Why has nobody turned this into a movie yet? Seriously.(Apparently the Coens were supposed to it! But didn’t. Alas…)
Tag: Conspiracy
State of Play (2009, Kevin Macdonald)
This is a mostly well done American remake of the British miniseries. It’s considerably condensed but it also sort of fixes – or at least addresses – my biggest problem with the British version.
American Madness (2020) by Tea Krulos
(Way) Before Pizzagate there was the Phantom Patriot’s raid on Bohemian Grove. I had never heard of this before I read this book and completely missed any news coverage of the story, if there was any. So I’m glad I read this alternately hilarious and saddening story of one man’s obsession with conspiracies and his …
How Do People Create Conspiracy Theories?
How do people come up with conspiracy theories? I was a former koolaid drinker, but I discovered a preexisting conspiracy theory (Oswald was a patsy) and drank it up. I never created my own, I just read about one that was already extremely popular. But someone had to be the first person to suggest that …
Bundyville
This is an excellent podcast, initially about the Bundys, a ranching family in the American West, and more generally about the so-called “patriot movement”.
Republic of Lies (2019, Anna Merlan)
This is a survey of contemporary American conspiracy theories and the extent to which some of them can be found in mouths of the powerful in America. It is well-written, engaging and sometimes quite funny. But if you’ve read anything about American conspiracy theories before, there isn’t much new here.
Incremental Socialism is a Conspiracy Theory
I was having a conversation with a conservative on Reddit a while ago. The conservative I was primarily engaged with shared many of my views (to an extent) when it came to the nature of reality, something I was not expecting. I had posted those views because I thought fundamental disagreements of the nature of …
Inherent Vice (2014, Paul Thomas Anderson)
I have never read this book, but I have three of his other novels, and one thing I can say about Thomas Pynchon, is that his novels strike me as unfilmable. There’s so much going on and so much of it isn’t the kind of thing that would work on the screen. I like to …
Conspiracyland (2019)
This is a fascinating and infuriating, brief (6 episode) podcast about the conspiracy theories that spiraled out after the murder of Seth Rich in Washington, DC in 2016. If you can handle it, it’s well worth your time.
Inferno (2016, Ron Howard)
I have never read a Dan Brown novel and I imagine I could not handle reading one. But for some reason, perhaps because I enjoy watching bad movies, this is the second of the adaptations of his novels I’ve seen. I’m not sure this one is as stupid as Angels and Demons, but it’s pretty fucking …
Capricorn One (1977, Peter Hyams)
I went through a really serious conspiracy movie phase – specifically a ’70s American movie phase – when I was in my early 20s and that’s probably why this movie was on my list. But in the ensuing years I not only stopped drinking the conspiracy theory koolaid personally, but I have also begun to …
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016, Edward Zwick)
After watching this sequel, I feel like I should go back and up my rating on the original because, for all its flaws – some seemingly inherent in the source material – the original movie was entertaining as these things go. This one is not. SPOILERS (for this film and the original)
London Spy (2015)
The problem with the vast majority of conspiracy movies and TV shows is the reveal. It seems to be a pretty easy and common thing to create mystery, especially mystery involving secret plots. It’s another thing altogether, apparently, to create a satisfactory resolution to a mystery, especially a mystery where “the powers the be” are …
TIFF 2015: The Return of the Atom (2015, Jussi Eerola, Mika Taanila)
This is an episodic and pretentious documentary about Finland’s newest nuclear power plant that manages to somehow both be hysterical – not “hysterical” as in “funny” but hysterical as in “insane” – and, somehow, extremely boring.
The Creature from Jekyll Island (1994) by G. Edward Griffin
A necessary critique utterly ruined by conspiratorial nonsense. I have finished nearly every book I have ever started but I will not be finishing this one. I apologize for the slipshod nature of the review that follows. This has been a trying experience for me.
House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993), The Final Cut (1995)
This review contains some mild spoilers.
Gore Vidal was crazy but sometimes he was also awesome
I guess what I mean to say is RIP Gore Vidal. But I have a problem saying that, and my problem is that Gore Vidal believed a lot of stuff (particularly about the United States government) that was not true. Worse, he made those beliefs public. Worse, because he was Gore Vidal, he made it …
3* Reasonable Objections to All Conspiracy Theories
When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was a big believer in conspiracy, particularly the “plot to kill Kennedy.” I ridiculed those around me who doubted a conspiracy in Kennedy’s death and regularly told them that they just didn’t know all the facts. Anyone who knew all the facts would clearly …
No Sound Reasons for Conspiracy Theories
This is a response to a comment on this post.
Ok. Why do you think conspiracy theories are a social evil?
I think conspiracy theories – as opposed the identification of actual conspiracies, which is an altogether different thing – and the belief in them cause a number of problems.
Why is metaphysics dangerous in the hands of those who govern us?
Metaphysics, i.e the study of “things” outside of physical reality, is incredibly dangerous for politics. But first, why do we use metaphysics?
Why don’t you believe in conspiracies?
First, I think we must distinguish between conspiracies in the legal sense, and conspiracy theories. Conspiracies are any time that two or more people get together to break a law. Conspiracy theories are “hidden hand” theories of history – around for ages in the case of the Illuminati for example, or newer theories, in the …
Why is it so hard for some people to beleive that the people in charge don’t have their own agenda?
[Responding to the above question submitted to me using Formspring:] We can debate endlessly the meaning of “in charge” but I can’t agree with your first statement. Nobody is actually “in charge” in the sense that nobody has the power to do whatever they want. A cursory look at Obama’s struggles implementing his agenda is …
The Manchurian Candidate (2004, Jonathan Demme)
I usually hate remakes. I usually hate the ideas of remakes. I say to people, “How would you feel if they remade your favourite movie?” Most people say they wouldn’t be happy. And yet we constantly rehash and remake movies. The only movies I think should really be remade are those that had a great …