The beautiful game of football, or as I’ll begrudgingly call it for this review, despite being a Canadian, “soccer,” is a popular, successful, and financially viable sport in most parts of the world. Until recently, it had been a very different story here in North America, at least north of the Rio Grande. The North […]

Twenty-five years ago, Amy Sherman-Palladino burst onto the scene with Gilmore Girls, which earned critical acclaim for its quirky characters and rapid-fire dialogue. After Gilmore Girls, it took Sherman-Palladino a while to land another hit. She and Daniel Palladino, her husband and creative partner, created The Return of Jezebel James, which was canceled after just […]

Like most Marvel offerings, Thunderbolts* requires so much background knowledge that fine print seems appropriate, which may explain the asterisk at the end of the official name of the film. That typographical addendum, much discussed by Marvel fanboys during the promotional lead-up, turns out not to mean anything at all, unless one counts an in-joke […]

It may not surprise you to learn that I was a pretty good student. Not perfect, of course — I put everything off to the last minute and did a fair amount of late-night cramming when I was in high school and college — but when the grades went out, I was almost always near […]

There’s a certain admirable honesty in those rebellious souls who turn away from religion entirely: the preacher’s daughter who gets a lip piercing and declares herself polyamorous, and libertarian firebrands such as the late Christopher Hitchens, who relished verbal battles with befuddled clergy. Stranger, however, are those cases who choose to remain in their chosen […]

If you know who Lenny Bruce is, you’re old. You’re either a boomer or a member of the cohort that is now blamed for blowing it in the ’60s, despite the warning from Peter Fonda’s character in Easy Rider. Or you’re one of their children, a Gen Xer who resents the parental grip on family assets and […]

Despite the label they give themselves, there is nothing “moderate” about the fiscal irresponsibility of blue-state Republicans as House Republicans try to complete their work on President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” These Republicans from states such as California, New Jersey, and New York are pushing for massive subsidies for the wealthiest taxpayers while […]

President Donald Trump’s obsession with tariffs is driven in part by a desire to restore industries to the American communities they have increasingly abandoned. Maybe we would all be better off, though, if Hollywood weren’t a beneficiary of these tariff bailouts. Trump announced a 100% tariff on foreign films in a Truth Social post this […]