10/24 7 pm Rosemary’s Baby
Chelsea Cinemas, Manhattan
A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.
10/24 8 pm Dial M for Murder (in 3D)
Village East Cinemas, Manhattan. Part of their Hicthcock-Tober! Fest
An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B.
Dir. John Carpenter. 1978, 91 mins. Restored DCP. With Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran. John Carpenter knew how to use the super wide CinemaScope movie frame better than any other horror director, and his proto slasher film, about a masked maniac with a vendetta, stalking babysitters in suburban Illinois, remains the most elegantly shot and composed film of its kind. This brilliantly paced movie of mounting anxiety and dread perfectly evokes an autumnal atmosphere and features a naturalistic, star-making performance by Jamie Lee Curtis. The underrated Village Voice critic Tom Allen recognized the film as “an instant schlock horror classic,” and wrote “Halloween, a study in warm colors, dark shadows, and ceaselessly tracking dollies, owes more to the expressive possibilities raised by Vincente Minnelli in the Halloween sequence of Meet Me in St. Louis than to any films in the realistic school.” The screening will be introduced by critic Nick Pinkerton, who is writing an appreciation of Tom Allen for Moving Image Source. Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718 777 6800
Dir. Howard Hawks. 1966, 126 mins. 35mm. With John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Cann, Charlene Holt. Hawks’s elegiac and comical follow-up to Rio Bravo pushes both the humor and the violence of the first film to extremes. Cole Thornton (Wayne), a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara, (Mitchum), to help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water. Caan provides comic relief as Mississippi, an inept gunman armed with a diabolical shotgun. Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718 777 6800.
Hugo Like The Artist, this film is about broken people that need to be fixed and it honors film history particularly the life of Georges Méliès. I thought it was a delightful adventure drama and the 3D effect worked very well though the film was a trifle too long though. It’s a good film about reconciliation and healing.
The Unknown (1927) A silent movie from 1927 starring Lon Chaney and the young Joan Crawford. Thankfully, the Film Forum in Manhattan has been showing silent pictures on Monday nights. After the success of 2011’s The Artist and Hugo, I would not be surprised if I see a few remakes of some of the classic silent movies.
The Iron Lady: was not a bad movie but slow; too slow. They blew it on the film focusing too much on Maggie Thatcher being a senile old lady with a penchant for drink rather than her years as PM.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone particularly traumatized by Septmber 11, 2001 and I saw the film at the Regal in Battery Park City across the street from where such appalling horrors occurred.I was surprised that Thomas Horn did not receive a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal as Oskar Schell whose character may have Asperger’s. In my year’s of teaching high school, I’ve had some students with such a condition and I dare say he nailed it. It moved a trifle slow to get to the point, as did Hugo but, like Hugo I thought it did a fine job regarding the theme of healing. Here’s my spoiler, so you can stop reading if you intend on seeing a few of the films before the Oscars but, one, I really wanted to know what was in the safety deposit box of William Black and second, why the hell didn’t they have Max von Sydow‘s character speak at the end?
Two minor items that came to me were: I thought they had Queens, NY down to a tee. The guy in Rockaway and the bar in Broad Channel were so suited to stereotype. I loved it (this author is from Queens and speaks highly of both Rockaway and Broad Channel). I also noticed Viola Davis (this and The Help) and John Goodman (this and The Artist) are both in two films nominated for Best Picture. I wonder if this is a first.
My Week With MarilynI thought this was actually a very good film and a rather sad story. Michelle Williams was nominated for Best Actress for the film and after seeing the others. I thought she had Marilyn down: not in looks but in mannerism/voice etc.
Albert Nobbs: Since there were two nominees, Glenn Close for Best Actress and Janet McTeer for Best Supporting Actress, I figured I’d see it. Two outstanding performances for sure.
Bully: A documentary that certainly achieved its goal of making bullying a topic of conversation. I think educators, parents, and students should see it.
North By Northwest(1959) Queens, NY is where we have the Museum of the Moving Image (MOTMI) that has arguably the best cinema in the city and has an ongoing “See It Big” exhibit. I’ve only seen the film on TV and never in one sitting. By seeing it on the big screen, it’s now in my all time top ten.
