This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Don't blame me, I voted for Sen. Palantine: We already knew he was influenced by "Star Wars" and "Rambo." Now, as reported on The Screengrab, a Columbia University economist writing in the Financial Times has constructed a Rube Goldberg-like string of events in which Ronald Reagan's economic policies of the 1980s were made possible by ... Travis Bickle. Coming soon: How Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges helped Reagan handle the flight controllers' strike.
Blogging from a film festival somewhere on the Riviera, the Guardian's Ronald Bergan wonders about the current whereabouts of a few dozen directors who have fallen out of fashion. No real point here, just (I'm willing to bet) a bout of nostalgia brought on by Cannes fatigue.
CineAction, the ferocious film journal from Canada, has finally launched a Web site. No frills, and just a small selection of articles new and old, but still worth a look.
And in honor of the 40th anniversary of the events of May '68, the Contemporary Art Museum offers a screening on Thursday night of Situationist Guy Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle." Debord's film starts at 8 p.m. and is preceded at 6 by "Fun and Games for Everyone," a 1968 film featuring artist Olivier Mosset, whose work is currently on display. Next week's program at the CAM relives the time Michelangelo Antonioni came to America and made things go boom.