Short Essays on the "Meaning" of Popular Films

Whose Maya Is This, Anyway?

"I don't like illusions — I can't see them clearly," as the Sick Puppies song goes. Yet our illusions are endlessley fascinating, as are our attempts to try to escape them. The Sanskrit word for illusion is maya, the ultimate illusion, encompassing the entire world.

Some reflections on The Matrix, The Truman Show, and Pleasantville.

Only Connect - Reflections on James Cameron's Avatar

Only connect! Live in fragments no longer.
  - E.M. Forster, Howard's End



Interstellar Love

The deep heart of Christopher Nolan's space epic.




The Inception of Freedom

Access to freedom in Christopher Nolan's Inception




How Wonderful Is This Violence?

Reflections on Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman



The Terrible Disappointment of Star Wars

How the Star Wars films started going wrong

 

All's Fahrenheit In Love and War

A rant on Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911




Strange But True - David Lynch

The unexpected alliance between the inestimable David Lynch and the Transcendental Meditation movement.

 

I Can Explain All That

The Aviator: The collapse of complexity into a simplifying story