Touch of Evil (1958) Once again, another MOTMI “See it Big” show. You can’t go wrong with Charlton Heston playing a Mexican and the great opening tracking scene is ruined by the car explosion.
Titanic (1996) My better half never saw the film as she was dating some pretentious asshole at the time who refused to see Hollywood blockbusters. A film good enough to stand on its own and did not need to re-released in 3D
Casino(1995) A Martin Scorcese gangster picture starring the usual crew. One can’t go wrong there. Seeing it on the big screen a second time and 17 years later, I noticed it’s funnier than when I first viewed the film and I found myself more compassionate toward Sharon Stone’s character. She was a hard core addict in the downward spiral throughout the film. Sharon Stone also did an excellent performance.
Part of the Fashion in Film series at the MOTMI
American Gigolo(1980) The word that just describes this film is SORDID.
Men In Black 3(2012): A sci fi farce that made fun of itself included an alien wearing a Mark Sanchez NY Jets jersey as well as old Shea Stadium (with the tiles still on it) and Bill Hader as Andy Warhol was genius
Saturday Night Fever: If there are movies that the reaction to was not what the film makers intended, this has to be one of them. It’s a rather depressing film particularly on the big screen
The Elephant Man: It’s not everyday that one gets to see John Gielgud, Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Wendy Hiller all in a single film. It’s a sad film but the theme of “human dignity” is in your face. Kudos to director David Lynch (who I am not a fan of) for making such a wonderful film
2001:A Space OdysseyWhen the opportunity arsies to see this film on the big screen, I think that as a film lover, you have to go out of your way to see it. Having seen it on CBS sometime in late 1976 or early 1977 when I was in the second grade does not count and now having seen it as it was meant, VHS on a 32 inch TV back in the late 1980s is now 2 1/2 hours of life I’ll never get back. I won’t get into theory or anything but this film is worth seeing just because it’s a cinematic wonder.
The Queen of VersaillesA documentary that I enjoyed quite a bit. I found there something quite likeable about David and Jackie though, I was surprised that David did not put away anything
The Dark Knight Rises Despite the fact there will be a porn movie with the same title anyday now, I LOVED this movie. Michael Caine is my first of the year for a Best Supporting Actor nomination (he did win one for Hannah and Her Sisters back in the 1980s). This was a fast moving action picture and everyone in it did such stellar performances. I would have considered it a GREAT film but for a few clichés.
Ted: One can’t go wrong with a pot smoking teddy bear
Vertigo: Jimmy Stewart as an obsessed ex cop. So unJimmy Stewart. Another Hitchcock masterpiece
To Catch A Thief: Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and Grace Kelly. What else is there to say? The Bridge on The River Kwai:What’s there to say other than it’s a masterpiece and I think may just be the best anti-war film I have seen. It just shows the absurdity of everything.
Rear Window:Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in this classic on the big screen at the UA Midway as it was celebrating its 70th birthday. Makes one wonder why the hell Grace Kelly ever left Hollywood.
ARGO: I thought it was a good film but not suspenseful since I remember the story. Well shot, well acted, and well done. I’d say, go see it.
The Thing (1982). Thank god for the Museum of the Moving Image. How can one go wrong with a John Carpenter horror/sci flick starrring Kurt Russell?
Skyfall: An excellent James Bond movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it however, I must admit, given that my people are from Donegal, Skyfall itself looked quite a bit like the place. I think Daniel Craig is also the closest to the James Bond of the original Ian Fleming novels.
Lincoln: An excellent film about America’s great President. If Daniel Day Lewis doesn’t win Best Actor at the Oscars, I will be shocked. The film was just shy of perfect as it had a few “Spielbergisms” in it that detracted from the final picture (just like War Horse). Outstanding motion picture.
Silver Linings Playbook: This film was marketed as a comedy (just watch the trailer) but it is not. It’s a good story, a little too long, I checked the time time during the film to figure out how much was left which is my tip off. It’s a story about reconciliation and healing which everyone likes to see. I think Bradley Cooper will get an Oscar nomination as he does a fine job showing mental illness in the film and I also think Jennifer Lawrence may get a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was stellar in the film and from what I saw, has quite a career in front of her.
