western Shoot-em Up
This is basic advice given to first-time filmmakers. Start with what you have. Write what you know. Make the movie you can make this year. Avoid stunts, children and animals. “Vengeance Trail” broke all these rules. A film professor knew a historian with vintage guns, props, costumes, sets and horses in his backyard. The professor …
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How ‘Snack Shack’ Captures Life Before Digital Revolution
Set in Nebraska City in 1991, “Snack Shack” is not a “giant sucking sound” out from the middle of America, as Ross Perot described policy in the early 1990s. It’s just the opposite. It piques the appetite for what makes us human. Many Americans in their mid-lives today were teenagers in the 1990s, and teen …
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Is 2024 the New 1963?
A good friend and mentor taught me to ask two questions before I begin writing a project: ‘Why this story?’ and ‘Why now?’ They’re good questions, especially for a writer thinking about doing a historical thriller on spec. Most of the books I’ve been fortunate enough to have published are set in the American past. …
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Why ‘Barbie,’ ‘Poor Things’ Actually Encourage Toxic Masculinity
The two biggest feminist films of 2023, “Barbie” and “Poor Things,” are poised to be heavy hitters at this year’s Oscars. And yet — even though both films claim to be overt pro-feminist manifestos — what both also have most in common is that they actually encourage the very toxic masculinity that they claim to …
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‘Maestro’ Leaves Out the Very Best of Leonard Bernstein
One of the biggest problems with “Maestro” is that it isn’t political enough. In trying to dramatize the life of Leonard Bernstein, director/star Bradley Cooper has been not so much dishonest as semi-honest; we get only a sliver of the many facets of one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century. Bernstein the …
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Audiences Slowly Returning to Grammys, Emmys … and the Oscars?
It’s been a rough few years for award shows. Everything from the Oscars to the Tony Awards has seen a massive ratings drop since 2016. Perhaps viewers grew tired of political Hollywood lectures. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything”: Greatest Hollywood awards-show monologue ever? https://t.co/w3PwlzdHnr pic.twitter.com/FrwV5XBgJe — HotAir.com (@hotairblog) January 6, …
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When Dave Chappelle Lost Decades-Old Victimhood Status
If comedy has any use beyond sheer entertainment, it’s to call out inconvenient and unspeakable truths. Now that college campus Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (D.E.I.) politics have gone mainstream in most government and corporate decisions, it’s only a matter of time before the sword of satire comes for all the cowards on the Left who …
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This Superstar Rejected Victimhood Status
Do you know this man? He was born in 1930 in the south-east of the USA. He was black, which was a much bigger obstacle back then than it is today. He grew up in the poorest neighborhood of his hometown. He never met his father. His mother died when she was 31 years old. …
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How the Sexual Revolution Killed the Rom-Com
The death of the Hollywood rom-com’s popularity is a tragic side effect of embracing the sexual revolution — and only a change in its values can bring it back. Two just-released films showcased the failure of the romantic fantasy: “Priscilla,” the Sofia Coppola-directed film about the wife of Elvis Presley “What Happens Later,” directed by …
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