Heather Courtney’s heartfelt documentary about a group of friends in rural America who sign up to go to war is revelatory in its access, insights, and emotional honesty
Reviews
Werner Herzog Dives Into the Abyss of the American Death Penalty System
Nine years ago, two young men from Conroe, Texas, wanted a joyride in a red Camaro; and because they shot and killed three people while stealing it, Jason Burkett got life in prison, and Michael Perry got death. By Jul. 1, 2010, …
It Sucked to Go Through World War II. Inferno Will Remind You Why.
There’s no point in trying to summarize Inferno, because it’s a book written against summaries. It’s an anti-summary.
Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar: Yanking the FBI Chief Out of the Closet
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hoover as a man of many innovations, animosities, fears and secrets—but not much dramatic interest
David Lynch’s Crazy Clown Time Is Just as Creepy As You Thought It Would Be
This post is in partnership with Consequence of Sound, an online music publication devoted to the ever growing and always thriving worldwide music scene.
Upon first sitting down to review David Lynch’s new album, Crazy …
Music Monday: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
The first solo album by Oasis’ chief songwriter is the musical equivalent of stepping back into society after a very high-profile divorce.
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TV Weekend: AMC’s Hell on Wheels Gives ‘Em, At Best, Heck
Sometimes it feels like TV has been making revisionist Westerns longer than it was making the Westerns they re-envisioned. Gunsmoke alone was on TV for two decades, and the straight-ahead genre survived (with some tweaks, as in …
The Son of No One: Rightfully Unwanted
Channing Tatum plays a cop assigned to his old neighborhood in this sleepy crime drama
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas: This Santa’s Got a Brand New Stash
The third time around, the Desi dopester and his Korean pal lay R-rated waste to God, nuns, the Rockettes and every fond Yuletide tradition
Tower Heist: Occupy the Penthouse
The timely Tower Heist, which is twice as funny as I thought it would be but not half as funny as it could have been, is about a working class rebellion among the service employees in a luxury Manhattan high-rise. Their target in …
In Stephen King’s Latest, Trying to Stop Lee Harvey Oswald
I’ve only read three books by Stephen King. When I was 10 I read The Long Walk, one of his pseudonymous Bachman books. In my early 20s, while trapped on a family vacation, I read The Dark Half, which taught me a word I have …
I Want My MTV: Drugs and Money and Cows in Boardrooms
An alternative title for I Want My MTV: The Uncensored History of the Music Video Revolution could be Drugs and Money. As we learn in Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum’s splendid oral history, music video production fueled a …
Lou Reed and Metallica Go Loopy on Lulu
This post is in partnership with Consequence of Sound, an online music publication devoted to the ever growing and always thriving worldwide music scene.
Lulu is a complete failure on every tangible and intangible level of …