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Charles Taylor

A Matter of Faith

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans
Talk About Change in the Church
and the Quest for Meaning

By Kerry Kennedy
Crown, 247 pages, $24.95

Kerry Kennedy’s book may be called Being Catholic Now, but her opening is pure chutzpah. Given an audience with Pope Benedict a few years back, she asked him, “In view Read More

Conformist Rebels Kindle Teen Spirit

TEENAGE: THE CREATION OF YOUTH CULTURE
By Jon Savage
Viking, 549 pages, $29.95

Jon Savage’s breathtaking history of the punk movement in the United Kingdom, England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond (1992), combined the excitement of a fan caught up in a fevered cultural moment with the perspective of Read More

Buckley’s Modest Proposal

The connection between Christopher Buckley, the sort of writer whose novels are invariably described as “wickedly” something or other (clever, satirical, entertaining et al.) and the folksy, friendly glass of warm milk that went by the name of E.B. White would seem to be an unlikely one. Until you consider that, though their approach is Read More

Get Smart, Get Barbara! Ms. Feldon Purred

By the mid-60’s, the standard that had been established for sitcoms in the previous decade—portraits of nuclear-family coziness—had largely given way to gimmickry and weirdness. The shows were about hillbillies transplanted to L.A., a Martian posing as a bachelor’s uncle, a talking horse, a genie in a bottle and a man whose mother is reincarnated Read More

New Brando Collection: Reflections Goes Gold

Studios almost never admit to being wrong. So Warner Bros.’ decision to release John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye in its original tinted version is not only a major act of restoration, but a major act of humility. (The film is available as part of the new Marlon Brando Collection, which also includes Brando’s Read More

New Brando Collection: Reflections Goes Gold

Studios almost never admit to being wrong. So Warner Bros.’ decision to release John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye in its original tinted version is not only a major act of restoration, but a major act of humility. (The film is available as part of the new Marlon Brando Collection, which also includes Brando’s Read More

La Dolce Vita? Nah!— Amarcord Is Even More Fun

Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. But almost nobody remembers that some of what he says is right.

“We saw the Fellini film,” he begins, and forget the blather about La Strada being a great film for its use of “negative imagery” (whatever that is). The cineaste showboat’s complaints about Read More

La Dolce Vita? Nah!- Amarcord Is Even More Fun

Everyone remembers the blowhard on the movie line in Annie Hall. But almost nobody remembers that some of what he says is right.

“We saw the Fellini film,” he begins, and forget the blather about La Strada being a great film for its use of “negative imagery” (whatever that is). The cineaste showboat’s complaints about Read More

Brando, Sturges, Samurai; Don't Miss Pre-Code, Old Bond

“Using every threat, contract, and influence I could muster”: That’s John Huston in his 1980 autobiography, An Open Book, on how he fought Warner Bros. to release his 1967 adaptation of Carson McCullers’ novella, Reflections in a Golden Eye, in a diffuse amber wash that would give the film a golden tint. Warner agreed to Read More

Two Queens, Dreamgirls, And Craig Attempts Bond

Despite some attempts to set the record straight, the story persists that Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst as the Austrian girl who becomes the Queen of France, was generally despised at this past spring’s Cannes Film Festival, and that the French particularly hated it. The movie did draw some scattered boos at the Read More