Category Archives: Film

Enemy of the State (1998)

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Max West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHiFmAc7Yg8

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Morton Downey Jr.

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Max West

Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie is a documentary on the late Morton Downey Jr., whose vile confrontational style paved the way for the likes of Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, Maury Povitch, and even Ted Baxter…er, I mean Bill O’Reilly. While … Continue reading →

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After Earth

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Max West

From a sociology of religion perspective, I’ve long been fascinated with Scientology. Ten years ago, I was Room 237-level obsessed with finding the hidden Scientology references in Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky. Travolta’s Battlefield Earth is the most obvious example of … Continue reading →

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Macbeth

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Max West

The excellent Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman will be in a new screen adaption of Macbeth. In the past few years, I’ve been exploring Shakespeare’s oevre, and starting to study it more closely. To date, in film or on stage, … Continue reading →

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Ender’s Game

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Max West

There’s a trailer for “Ender’s Game“, the big screen adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic sci-fi novel. Asa Butterfield (the kid from “Hugo”, who I think is a good actor) plays Ender. The film also stars Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, … Continue reading →

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John le Carré

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Max West

In The Guardian, John le Carré reflects on his breakout novel: I wrote The Spy Who Came in from the Cold at the age of 30 under intense, unshared, personal stress, and in extreme privacy… The Spy Who Came in … Continue reading →

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Mad Men Revisionism

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Max West

I was an early fan of AMC’s Mad Men, but feel the show jumped the shark last year. If the current season’s premier is any indication, Matt Weiner’s freshman-level pedagogy will be all-but-clobbering us over the head this year, even … Continue reading →

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