All About Eve: A classic in every sense of the term.
Life of Pi A genuine contender for numerous Oscar nominations. One of the few films I have been to where the 3D is actually worth the extra few bucks.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers A classic that never gets old. Like the 1970s remake, you can say there was an huge element of suburban conformity but we know it was an allegory for the Cold War.
Stand Up Guys An enjoyable film about a few old guy, that is, old gangsters and their friendship. You can tell Pacino, Walken, and Arkin were having fun making the film. A pleasant surprise.
Zero Dark Thirty I thought it a really good, not great, film. My suspicions about the torture scenes being Hollywood bullshit to drum up some controvery were confirmed. I wonder if it will be a major commercial success when it goes to wide release. Why? Critical acclaim, female protagonist,and, call this crazy but, many Republicans will refuse to see it since President Obama gave the order to take out UBL. This film seemed choppy early on, had one or two scenes that I thought didn’t even need to be in the film, and you even get the impression the order was given to the SEAL team on short notice (i.e. hours). I thought they spent some time in Virginia training for it at a mock up compound.
My better half preferred this film over Argo which I thought was the better picture as a thriller. They’re both similar films as they’re historically based thrillers but I thought Argo was more “thrilling”. Yes, I am being picayune.
Manhola Dargis of The New York Times in her review writes “It’s pitiful, really, and as the movie heads toward its emphatically nontriumphant finish, it is impossible not to realize with anguish that all that came before — the pain, the suffering and the compromised ideals — has led to this.” That’s a great description of the film in it’s totality. Now of course I am reading into it but one could also look into the film as an allegory for SIN. Maya (Jessica Chastain) is recruited into the CIA out of high school,I suppose that would indicate she’s a prodigy (she is the only CIA character 100% that UBL is in the compound) and you assume she was probably a nice kid. Now of course she had to step down to the enemy’s level of morality, typical action movie trick, and torture. She realizes she had to pay a personal price, a ransom if you will, to get the job done.
Django Unchained In my book, this is the best film of the year. As a Tarantino picture, we expect plenty of “ultra violence” but I thought the real violence in this film was not the shootings but the scenes of slavery in America. I know Spike Lee has been critical of the film, which he said he would not see as slavery is not a “spaghetti western”, which is true, but I think the film does provoke an interest in it. After the movie, I went online and started reading up on slavery. As usual, Tarantino doesn’t disappoint with the dialogue and the performances were outstanding. I expect many Oscar nominations from this film.
We’re in “awards season” here in the USA and so far I am disappointed. We had the Golden Globes where The Social Network won Best Picture, Natalie Portman won Best Actress for Black Swan, and Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for playing a crackhead. I liked the film and both performances but really, none was award worthy given the other options.
Then we had the Grammys where I wasn’t offended by any performance and thus not impressed. I was hoping for something that would have created a buzz on the news for a week: Sarah Palin tweeting about Rihanna’s “S & M“, professional shithead Michelle Malkin appearing on Fox and Friends ranting about how Lady Gaga is something like “the embodiment of the downfall of the Judaeo-Christian ethic”, Sean Hannity talking about “values”, and all the usual bullshit. The music industry didn’t give the professional right wing anything to bite on. So disappointing! Where’s Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” when you need it? Anyway, onto the movies.
The Best Picture for nominees for 2010 are: Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Let’s make a few observations about them and then go into MY movie picks.
First “Black Swan” was a very over rated movie as was The Social Network. The Hollywood industry loves Darren Aronofsky because of his previous films “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Wrestler” and the bogus lesbian scene turned out to create a Facebook buzz with teenagers. I always liked Natalie Portman but when one hears people talking about her “great” performance, you just have to say “please!” How many people have played high quality nut jobs over the years? Of course, who’s up against her for the award? So she’s pretty much a “given” for the actress award.
“The Fighter” was an excellent film BUT the “B0ston Irish” act is wearing a bit thin: we had “Mystic River”, “The Departed”, “The Town”, and now this one. It is a city that has Harvard, Fidelity Investments, and produced John F. Kennedy and Peter Lynch but Hollywood will give you the impression that it just produces “Irish tough guys” who talk funny and are employed in rackets. Yeah, I know the film took place in Worcester: SAME SHIT.
