“I’m not even supposed to be here today.” That oft-repeated phrase from the original Clerks perfectly sums up the ethos of the 1994 movie. It comes via Dante Hicks (Brian O’Halloran), a twenty-two-year-old Quick Stop clerk who feels an overwhelming sense of responsibility toward his job (but not so much toward the women he dates). The …
Review: Clerks III Gives Dead-End Wage Labor Its Due Read More »
A man walks into a desert amphitheater, his red cowboy suit clashing against a cloudy sky. As a computer pumps an orchestral score through strategically placed speakers, he turns to address a scattered crowd. “For the past six months, my family and I have borne witness to an absolute spectacle,” he announces, emphasizing “spectacle.” A …
Despite what its title might suggest, the 1987 PBS documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin? is not a mystery. Almost immediately, the film details Ronald Ebens’s beating of Chinese American draftsperson Vincent Chin on June 19, 1982, after an altercation in a Detroit bar. Ebens, with the assistance of his stepson Michael Nitz, used a baseball …
The Boys is a tasteless show. Take the first scene of the season three premiere. A shrinking superhero called Termite (think Marvel’s Ant-Man) tunnels into his lover’s orifice as part of their sex play. But when he sneezes, Termite accidentally grows to full size, causing him to explode. Gory gags such as these occur regularly …
The Progressive: The Boys Gun Show Episode Was Tasteless But Necessary Read More »
Neal Adams was not only an influential artist. He also fought to bring justice to the comic book industry.
Glorian Grahame and Glenn Ford in The Big Heat Since it debuted in 1999, every episode of the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) has opened with the same narration: In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies …
Can stories about a rich white man who works with the police ever imagine justice?