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Movies

• November 15 -- This Review Rated G for "Gosh, Where'd That Come From?"
Way too much information….

• October 22 -- A "Didactic" Anti-Michael Moore "Screed"
Movie critic Manohla Dargis takes on "Celsius 41.11", a conservative antidote to left-wing Michael Moore's "documentary": "A didactic screed that has all the verve of a PowerPoint presentation and all the subtlety of a Homeland Security red alert, 'Celsius 41.11' is finally interesting only because it represents another unconvincing effort on the part of conservatives to mount a viable critique of Mr. Moore."

• October 8 -- A "Saintly" Abortionist
Like abortion? Then you'll love "Vera Drake," Mike Leigh's new movie about an abortionist in '50s Britain: "[Actress Imelda] Staunton's physical performance keeps this saintly figure grounded and expands the character."

• October 1 -- Swift Boat Vets Anti-Kerry "Calumnies"
A.O. Scott reviews a pro-Kerry biopic and gets in a crack at the Swift Boat Veterans.

• September 23 -- Holden on to Left-Wing Dreams
Movie critic Stephen Holden again lauds a left-wing documentary: "They believe in a Marxist-leaning society whose workers put aside personal ambition for the greater good. They see globalization as the newest way that strong countries bully and prey on the weak while purporting to do good."

• September 15 -- Stanley Doubts Anti-Republican Discrimination in Hollywood
Are Republicans discriminated against in Hollywood? Alessandra Stanley doubts it: "If there is a blacklist, where is the sign-up sheet? There is no studio ban on Republicans, of course, but certain conservatives have been dining out for decades on what they describe as a Hollywood witch hunt."

• September 14 -- Movie Critic Takes on Reagan's "False Dawn"
Where did that come from?

• September 10 -- "Convincing Case" Made By Left-Wing Paranoids
Anita Gates reviews an obscure left-wing documentary playing in Manhattan's East Village, "Hijacking Catastrophe--9/11, Fear and the Selling of American Empire," and finds it makes a "convincing case." Its premise: Republicans want to take over the world.

• August 27 -- Movie Critic's Urban Liberal Smugfest
Stephen Holden files two favorable, angry, indignant reviews of anti-Bush documentaries, one of which mocks pro-war Middle Americans: "Asked to express their opinions about the war in Iraq, the mostly unidentified subjects of this documentary polemic, 'This Ain't No Heartland,' are only too happy to make fools of themselves. Their fundamental ignorance of the facts, compounded by their disinterest in knowing more, doesn't prevent them from expressing strong opinions and conveying misinformation in bad grammar."

• August 23 -- Giving Bush an Art Attack
Three more stories celebrating anti-Bush art.

• July 21 -- And "Some Say" the NYT Is Liberal Propaganda
A.O. Scott likes "Outfoxed," the new anti-Fox News documentary: "There is also an amusing, appalling dissection of the way Fox uses the phrase 'some say,' as in 'some say Senator Kerry has a tendency to flip-flop,' not to cloak a source but to camouflage a statement of opinion." Scott also seems to consider Bill O'Reilly the second coming of Joe McCarthy.

• July 15 -- Speaking Frankly, Opposing Gay Marriage = Homophobia
Movie critic Stephen Holden reviews a highly favorable documentary of openly gay liberal, and arch-Clinton defender, Rep. Barney Frank: "When anti-Clinton forces could offer nothing more than unprovable charges of Mr. Clinton's misconduct, they were forced to concentrate on perjury and the definition of sex." Then Holden takes on "homophobic" conservatives.

• July 2 -- Moore Krugman?
Paul Krugman, who is sounding more and more Michael Moore-like, becomes the second Times columnist in two days to praise "Fahrenheit 9/11."

• June 28 -- Criticizing Michael Moore: As Phony as John Ashcroft
Arts editor and columnist Frank Rich criticizes Michael Moore, but only to compare him to John Ashcroft.

