Alien Intuitions By George McCartney George McCartney with commentary on The Vast of Night (2019), Shirley (2020), and Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Read More
Aiming Aimlessly By George McCartney Chronicles Film Editor George McCartney reviews The Hunt (2020) and reflects on The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and The Candidate (1972). Read More
Hankering Hereafter By George McCartney The Invisible Man (2020) • Seven Stages to Achieve Eternal Bliss (2018) • Panic in the Streets (1950) Read More
Family Finances By George McCartney Parasite may be both the most amusing and the most horrifying movie of the year. That is, if you can get past its inept attempt at making a political statement. Read More
The World's Values By George McCartney 1917 • La Grande Illusion (1937) • Paths of Glory (1957) • Uncut GemsSam Mendes’ new film, 1917, is a rigorous examination of what it was like to be a low-ranking officer in the Great War. The film follows—literally, with a... Read More
The Perils of Revisionism By George McCartney The Irishman • Raging Bull • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker • Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman has been hailed in many quarters as a triumph, a return to the early movies of his career that made his reputation as the... Read More
Racing for Dominance By George McCartney Jojo Rabbit • Ford v Ferrari • A Simple PlanJojo Rabbit, written, directed, and produced by Taika Waititi, is a strange movie. It breaks the 74-year-old rule that Hitler must never be portrayed as playful, prankish, or in any other... Read More
Grim Foolishness By George McCartney I’ve seen only two-and-a-half Quentin Tarantino films, which seems to me one more than enough. They’re silly, trashy, and singularly devoid of amusement. Why would I see another? But when his latest, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, received... Read More
Mayhem and Civility By George McCartney Joker, Downton Abbey, and The Conversation • There must be other films as ghastly as director Todd Phillips’ Joker, but I can’t think of any that come close to its sickness. I don’t say that lightly. This is a thoroughly immoral film, and a... Read More
Hiding in Delusion By George McCartney Although Where’d You Go, Bernadette stars the incomparable Cate Blanchett along with a strong cast that includes Billy Crudup and Kristen Wiig, the film is a serious disappointment. I shouldn’t have been surprised, given it was released in... Read More
Hazardous Do-Overs By George McCartney America was founded on the idea of the second chance. People unhappy with their lives in Europe sailed to the New World, where they hoped they could escape oppression and failure. This gave rise to the peculiarly American idea that it is possible... Read More
The Naked and The Veiled By George McCartney German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s new film, Never Look Away, now available for online streaming, considers the Nazi and communist twin ideologies that strove to perfect the human species via sterilization, euthanasia, and mass... Read More