Propaganda

OPPENHEIMER

Academy Awards, Biopic, Capsules Blog, Historical Drama, Propaganda, sex, TWO STARS, War, War Fantasy

March 10, 2024

Cillian Murphy gives an incomparable virtuosic portrayal of the man responsible for creating the Atom Bomb. Murphy’s fierce performance is…

BARBIE

Agitprop, BDSM, Children's Cinema, Coming-of-Age, Corporate Corruption, Cult Film, Dance, Exploitation, Fantasy, Hollywood, Musical, Propaganda, Reviews Blog, sex, Sexploitation, War, ZERO STARS

November 25, 2023

Preachy, insipid, wrongheaded, and mean-spirited, “Barbie” is by far the worst movie (or more accurately, commercial) I have ever witnessed.…

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

Capsules Blog, Chinese Cinema, LGBTQ, Propaganda, ZERO STARS

May 11, 2023

Propaganda for propaganda sake. Cole Smithey.

THE CHINESE BOXER

Capsules Blog, Chinese Cinema, Martial Arts, ONE STAR, Politics, Propaganda

March 14, 2022

Take “The Chinese Boxer” for what it is, racist propaganda with a toxic sense of self-hatred as filtered through stylized…

THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET

Agitprop, Black and White, ONE STAR, Propaganda, Reviews Blog

August 23, 2017

Created during America’s ham-fisted effort at producing propaganda films during the early 1940s era of World War II, “The House…

FILMSTRUCK STREAMING WITH COLE SMITHEY DEBUTS ON FORBES NOV. 10, 2016

Criterion, Culture, Current Affairs, Film, Film Blog, Filmmaking, FilmStruck, Forbes, History, Hollywood, Indian Cinema, Kino Lorber, Netflix, Online Media, Politics, Propaganda, Sci-Fi, sex, Streaming, Television, Video Essay

November 5, 2016

FilmStruck is a brand new streaming service collaboration between Turner Classic Movies, The Criterion Collection, and Kino Lorber. FilmStruck represents…

ALLIED — TRAILER

Academy Awards, Actors, Celebrity, Cinema, Current Affairs, Film, Film Blog, Hollywood, Media, Oscars, Propaganda, War

September 20, 2016

ALLIED is the story of intelligence officer Max Vatan (Pitt), who in 1942 North Africa encounters French Resistance fighter Marianne…

TONY ROBBINS: I AM NOT YOUR GURU

Capsules Blog, Documentary, Netflix, Propaganda, THREE STARS

July 25, 2016

Netflix audiences will bring a slew of casually acquired preconceptions to Joe Berlinger’s Kool-Aid-consumed documentary about “life performance coach” extraordinaire…

JFK — CLASSIC FILM PICK

Agitprop, Capsules Blog, Classic Cinema, FIVE STARS, Political History, Propaganda, Video Essay

March 18, 2016

Oliver Stone’s “JFK” (1992) is a milestone filmic achievement based on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation into the…

SMART NEW MEDIA PRESENTS PAUL VERHOEVEN: REBEL

Cinema, Culture, Directors, Film, Film Blog, Filmmaking, Politics, Propaganda, Punk, Rock 'n' Roll, Sci-Fi, sex, Video, VIDEO COLUMN

February 5, 2016

Paul Verhoeven boiled the brain of many an audience member when Sharon Stone flashed a beaver shot at her middle-aged…

SICARIO — CANNES 2015

Cannes Film Festival, Capsules Blog, ONE STAR, Political Thriller, Propaganda, Video Essay

September 16, 2015

A disappointment from start to finish, Denis Villeneuve’s attempting-to-be-edifying international drug thriller fails miserably by the social realist parameters it…