The Cats Horror
No, it’s not “so bad it’s good” — Cats is a beloved Broadway musical turned into a $100 million Hollywood freak show.
217 Articles by: Eileen Jones
Eileen Jones is a film critic at Jacobin and author of Filmsuck, USA. She also hosts a podcast called Filmsuck.
Little Women for the Lean-In Generation
With its starchy girl-power message and Meryl Streepish prestige, Little Women is bound to be a hot contender for critics’ awards, Oscars, and Golden Globes. But don’t be fooled: it’s a bad movie.
“Scorsese Versus Superheroes” Misses the Point
Martin Scorsese’s recent comments bashing superhero movies provoked a torrent of outrage. But the real issue isn’t Marvel movies — it’s a funding model that prioritizes easy blockbusters over riskier, daring films.
The Little Man on the Big Screen
Everyone knows Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, but it was director Preston Sturges who captured the volatile reality of success, failure, and the American dream.
You Have to See Parasite
The brilliance of Parasite doesn’t lie in any political allegory it weaves, but instead in its depiction of the cruel realities of trying to make it in a capitalist system set against you. Everyone should go see it.
The Joker Melodrama
Melodrama was an ultra-popular entertainment form of the Gilded Age. It seems fitting, then, that in 2019, we have returned to the genre in Joker.
Joker and the Long History of Movie Moral Panics
Moral panics about provocative films like ‘Joker’ are as old as cinema itself. But more often than not, they’re just proof of a film’s merit — and of a deeply anxious middle class.
Broken Barry
On HBO’s new tragicomedy, a veteran plumbs the depths of his combat record for the stage — but ends up painting a portrait of middle-American desolation.
Go Ahead, Take the Adventure of Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood
In Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino is continuing his creative endeavor of engaging popular film forms and alternate-history structures to reimagine points of terrible disturbance in our collective past.
The Joys of Home Buying
In case you’ve never tried to buy a home, I should warn you: if you’re not affluent, you’re heading into a world of pain.
John Wick 3 Delivers the Justice We All Crave
Life in America sucks. Average people are constantly wronged and have little recourse to justice. That’s why it’s so satisfying to watch Keanu Reeves kick everyone’s ass over and over in the John Wick movies.
Peterloo Is a Hard Movie to Like
Mike Leigh had plenty of material to make an exciting and historically accurate film about the Peterloo massacre. He made a boring one instead.
The Critics Ruined “Us”
Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was a masterpiece. “Us” is a tedious drag tailored to the sensibilities of critics.
Remind Me Never to Watch the Oscars Again
The Academy Awards were even more of a shitshow than usual this year. This is Jacobin’s last Oscars article, because we will find better things to do with our lives than watch that garbage.
The Man Who Shot America in the Face
Vice reminds us of the hell Dick Cheney wrought, with help from a rogue’s gallery of perps, hacks, creeps, and fall guys.
Beale Street’s Tragedy Made Gorgeous
In If Beale Street Could Talk, the ugliness of oppression and persecution stand in tense contrast with Barry Jenkins’ lush, color-drenched cinematography.
The British Royals Have Always Been Scum
Despite generations of imperial murder, torture, rape, and plunder, the British ruling class still gets the brown-nose treatment in historical depictions. Not so in The Favourite, where the royals are shown as the disgusting creatures they were and still are.
The Specter of Capital
How the housing crash got us believing in ghosts again.
The Monster and the Final Girl
The new Halloween is a serviceable remake of a truly great horror film.
Klass and Kids’ Films
Disney-Pixar vs. Laika