Entertainment

Aaron Miller

79255316,107

| January 17, 2019

8 COMMENTS

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix leaves me with mixed feelings. Or I should say half of it does, because I didn’t feel like finishing the collection of Wild West short stories after watching four of them. The acting and cinematography are well done. Each story transports you there and wears its nature as […]

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Glass (2019) and If Beale Street Could Talk

By MattHeimiller

Coolidge

MattHeimiller

| January 17, 2019

1 COMMENTS

I’ll be seeing Glass and If Beale Street Could Talk tonight! Would love to hear some *SPOILERS* discussion on this post. Don’t worry, I won’t check until I get back from seeing them. More

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A Star Is Born – Second Version (With This Title)

By George Townsend

I am 62, love the Need To Know podcast, especially Mona, because she makes me feel as though we were separated at birth - even though I am not Jewish!

| January 15, 2019

A Star Is Born – Second Version (With This Title) I want to begin this review by thanking James Lileks for informing us about a prior movie, from which all subsequent versions of A Star Is Born is based. It is called What Price Hollywood?, which review will come one of these days. So, while […]

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to see Republican leaders denounce the latest controversial comments from Iowa Rep. Steve King and argue that while it’s worth defending the greatness of Western Civilization, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. While being perfectly fine with a wall at various points along our southern border, they offer multiple reasons why an emergency declaration to move it forward would be a bad idea now and an even worse precedent for when a Democrat eventually becomes president. And they get a kick out of CNN’s Jim Acosta intending to make an argument against the need for a border wall but accidentally demonstrating why a wall works. And Jim explains how Acosta has become the Hollywood caricature of an arrogant reporter.

By Hartmann von Aue

Recommended by R> Members

Hartmann von Aue

165534,210

A former academic in the field of Dead Northwest European Languages and Medieval Literature, now entrepreneur running a translating agency in Central Texas, Hartmann von Aue is the sobriquet of Dr. John D. Martin

| January 10, 2019

3 COMMENTS

So, I was just looking for material by Stanley Clarke on Youtube and what do I find but this video from 2017. Check out the drummer: This cat is 22 and he’s already got terrific phrasing. His name’s Mike Mitchell and I think we can expect a long a great career from him: More

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Small Screen Reviews: ‘Titans’ from DC Universe

By C. U. Douglas

Thatcher

C. U. Douglas

32237414,332

Born and raised in Oregon, I've lived most my life on the West Coast, save three years near Minneapolis, Minnesota. I survived four years in the hellish paradise that is Santa Rosa, another two in a land where "Keep Portland Weird" is the first commandment, and I am happily married and living in Utah. I am an electrical designer, Protestant, and a huge nerd. I am a brand new father, and I can't shut up about it. I abuse ellipses with wild abandon.

| January 10, 2019

20 COMMENTS

I went and subscribed to DC Universe, the DC multi-media service which includes comics and streaming. So far, a few months out the former is nowhere near as extensive as Marvel’s Marvel Unlimited service, but it seems DC is going in a different direction with their app. As for Streaming, there’s a small helping of shows. Most of them are older films and classic television programming such as the original Wonder Woman show and black and white Superman or even Superfriends episodes which demonstrate the truth that the Jason Mamoa film tries to hide: Aquaman has always been lame.

DC Universe is creating original content as well; their first is Titans. So far, my feeling is that it’s not too bad, but not great. It’s a solid three on a scale of 1 to 5. Mostly it suffers from being a superhero program in a glut of superhero programs. By now we’ve had about ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on big and small screen, and several Batman, Superman films as well, and plenty of DC television programs that are separate from the DC cinema. Titans is a latecomer and has to stick out in a market that’s glutted so bad, even I don’t feel pains missing a superhero film or tv show. However, it’s several leagues better than my least favorite series and favorite punching bag, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (last season was also terrible, btw).

By Bethany Mandel

Editor

Bethany Mandel

Bethany Mandel is a part-time editor at Ricochet and columnist at the Jewish Daily Forward. She is a stay-at-home mother of three kids, four years old and younger. She also is a co-host of That Sethany Show and LadyBrains Podcast.

| January 10, 2019

9 COMMENTS

On Instagram this morning Beto O’Rourke posted a picture of himself getting a dental cleaning. I’m doing Ricochet members and readers the courtesy of linking the picture here instead of embedding it into the post. You are all quite welcome.

