V as in M CMLXXXIV
Turn their name upside down, because the Wachowski brothers are Men on a Mission, Moved by a Message, Movie Makers with Meaning. Like their Matrix …
Neuroses and Nets
One of the reasons why Woody Allen movies have lost their box office appeal in recent years is his somewhat provincial focus on Manhattan, both …
‘Twas Beauty Killed the Beast
Director Peter Jackson was just 9 years old when he saw Merian Cooper’s 1933 “King Kong” on television in his native New Zealand. Fascinated by …
Liberty for Everyone
It’s hard to write about Bill Bradford specifically, because Bill was always more interested in others than he was in himself. He was the consummate …
Do Two Wrongs Make a Right?
Several years ago, while attending a bat mitzvah with my daughter, I noticed a large ornate altarpiece on the wall behind the pulpit. It proclaimed: …
Guns, Rum, & Loot
Protection of personal property rights has always posed a problem: How does the owner of property persuade a non-owner to honor his right to that …
Play it Again
“Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox, 2005, 136 minutes), the recent biopic about Johnny Cash, walks a fine line between greatness and imitation. It’s a …
Jargon Good, Oil Bad
“Syriana” is about big government and big business and oil deals and terrorism. It’s about spies and counter-spies and loyalty and betrayal. It’s about suicide …
Can’t We All Just Get Along
“The Kingdom” is yet another political thriller set in the Middle East, deter- mined to convince audiences that we are all the same beneath our …