Trumbo is a barnstorming triumph of cinematic liberalism

 

From Sunset Boulevard to Argo, Hollywood has always been in the business of self-mythologizing.

It’s not often, though, that the industry takes its licks for the mistakes it’s made along the way.

Writ large among them is, of course, the blacklist, which saw scores of talented, Left-leaning film-makers left out in the cold as the paranoia surrounding Communism reached fever pitch.…

Pete Docter proves just the tonic for Pixar with Inside Out

 

Say what you want about the superhero genre, over the past twenty years Pixar has turned our childhoods into a cottage history.

From the animated playthings of Toy Story to the night terrors of Monsters, Inc., with the occasional sequel and prequel thrown in, no studio has displayed such consistent inventiveness and insight into the processes of growing up.…

Though it flirts with darkness, Man of Steel walks in the sun

 

It’s safe to say we live in a Golden Age of superhero films, and, as with all renaissances, there comes with this a certain pressure, a certain set of standards.

Nowadays a superhero film has to be about more than simply believing a man can fly: we need to believe in them as human beings.…