Ever since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won support and notoriety by Instagramming some cooking scenes, other Democratic politicians have tried, largely without success, to replicate her relatable social media posts.

In this latest episode, the Sub-Beacon dives into the filmmaking and politics ofVice. Sonny has the real answer about the The Sopranos ending. JVL makes Eagles playoff predictions (and a real cheesy popcorn!). Vic is unapologetic about his liver and onions.

By Jon Gabriel, Ed.

Chief

Jon Gabriel, Ed.

Jon Gabriel (a.k.a., @ExJon on Twitter) is the Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet. He is a political writer and marketing consultant, contributing articles to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and USA Today among others. Until 2012, he served as Director of Marketing for the free-market Goldwater Institute, where he converted policy initiatives into compelling stories. In the private sector, Jon led marketing efforts for Cold Stone Creamery, Honeywell, and several technology companies. In his… [more]

| January 9, 2019

80 COMMENTS

“My name is Oscarmandias, King of Entertainment;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

After months of searching for a host then chasing off the only person willing to try, the Academy has thrown in the gold lamé towelette. For the first time in the past three decades of The Oscars, the event will go hostless. From Variety:

By Richard Epstein

Contributor

Richard Epstein

Known to students at the University of Chicago and NYU law schools as “the libertarian,” Richard Epstein has established himself as an expert in constitutional law, contracts, corporate law, real estate law, torts, labor law—and even Roman law. He is reputed to be more knowledgeable about Justinian’s Code than anyone since the Emperor Justinian himself. The Peter and Kirsten Bedford senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Richard Epstein is the author of several books including, The Cas… [more]

| January 8, 2019

5 COMMENTS

The new highly publicized movie “On the Basis of Sex” offers a somewhat fictionalized account of the early professional life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Intermingled with her life story, the film presents an idealized narrative of her early legal crusade against gender discrimination, fought in part with her late (and most devoted) husband, the eminent tax lawyer Martin Ginsburg.

Ginsburg argued or participated in several of the early influential cases on sex discrimination and went on to found the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. When she started teaching, she was one of only about 20 female law professors in the United States. She was very much a pioneer in the women’s rights movement, motivated by her own life experiences. She had on numerous occasions been rejected from positions solely on grounds of her sex, notwithstanding her great academic distinction, and was well aware that similar obstacles fell in the path of other women who sought to make a career in the law. The film goes into these issues in depth, but I shall not dwell on them here. I am a lawyer, not a film critic, so I will comment only on Justice Ginsburg’s substantive arguments against gender discrimination

By Hartmann von Aue

| January 5, 2019

…which comes to you via Youtube and courtesy of Swiss Public television’s recording the Lugano Jazz Festival back in 2004: More

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Recommended by R> Members

Movies and Cultural Literacy

By sawatdeeka

sawatdeeka

37320232,494

Hello. My Ricochet name, sawatdeeka, is a Thai greeting that women use. Men would say, "sawatdeekap." So, sawatdeeka. Here are some bio basics: -I've been a wife for half my life, and we're parents of two teenage daughters. -I work in education, mainly from home doing mostly curriculum and instruction for a small Christian school in California (title: accreditation coordinator). -I taught humanities to junior high and some high school from about '97 to '99, before I had my daughters. … [more]

| January 4, 2019

121 COMMENTS

Young people don’t need another excuse to watch movies, but I do think we need to acknowledge the role of films in a well-rounded education. What movies do kids have to see in order to fully participate in the national discourse, without which they would misinterpret phrases that are meaningful shorthand for those of us who have not been deprived of classic flicks? Here are a few of my ideas:

1.) Wizard of Oz: This movie has been mined for colorful analogies maybe more than any other. Recently I was nonplussed to find out from my daughters that many, perhaps most, earphones come with a microphone. For weeks I’d been wanting to alleviate the crick in my neck from doing hands-free the old way. My girls knew what I meant when I said, “You mean I had the ruby slippers all along??” And just last week a counselor I’ve been seeing brought up ruby slippers, yellow brick road, and strange characters on a journey. Opinion pieces bring us We’re not in Kansas anymore, The witch is dead, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, and so on. Wizard of Oz the movie should be required watching as soon as children outgrow the tendency to have nightmares over bizarre winged monkeys, malevolent forests, cackling witches, and a tornado carrying one far away from home and family.

