Change Your Image
mengel
Reviews
Dick (1999)
I started out skeptical, but it grows on you. Delightful!
I notice that the young seem to like this movie more than the old-timers, which really surprises but also pleases me. I guess my over-50 peers have lost their sense of humor, or prefer to obsess over their stock portfolios and forget that they once cared about politics. I'm a political science professor--and I'd love to show this movie to my classes. It's a wonderful and clever parody on Watergate that should not be missed--especially if you want to know what really happened to those 18 1/2 missing minutes of tape! Relax and enjoy it.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Political hypocrisy
The most dishonest, hypocritical movie ever made. It disguises its right-wing political message by using Gump to cover up its commentary on the 60s--which is profoundly nasty and negative. He is a hero because he can ignore all the social evils around him--is that not a commentary? I understand that the moviemakers denied they were trying to send a message. They lie. I'll take my political propaganda straight, please.
Minstrel Man (1977)
Excellent drama about racial issues
It's too bad this TV movie has gotten lost and is unavailable on video--Maltin used to list it, and called it "outstanding". A touring minstrel company in the early part of the twentieth century is the focus; its experiences are used to dramatize the reality of racial relations in America; it resonates even today. It is honest, funny, and tragic. Somebody reissue it!
Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
A fascinating political fantasy
Anyone with an interest in American history or politics should see this--if you can find it! It's a fantasy about a political hack who is elected president during the Depression, who is transformed by an angel after an auto accident into a national savior--the perfect president, from a 1933 point of view. The result is just a bit scary. The fact that this movie came out during FDR's first few months in office makes it particularly interesting. It reveals a lot about what America was looking for then--and what it may be looking for today.