I Love Boosters: Working Class Revolution in Technicolor
Boots Riley’s new film, I Love Boosters, presents a striking critique of capitalism through a dazzling, surreal fantasy world. The movie centers on three young women who steal racks of clothing from a chain of high end fashion stores and resell them at bargain prices in their community. These “boosters” see theft as both a form […]
Project Hail Mary Review – The Fiction of Government Competence
One of the big blockbuster hits this month has been Project Hail Mary, based on the book by Andy Weir, who also wrote The Martian. Like The Martian, Project Hail Mary is a sci-fi story that follows a funny, likeable narrator (played by Ryan Gosling in the movie) who finds himself far away from Earth. Also […]
Palestine ’36: An Enduring Struggle
Palestine ’36 takes us back to a lesser-known part of history, over a decade before the mass displacement of Palestinians in the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948. Directed by Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacin, the film recounts the violent oppression of British colonial rule during that period, and the subsequent mass uprising of the local people. Palestine ’36 highlights […]
A Review of Dolores, The Documentary
The 2017 Dolores documentary follows the life of organizer Dolores Huerta. Known for being the co-founder of the National Farm Worker’s Association (which would later become today’s United Farm Workers labor union), the film offers a sincere look at the great efforts she made to organize her communities and the unique struggles she faced as a Latina […]
A Common Insanity: Nuclear Weapons Documentary Review
“A Common Insanity: A Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg About Nuclear War” is a short and straight-to-the-point documentary about the unbelievable dangers of nuclear weapons. With Trump’s recent statement that the U.S. will resume nuclear testing to be on an “equal basis” with Russia and China, it is a relevant film that details what horrors even the […]
Film Review: Borderland | The Line Within
Borderland | The Line Within is a timely film revealing the profiteering of the border industry and the massive infrastructure built to imprison and deport millions of people at the border and beyond. It primarily focuses on the story of Gabriela Castañeda and Kaxh Mura’l, immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala respectively, looking for a better life […]
Film Review: Gaza: Journalists Under Fire
Robert Greenwald’s 2025 documentary Gaza: Journalists Under Fire exposes the harrowing war crimes of Israel against the people of Gaza and the Palestinian journalists trying to document the atrocities. It follows the story of journalists – Belal Jadallah, Heba Al-Abadla, and Ismail al-Ghoul – who were targeted by Israel and ultimately killed for their reporting in Gaza. […]
Jane Fonda: “They’re Betting on Our Fear and Our Silence”
On October 1, more than 550 actors, producers, directors and other artists from the entertainment industry announced the formation of a new Committee for the First Amendment. This is the second life of an organization formed originally in 1947 as the Second Red Scare heated up in the United States. Its goal then was to […]
Bardem, Einbinder Demand Justice in Gaza
Several nominees and winners took this year’s Emmy awards to call for the international community to end its complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. ‘Hacks’ star Hannah Einbinder, who won the award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, shouted “Free Palestine” as she was played off the stage. Javier Bardem, nominated for […]
Trump’s Attack on the Smithsonian Is Historical Revisionism
Earlier this week, Trump escalated his attacks on the Smithsonian, along with several other museums in Washington, D.C. He claimed that the institution overemphasizes “how bad slavery was.” He called on the Secretary of the Smithsonian for a thorough review to ensure the elimination of so-called “anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian and its subsidiary museums, […]
SZA Calls Out AI
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter SZA recently used her large social media platform to express frustration over the harm caused by Artificial Intelligence (AI): Please google how much energy and pollution it takes to run Ai..please google the beautiful black cities like Memphis that are SUFFERING because of twitters new Ai system. PLEASE JUST GOOGLE ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM. AI […]
Bob Vylan Is Not the Story – They Are the Distraction
Palestinians desperate for aid have been repeatedly gunned down while seeking food and supplies, now solely provided by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (backed by the U.S. and Israel). Since beginning its operations in late April 2025, “more than 500 Palestinians have been killed and almost 4,000 injured” while trying to access lifesaving aid at one of […]
Marginalized Communities Pay the Price for NEA Cuts
Dozens of arts organizations were recently notified that the grants they had received from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) were canceled. This is part of the Trump administration’s budget proposal that looks to eliminate the NEA altogether. In the Bay Area alone, nearly 30 nonprofits have confirmed they have lost grants they were […]
“The Encampments”: A Review
“The Encampments,” a timely documentary produced by Macklemore, follows the story of the student encampments that formed at Columbia and other universities in response to the war in Gaza. The film opens with the origin of the camps, when students’ earnest attempts to organize divestment campaigns in their universities were met with increasingly hostile responses […]
Sinners: Blues, Blood, and the Burden of Survival
Sinners is a film that, in the words of Oakland-born writer-producer-director Ryan Coogler, is “raging against the concept of genre.” Part deeply personal portrait of a Black community in 1932 Jim Crow Mississippi, part magical-realist tribute to the cultural power of Delta blues, part gory monster movie blockbuster, this movie attempts a lot and succeeds frequently […]
The Bay Area Fights Back in “Freaky Tales”
“Freaky Tales,” a whimsical new film showcasing a vision of the Bay Area in the 1980s, opened on April 4th nationwide. The movie weaves together three stories with a common theme- celebrating the success of an underdog who wins against impossible odds. Although set in a fantasy version of the 80s, which is now 4 decades […]
The Pitt: How America’s Broken Healthcare System Survives on the Backs of Its Workers
HBO Max just wrapped up the explosive first season of The Pitt, a highly rated and riveting medical drama. Set in a bustling ER in Pittsburgh, the series showcases many of the real problems faced by frontline healthcare workers in a large city hospital. The 15 episode season takes place over a jam packed 15 hours in the ER, where each episode covers a single hour […]
Hacks Actor Hannah Einbinder Says Never Again for Anyone During Speech
“Visibility is a responsibility. Those of us who have a platform must use our voices to ensure that speaking out is not outlawed altogether.” Last week, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, hosted an annual fundraising dinner in Los Angeles, where Hacks actor Hannah Einbinder was presented the HRC Visibility Award. […]
Capitalist Critique on the Severed Floor [Contains Spoilers]
The following article contains spoilers for Season 2 of Severance. The second season of Severance just wrapped up, once again delivering a sharp, and sometimes silly, critique of capitalism and the modern workplace. The show’s premise—splitting a person’s consciousness between work and personal life—highlights a harsh reality: we spend a third of our lives trapped […]
Film Review: Barbie
Barbie is a film about a pink-studded plastic doll from a surreal land where everything seems perfect so long as you don’t question it. When she ventures into the human world, namely Los Angeles, she comes face to face with the equally surreal nature of this society. In Barbieland, everything is possible if you’re Barbie. […]