By TomCo9

Coolidge

TomCo9

10914

I was never what you'd call liberal (in either the social or fiscal sense) but certainly things changed once I discovered The One. That was, of course, Thomas Sowell. If Friedman was the greatest economist of the 20th century then Sowell is the greatest economist/philosopher hybrid. I work in the restaurant industry currently but also review movies at my blog web-site Tommy's Film Affair. If anyone cares they can view it here: http://tomconinereviews.blogspot.com The reviews are, purposefully, … [more]

| January 3, 2019

I will spare you my full review (with Film Culture and Did You Know) but if you’re interesting you can click this link: http://tomconinereviews.blogspot.com/2019/01/teen-titans-go-to-movies-direction-by.html Here’s a mini-summary: I watched the movie on a lark because a few friends of mine are compiling lists of Best Of for 2018. My job, being that I’m the resident geek (which is weird […]

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It’s 2019: What Did Blade Runner Get Right and Wrong?

By James Pethokoukis

Contributor

James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is a columnist and blogger at the American Enterprise Institute. (Previously, he was Washington columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters.) In addition, he is an official CNBC contributor. Pethokoukis has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Weekly Standard, Commentary, National Review, The Washington Examiner, and The Daily. Pethokoukis has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fo… [more]

| January 2, 2019

Three well-known science fiction films all take place in this new year of 2019: “Blade Runner” (1983), “The Running Man” (1987), and “Akira” (1988). “Blade Runner,” although released longest ago, may be freshest of mind thanks to the excellent 2017 sequel, “Blade Runner 2049.” And when that follow-up hit the big screen, there were plenty of news stories comparing the technological predictions of the two films to the tech gear we actually have today. For instance: The two movies show or suggest far more advanced AI, robotics, biotechnology, and space travel (lots of theorizing that the “Blade Runner” and “Alien” franchises kinda-sorta exist in the same universe), as well as the famous physics-defying flying cars or “spinners.”

On the other hand, the real 2019 has far better communication tech thanks to the internet and smartphones. And since the original “Blade Runner” missed that information revolution, it also of course missed the accompanying business disruption. It featured companies such as Atari, Bell Telephone, and RCA as important tech sector players. It’s a theme that “Blade Runner 2049” continued as creators chose to show a world where Atari is a tech colossus rather than Apple or Microsoft, which both existed when “Blade Runner” was released. The films depict a reality where there’s not a lot of obvious Schumpeterian creative destruction. Yet one would think there would need to be plenty of entrepreneurial and technological churn to arrive at a place where advances such as off-world colonies and replicants exist.

By John Bullock

Coolidge

John Bullock

Chemist. Academic. Kind of Isolated in Deep Blue Vermont. Used to post here as Cobalt Blue but took six years off after the 2012 election.

| January 2, 2019

“Hello, Is Charlie There?”, episode 7 of Amazon Prime’s not so new series Patriot, begins with a puppet show that artfully encapsulates one of the main undercurrents of the entire series: the unbearable demands parents can make on their children. This elegantly designed and beautifully realized 3 minute segment is, therefore, actually a microcosm of […]

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Aquaman

By TomCo9

| January 1, 2019

Direction by James Wan More

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Pandora.com

By George Townsend

I am 62, love the Need To Know podcast, especially Mona, because she makes me feel as though we were separated at birth - even though I am not Jewish!

| January 1, 2019

6 COMMENTS

I just need to write this short essay, which pays homage to the joys of Pandora. I always liked music. But, now that I don’t have to go to work, and have more time to indulge my avocations, I find Pandora a real God-send. More

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The Big Valley

By George Townsend

I am 62, love the Need To Know podcast, especially Mona, because she makes me feel as though we were separated at birth - even though I am not Jewish!

| January 1, 2019

5 COMMENTS

A comment on my previous essay, which can be read here, prompted me to write this one on one of my favorite westerns. The reason it is one of my favorites is almost solely due to Barbara Stanwyck’s portrayal in the Matriarchal role of Victoria Barkley, whose late husband helped settle the big valley. I […]

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Mary Poppins Returns

By TomCo9

| December 31, 2018

Mary Poppins Returns Direction by Rob Marshall More

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Movie Review: Executive Suite

By George Townsend