The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, written by Eric Roth (Munich, which was morally repugnant) and directed by David Fincher (Zodiac, which was miserable) is breathtaking and, on purely cinematic grounds, it is a grand three hours, as the tagline says, of life...
Scott Holleran
Scott Holleran interviewed 2025 Carnegie Hero medal recipient Henry Reese, whom Salman Rushdie credits with saving his life from a radical Islamic assassin. Mr. Holleran wrote the Western Pennsylvania Press Club’s Best Sports Journalism award-winning “Roberto Clemente in Retrospect” in 2021 and his short story “Boom-Boom Goes to Jail” won a 2025 Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Award prize. Scott Holleran’s first book, Long Run: Short Stories: Volume One, a collection of 16 previously published short stories, features a foreword by Shoshana Milgram, Ph.D. Scott Holleran lives in the San Fernando Valley, where he’s writing his first novel, Speakeasy, choreographing dance and coaching weight loss.Read his non-fiction at ScottHolleran.substack.com. Follow and listen to him read his fiction aloud at ShortStoriesByScottHolleran.substack.com
Why ‘Chappaquiddick’ is a Breakthrough
That this movie exists is a cinematic achievement. Whatever my criticism, whatever its flaws, the movie about an American government official's deliberate, historic conspiracy — a real, proven conspiracy of corruption, deceit and silence, ahem, Oliver Stone — to cover...
Light ‘Argo’ Dramatizes Escape from Iran
Ben Affleck's 2012 movie, Argo, reduces the so-called Iran hostage crisis (1979-1981) to an episode of smaller proportions with satisfactory results. This isn't great cinema, and it leaves a lot of meaning, context and history out of the picture, but the docudrama, if...
Roy Moore Is Not Fit For Political Office
Insinuating that he thinks gays deserve to die and stating clearly and explicitly that he aims to enact a religious government disqualify Moore from political office.
Seven Steps to Cure ObamaCare
Restoring Americans’ right to choose their own health care, including the freedom to choose whether and how much to buy, and how to finance, insure and use, means first liberating Americans from ObamaCare.
Interview with Alexander Marriott on Nat Turner
History teacher Alexander Marriott examines facts and fiction about slave rebel Nat Turner in this exclusive interview by Scott Holleran about Nate Parker’s 2016 film, The Birth of a Nation.
Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright & Ayn Rand: An Interview with Architect Dion Neutra
On the eve of his 90th birthday, Dion Neutra sat down at his home with Scott Holleran and remembered his father, his childhood and his career with a great 20th century modern architect including thoughts and remembrances of Richard Neutra’s architecture and relationships with Frank Lloyd Wright and Ayn Rand. Dion Neutra also spoke of his single proudest achievement at Gettysburg.
Creeping Egalitarianism Is Ruining The Oscars
This egalitarian ideal sets the standard as the color of one’s skin, or sex or sexual orientation, as against the quality of the movie, performance or direction.
Interview: Ayn Rand Institute CEO Jim Brown
In his first interview, Ayn Rand Institute’s new CEO, Jim Brown, talked exclusively at his office in Irvine, California with Scott Holleran.
Movie Review: High Noon
United Artists' High Noon (1952) is a lightning rod of controversy. This compelling movie was made with the best talents and its taut, purpose-driven plot gains and keeps attention. Any honest appraisal must account for its flaws, too. I recently saw it again at the...
Book Review: Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve
Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve is an enjoyable exercise in re-framing what the reader probably already knows about a favorite writer and discovering references, patterns and facts the reader may not know.
Occidental College Responds to 9/11 Attack on Free Speech
On the 15th anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist attack in history—September 11—a college student’s memorial flag display was destroyed three times.
Movie Review: The Birth of a Nation (2016)
The controversial film about America’s 1831 slave rebellion undercuts the nature and power of Nat Turner’s story and makes everything seem too pat.
Movie Review: Sully
Clint Eastwood (Jersey Boys, American Sniper, Gran Torino, Invictus) made another little character masterpiece with Sully, starring Tom Hanks as Captain Chesley Sullenberger. Review by Scott Holleran
Books: Our Republican Constitution: Securing the Liberty and Sovereignty of We the People.
Our Republican Constitution is an eye-opening self-defense for the rational American which offers historical enlightenment about America’s true origins.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a clever and pleasant diversion about having faith that the good is possible.
Movie & Blu-Ray Review: Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1997)
Strand Releasing's 1997 documentary Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, is, in retrospect, a cinematic achievement. The 143-minute movie debuts on Blu-Ray on July 28. Other than a new trailer and enhanced English SHD sound, this is the same product as the Collector's DVD...
Movies: Tomorrowland Lacks Imagination
“Walt Disney loved showing how stuff works. No one in this movie plausibly would have the curiosity for new knowledge and reverence for the manmade to look twice at a futurist attraction at Tomorrowland, except possibly Laurie’s villainous character.”
Assault on Free Speech in Texas
Freedom of speech is the fight of the 21st century.
The Sound of Music (1965)
Director Robert Wise's The Sound of Music for 20th Century Fox is an opulent and lavish production. The 1965 movie musical, written by Ernest Lehman, is melodic and cinematic. At the start of its nearly three hours, with sweeping aerial photography in famous opening...
Movie Review: Malcolm X
The words "...by any means necessary," conclude Spike Lee's racist propaganda piece, Malcolm X. This phrase asserting that the ends justify the means, a rationalization for tyranny throughout history, is the movie's theme. Lee capably gives "by any means necessary",...
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