• June 23 -- Is "Fahrenheit 9/11" Accurate? Who Cares?
A.O. Scott reviews left-wing "credit to the republic" Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and decides the important thing isn't the film's accuracy, but Moore's impish spirit.

• June 22 -- More Moore, Less Clarke
Intelligence reporter Philip Shenon pens a quasi-review of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" and goes out of his way to defend Moore. Also: What became of media hero Richard Clarke?

• June 18 -- "Moved" by Whitewater's "Dignified Victim," Susan McDougal
Dave Kehr enjoys the pro-Clinton, anti-Ken Starr documentary "The Hunting of the President," noting "the film suggests that Mr. Clinton's peccadilloes were nothing compared with the vast, unethical lengths to which his enemies were willing to go to discredit him." And he admits to being moved by "dignified victim" Susan McDougal.

• June 18 -- Taking the Times' Line On Iraq as Vietnam
Sarah Boxer's story links Iraq to the "quagmire" of Vietnam. Speaking of a 1974 anti-Vietnam War documentary, she asserts: "Today the film has not lost any of its punch. Now the punch is packed with new meaning. 'Quagmire,' 'hearts and minds' and 'liberating the people' are all back."

• June 11 -- Abu Ghraib, at the Movies
There's no Abu Ghraib movie out yet, but movie critic Steven Holden wastes no time bringing it up: "Arriving right on the heels of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival has a new, uncomfortable resonance for those who habitually regard the United States as remaining above the moral fray."

• June 1 -- Frank Rich's Pornographic Hypocrisy
Editor Frank Rich contemptuously dismisses conservatives who dare link the prisoner abuse of Abu Ghraib to pornography: "The hypocrisy of those pushing this line knows few bounds." Yet the left-wing essayist Susan Sontag, so admired by Rich, made precisely the same argument in the cover story of the NYT magazine.

• May 28 -- Anti-Christian Satire "Saved!" Not Cruel Enough
Movie critic A.O. Scott thinks the new Christian satire 'Saved!" is insufficiently cruel.

• May 28 -- It's Only a Movie, Guys
Can a new environmental disaster movie with a ludicrous premise help the crusade against "global warming"? A Times' editorial board member hopes so. (Remember when Dan Quayle got ripped for allegedly confusing TV with reality?)

• May 19 -- "Patriotic" Michael Moore's "Moving" Anti-Bush Documentary
From the Cannes film festival, movie critic A.O. Scott joins the celebrations for leftist filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

• May 12 -- The Ghost of Joe McCarthy
Sharon Waxman covers the controversy over the upcoming environmental disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow" in "Global Warming Ignites Tempers, Even in a Movie."

• April 2 -- Rumsfeld's "Glass House"
Reviewing a documentary on the controversial Arab network Al Jazeera, A.O. Scott likens its anti-Americanism to remarks by Donald Rumsfeld, as if both are culpable in spreading propaganda.

• April 1 -- Pro-Palestinian Movie Leaves Reviewer "Infuriated"
Stephen Holden reviews an Israeli documentary focusing on the plight of Palestinians that leaves him "infuriated and mystified" at Israeli actions.

• March 8 -- Gibson's Movie a "Joy Ride for Sadomasochists"
Frank Rich sees "The Passion of Christ," a movie on which he has expended thousands of harsh words over the last several months. But that's nothing compared to the vitriol unleashed in his "review."

• March 1 -- Hope He Didn't Bet on the Oscars
Frank Rich's poor box office insight on "The Passion."

• February 26 -- Not Mad About Mel
Laurie Goodstein relays some thumbs-down reviews from an interfaith panel who watched "The Passion." "They said the movie…deviated in bizarre ways from the Gospel accounts, fell flat emotionally and was numbingly violent."

• February 26 -- Scold Mountain
A.O. Scott dislikes Mel Gibson's new movie on the Passion of Christ. Comparing Gibson's violent filmmaking to Quentin Tarantino, Scott notes: "It will be amusing to see some of the same scolds who condemned Mr. Tarantino's 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' sing the praises of 'The Passion of the Christ.'" Scolds like…A.O. Scott, perhaps?

