Staff Reviews

Civil Liberties

When the Iron Curtain Fell

How totalitarianism came to Eastern Europe, and why it didn't stay.

Frank Dikötter | 1.5.2013 1:00 PM

Culture

Amour and West of Memphis

Love at the end of the road, hope for the end of a huge injustice.

Kurt Loder | 1.4.2013 9:00 AM

Culture

'A Highly Personal Music'

Jazz, commerce, and individualism.

George Smith | 12.30.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Les Misérables

Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman sing for their Oscars.

Kurt Loder | 12.28.2012 9:00 AM

Civil Liberties

Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx redress the horrors of American slavery.

Kurt Loder | 12.24.2012 12:00 PM

Culture

Atlas Shrugged Part II: Election Edition

Rand's timeless novel is recast as a Tea Party fable.

Brian Doherty | 12.23.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Jack Reacher

Tom Cruise misfires in the role of an ultra-hard-boiled investigator.

Kurt Loder | 12.21.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Chastain on the trail of Osama bin Laden.

Kurt Loder | 12.19.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Dictionary Death Match

How Webster's set off a battle that still reverberates today.

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 12.15.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Peter Jackson on a surprisingly flawed new quest.

Kurt Loder | 12.14.2012 9:00 AM

Policy

The Real Test of Education Policy

What happens when a profoundly unusual individual student runs up against a school system designed for "most" kids?

Mike Godwin | 12.11.2012 7:00 AM

Culture

An Anti-Authoritarian New Year

The wall calendar vs. the state.

Richard Kostelanetz | 12.8.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

End of Watch and Deadfall

Jake Gyllenhaal and Eric Bana in tales of cops and robbers.

Kurt Loder | 12.7.2012 9:00 AM

Censorship

Video: Censorship and "Unlearning Liberty" at College: Q & A with FIRE's Greg Lukianoff

Nick Gillespie and Anthony Fisher | 12.6.2012 11:45 AM

Culture

Milgram: The Movie

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 12.5.2012 10:00 AM

Culture

The Politics of Dating

Lucy Steigerwald | 12.5.2012 10:00 AM

Policy

Weeds Goes Legit

Jacob Sullum | 12.5.2012 10:00 AM

Culture

The Demise of Social Science

Jacob Sullum | 12.5.2012 10:00 AM

Politics

Practical Anarchy

James C. Scott's latest book makes a low-key case for a little bit of anarchism.

Lucy Steigerwald | 12.4.2012 7:00 AM

Civil Liberties

Finding Sex in the Bill of Rights

How the American Civil Liberties Union changed the way Americans think about sexual freedom.

Debbie Nathan | 12.1.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Killing Them Softly

Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini in a mob tale with a heavy message.

Kurt Loder | 11.30.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Stalin's Student in Beijing

A new biography highlights Mao's relationship with Moscow.

Frank Dikötter | 11.27.2012 10:30 AM

Culture

Anarchism's Royal Couple

The lives and ideas of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.

Sharon Presley | 11.25.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Hitchcock

Anthony Hopkins takes a stab at the man who made Psycho.

Kurt Loder | 11.25.2012 8:15 AM

Civil Liberties

The Elizabethan CIA

The surveillance state in the 16th century

Paul Cantor | 11.24.2012 8:00 AM

Culture

Life of Pi

Director Ang Lee gets viewers lost at sea.

Kurt Loder | 11.21.2012 9:00 AM

Policy

The Increasingly Libertarian Milton Friedman

The most respectable libertarian got more radical with age.

Brian Doherty | 11.20.2012 10:30 AM

Culture

Captain Nowhere

Nationalist superheroes aren't what they used to be.

Noah Berlatsky | 11.18.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Silver Linings Playbook

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, crazy in love.

Kurt Loder | 11.16.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Here Comes Artificial Intelligence

Ray Kurzweil's new book imagines man-made minds.

Matthew Feeney | 11.13.2012 10:30 AM

Culture

Skyfall

The latest James Bond film lacks the preposterous fun we've come to expect from 007.

Kurt Loder | 11.9.2012 9:00 AM

Policy

How Hollywood Sees Iran

The new films Argo and The Iran Job offer two very different portraits of the country and its people.

Julie Ershadi | 11.8.2012 1:30 PM

Policy

The Transformation of Families

We aren't really witnessing "the end of men," but we may be seeing the start of something new.

Cathy Young | 11.7.2012 1:30 PM

Culture

Wreck-It Ralph

There's a message beyond nostalgia for adult watchers of this video game movie.

Scott Shackford | 11.5.2012 6:00 PM

Culture

Jefferson's Deplorable Entanglement

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 11.2.2012 12:15 PM

Culture

Occupy Manhattan

Peter Suderman | 11.2.2012 12:05 PM

Culture

AIDS, Art, and the '80s

Ronald Bailey | 11.2.2012 12:00 PM

Politics

Gaming the Election

Scott Shackford | 11.2.2012 12:00 PM

Politics

Hating Breitbart's Powerful Post-Partisan Message

The New Media is the Massage. And Reality Will Never Be the Same Again, Thank God.

Nick Gillespie | 11.2.2012 10:08 AM

Culture

The Man with the Iron Fists

Lucy Liu, the RZA, Russell Crowe, and lots of blood.

Kurt Loder | 11.2.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Cloud Atlas

Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and others on a long, strange trip to nowhere.

Kurt Loder | 10.26.2012 9:00 AM

Culture

Life Among the Muggles

The author of the Harry Potter series tackles politics.

Matthew Feeney | 10.20.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Alex Cross

Tyler Perry stars in a preposterous and inept cop-versus-killer thriller.

Kurt Loder | 10.19.2012 10:00 AM

Culture

Paranormal Activity 4

A surprisingly creepy and effective new addition to the horror series.

Kurt Loder | 10.18.2012 2:00 PM

Politics

The Empty Case for Big Government

Looking at Leviathan through rose-colored glasses

David Boaz | 10.14.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

In Defense of Blackface

Racism, envy, and the complicated politics of minstrelsy.

Thaddeus Russell | 10.13.2012 1:00 PM

Culture

Seven Psychopaths and Sinister

A dose of bloody comic violence and a genuinely creepy horror flick.

Kurt Loder | 10.12.2012 9:00 AM

Politics

Atlas Shrugged Part II: Election Edition

Ayn Rand's timeless classic is filmed as a Tea Party fable.

Brian Doherty | 10.11.2012 1:30 PM