Back in the ’80s, the film critic John Simon devised a classification system that neatly explains why Woody Allen’s comedies charm disparate audiences. “A highbrow moviegoer can laugh,” Simon wrote, “a middlebrow, empathize; a lowbrow, gape, awestruck.” Something similar could be said about the appeal of Dan Brown’s novels. The highbrow can chuckle condescendingly at […]

Rob Reiner’s directorial debut, the cult classic 1984 comedy This Is Spinal Tap, succeeded because the fake British band of the title — singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), and a rotating cast of doomed drummers — was a dead ringer for any number of […]

HBO’s Task is one of those shows that vanishes from memory the moment one stops streaming it. Even the name is forgettable, as I found to my dismay when trying to discuss it with friends. Tarp? Trap? Take? Oh, why bother? It’s the one with the guy from Zodiac and the Avengers films. Max something. […]

At one point in his recent interview with Bari Weiss of The Free Press, Woody Allen insisted that his works were, at best, weakly autobiographical.  “The characters in my movies, yes, have certain traits and certain obsessions that I have. But in life, they’re within normal bounds, they’re in rational bounds,” Allen told Weiss. “The […]

Multiple outlets are reporting that Sara Jane Moore, a woman who tried to assassinate former President Gerald R. Ford, has died.

It was the first ever such deployment of Japanese aircraft to Europe.

Humberto is expected to become a major hurricane this weekend.