What Terrible Movies Can Teach Us

‘The Room’ Isn’t Just So Bad It’s Good. It’s a Master Class on the Pretensions of the Film Industry

It’s film awards season, which means movie lovers and Academy/Screen Actors Guild/Nickelodeon-watching kid voters alike have been busy sorting out the best films from last year.

Many of the most hyped-up contenders of this year’s (or any) film awards season are truly worthy of the honors they seek. Whether it’s because of their unique, high-concept plot, sublime acting performances, perfectly executed action thrills, or some other form of excellence, they deliver on their promises.

And then you have the other films up “for your consideration”—and those that really, really thought they would …

Can Uncle Vanya Work in Four Different Languages? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Can Uncle Vanya Work in Four Different Languages?

The Play Featured in the Oscar-Nominated Japanese Film Drive My Car Offers a Window Into How Drama Brings Us Together

“If you want to work on your art, work on your life.” —Chekhov

Like any great aphorism, the dramatist Anton Chekhov’s advice can be taken many ways. In our 21st century …

The Outrageous California Hustlers of King Richard and Licorice Pizza | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

The Outrageous California Hustlers of King Richard and Licorice Pizza

Two Best Picture Nominees Suggest You Have to Be Both Crazy and Ambitious to Make It in This State

Do you have to be crazy to make it in California?

This question ties together two excellent films—King Richard and Licorice Pizza—that are nominees for best picture at this month’s Academy …

Will the Real Lucille Ball Please Stand Up? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Will the Real Lucille Ball Please Stand Up?

I Love Lucy Is Having a Moment, But We’re Still Not Ready to See Its Star and Creator Clearly

“Scary Lucy,” the much-maligned statue of comedy legend Lucille Ball in her hometown of Celoron, New York, was just a brief blip on the cultural radar when a fan campaign …

Why the Western Remains ‘One of Our Most Powerful Cinematic Inventions’ | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Why the Western Remains ‘One of Our Most Powerful Cinematic Inventions’

From The Searchers to The Power of the Dog, Troubled Protagonists Offer an American Vision of Death and Defeat

Robert Warshow, a tall, wry, chain-smoking New Yorker and an editor at Commentary magazine in the early 1950s, was obsessed with movies, comic books, and other forms of popular culture …