The Substance: Youth, aging and Hollywood
Horror films are not, generally speaking, the first place one typically expects to find “substantive” artistic, social or psychological material.
•Carlos Delgado
Carlos Delgado
Twisters: Social disaster as empty spectacle
The film is totally uninterested in the social issues bound up with so-called “natural” disasters.
•Carlos Delgado
I Saw the TV Glow: A life unfulfilled
Jane Schoenbrun’s film is an enigmatic, at times disturbing portrait of a socially alienated youth.
•Carlos Delgado
Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders: A road out of history
Jeff Nichols’ latest film is an amorphous, consciously romanticized portrait of a 1960s motorcycle club.
•Carlos Delgado
Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and other short films: Beginning to look at life more squarely
Adapting Dahl’s work seems to have brought something new out of Anderson. The result, while not earth-shaking, is at times quite moving and fascinating.
•Carlos Delgado
Tick, Tick… Boom!: A struggling artist at a crossroads
The personal and professional difficulties of musical theater composer Jonathan Larson, who struggled to make a name for himself throughout the 1980s and 1990s before achieving major success with the 1996 musical Rent.
•Carlos Delgado
The Batman: Obscuring reality behind shadows and capes
The latest entry in the comic book film franchise is grim, murky and pointless.
•Carlos Delgado
Kellogg’s mobilizes scabs to break strike of 1,400 workers
The company announced that it intends to use salaried staff and “third-party resources” to restart production at four cereal factories in the United States.
•Carlos Delgado
Pig: An outsider searches for his four-legged companion
Michael Sarnoski’s and Nicolas Cage’s film could be likened to a meal that is pleasant, but not exactly filling.
•Carlos Delgado
Monster on Netflix: A “good kid” accused of murder
The film is competent, sensitive, well-intentioned. Why is it so unsatisfying?
•Carlos Delgado
Video game The Last of Us Part II: Violence begets violence
For better or worse, the game is representative of the more “serious” artistic efforts in video gaming.
•Carlos Delgado
August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Netflix: The blues is “life’s way of talking”
Strong performances and thrilling music power this engaging adaptation of August Wilson’s 1984 play.
•Carlos Delgado
Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy: Blaming the poor for their problems
The film, based on J.D. Vance’s 2016 memoir, is a bland and conformist work that ignores the sources of the social problems it portrays.
•Carlos Delgado
Utopia and the cartoonishness of “conspiracy theories”
The world is not shaped by the hidden machinations of elites, but by social development, the development of the class struggle.
•Carlos Delgado
An audio adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here: Fascism comes to America
The production, a “radio play” adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel, depicts the US’s descent into dictatorship after the election of a demagogue.
•Carlos Delgado
Ratched on Netflix: Rehabilitating a petty tyrant
The show is a ridiculous, bloody spectacle of mayhem and murder, with a hefty dose of feminism for good measure.
•Carlos Delgado
The Stranger on Netflix: A world of secrets, unraveled
A suburban father’s life is upended when a stranger reveals a devastating secret.
•Carlos Delgado
Chadwick Boseman (1976–2020): A talented actor, now hailed as a “king”
Far from honoring his memory, the media’s over-the-top eulogizing demeans the actor’s work and serves reactionary political ends.
•Carlos Delgado
Joker: An unenlightening approach to serious problems
The film attempts to treat a number of critical social issues, but falls short of making much sense of them.
•Carlos Delgado
Midsommar: Illuminating nothing
Ari Aster’s newest film is a carnival of grotesqueries surrounding a limp relationship drama.
•Carlos Delgado