• February 20 -- The Religious Right Is Rising (Again)
TV critic Alessandra Stanley sees a rising of the religious right in the release of Mel Gibson's new movie.

• January 26 -- Another Vietnam Rerun from Frank Rich
Is Iraq another Vietnam? Frank Rich sees parallels--and brings up the "imminent threat" canard to boot.

• January 19 -- Pope "Unwittingly Hawks" Mel Gibson Movie?
Editor Frank Rich spins a conspiracy theory about the Pope giving Gibson's movie on Jesus a thumbs-up: "The ailing pontiff has been recruited, however unwittingly, to help hawk 'The Passion of the Christ.'"

• December 12 -- "Conservative Catholic Complicity with Nazism"
A movie review from Stephen Holden includes this bit of anti-Catholicism: "Instead of seriously addressing the issue of the conservative Catholic complicity with Nazism...."

• December 11 -- Everything's Free Under Communism
Stephen Holden's review of a documentary about the politics of electricity in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia calls the republic a former "constituent of the Soviet Union" and that under Communism power was "free."

• November 17 -- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Thug
A.O. Scott reviews a documentary of Tupac Shakur and gives a posthumous makeover to the "open-hearted" and "sensitive" rapper, who died as he lived--violently--in a drive-by assault in 1996.

• October 22 -- Times Bias Trickles Into Headlines
Jim Rutenberg delivers a balanced story on an upcoming CBS miniseries on the Reagan White House, but a smart-aleck headline writer couldn't resist a little Reagan-bashing.

• October 17 -- The Nixon Family Chainsaw Massacre
Republican-bashing in the screening room. Reviewing "Runaway Jury," Elvis Mitchell describes Gene Hackman as a slick jury consultant "who employs ruthless, pre-Miranda tactics generally seen on the Fox News channel." And Dave Kehr has an interesting angle on "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" sequel: "The original was a paranoid vision in which a band of hippies fell into the clutches of a monstrous family evolved from Richard Nixon's middle Americans."

• October 13 -- More "Parallels" Between Vietnam and Iraq
When the Times reviews a Vietnam documentary, alert readers look for comparisons of Vietnam to Iraq--and critic Stephen Holden doesn't disappoint.

• October 6 -- Better Late Than Never
From the Corrections section: "An article in The Times Magazine on Sept. 22, 1974, about the movie actor Charles Bronson, who died on Aug. 30 this year, misstated his military record."

• September 22 -- Frank Rich’s Mel Gibson-baiting
Times Arts editor Frank Rich resurrects his charge that Mel Gibson is guilty of “Jew-baiting.”

• September 16 -- Frank Rich: Triumph of a Willful Bush-Hater
Associate editor Frank Rich returns in full rant, calling the recent TV movie on 9-11 “propaganda so untroubled by reality that it's best viewed as a fitting memorial to Leni Riefenstahl.”

• August 20 -- This Story Rated “G” for Gaffe
Bernard Weinraub has been covering Hollywood for the Times since 1991, but his story on the PG-13 rating has a flaw a teen could pick out.

• August 6 -- Frank Rich’s Persecution Complex
Times editor Frank Rich attacks as anti-Semitic Mel Gibson’s upcoming movie on the last hours of the life of Christ, claiming its “real tinder-box effect could be abroad, where anti-Semitism has metastasized since 9/11.” But in the past liberal Rich has ridiculed the idea that movies cause violence. And his criticism is particularly hypocritical considering his discussion of 1995’s pro-gay, anti-Catholic Church movie “Priest.”

• July 8 -- “Crime Falling, Yet Prisons Still Filling,” Part XVIII
An editorial by Adam Cohen repeats a cherished bit of Times crime naivete: “After a three-decade surge, which has continued even as crime rates have dropped…”