Film

Western heavy metal stormed the Middle East in the late ’80s and early ’90s, gaining popularity with the same crowds it appealed to in the United States and Europe, a subculture of young, perverse devotees. The Egyptian government responded to the genre’s popularity by carrying out a string of infamous mass arrests in 1997, temporarily […]

Few things are as American as the road trip. Trekking across the country inside a rickety old vehicle with only a vague itinerary serving as guide is a time-honored right of passage, and an expression of freedom. Traditionally, however, such exploratory trips have been an expression of male freedom—somehow women were left at home when […]

According to Sports Illustrated, there wasn’t any 20th century figure on whom more ink was expended than Muhammad Ali, the repeat heavyweight champion boxer and one of the most important civil rights heroes of the '60s. In more recent years, that fascination with Ali seems to have turned to another medium—and one which truly showcases […]

Although there is plenty of flexing and grunting, Bending Steel is a surprisingly soft and intimate story about a 43-year-old New York man who decides to become a sideshow strongman at Coney Island. Certainly there are scenes when the strongmen straighten out horseshoes and, veins bulging, smash nails into pieces of wood (without the use […]

The modern romantic comedy is a joke. The genre fosters the fantasy of charming men who stalk ex-lovers through airports (creepy), come to the church to break up your wedding (annoying), and Peter Gabriel fans who are willing to stand stoically in the rain with boom boxes all in the name of undying love (also […]