“Inception” was an excellent “psycho-thriller” but given the time of year it came out in the theaters it doesn’t have a prayer of winning. Had it been shot in 3D, it might have had a chance. “True Grit” and “The King’s Speech” are, in my book, the best of the lot. Either would be a fine film for the Academy to dub “Best Picture”. As for the other films, though “Toy Story 3” made a bundle of dough, it’s still a kiddie movie and thus no chance and the rest well, can you name more than 3 people that actually saw the films? “Blue Valentine” looked like a bore in its trailer.
Now the movies that made my 2010 trips to the movies worthwhile we can call them the “honorable mentions”.
Machete: this was a masterpiece of a film. Come on! The cell phone secreted away in a woman’s very personal hiding place? Cheech getting crucified? Michelel Rodriguez with the eye patch? Mexicans fighting using gardening tools? GENIUS!
Piranha 3D: high quality turd of a film and done in 3D just to earn extra bucks. Genius. Ving Rhames with the outboard motor and the panic scene? The penis being eaten with 3D+ T & A? Clearly “art cinema” and Oscar worthy.
Hot Tub Time Machine: low brow comedy that appealed to film buffs lowest common denominator–vomit humor. When I told my students that I saw it over the weekend they said, and I quote, “You actually saw that?”. My answer was “yes and I thought it ws great”. Perhaps you can read into this cinematic wonder as an allegory for redemption.
Easy A: A modern, more sophisticated version of those shitty 1980s John Hughes “coming of age” pictures liberally based on the Scarlet Letter. I went to see for the only reason that there was nothing else to see that weekend and genuinely enjoyed the film. I also thought Emma Stone is definitely going to become quite a film star: a sober Lindsay Lohan.
The Other Guys: “the sound of your piss hitting the urinal sounds feminine”: THAT is what one calls DIALOGUE. The scene with the Securitie & Exchange Commission officer is arguably the wittiest of the year.
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Faster: Yet another allegory for redemption and forgiveness. Yes, us theologians like to read into Hollywood junk whenever possible. This was “quality crap” of out the Hollywood factory. A few scenes you just had to love: like Dwayne Johnson shooting a telemarketing guy in the head. How many times did we wish we can do that? Even the audience all said “oh!”.
Finally, my WORST movie of the year. That is hands down Ben Stiller as “Greenburg”. The character was just annoying and you hope he died (he didn’t). Not a single fucking redeeming quality for the movie. If I ever seen Ben Stiller on the street in Manhattan I’m going to ask him for my $12.50 or just aim my right elbow at the bridge of his nose. I may just boycott any new movie he makes now. The film was THAT bad.
Anyway, 2010 had some excellent movies and I look forward to the remainder of 2011: I’ve already viewed “The Rite” (B-movie, exorcism genre fare) and “Unknown” (garden vaireity thriller). So far, so good. 🙂 Oscar nite I’ll be on Facebook and Twitter delivering my commentary. Hope to see you then!
This is an updated version of this blog from the 10th anniversary.
As the time passed, we went from the 1, 2, 3, month anniversaries to 6 months, then a year, 5 years, a decade, and now we hit the 20 year mark and hard for anyone to believe, the war in Afghanistan is finally over. Not a single one of us would ever have believed “President Biden” would end the war after “President Trump,” the TV guy?, yeah, that guy, did not have the guts to follow through on his promise. After this one, thee anniversaries will tone down a little bit for the next few years and Americans will make a big dealt of the 25th Anniversary,
Let’s talk about the war. Another US war defeat; real New York Jets style choke job of allowing a victory get away. 93% of American supported the US invasion of Afghanistan and by 2002, al Qaeda had been decimated and the Taliban were out of power. So what did the US decide to do? Stick around and nation build. Now a vocal group of Americans are blaming it all on President Biden. Sure, let’s make it his fault as we have go to blame somebody, right? I suppose it is just human nature that many think wars will be quick and painless like those Oxford Classics students running off to France in 1914 thinking they were Achilles and would be home by Christmas. Americans have become used to defeat despite being the “greatest” at all things it does. America essentially lost in Korea, Vietnam is legendary, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. When you have Generals like Michael Flynn, John Kelly, and Stanley “let me tweet about Bud Light Lime and how President Obama is useless from a cafe in Paris while supposedly commanding a war in Afghanistan” McChrystal, did you ever really think you could win? Don’t fret though, in another few years, there will be another surge of jingoism and military spectacle for us all to enjoy and forget the last few “quagmires.” We can all rock our lapel pins again and yellow ribbon car bumpers asking the Almighty to “Bless Our Troops.” One has to say “Our troops” to make it feel like we have skin in the game.
Now, 9/11. I think there is a law on the books, U.S. Code § 741, that says nobody can write about September 11, 2001 without mentioning the weather that day: sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and the temperature was just plain comfortable. A perfect day. I was doing what I did every day: attending to my homeroom teacher duties in W200 at Saint Francis Preparatory School in Queens, NY. The hallway teacher at the time, Barbara Kosakowski told me “two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and I asked “Was it an accident?” and she said she didn’t know. I was assuming they were small Cesnas (like Dana Andrews in Airport 75). When the bell rang at 9:35, I went down the hallway to W205 as I usually did, to say hello to my friend Phyllis. I saw she was sitting at her desk crying and I turned to the left and saw what was on her TV screen: a shot of the World Trade Center towers in flames with a billow of smoke going to the left on the screen. I assume shot was from atop the Empire State Buildingand if my memory serves me well, the TV was on Channel 7). Right then I knew, this was not an accident though, I was still puzzled. The noted philosopher Mike Tyson once said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” and I suppose that was the same case: you feel like you just took a blow and you’re trying to get your bearings.
Since I had a free period I went outside and walked down the road a little bit and there’s a walking bridge that goes over the Long Island Expressway just behind SFP. I walked onto the bridge and you could see the smoke rising from Manhattan and there was an old woman on the bridge crying–she turned out to be a nun too. As the day progressed, the school was quiet and students were being pulled from class left and right with parents picking them up. I went outside more than once that day to smoke and as I walked back from that bridge over the LIE at some point, maybe around noon-1 pm, I saw two upper class students leaving the school (that SFP ‘double last’ or were they cutting? I didn’t care). I recall pointing up to the sky for those two miscreants to see the two fighter jets and said something to the effect of “we’re going to war”. A year or two later, when one of those students graduated, Mark Sljukic, shook my hand and said “We’ll always have 9/11 Sugrue”. Despite the many students I will forget over the years, Mark will not be one.
On a lighter note, for you football fans, you may recall the NY Jets were defeated the Sunday before. One of my students, a sports fan par excellance, Nick, was walking by my class room, waved his arm up and said “Don’t worry Sugrue. We’ll get ’em next week”. I recall thinking at the time, “the whole fucking world is going to hell and he’s thinking about the Jets”. Forever after, my students always appreciated that story and Nick denies ever saying that to this day (drop him an email and ask him, he WILL deny it).
“Don’t worry Sugrue. We’ll get ’em next week”
When school ended I went to my second job: teaching an undergraduate class of World Religions at St. John’s University. Needless to say the school was closed and a FDNY truck was blocking the gate to the school on Utopia Parkway. Like many others, I spent most of the rest of the day on the phone. How many times did people use the term “surreal”? My buddy Adam told me he had just alit from the subway at South Ferry right before the second plane hit the south tower. He said it was utter mayhem and it sounded like the plane at the end of the Pink Floydtune and he saw the reflection of the blast in the glass of building and the whole scene took on a red color. He said he went to the office, called his mom and sister to see they’re all “ok” and left a message for his dad in Northridge, CA and said “Dad, when you wake up you’re gonna see some really fucked up shit on TV but I just want you to know Jackie, me and mom are OK”. He then walked uptown, had a beer at The Old Sod, and took the R train home to Queens. THAT is a coping mechanism. Later that day, I spoke to my friend Ben who lived on 16th Street at the time and he said 5th Avenue was like a scene in Independence Daywhere the traffic was stopped. I recall him and I both agreeing on a comment I said “Nothing good will come from this”. To this day, I stand by it. I was off from work the next day and went and sat in Propsect Park with a young lady named Jessica, God rest her, who I seeing socially at the time and recall that heinous smell from the World Trade Center site that wafted over Brooklyn. In the words of the great Mike Dulski, “it smells like, ‘sniff sniff’, cancer”
Here we are 20 years to the day and where have we come? First, the attacks of Septemeber 11, 2001 were acts of pure, unadulterated EVIL. That’s what it was–forget the psychology, the economics, and the politics. The people who planned these attacks and received some form of gratification from seeing such human misery and agony were clearly operating on a level more disdainful than Satan himself could muster. The people that did these acts were guided by the spirit of Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust—the Spirit that always says “no”. As God says “let there BE” they say, “no”.
Second, President George W. Bushwas given a opportunity that day that he passed up. However you feel about the Bush presidency, he was given a chance to become a genuinely “Great President” and be mentioned in the same sentence as Lincoln. Instead of becoming great, he went and hid in a bunker in Nebraska and then started a war in Iraq where plenty were killed. He and his cohorts took the low road. Bush was weak man, as most of us are, this writer included, but he could not rise to ocassion and be a genuine “leader’. He did not have in his personality the ability to be a genuine President of the United States and he let other people such as Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumselfed, and Dick Cheney dictate to him how to run a nation.
Third, and this gets back to what I stated in my discussion with Ben: “nothing good will come from this.” What “good” has come out of it? There were close to 4000 people murdered on September 11, 2001, and I add a few hundred more after the official count as there are all those nameless illegals, and how did President Bush respond? He had the USA, without a formal Declaration of War, which Congress would have approved, invade Afghanistan to oust the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The nation was successful in achieveing both. Twenty years later, the USA was STILL there. The USA then propped up a the dictator in Pakistan, General Musharraf, who won 65% of the election–something George Washington couldn’t do, and that IS the country that produces the Taliban (and was harboring bin Laden in Abbotobad). Bush and his people, the foremetioned Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and Cheney then went on a brilliant PR campaign, with the aid if the “liberal media” to create a reason for the invasion of Iraq. When I taught high school, there were about 5 people, of the 150 faculty, at the “Catholic'” insitution that went ‘on record’ against the invasion: despite the fact that even Pope John Paul II was against it.
Next, there’s the issue of HATE. There’s no place for it. Those peolpe on 9/11, that few hijacked planes into buildings and murdered thousands of people were people who, depsite the fact they claimed believe in God, hated being human as Adam and Eve once did–they wanted to be Gods. That my readers is ‘sin’ in the truest sense of the word. I think that this anti-Islam thing today in America is the same as ‘us’ Catholics were once treated. To hear that Muslims are not loyal to America, they’re terrorists, and ALL of that bullshit is well, bullshit. Saw a man from Lebanon living Dearborn, MI on TV that spent something like 30 years working at the Ford Plant and he’s not loyal to America? 30 years on an assembly line at the main Ford plant is pretty much a form of national service.
So here we are, now a generation removed from the attacks and what has transpired since? These great United States routed the Taliban government and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, then we had Enron and Worldcom, the invasion of Iraq(and we are still there with no end in sight), the questionable election in 2004 (how many Ohioans went to jail for voter fraud? 8?), Hurricane Katrina or the unravelling of the Bush presidency, the 2006 ouster of the republican Congress, the financial debacle of 2008 and TARP, the auto industry collapse, the 2008 election, the rise of the Tea Party, distrust of government (surprise!), Republicans intent on keeping the US economy stagnant in hopes one of their sub-par candidates can defeat Obama in 2012, the Arab Spring, bin Laden being killed (a case of the chickens coming home to roost: a violent man dies a violent death), Donald Trump, a failure as a businessman and a TV impresario on “reality” TV, as President, Charlottesville, a spike in hate crimes, overt political and major media support of the White Power and Neo-Confederate movement, and of course, 659,000 deaths from COVID. Perhaps it is not just our Presidents that didn’t have it in them to do what needs to be done but the whole country.
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