Word: levinson
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What in the world is Barry Levinson, the gritty realist of Diner and Tin Men, doing down, down, down at the bottom...
...realm of homage here, not plagiarism. What's not so good is the failure to make something arresting out of the way the dark side and the bright side of our minds interact. Movies like Forbidden Planet, which had neither the technical sophistication nor the skilled actors available to Levinson, worked their metaphors with a sort of leisurely literateness. Here, all meaning is simply lost in the hubbub, drowned out by the modern imperative to deliver a rush of action, however incomprehensible, every few minutes...
...director Barry Levinson's wonderfully biting satire of this prevailing attitude, which links show business to American politics. The people want to be caught up in the swirling momentum of performances, Levinson implies--whether it is a big-budget alien movie or the Presidential speech on television, Americans want to be entertained. The two arenas of politics and Hollywood, no matter how opposed in fundamental purposes, end up reaching their ends by the same means...
...smartest thing about Wag the Dog is that Levinson never puts a face on the President. We never really know--nor really care--about his status or his quest to be reelected. Instead, whether Brean will actually have his Albanian showdown remains more important...
Leverett House: Roy E. Bahat, social studies; Hsin Chau, East Asian studies; Joseph I. Levinson, government; Geoffrey C. Rapp, economics; Nikola D. Simunovic, social studies; Connie W. Tang, applied mathematics...