Culture

‘London Has Fallen’ and the 9/11-ization of Entertainment

The sequel to 'Olympus Has Fallen' shows our ever-more-extravagant taste for destruction

Michael Atkinson

The Limits of New Dealism and Why We Need a New Progressive Theory of Political Economy

Historian Jefferson Cowie argues that the New Deal may have been a freak occurrence

Rich Yeselson

In Bed with the Surveillance State: Laura Poitras’ Intimate New Whitney Show

The filmographer best known for Citizenfour reveals the inside workings of our post-9/11 world

Liz Pelly

Christopher Hitchens’ Latest, Posthumous Essay Collection Stings Without a Point

Somewhere along the way, Hitchens lost a purpose for his contrarianism.

Mark Dunbar

2,054 Days of Solitary Confinement

A punishment that's cruel, but not unusual

Five Mualimm-Ak

Scattering Karl’s Ashes

Learning to accept the inevitable

Jane Miller

The Lessons of Zapatista Women Activists for Today’s Social Movements

The role of indigenous women in the Zapatista movement is little known.

James Tracy

Forget Techno-Optimism: We Can’t Innovate Our Way Out of Inequality

Hillary Clinton's former 'senior advisor for innovation' sees our Uber-ized future through rose-colored glasses

Chris Lehmann

Tech Could Mean the End of Capitalism. But What Comes Next?

Paul Mason, ardent critic of neoliberalism, sees a new epoch ahead

Peter C. Grosvenor

Watching Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Hateful Eight’ Is Three Hours of Self-Punishment and I Loved It

Tarantino gives us a hangman-based civilization, with specious “law and order” talk doing nothing to obscure the essential cruelty of his characters’ actions.

Eileen Jones

A New Documentary Explores the Anti-Apartheid Activists in South Africa You Never Learned About

A new film project explores a long-forgotten chapter in the global struggle against apartheid.

Peter Cole

You Probably Haven’t Seen the Ten Best Films of 2015

They're obscure, they're poorly distributed—but you can track them down. It will be worth it.

Michael Atkinson

Without Explosives or Lightsabers, ‘Sisters’ is a Quiet-er but No Less Feminist Film

In co-opting the party narrative for a feminist audience, Sisters does for comedies what the new Star Wars has done for action movies.

Jude Ellison Sady Doyle

Why Philanthropy Actually Hurts Rather Than Helps Some of the World’s Worst Problems

"Philanthrocapitalists" can't resolve the problems created by capitalism.

George Joseph

Austerity Is Stranger Than Fiction

Filmed in Portugal in 2013 and 2014, Miguel Gomes' new documentary Arabian Nights tries to make sense of life under IMF rules.

Michael Atkinson

Europe, A Love Story: Michael Moore’s Latest Film Tries To Sell Social Democracy to America

In 'Where To Invade Next,' Moore marches around Europe with a flag on his shoulder, to dubious effect.

Jeremy Gantz

The Blacklist in ‘Trumbo’ Didn’t Just Restrict Free Speech. It Changed How We Talk About Freedom.

Trumbo misses the opportunity to tell a more faithful, radical narrative of cinema's Red Scare and its resistors.

Andrew Paul

The Limits of Liberal Niceness in Aziz Ansari’s Master of None

Ansari and his character, Dev, genuinely want to do good. But they're missing the political framework.

Bhaskar Sunkara