Oscars Get With the Political Program

Carrie Rickey / Truthdig Feb 10, 2020 This year's telecast showed signs of progress—now the Academy Awards producers need to get audiences to tune in again. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

‘The Big Short’ Film Review: A Morality Play Dressed Up as Modern Farce

Carrie Rickey / Truthdig Dec 10, 2015 The mortgage and banking crisis of 2007 gets the business in this fast-paced, hilarious and, yes, frightening outline. It's a tale powered by lots of villains and a handful of not-exactly-villains. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

What Happened After Brad Pitt and a Group of Star Architects Went to Rebuild New Orleans

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Aug 29, 2015 In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, movie star Brad Pitt -- perhaps the city’s most famous resident -- established his Make It Right Foundation to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward, one of New Orleans' poorest and hardest-hit neighborhoods. Attached to the project was a group of star architects including Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne and Shigeru Ban. Ten years after the storm, what have they achieved? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Angelina Jolie Imagines a World in Which Rape in War Zones Can Be Stopped

Staff / Truthdig Jun 11, 2014 It all sounded very inspiring, the vision that actress Angelina Jolie presented during her opening speech in London on Tuesday at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘World War Z’: Still Fun at Twice the Price

Richard Schickel / Truthdig Jun 26, 2013 I read in the press that this movie can never, ever recoup its cost, but it does have its charms. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Romney’s FEMA Flip-Flop, Brad Pitt’s Big Political Donation, and More

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Nov 1, 2012 A look at the day's political happenings, including Mike Huckabee's scary new political ad and Chris Christie's Halloween announcement. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Clooney, Pitt, Sheen, Lynch & Co. Make a Play for Marriage Equality

Staff / Truthdig Mar 5, 2012 On March 3, director Rob Reiner led an all-star cast, including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon, Martin Sheen and Jamie Lee Curtis, through Dustin Lance Black's play "8," about the court battle over marriage equality in California that was set in motion by the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

‘Moneyball’ Isn’t a Home Run

Richard Schickel / Truthdig Sep 26, 2011 "Moneyball" is a good story and people who have little interest in baseball don’t need to fear it. On the other hand, it has its largely overlooked problems. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

‘The Tree of Life’: Terrence Malick Syndrome Strikes Again

Richard Schickel / Truthdig May 29, 2011 This will not do—either as philosophy or as the conclusion of a picture that has wasted close to two and half hours of our time with its twaddling pretenses. But it is not quite the end of our concern with it. I think of it as the “Hiroshima Mon Amour” scam. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Do the ‘Brad Pitt Houses’ Help New Orleans?

Staff / Truthdig Dec 1, 2009 Does Brad Pitt's housing development project in New Orleans' Katrina-ravished Ninth Ward represent a much-needed boost to the neighborhood, no matter from whence it came? Or do his efforts amount to yet another example of a Hollywood do-gooder's personal crusade (continued). Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Irresponsible ‘Basterds’?: Mulling Over Tarantino’s WWII Do-Over

Staff / Truthdig Aug 25, 2009 Quentin Tarantino certainly took full cinematic license and ran with it in his Nazi-bashing big-screen extravaganza "Inglourious Basterds," but as Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman explains, some people are getting pretty fired up about the film's convention-busting climax, worrying that it could lead impressionable future generations astray about what really happened at the end of World War II. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

OMG, Brad Pitt in D.C.!

Staff / Truthdig Mar 6, 2009 Mayhem ensued Thursday when actor Brad Pitt visited Capitol Hill to meet with President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about rebuilding New Orleans. An anonymous Senate source told the AP that Pitt was possessed of a "nice face" but was "waaaay too skinny." These politicians need to get their stuff together. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )