Justin Kurzel made his reputation with The Snowtown Murders, a shocking and eerie true-crime film from 2011. Eschewing the usual gore and horror of most serial killer flicks, Snowtown focused on the plight of an abandoned community, whose poverty, isolation, and abandonment by legitimate authority made it easy prey for …
When it comes to the choice between bread and circuses, anyone who has seen me knows that I’ll pick bread every time. Bread is honest. Bread isn’t trying to convince you that it’s anything other than bread. Bread has no agenda. Reality shows, on the other hand, have an agenda, …
Decade: the 1770s Greatest Threat: the English Nature of Threat: British sought to place us back under the thumb of their imperial rule Consequences of Failure: we’d all be speaking English today Victor: America! Decade: the 1780s Greatest Threat: liberals Nature of Threat: Attempts to place too many restrictions on gun ownership and not enough restrictions on free …
With new installments of both Star Wars and Star Trek on the way, it could not be more clear that nerd culture has had its revenge on cinema. Rather than waiting to see either of them — I don’t really care to, since I’ve never been especially interested in either franchise — I …
Years ago, my pal Calamity Jon Morris came up with an occasional series called Ask the Defenders, the conceit being that Marvel’s infamous superhero ‘non-team’ of the 1970s was actually an aggregation of dysfunctional, if highly entertaining, personalities who featured into a sort of workplace sitcom. Jon and I encouraged our readers to …
“HO HO HO! And what is your name, champ?” “Thulsa.” “And do you have a last name, Thulsa, so Santa can find your house from the mailbox?” “Doom.” “Well! Er, ho ho! That should be easy to remember! How many little boys named Doom can there be on your block?” …
Hi, everybody! Today we’re going to talk about a certain presidential candidate, and that means we’re going to have to use the f-word. The candidate is Donald Trump, and the word, of course, is “fuckface”. Ha ha! Just kidding! The word is “fascism”, and the candidate is “all of them”. …
The film critic Gene Siskel once famously remarked that it’s a pity how many movies are less interesting than sitting around having a conversation of the same length with the people who made it. This was, of course, meant to be a comment on the irony of the way an …
Anyone who knows me, has read my writing, or has spent agonizing minutes in my company hearing me gas on and on about television knows that I think Mr. Show with Bob and David represents one of the high points in the history of TV comedy. It was, and still is, …
It must be exciting, being Spike Lee. He started his career over 30 years ago, when you could count the number of prominent black filmmakers on one hand that had been mangled in a threshing mishap, and, in an era that was much more vocally racist than today, he frequently …
I recently moved back to Chicago after spending several years in less frigid climes. The wonders of global warming will soon ensure that every city in America will have delightful West Texas-style weather well into February, but for now, this is still one of the coldest cities once winter hits. …
Thanksgiving posts may not be obligatory – believe me, I’d much rather be getting drunk and cooking, and I don’t think anyone in the world would care if I did – but giving thanks, especially if you’ve been as lucky as I am, is mandatory. So, as 2015 starts to …
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Jessica Jones, the new Netflix series based on the troubled but fascinating Marvel Comics heroine, isn’t noir. That word has gotten tossed around endlessly by just about every critic that’s written about it, but it’s so far from accurate that it’s not …
It’s time we all sat down and had a little talk about rooting interests. Now, I warn you in advance: this is all completely subjective. What I am going to say here — what I am going to lay down as universal law that should be followed, with the punishment …
Hi there! I’m Jesse Popinski, better known as Uncle Hi-Finance. You may know me from HGTV’s Money Hole, the Anything You Can Do I Can Do Richer pamphlet series, and my best-selling satellite radio show, Uncle Hi-Finance’s Tax Shelter Hour. Thanks for tuning in to my podcast, which will appear on your credit …
