Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Robert Altman [Jonah Goldberg]
His passing is no doubt sad to his friends, family and fans. Though when an appropriate period has passed, we might have a fuller discussion of his merits as a director. Personally, I never saw the genius his fans saw.

Did you see Brokeback Mountain? No. I don't much like movies about men who cheat on their wives with hot chicks. Hence I have considerably less interest in movies about dudes who cheat on their wives with other dudes.

Hollywood has yet to make a "great" movie about Washington. This is the cinematic corollary to the even hoarier cliche that the United States has yet to produce a great novel about the nation's capital. These cliches reign supreme because they happen to be true.

But the recently released Thank You for Smoking comes closer than most.....

[...]

In the 1990s, Hollywood produced a string of occasionally amusing but generally absurd films about politics and the presidency. Dave, The American President, Bulworth, Wag the Dog, Air Force One, and so on. TV played its part too, starting in 1988 with Murphy Brown straight through the mercifully soon-to-end The West Wing.