“A film that bases itself on a big lie and a big misrepresentation can only sustain itself by a dizzying succession of smaller falsehoods, beefed up by wilder and (if possible) yet more-contradictory claims. President Bush is accused of taking too many lazy vacations. (What is that about, by the way? Isn’t he supposed to… Continue reading

Bad news for Miramax: “Walt Disney Co.-owned Miramax Films could lay off as much as 20 percent of its workforce in a series of cost-cutting measures, it was reported Friday. “The layoffs are being weighed as Miramax’s co-founders, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, are under increasing pressure to save money at their New York-based movie company,… Continue reading

Vaunted Viacom bigwig Sumner Redstone’s troubles may just be starting: “Mel Karmazin’s legacy is that he kept Viacom’s numbers from falling apart despite the company’s outdated business model. Now his departure will stop masking Viacom’s real weaknesses, and Redstone and company will have to face them head on. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe they’ll… Continue reading

The NY Times weighs in on Bill Clinton’s memoir: “The book, which weighs in at more than 950 pages, is sloppy, self-indulgent and often eye-crossingly dull — the sound of one man prattling away, not for the reader, but for himself and some distant recording angel of history.” Ouch.

Apropos all the mania about James Joyce and the recent Blooms day, I think Edmund Wilson—over 80 years ago—got it exactly right, not just about Ulysses, but about Joyce himself: “Since I have read it, the texture of other novelists seems intolerably loose and careless; when I come suddenly unawares upon a page that I… Continue reading